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I can't thank everyone enough for all the kind words and encouragement they shared with me after I wrote yesterday's post. I went to Zumba last night (which was awesome, so hold that thought) and after class one of the regulars that I don't know very well came up to me and told me she had read my blog and had so many nice things to say to me. She told me a little about her own wellness goals and she said I looked great and that I'm doing such a good job. I couldn't say much back to her because I was on the verge of tears the whole time she was talking to me. Yesterday was such a breakthrough day for me and to have this woman say all these wonderful things to me just made me so happy and proud and weepy. It truly was a great day.
I took Tina's Zumba class last night. I love Tina. She is super sweet and is always cheering me on and talking about weight watchers and losing weight and Zumba. She knows my favorite routine of hers is to a song called "Shake" and so she added it to her playlist yesterday when she heard I was coming to class. Lisa was doing a song and so Tina was next to me and she leaned over and said "guess what's next!" I was really excited. After Lisa was done with her salsa, Tina went back to the middle of the room and Shake started. I caught her eye and she nodded her head for me to come over and stand next to her which I happily did. Shake is a hard song and it's long, but it's my favorite. I loved every minute of it.
Ashley snapped this photo during class last night. I'm on the left in the red tank.
This was during the warm up because my hair is still down and not drenched in sweat :)
I had another awesome thing happen last night. I got home from Zumba, read the kids a couple of bedtime stories and then heated up my Smart Ones meal and inhaled it. I logged my points into the weight watcher web site and realized I still had 5 points left for the day. This has not happened for me in months! At least not since the new points plus program launched. It felt awesome to know that I could do it. I took a shower and then had some hummus and pretzels for 4 points and before bed had a weight watchers ice cream bar with the 1 point left, plus 2 exercise points I've built up. As of right now I still have 7 exercise points in my bank and I'm going to Zumba tonight and tomorrow night. The scale this morning read 195.8. Awesome.
So.
Obviously, I've had a lot of things racing through my mind lately and I have many things I'd like to share with you. One memory I had this morning sticks out to me.
There is a woman that goes to Zumba a couple times a week. I don't know her name but she stands out in a crowd. She is all muscle. She stands in the front of class and I also see her in the weight room all the time. On Monday, we were doing this awesome song called "Gyrate" in Geraldine's class and this woman was feeling the song so much that she was going up to random women in class during the gyrate part and shaking it with them. It was awesome and made me smile.
The thing is I remember her pre-Zumba. I remember her from when I was at my heaviest - 245 pounds.
This was probably three or four years ago when Gracie was 2 or 3 and she was taking a gymnastics class on Saturday mornings. The parents sit out in a common area on the second floor of the Y and watch the kids through the window doing their tumbling. The group exercise room is around the corner from where Gracie was taking her class and every Saturday I would see this woman come out of whatever class she was taking, drenched in sweat and she and the other people from the class would stand around for a few minutes and chat and catch their breath before heading downstairs.
I remember that I judged them. Mostly I was jealous. I would roll out of bed and throw some clothes on and me and Jim would drag the kids to the YMCA and I would be so tired. And here were these super fit men and women that had just finished a killer workout before 9:30 a.m. and I thought they were showing off. I also used to think that people who posted on their Facebook status about their workouts were just showoffs looking for attention. But like I said - I was jealous. I was jealous of their dedication and their strength because I couldn't have that. I didn't think it was possible for me to ever be them. To physically make it through a exercise class, let alone having the discipline to get up on a Saturday morning to exercise. Those people were crazy.
Well, call me crazy too. Because I'm soooo one of them now. There's a reason that so many of those Biggest Loser contestants go from never stepping foot in a gym and end up being personal trainers. Once you find the kind of exercise that you love, it changes you. Now, I'm telling you. I had tried working out before - doing step classes, treadmill, walking and I hated ever minute of it. EVERY MINUTE! But Zumba is different for me. I love it. The hardest part for me is walking up the stairs to go to class. It is a party for me, just like the commercials say.
One of my favorite Zumba classes is the Saturday morning one. I was just talking to Lisa (who's teaching tonight and was taking song requests) and I asked her to play Jay Sean's Do You Remember because it reminds me of when she would do that song during the Saturday morning class. It just makes me smile. Imagine that - smiling because of song that's played during a 9:45 a.m. Saturday morning Zumba class.
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