Charming myself

I have been toying with various rewards for myself.  I've thought about this and that.  I've thought about just saying that with each ten pounds I lose that I will then set the next reward.  I've gone back and forth with this for so long. And then I remembered a reward system that I had heard someone else a long time ago use.  This girl (sorry, I have NO clue who it was...I read this probably 5 years ago... on a blog) bought a charm bracelet.  Her rewards were new charms signifying her loss.  I remember thinking how awesome that idea was.  I remember being saddened because I was already more than halfway through my weight loss and didn't feel like it would be right to retroactively reward myself for all the previous pounds lost.   But the idea stuck in my head.  It resurfaced today.

You see, today I had my official weigh in for the week.  I lost 3.1 pounds.  That is 11.8 pounds since the beginning of my restart which was at the beginning of this month.  Time for a reward!!!!

I decided to roll with this as my reward system. I'm NEVER going to have another chance to reward myself this way and it will be a great reminder for me to be able to look down at my bracelet and remember my accomplishments.   I decided on stepping away from the typical charm bracelet that we all remember from growing up.  I went with a pandora style charm bead bracelet.  I didn't want to spend a ton of money to start this process...so I shopped around and bought a relatively cheap one.  I figure I can purchase a better bracelet down the line when money is not so tight.

I have decided to get a new charm for every ten pounds that I lose.  I have also decided to be open to getting a charm to signify big weight loss/healthy lifestyle events.  For example, a 5K that I actually RUN.  My first century bike ride, fitting in my engagement ring again (I had it resized smaller when I was at my low weight and have never had it resized up again).  In this vein, I got a charm to signify my starting this journey again.  I thought that what I chose was perfect because I lived in regret and doubt for so long that I never really put my all into restarting this journey.  And that just caused the regret to grow larger in my mind.  I saw this and knew that it was a perfect charm to signify the beginning of this FINAL mission to lose weight!


In case that second paragraph was overlooked, I will repeat....I LOST 3.1 pounds this week bringing my total to 11.8 since I recommitted myself!   That would mean that I am due 10 pound charm.  I chose something relatively simple.  I chose a charm that simply said "Dream"  These first 10 pounds have happened simply because I allowed myself to dream about the possibilities that lie before me if I just put my nose to the grindstone and DO IT!   I started to dream and 4 weeks later I'm down 11.8 pounds.   Dreams are what keep me motivated.   :-)


Yesterday I wrote a bit about Masala Bhangra, the new exercise dance class that I had the opportunity to try yesterday.   Miscellaneous Mom asked me how I could compare Masala Bhangra to zumba.  I figured I would explain it on here, since Masala Bhangra is not a very well known class...YET.     Basically these are two classes that are both centered around dance.  While Zumba focuses primarily on music and dance steps that are Latin in flavor.....Salsa, Meringue, etc etc etc.   Masala Bhangra uses an Indian music and the dance steps are derived from the Indian Bhangra style dancing.  So very similar in concept, but very different in beat and style.   Zumba seems to incoroporate more fitness moves and masala Bhangra focuses more on the dance. (however that could simply be due to the fact that this was an introductory class for everyone)  However, that said, my muscles were just as sore from Masala Bhangra as they are from a killer Anita zumba class.   My arms got a better workout with Masala Bhangra yesterday....they were SORE last night.  Why is this?   The Bhangra dance apparently has lots more arm movements, as in most of the hour my arms were either over my head or held out at shoulder length.  Uhhhhhh arms get heavy after a while!   The class is just as fun as zumba...basically just a different beat pulsating through the room and my body!  It's just as fast paced as Zumba. Just like a good zumba instructor, the Masala Bhangra instructor yesterday showed modifications for moves that were above some participants levels.  So the class is easily adaptable for all fitness levels. The time flew by!  I hope that there was a LOT of interest in the class for the upcoming training in March.  If there is, I will be very hopeful that a class begins near me at a time that I can attend!  On that note, my mind tells me that I'm not in shape enough to become an instructor......I know that's a crock.  However, it's on a weekend I work and I don't have the money to pay for the class.  Yes, it was that much fun!  :-)

Masala Bhangra

Today was the day that they offered a Masters Class for Masala Bhangra at the place that I go for zumba.  I went in and didn't have too much information other than watching one video and knowing that it was Indian dance based.  Seriously, I knew nothing else.  I arranged my day around the class and I arrived early so that I could get a spot in the front (I like the front, it allows me to see the instructor and thus have a better idea about what I am supposed to be doing.)  The introduced the class and the style dance and then they began.  Oh my word.  It was a workout!  Fun!   I at one point thought that I was going to have to sit down because I was pushing it so hard.  I just drank a LOT of water and pushed onward.  Fun fun fun!  I was BEAT red during the workout.  In fact, I talked after the session for a few minutes, we took a group photo, I put on my sweatshirt and jacket and gathered my stuff and walked to my car and THEN I took that picture.  You can see my face is BEAT red, even after a good 5-10 minute recovery.

As I walked into the building they were collecting money as this was a paid event for us that we couldn't use our punch cards (we buy a punch card and each class we attend we punch..when we run out of punches we buy a new card...works like a charm).  One of the regular zumba instructors (Kelsey) was there sitting with a fellow zumba girl (Karen) taking the money.  (The attendee has recently received her zumba certification).   Karen looked at me and said "Soooo, I'm dying to know.  How much weight have you lost."   Now I've been going to zumba for upwards to three years.  This girl has NEVER asked me that before.  I didn't think anything of it though and told her my results thus far (took a sneak peak and it SHOULD be good tomorrow).     She went on to say, "You came back after the winter break on fire.  You are pushing yourself and I knew that it meant that you were probably doing the whole thing."   She was tickled with my results.  She and I talked about deprivation versus eating healthy.  They are truly two different things!     It was really good to receive confirmation of my efforts.  (Sherry noticed my increased drive the first time she saw me at zumba after the winter zumba break and told me about it immediately!  :-)