Post Holiday Week Update

I hope that you had a merry Christmas.  To paraphrase Bob Cratchit, "I was making rather merry this week."  I thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas week.  There was plenty of food, fun and fellowship, though I tried to keep the food part under control.  I can’t say that I was entirely successful where the desserts and treats were involved.  I indulged more than I should have.  Knowing this, I kicked up my activity levels and banked some calories by consuming fewer calories at breakfast and lunch.  Even so, I was not looking forward to my weekly weigh-in.  To my surprise, I broke even; no loss or gain.  While I didn't gain, the downside is that I would probably have posted a loss if not for the extra dessert calories.

Activity

I skipped Monday’s workout to attend a group Salsa class, which turned out to be a really good decision.  It was a really good time, with dancing afterwards.  If you have chance to try a class, I highly recommend that you do it.

I had some good workouts at the gym, with a double session on Friday.  I mixed in more minutes of reverse stepping on the elliptical machine, spent a little more time on the track, and tried out a few more machines.

Goals

It looks like I’m going to miss my goal of wearing a smaller pants size by New Year’s Eve.  I’m closer, but they’re still not fitting comfortably.  I’ll push that goal to January 23, 2014, which will be the one year anniversary of the restart of my fitness journey.  On a related note, I’ll be doing Daniel’s Fast again, starting on January 2nd.  This is the three week fast that helped get me back on the fitness path when I tried it last year.  By coincidence, I happened to watch “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” on HLN tonight, a film about film about a guy who is 100 lbs overweight and his weight loss journey.  His program included fasting and juicing.

Motivation

I had some good motivational moments this week.

• I spent Christmas Eve with friends and extended family, some of whom I hadn't seen for months.  I got lots of positive feedback and congratulations on my progress.
• While viewing a slideshow of family pictures, my three year old grandson was happily pointing out everyone he recognized.  When a "Before and Current" comparison picture of me came on the screen, he identified me in the "current" photo, then asked "Who is that?" while pointing to the "before" picture.
• I ran into an acquaintance in Zumba class who I hadn't seen for several months.  She was happy to see that I was still in the class and complimented me on my weight loss.

Salsa

I don’t know how many calories I burn during a night of Latin dancing, but I’d guess that it’s a fairly significant amount.  More importantly, it’s a lot of fun.  As I suggested before, if you get the chance to learn, take it.  Here’s a video that I've found helpful.  It doesn't take the place of live lessons, but it may give you a taste of Salsa sabor (flavor).

Weight loss to date: 40.2 lbs.