They Shall Not Pass

Force equals Mass times Acceleration. Any physics student or devoted watcher of The Big Bang could tell you this little equation. I'm finding that my challenges are easier, even when they're harder, because I feel like I have some good momentum. I lost a pound this week and that gives me hope. I really can do this. I can look at myself in the mirror and say "You are not my enemy." And I'm not. My body and I, we should be a team, not a couple of mean girls in high school, sniping and backbiting. Today on my 3-mile walk I came to the conclusion that my body didn't betray me, it didn't blow up due to some imagined slight or just out of pure nastiness. It only did what I told it to, by feeding it more than it needed, and not moving it around enough. Now I'm telling it that we are going to do something else, and it has responded. Maybe I'm not particularly fast or strong at this time, but I will be. You wait and see.

I succeeded in this week's challenge and will soon be the proud owner of a new sports bra. Next week, I add 10 push-ups daily, of any sort. I'm thinking there's a weighted exercise ball calling my name.

"we constructed, at infinite cost to ourselves, these Maginot lines against the enemy they thought they saw across the frontier. This enemy who never attacked that way, if ever; if he was, indeed, the enemy."
--paraphrased from A Separate Peace

Looking Up

Sometimes your life doesn't go the way you think it should. People change their minds, situations get worse, things fall down. In those times, we all tend to look down at our feet. Because putting one foot in front of another is the only way we can get by, get through. Sometimes though, it does pay to look up. To remember that there are still good things in the world, even though we forget them when we are mired in our personal miseries.
In 5-Day Challenge news, I did meet this week's challenge, but fell down on a previous one. So no prize for me. The new challenge is this: 25 crunches daily.

"When your legs give out, run with your heart."

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

My evil plan is working. This week I lost 2 lbs! After I did my happy dance, I started thinking about the next challenge. I thought the challenge might be to lose one pound this week, but I thought that might be setting up to fail. I don't want to de-rail now I've got some momentum. So I sat and I thought. Mostly because I was driving to the mountains and that is excellent thinking time, and I thought this week's challenge might be to take 2 classes at the gym. It can be any two classes at all. Zumba, Funk, or yoga or underwater aerobic basketweaving, but committing to 2 classes means I have to show up to the gym at least twice this week. I did manage twice last week, and I felt pretty good about that. But it takes more than a few weeks to create habits, so let me get out there and make some good ones.

"Excelsior."

5 Days

My challenge last week was to track what I ate and to do a yoga workout everyday for 5 days. I didn't worry too much about staying in my Point range, just made sure that I wrote down everything I ate. And the yoga could be any length, 10 minutes or an hour, as long as I did it.
I'm very proud to say I was successful. I won my prize, which was a Norah Jones CD. So since it worked once, I'm going to try it again. This week I dedicate to tracking, daily yoga, and no eating out. No deli, no fast food, no restaurants.I'm going to work on preparing meals that are quick and healthy.
One thing I discovered that was cool is LunchBloks. They are containers with divider inserts, and then some accompanying containers, and they all fit together. So I've started making bento boxes of fruits and veggies, with cheese and nuts. It's hot outside and I like cool foods when it's hot. Also I like veggies better when they are raw.
So challenge #2 begins Monday and the prize is a new book for my kindle...


"Then the word grew louder and louder, till it was a battle cry..." ---The Call, Regina Spektor