Addiction....it's wonderful!

Yes, I am an addict.  And a very proud one too!  What am I addicted to? I'm not really sure myself whether it's one specific thing or whether it's a mash of ingredients.  I cannot survive without exercise!  I don't think it's only zumba, or spinning, or the circuit, or the amazing, crazy, beautiful and quirky personalities I've befriended, or the sheer buzz after a fabulous workout, or the way one feels just being fitter and leaner, or driving oneself to achieve goals and ticking them off one by one...it has to be all this rolled into one!  

I checked my stats over the last year earlier this evening on the VA website and realised with glee that I have progressed from the "poor" zone of body fat percentage, to the "fair" zone!  How awesome is that?!!  My weight has dropped by 15 blocks of butter!  I am getting there people, slowly, but I am getting there, and I tell you, it feels awesome!  

Speaking of awesome and quirky, I have to share a little of a Saturday morning zumba class with you. You know I've heard a saying bandied about - "white men can't dance".  Well, I guess that implies that black men can, and who could possibly be thought any less of for thinking that black men would have some sort of inborn rhythm.  I can attest to the fact that not all black men have that rhythm thang going!!  We have three sometimes four awesome guys who usually join our zumba class on a Saturday morning.  They turn it into an absolute party!  They whistle, they clap and they have a fantastic time....doing entirely their own brand of zumba!  It's just wonderful to watch and experience!  They are the perfect examples of "putting your personality into the dance"!  Do they have rhythm?  No.  Are they the most uninhibited dancers?  Yes.  Do they have an awesome time? Absolutely!!  

TwentyFourteen....already?!!

Well, I surely am the most neglectful blogger out there!!  How does that happen? Just like that nearly three months have slipped away and we're almost at the end of the 2nd month of 2014! Slow the bus down - someone - please!  

I got a sudden burst of inspiration from the new goings on at the gym.  Let me take a step back to the end of 2013 for a moment.  I get all philosophical and introspective at year ends and see where I've been, how I've improved on the year before and where I'm headed, or to be more precise where I am going to attempt to steer this ship!  I was quite disappointed that I had not attained some goals that I set for myself in 2013.  I find I am very quick to start that nasty internal dialogue and really beat myself up.  I stopped this nasty cow in mid sentence, told her to shut up and get lost and thought rather about what I had achieved and what I had learnt during the year.  What lessons would I take to heart and carry with me in the brand new, shiny and much better sounding TwentyFourteen?  One of the best lessons for me was pretty fundamental and probably one that you all know anyway!  Consistency and small lifestyle changes equals progress.  Lightbulb moment!  Looking back, I realised that I am dropping about 1kg per month, slowly dropping body fat, glob by glob, and all the while getting fitter and having a blast!  I've also gained a lot too....in the form of amazing friends.  It's wonderful to be amongst like-minded, crazy, beautiful people!  They add the sparkles of colour to the whole gym experience! 

You all know by now that I am a zumba addict.  Due to work constraints, I am unable to do the morning zumba classes, but thankfully VA Waterstone added another evening class on a Thursday.  It's quite a mission to get there on time, but thanks to an awesome boss who lets me dash out the door a little earlier, I make sure I am there.  Enter 2014 and VA came up with a new twist to zumba...or should I say... step.  Yip, zumba step.  So you're still doing your booty-shaking dancing to latin rhythms, but you have the little added challenge of a step!  As a step-class virgin, this was something completely new for me.  What a blast!  It's just amazing how that little step makes a big difference to your workout!  Ok so sometimes everyone is up on their step and I've fallen off the edge, or everyone's on the left and I'm on the right, but I'm getting the hang of it, and having great fun in the process.  I glanced in the mirror in class the other day and nearly burst out laughing as I noticed this one chick with an idiotic grin pasted across her beetroot red face....then with another glance I recognised the T-shirt....oh dear...it was me!  So you see, it's not just the lower body that gets the workout...it's the face muscles too as you dance, sweat and grin for an hour! And the soul...oh it's so good for the soul!!  

So zumba step wasn't the only thing that VA dished up.  They introduced a 12-week challenge.  Now really, I must have some sort of genetic short-circuit somewhere...my brain hears the "challenge" word and it's like "yes, I am in, I am there...so what is the challenge".  It's dreadful! I'm in and signed up before I've even considered what I'm letting myself in for.  I'm still debating whether this is a good or bad trait to have!  I'm in week 3 of the challenge now.  What they do is assess you.  Oh ja friends...with the caliper thingies....uh huh.... body fat....eeeuw.... they measure you with a tape measure...weigh you....take your height....put all of this info into their computer and voila! you're registered.  Every three weeks, they re-assess you so that you can see how you're progressing.  My second assessment is coming up this Friday, so I need to be extra extra strict this coming week.  

I've added spinning to my gym regime on a Monday and this morning, yes, on a Sunday morning, I was in the gym at 08h15 for Chantal's Shape Mix class.  I think I may need assistance fastening my seatbelt and turning the steering wheel tomorrow morning!!  That tiny, petite girl is dynamite I tell you.  As I sit here typing I can feel muscles I never knew existed freezing up!  I will definitely need to do a lot more of those classes!

On my wishlist this year is the Colour Run which is in October I think.  It's just a 5km run.  For me, that seems impossible.  I am not a runner!  I am probably the most clumsy, ungraceful runner ever...not that I can run very far!  It's crazy - I can dance at quite high revs for an hour, but as soon as I attempt a little jog, I feel like I am dying after about 100m or so!  So I will have to build this up and hopefully by October I will be able to shuffle along for 5km!  I'm trying to organise a huge bunch of friends to all do the run - should be quite a party!

So all in all, it looks like a pretty positive year that lies ahead!  

Whisky Tango Foxtrot! We've entered the last month of the first quarter!

Good grief, but 2013 is going like a boeing!  I'm finding it hard to deal with all the Easter goodies in the shops when I feel like I'm still trying to catch my breath from all the Christmassy stuff.  Talking of catching my breath... last week on Wednesday, I went to my mid-week zumba fix.  Shame man, Elroy was not well.  He said he had a bit of a cold and his voice was pretty much non-existent.  To make matters worse (for the hearing humans that is!)  the sound system was giving problems and his microphone was not working.  He resorted to hand signals only - something which suits me down the ground being a deaf one! Respect brother!  This guy took us through the whole class, sick or not, and ensured we had our fix.  As always, it was an awesome, de-stressing class.  

Due to time constraints along with a dose of demotivation, I had not made it to gym on Monday evening and so Wednesday was my first workout of the week.  Yikes!  I would be short for my total calorie burn for the week.  Friday afternoon saw me in the gym - on my off afternoon nogal -  to make up for Monday.  I had a quick, intense workout.  I was desperately looking forward to the weekend as I'd planned to go away for Saturday/Sunday with a couple of friends.  You know, leave the husband and the sons to fend for themselves for a few hours!  I was delighted that we were only leaving late morning as that meant that I could still get my Saturday morning zumba fix.  Yeah!  I got to the gym and noticed that the queue was not as long as usual for a Saturday morning.  Immediately I was concerned as I was not sure what was going on.  On my way back from the water fountain where I had filled my water bottle, I saw a friend in line who said that Elroy was off sick.  Oh no, I practically felt the blood drain from my face.  She noticed my worry and said that there was a replacement instructor - allegedly named Sakkie.  Oh dear, my heart sank.  What kind of zumba class would Sakkie give and who was he and where did he fall out of?  I had no hope.  Fortunately, I needed my fix and so stood in line and entered the class along with the other die-hards.  Well, in bounded this dude - T-shirt, track pants, tackies, and muscles.  Mmmmm, nice to look at.... but would he perform?  I almost felt sorry for him as to attempt to fill Elroy's shoes must be an awfully daunting task.  I mean Elroy makes us laugh, he makes us feel special, sexy, positive and to top it all he gives us one phenomenal, booty-shaking, calorie burning workout!  

Let me say straight off the bat - Sakkie did not disappoint!  Sakkie has a very different style to Elroy.  Sakkie has a fantastic sense of humour though and he can move that gorgeous body of his - let me assure you!  Man, that guy can dance!  We even did the zorba!!  Of course without the plate breaking and ouzo.  

It amazes me, how you have a simple change like a different zumba instructor, and suddenly different muscles come into play.  Divine!  I could feel it when my friends and I went for a walk on Saturday afternoon.  Sakkie, my booty and my thighs just love you man!

I am very motivated for my Monday workout, and naturally, I'm looking forward to my Wednesday/Elroy/Zumba fix - but I have to say - I wouldn't mind crossing zumba paths with Sakkie again sometime!!

Valentine Shmalentine

So tomorrow is Valentines Day.  Bah humbug I say!  I really don't like this day to put it mildly!  I reckon it was concocted by some clever businessman to rip off all the people too afraid of being non-conformers! Ag, I suppose that's a little unfair of me, but it really irks me that there has to be one day, just ONE day, where one is socially forced to declare ones love and spend copious amounts of hard earned cash on ridiculously expensive flowers, chocolates and various other gifts.  Nah!  I put my foot down.  I will not partake! Ok, so we're trying to do a fun thing at work and everyone is going to wear something red,  but that's as far as it goes for me.  I feel rather strongly that ones loved ones are to be made to feel special all the time and seriously if you can't make an effort throughout the year, don't be making any special effort on Valentines Day - that would just make me angry!

So what does this have to do with exercise you ask.  Good question!!  Absolutely nothing except that I suddenly realised that we are halfway through February 2013 already and I am not on track with my health and fitness goals.  Perhaps that has something to do with comfort eating - ya think!!  It amazes me - here I am with these great goals and I face a little bit of a challenging obstacle in my life, and what do I do, I eat.  And I swing between this not caring, don't care how fat I get, life is too short to eat healthily all the time scenario, to absolutely detesting myself for being such a wimp and giving in to food!!  Aaaargh!!!  Why does life need to be so challenging sometimes!

On the upside, I had a great session on a spinning bike yesterday.  My intention was to do a long session at low heart rate so that I could get a decent chunk of fat burning in.  I was a tad short on time so ended up only cycling 20km but my Polar heart rate monitor says I was running at 55% fat burning!  Yes please!  I need to do at least one of these sessions a week.

This evening of course we had a zumba class.  Awesome!!  I burnt close to 900 calories in the space of an hour - so it was only 45% fat burning, but it was such a laugh and so good for the soul!  I had my two entertainers in front of me again today.  They are young girls in their early twenties.  One is blonde, tall and has bright blue eyes and her friend is a short, curvy brunette.  They are clearly best friends and they laugh and joke around and take nothing seriously!  I love them to bits.  Some people look far too serious in the zumba class.  I had Miss Speedy next to me tonight.  She is very enthusiastic, knows all the steps to each dance, but doesn't feel the music.  For me you need to feel the latin rhythms, not just hear the music.  She does everything she should, but she always seems to be on fast foward and slightly ahead of the beat.  Hey, but she is having a great time, and that's what counts.  Even the dude with zero rhythm has fun.  I think that's what I love most about zumba... you add your own flair and flavour and make it yours.  

I spoke about dates and goals in my previous post.  I am determined to get to Thailand this year.  I have no clue as to how I am going to achieve this, but I just need to believe that I will.  If you can dream it, you can do it.  I think I will take this thought and use it to fuel my workouts and say no to those carbs.  I need to imagine myself snorkeling  in a little bikini.... ooooo e e!!  

And on the Valentine's front - write a note on a sticky and put it on the bathroom mirror so that tomorrow morning when you get out of the shower, you are greeted with "good morning gorgeous"!!  

Coming up for a year and a half

Well, yes, I have been away for a very long time haven't I?  More than a year!  

You know, right at the beginning, I promised to be honest so here goes.  When at the age of 43 I boldly joined the gym, being overweight and with a body composition that was just so wrong, I had this incredible positivity and I imagined that within three to six months I'd have the body of a fitness model and all my problems would be over!  Yeah, I know. Slap me.  Hard.  For being so naive!  

I tried really hard.  I've worked incredibly hard in the gym and still do.  I tried various eating plans and the craziest thing is that nothing seemed to work.  My weight dropped a little, my body fat dropped by an insignificant percentage, I lost quite a few centimetres and yes, I did go from a size 14 bordering on a 16, to a 12, BUT that's where is ended.  My body fat is still dangerously high, and I am still around, or should I say a round (lol) 10kg overweight.  I got to a point where it was embarrassing to actually blog because I just wasn't able to report any further progress.  I felt I was failing miserably.  

It was quite good that I'd been to a dietician shortly after getting this whole fitness kick on the road.  I saw her a year later at which stage she compared my stats with those of a year earlier.  This was quite enlightening.  She said that my bone density was better and my muscle mass was more which proved that I was not talking nonsense about working hard in the gym, but that my body fat was still high.  This pointed a great big red warning arrow in the direction of the problem.  Insulin resistance!  Yikes!  Sounded bad.  And yes it is bad as it's a step before diabetes type II!  Alright no need to panic - the situation can be remedied.  In laymen's terms, a person who is insulin resistant has a body that says the following when you consume carbohydrates, and here I am referring in particular to high GI carbs:  "hell no girlfriend, I've forgotten what to do with this carb stuff so the safest is going to be to store it as fat".  Right.  A "normal" person's body upon receiving carbs says:  "ah, energy, ok you carbs go to the muscles where this gym bunny will need you for fueling that sexy, booty shaking zumba class".  Ok, so how does one reverse this situation and "remind" the body that storing carbs as fat is really just not on?  Mmmmm I see you have it - you remove the carbs!!  Yebo!  I went to see an incredible dietician who is extremely witty, practical and so inspiring!  This respect is mainly because she says I definitely should not give up my glass of red wine at night! She says it should take a cycle of about 6 - 8 weeks of this low fat, low carb eating plan to wake up the body's insulin sensitivity.  Ah, I saw light at the end of the tunnel.

Of course typical to me, I started this shortly before the Festive Season.  Why they ever started calling it Festive is beyond me!  I tried to maintain, but eventually succumbed to the carbs in my three weeks I had off.  Doritos became my carb of choice followed closely by an ice cold ale.  I suppose it's silly really as I really do feel better when I eat less carbs.  Suddenly I don't have a bloated tummy and I haven't had stomach cramps for ages. I figured pretty quickly that bread, low GI or not, does not like me at all!   So we've just hit February and I am now back on track with the low fat, low carb eating plan.  I have various dates that I am using as motivation.... Valentines Day, first weekend in March (I may be going away with friends), 26 April, the first week in May (a challenge with Ashley and Maryjane), and of course the end of May when I shall be hitting the big 45 and the start of my next 5 year plan!!

My current exercise of choice is zumba.  Zumba I can honestly say has changed my life!  It's the most fun, the sexiest, the most de-stressing form of exercise I have ever tried.  I think, no I know, this is due to having the most awesome zumba instructor that was ever born!  He is an amazingly positive energy and just inspires and motivates and makes one feel special and amazing!  Of course it helps that he has thee hottest body I have seen in ages and when his T-shirt clings to his sweaty six pack, it just fuels me to keep going!!  My husband says this guy could get SO much action from the ladies!!  I can't argue with that!  The Kick class also does it for me hey.  I genuinely feel as if I'm going to die during each and every kick class, but the endorphins and good stuff that's released when you're near death is just too fabulous.  I do say a prayer before each class asking that I do survive it and I just keep going back for more!  

I can tell you emphatically that I am so much fitter than I was when I started this blog.  I have a way to go to get the body fat down, but now that I know what the problem is, I can start working on the solution and hopefully I will keep you updated now that I am all fired up again.