What Came First, The NSV's Or The Pound?

When the scale moves, I usually wait a day or two to make sure it's not giving me a head fake.

I lost a pound. I'll probably be able to say that I lost two soon since I usually drop weight in pairs.

I weigh 171 pounds now -- standing at 5'3 and 1/2 -- the 1/2 being as important to me as it is to a kid.

According to the BMI calculator I'm still obese but that's okay, little calculator, I still have my NSV's (Non-Scale Victories).

I ate dinner: vegetarian chili with Trader Joe's Roasted Gorgonzola crackers then I traveled 30 minutes away to go to Bally Total Fitness.

I took advantage of the National Body Challenge and got a 14 day pass to Bally in order to have access to a pool and different scenery.

The pool was not crowded either. I got in 20 laps and called it a night. While I was swimming, I remembered what this instructor said to some kids on Tuesday:

Do you like music? Do you like rock and roll? Well, that's what we're going to do when we do the back crawl -- rock and roll -- but we're only going to rock and roll with our shoulders.

Capitalism amuses me at times. Got this ad from The Swim Outlet and The SO is ready for Valentine's Day.




So, what's a girl to do now that the scale has moved? She's going to keep rockin' the regimen. She's going to rock steady baby!

Where I Was Coming From

I was so happy to see the Wreck Center after work. When I went into the locker room, there were clothes all over which is usually not the case. Then, I heard a lot of commotion in the vicinity of the pool.

I got into my swimwear, headed toward the pool and put my towel on the bench. There were about seven teenagers in the water and two adults with poles on the sidelines. I headed straight for Nick who explained that students from the MO School for the Blind would be there every Monday in March practicing for a race. Wow. I was apprehensive about the deep end and couldn't imagine the nerve it would take to learn how to swim with limited sight or none at all.

I claimed lane six and as I was doing the back crawl, Nick was talking to me but I couldn't hear him since my ears were pretty much submerged. Once I got to the end of the pool, I asked him to repeat himself.

You could hardly swim when you first started coming and now...

I wanted to say something profound but all I could muster was yeah but I think that Nick knew where I was coming from.

When I left the Wreck Center, it was still a little light out. It was nice to come home and not have to cook or wash clothes. I made vegetarian chili yesterday and it was mmmm, mmmm good.

Snow Day Workout

I checked my work voicemail hoping that we would be closed. There was a chance since St. Louis Public Schools canceled and they hardly ever close. No such luck. My place of work was open for business. However, we did get a two hour parole.

Once paroled, I had a bonus cup of coffee and watched "Oprah." Dr. Oz was giving support and advice to overweight teens and talking about nutrition. I then cooked some vegetarian chili. If you're like my Aunt Leatha, I know what you're thinking; it's not a meal unless there's some meat on the table but I really like this recipe:

http://www.muirglen.com/Recipes/RecipeView.aspx?RecipeId=21030&CategoryId=69

I rinsed, chopped and diced and put everything in the pot then I headed to the basement to find my wrist weights which took some time because I haven't worked out at home in awhile. Suze Orman is right about being disorganized. It costs you money among other things.

I finally located my weights and decided to exercise by committee. I did ten minutes of Fat Burning Kickboxing Workout for Dummies, ten minutes of Butt and Thigh Blaster from 10 Minute Solution: Tone Trouble Zones! and, for a finale, I did ten minutes of Arms and Shoulders from 10 Minute Solution: Fitness Ball Workouts. I was wondering if I would be able to pick up from where I left off. I strapped on my wrist weights to accompany my five pound dumbbells. For the most part, I was able to lift eight pounds during the various arm and shoulder exercises but I definitely struggled with the lateral raises. I'm glad that I resorted to my DVDs since you should vary your exercise routine anyway. Not only did I miss the fitness ball, I also missed some of the nice stretching segments in those videos because there's nothing more satisfying than a good stretch session.

After I worked out, I quickly shoveled some snow off the immediate walkway then came inside to have some nice warm chili. It was so good to have a few extra hours in the day.