No More Excuses

I've not updated in awhile, for that I apologize. I had a momentary lapse of forgetting about it. I have days like that.

I spent the majority of last week sick, then snowed in due to the blizzard we got here on the East coast. So I only made it in to work one day last week, Friday, which was also my birthday.

I've actually been feeling pretty good of late, but Valentine's Day has always depressed me. This year was no different. Mostly, though, it was body image that had me down this year and had me reflecting on what it is that keeps me from busting my ass to lose this weight.

I don't want to hurt. Sore muscles, stretching things to a necessary hurt point, etc. I keep saying I want to get back some of the flexibility I once had and go beyond that for performance level stuff, but I am doing nothing about it. I hold back on workouts because I don't want every inch of me to ache.

No more. I've made a concious decision that, in order for me to get where I want, I need to suck it up and commit to the hurt. I'm not going to go out of my way to injure myself because I did too much, but I also know that I need to really work my muscles and my body to get in a good workout. Yes, I am going to hurt the next day, but I need to keep pushing forward. My body will adjust and will start to kick itself into gear what I want it to do.

Stretching will come next. To help alleviate the pains I'll feel, I need to start stretching more. And not just stretching to ease sore muscles, but working towards stretching my muscles so I have that flexibility again. I used to be able to do the splits with my right leg forward. I am just shy of being able to do that now. So that means doing them and stretching the muscles so I can. Then I'll work on stretching so I can do the splits in other directions too.

I also want to work on stretching the tops of my thighs and my back so I can do laybacks when dancing and work towards doing floor work in bellydance.

I know all of these things are going to make me hurt, but I will listen to my body if something is too much, but I will also put it through its paces so that I can work through the pain and gain the strength and flexibility I want while losing the weight.

I need to stop falling back into a pattern where I don't do something because I don't want to worry about sore muscles. My body can take it, I just need to make it now. No more excuses.

*somersaults*

Start of a new week! I didn't update except once last week. Was just one of those weeks where nothing was going right and I wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep away everything. This week isn't starting out *much* better, mostly because of the tired feelings. But I know why. (Stupid female body)

Tonight is another night of dancing. Woohoo! Last week was great. Everyone is having fun, they are excited to learn and we are moving, which is what matters to me. However... that was the extent of my exercise last week. I totally flaked out on anything more. Last week was just a bad-ish week. I came off of a bad week at school, and while I did better with getting my assignments in, I just was so out of it and not feeling up to things this weekend that my grade will suffer slightly as I didn't get in any participation points.

However, I did go shopping on Friday once I had money. This is a good thing because I got things to start eating better, though I need to go back because the fish I *had* before is freezer burned so it's no good. And I need to get some chicken.

But yay food. I knew today would be my start day. I originally wanted to get up and take a walk with Anubis, but went to bed way too late. Woke up later then I intended to even do stretches and such, so this morning was not so good. However, I made an egg white omelet with fresh spinach and mushrooms. Had two slices of multi-grain toast with Brummel and Brown "butter", which is a yogurt base, is low in calories and has no cholesterol. A bonus for me.

I also took my fish oil pills and my vitamin that is good for people with cholesterol issues, which I do. Right now I am eating some red seedless grapes and a handful of brazil nuts. No idea yet what we are having for lunch, but I have carrots for a snack later and some almonds to have before dance to get the protein.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll get up the energy to go for that walk. I do know that I need to workout after work. Will be starting that up this week and may throw weight training int his week too.