Passing a milestone! And a Novel.

Not a kidney stone. Not a blarney stone. Not a Rolling Stone. A MILESTONE!!!

I know it's not an official weigh in day... but I made it down to 318 today. That means MINUS FIFTY POUNDS!!!!   That means this weekend I get to schedule a massage. need. want. will get.

This morning I went to aquacise (not having been in a class since mid-december) and I kicked butt. My teacher/trainer invited me to the class so I can help up the ante. Lots of the people have been sorta slacking off. Unlike an aerobics class, any water based activity is as intensive as you make it. You could go an entire aquacise class and not even sweat or get your heart rate up. On the other hand, because it's in the water, you can use muscles that you didn't know you had and make it incredibly challenging for  yourself. But that motivation for a hard workout has to come from the participant.


I showed up early. That's my M.O. I weighed in and was super happy about the number on the scale. So I floated out to the pool - feet barely touching the ground. Sarah warned me that the class was quiet and not very friendly. So I talked to Sarah until people started arriving.

I noticed a lot larger percentage of obese women in this class than I'd previously experienced. This was the first time I wasn't the largest person there. I'm still happy to see these women doing something about their weight. Like always, the men were largely outnumbered (ha! pun).

This is not synchronized swimming, folks.

There was a woman from Cuba who was chatty and fun. She was down-right hilarious... But no one would laugh. I did. That's what I do. She was there with her VERY touchy husband. I thought it was sweet for the first 5 minutes... but he wouldn't stop touching her even after class started. He had very thin arms and legs and his skin drooped like he'd recently lost a lot of weight. He also had a pretty fresh scar near his belly button. Do you have scarring from a lap band? stomach staple? Maybe he's had health problems. He walked kinda like a fat person... or like a once fat person.

There was the sourpuss... her name is Lisa, but I'll still probably call her sourpuss. She's a CNA going for her RN. She was recently admitted to the program - which is highly competitive. I congratulated her and she downright SNUBBED me. She was the thinner of the mid 30's club. I asked her how she'd been enjoying the class "meh. It's not my favorite." I didn't ask why. I didn't want to talk to her anymore. Sourpuss.

There was another lady, she was in white. I didn't catch her name. But she's a pretty large gal. We're talking over 350lbs. Has had two knee surgeries. She was another funny lady. I liked her a lot. I look forward to getting to know her better. She's the kind of lady that would tell someone to knock it off and suck it up!

There were a few other women that I didn't get to know really... But there's time still. Class started. Water jogging across the pool to warm up. Stretching. Speed up the jogging. Jog from the shallow end to the deep end (great shoulder workout and HARD). Now... I know that I've been working out and that I've lost weight. But I've only been out of the class for maybe 2 months. NEVER. NOT ONCE have I been the fastest person in class. And this isn't my personal progress this time around. This class is LAZY. They sorta float along. So I tried even harder to go faster and see if we could raise the average effort level and be sort of an example... "I'm a fatty and I can do this!" You know... that kind of thing.

I freaking love the water buoys/weights.

The lady in the white accepted the challenge. She started racing me across the pool. She was working hard. Well, that's 2 out of 11. It felt good to know that I could help someone get going with the spirit of competition.

After the class, I cleaned up and then went for the personal training session afterward. I asked Sarah what she thought... She said that she could see lady in white trying to keep up. She invited me to continue coming for the rest of the semester as my schedule allows.

My personal goal: Get sourpuss to try. She was the laziest person in the class - behind everyone, rolling her eyes at every direction given, heavy sighing.

Big Fat bringing sweaty/sexy back Love,

Nanette