the law of conservation of calories

In the middle of the summer, I started getting tired of excess post-baby flab around my middle. I pondered about why this flab wouldn't go away, and finally decided it may have been because I was doing absolutely no regular exercise.

I embarked on Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred". My friend talked about how there were these 3 levels to the workout, and you were supposed to do each level for 10 days. The workouts are supposed to be pretty intense and only last 25 minutes.

It went pretty well at the beginning. After Level 1 I actually slimmed down enough to fit into some shorts that had been too tight on me. But since that initial loss, I haven't seen the flattening and washboarding of my abs that I imagined in my head when I started.

Today I started the 3rd level (if you're trying to do the math, don't worry. i'm sure that from the middle of summer to September 19th is exactly 20 days). During the workout, Jillian mentioned that if we'd come this far in the series and had been following the diet, we should have amazingly honed figures by now.

Diet?!?

What diet? I didn't know anything about a diet. This must be something that is mentioned with all the materials that come with actually buying the DVD and not just watching copies on YouTube.

*sigh*

It's probably a good thing I didn't know about the diet, though. Because this is how "regular exercise" plays out in my life:

Sketch to the Finish Line

I came across a wonderfully fun web application called Odosketch.

It simulates using a sketch pad, and is really quite realistic. You can choose from a palette of colors, and the speed of your sketching determines how rough/fine the lines come out (took me a while to figure that out...).

I did this sketch using the mouse pad on my laptop (not recommended). It's a rough representation of me (the maroon blob) streaking through the finish line of the 5K race I ran this morning.


Visit this link for a larger image.

Yes, I did say 5K. No, I do not run. I have not run for several years. Abe & I decided to do this race purely because of peer pressure.

We went on a 2-ish mile practice run Monday night. Neither of us was seriously injured (although the next day we both came down with bad colds from which we are still recovering - I blame the run), so we went through with the race today. Again, no injuries, though I am moving quite sluggishly now. In fact, I am not moving at all, right now.

Encouraged by my fellow racers and Abe yelling for me to "Bid! Bid!" at the finish line (bidding is diving in Ultimate), I came in a few seconds over 25 minutes.

things are looking up

And I didn't even have to start wearing make up!

This week I tried to get to bed early and wake up early enough to do my favorite morning routine of yoga, scripture study, and breakfast. I felt energized and healthy each day.

Also helping is the warmer weather. Which, of course, brings with it a chance to resume Ultimate! We had a captain's meeting on Thursday night for the spring league we play on. And on Saturday I went to my first casual pick-up game. It was glorious. I couldn't run very far without panting, but it helps that everyone else is similarly softened by winter hibernation.

Three cheers for smelly cleats, grass stains, and full layout bids!