Week Three - I Deserve To Lose

I never thought I would be happy to only lose one pound, but after the week (or more accurately) the weekend I had, I’m ecstatic!

For some reason this past holiday weekend I let my diet go on holiday as well. I knew going into the Fourth that I would be eating and drinking things I shouldn’t, however I did not plan on doing that on the fifth and sixth as well. I don’t know what got in me, well figuratively cause I know what I put in my mouth: breakfast tacos, hot dogs, beer, chocolate, barbeque, free dumb fries - I think you get the idea, I was out of control…

Thankfully Monday I was back on track and on the wagon. In an attempt to undo my weekend gluttony, I was very critical about what I ate and tried to exercise as much as I could – even if it meant back-to-back sessions.

Although I didn’t do the Pilates in the Park on Tuesday night like I hoped, I am happy to report that I did do my first Zumba in the Park last night. I wasn’t planning on doing Zumba in the Park but after I got to my normal Zumba class almost 30 minutes late (freeway shut down – long story) I figured I better exercise some more. On a side note: I am really proud of myself for showing up to my first Zumba class. I was extremely frustrated from being stuck in traffic for almost 45 minutes that I really wanted to just say fuck it and go home, but I didn’t. Three weeks ago I would have, but not now. The funny thing is I didn’t even realize what a huge coo it was for me until I went up to Jerry after class to apologize for coming in late and he said, “at least you showed up – a lot of people wouldn’t have even come”.

Anyways, after my little personal breakthrough I decided to check out the Discovery Green class. It starts at 7pm so although I was a few minutes late I still was able to get in a great workout.

Even though they are both Zumba classes, there were lots of differences between the two, well besides the obvious ones of indoor versus outdoor, 75 degrees versus 95 degrees, etc. The instructor at the park class concentrates on the upper body a lot more than Jerry, which is good because I need to work on my arms and chest however I could barely raise my arms this morning in the shower!

After my double Zumba classes I was exhausted but I went ahead and went to the park. I don’t know if it was being outside at Zumba or the idea of gaining weight that convinced me but I ended up doing three miles at the park. I’ve been trying to walk at the park as much as possible this past week. Partially cause I needed to burn extra calories this week to offset my binge and also because I want to start preparing for the Susan G Komen breast cancer walk later this year.

Losing Zumba classes Friday and Saturday because of Independence Day really made it hard to reach my goal of 5,000+ calories. Here’s how I did this week:

07/03 Swimming for 30 minutes; 558 calories burned
07/07 Zumba class for an hour; 838 calories burned
07/07 Walked park for an hour; 488 calories burned
07/09 Zumba class for 30 minutes; 419 calories burned
07/09 Zumba in the park for 45 minutes; 629 calories burned
07/09 Walked park for an hour; 488 calories burned

Although I lost control for a couple days this week, I still lost, and that’s the most important thing – well that and showing up! So even though I only lost a pound, it turned out to be a win-win situation and like they say: you win some, you lose some. Lets just hope I lose more than a pound next week….