Dancing My Butt Off

My trip to Portland was everything I hoped it would be and more. Remember last week when I described what my perfect day there would be like? Well, I had more than one of those. One day I took a walk around the neighborhood where I was staying with my host’s 8 year old son. Nice paths bordering a holly farm and blackberry bushes everywhere! I really want to go pick blackberries later this summer. Maybe back to Oregon, maybe in California. Another day we took a walk at the Tualatin Hills Nature Park. Mostly paved, but with some unpaved loop offshoots. I got to be amidst tall, tall, very green trees...with moss. I love moss so much from when I used to spend hours and hours out in the woods that I gave my oldest son that as a middle name. Silly, yeah?

After mornings out enjoying the natural beauty of the Portland area, and there really is a lot of that, we went to the Waterfront Blues Fest. Nothing brings an all day smile to my face like being at a music fest. So much good music – too many artists to name. But Eric Lindell and Paul Thorn were great for sure. The highlights for me were the ones I thought they would be. Rosie Ledet, billed as The Zydeco Sweetheart. And that she is. She played twice on Saturday. The band was hot, full of good time energy, and there was a dance floor where more than half the people were dancing zydeco style. There’s a Cascade Zydeco dance club in Portland that teaches zydeco. Wish we had one of them here. I so want to learn how to zydeco dance. It looks so fun. Anyways, there was plenty of room for everyone to dance, zydeco or not.

And dance I did, for hours. It makes me so happy that I can do that again. After just a few months of this getting healthy focus and I have so much more energy. It’s the best! On Sunday, the highlight for me was James Hunter, the British soul musician. I admit to having a little crush on him. His voice is just so silky, and his band is smoooooth. Two saxes, which always gets me. They did some moves that cracked me up. I highly recommend catching their show if you get a chance. Did I mention my crush?


One of the things that is always an issue for me when I go to these music fests is what to wear for shoes, since for many years I only wore slippers (flip flops) or heeled sandals for going out. Recently I added Crocs to my repertoire, and wonder of wonders! Sneaks for the gym. I like to look cutish, but comfort is a big factor since 8-10 hours of walking between stages and hard core boogieing with only occasional sit-downs can take a toll. I found some pretty comfortable and okay looking shoes before I went, so I was good until late Saturday night, after dancing on a slope for about two hours. I all of a sudden had a blister. Blisters are not good. I had also smartened up by Saturday and taped the toe that has been giving me trouble lately on the tread, because of jamming it last year. Anyway, long story short, by Sunday my feet were toast. Most of the day I went barefoot. Eewww!!!! And wore my crocs when I had to. They did shine up pretty nice with ArmorAll though. But you know what? By then I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was hear more music and dance.

I was kind of nervous about keeping to my plan in terms of eating and exercise. I think we’ve covered the exercise part fine, now on to the food. I brought a little notebook with me to write down everything I ate, since I wasn’t going to be able to log my food online. That worked out so well, kept me conscious of what I was eating. I had some fruit and a fat free yogurt each morning. Then we brought food with us – more fruit, one day steak, the other chicken, and brown rice mixed with yellow split peas and seeds, and salad. And drinks. Lots of water, and a little happy hour beverages. Each day I bought one plate of a different food to share with my friend, so I could sample some of the good looking food there. That worked out really well, too. A few bites and I was satisfied.

So, the end result of my first vacation of this Getting Healthy journey? Lots and lots of fun, and a 1.8 pound loss! My goal was just to hold steady, so I am a very happy girl. This weekend I’m off to Kauai for my friend John’s birthday and hopefully will get to spend some fun outdoor time with a SparkPeople friend, KauaiCarolanne. John teaches sailing on Sunday afternoons, so I’ll get to play bumper boats on a Laser. This oughta be good…..lucky I can swim.

Back to the Numbers

Okay, so after last week’s weigh-in, I was whining about the numbers not adding up. Today I’m singing a completely different tune. Based on the scientific formula of What I eat – What it takes to keep my body alive – How frickin’ hard I’m working out = What the Scale Should Say, I should have lost 2.95 pounds. Again, it wasn’t exact, but I lost another 2.4 pounds!!!

I’m totally happy with that, because it means that I’ve lost 15 pounds and I’m ¼ of the way to my goal weight! Really, once I got serious, and smarter, about it, it hasn’t taken long. Thanks for all the tips, Michelle, you trigirl, you! And for the very useful info and trackers, SparkPeople! Also, I was trying to hit 185 by the time I went to Portland, so since it has 185 in it, I’ll take it.

I also measured myself today, because I decided I’d do that on my first weigh-in of each month. And, you won’t believe this, because I couldn’t, and I’m living in this body, I trimmed 11.5 inches off my body! In one month!!!!! And that includes a .5 gain in my thigh measurement. I’m not sure what that’s about, but can only guess it is pure muscle underneath that outer fat layer, and when I measured before I was more squishy, so maybe the tape kind of sunk in a little? But, 11.5 Inches!!!! Which brings me to a little dilemma.

Clothes. That fit. I’ve been noticing that my pants are all loose. In fact, most of them I can take off without unzipping them. Yep, they slide right off my hips. But, most of my next size skinnier clothes are still too tight. Except my favorite shorts. Those fit again!!!! I don’t want to go out and buy a bunch of new clothes I’ll only wear for a month or so, but I wanted to look good in Portland. So, after much mind debate I decided to buy one new pair of shorts, a few tops, and just let the rest hang where they may.

So, one more really cool thing this week. I’ve really been eyeing the weight machines while I pedal away on the bikes at the gym, trying to see how people adjust things. When I’m on the treadmill I can’t think of anything except what I’m doing. Oh! Another cool thing! I’m up to a Walk 3.0/Jog 3.9 pace on the tread, so hopefully I’ll be able to move on to Week 3 of my 5K running plan soon.

Anyway, back to the strength training. After my cardio the other day, I saw there was a weight training class in session so I was watching that, and turned to an employee that was nearby and asked him about the class. I told him I was wanting to add some strength training to my program, but didn’t know how to use the machines. He turned out to be the Fitness Manager of the club, and asked hadn’t I been given a complimentary orientation when I joined. I told him I had, but was told we didn’t have time to try any machines during it. Remember the TFH??? I didn’t offer it, but he asked, so I did tell him her name. Anyways…..he scheduled another orientation for me for next week. Yeah!!!! I’m going to be doing some strength training!!! I’m so excited. I thought it was better to wait till after my trip in case I get really sore. That, plus I think I’m going to try that weight training class soon. This how they described it; "24LIFT™:
One of our most popular classes, this highly efficient, full-body 24 Hour Fitness signature workout utilizes barbells and hand weights to strengthen and sculpt all muscle groups. " Sounds good to me.

Over and out. Time to make my smoothie, make banana bread to take with me, pack, and get to the gym. And then tomorrow I'm off to boogie with that cutie, James Hunter, and that hot cajun mama, Rosie Ledet. Woo Hoo! Update: A little change in plans due to puter not liking BlogSpot all of a sudden. Already made the banana bread, and I'm going to the beach instead. Looks like there might be some waves.