What A Difference A Week Makes

Last Friday at this time I wanted to rip my stomach out of my body and stomp on it. I was "hungover" from my junk food binge, I'd gained weight and I felt utterly miserable. But that was last Friday. Today, I can be enthusiastic and mean it when I say "Thank God It's Friday (and payday, too)!!! It's amazing what a difference a week can make in terms of perspective.

I started this week with the goal to re-dedicate myself to the NS program and, more importantly, to myself. I KNOW I can be successful on this and achieve my weight loss goals. I've been trying to change up the workouts so that I don't get bored. I even made a big ticket purchase and ordered Tony Little's Gazelle. I should be getting that in a couple of weeks, and I'm excited to start a new cardio-workout, especially one that is low/no impact and promotes increased metabolism and fat-burning. (Plus, you gotta love his commercials. LOL) I've also been putting more emphasis on my abs and arms. By the way: I have a muscle. I'm not sure where it came from, but the other day I flexed my biceps and I swear it was like Popeye after he ate a can of spinach!! I'm amazed. Must be those 12-20 wall pushups I've been doing in the bathroom stall everytime I go pee (okay, maybe I'm a little overboard, but it's working!). I've noticed that even while I'd gained weight last week, my clothes were fitting great and I continued to lose inches. Hey, I'm happy with whatever makes me look and feel smaller (loss of weight or inches).

So, yesterday I went to the doctor for some labwork and, for once, I was not scolded; I was actually praised!!! Since my last visit just over a month ago, I was down 12lbs, my blood pressure was a calm 128/78 -- so much so that I was officially able to eliminate one of the my high blood pressure medications. Talk about a great Non-Scale Victory! The doctor was very pleased and congratulated me for my efforts. When I left the clinic, I thought back about all the times over the years that I dreaded going to the doctor. EVERYTHING --menstrual cramps, back pain, headaches, a broken finger or toothache--was because I was "too heavy." It got to be so that I didn't want to go, even when I really needed to. But no more!!

I was so pumped after the doctor that I had an AWESOME workout: I did my usual 20 minutes at lunch, did Leslie Sansone's 2-mile Walk Away The Pounds (I highly recommend this GREAT series of tapes--they come in 1, 2 and 3-mile workouts), 8 minutes of squats and abwork with MaDonna Grimes and walked my dog Mosley for 2.5 miles. I was soo invigorated when I went to shower; I couldn't believe how great I felt...feel!

Finally, as of this morning, I've lost 7.5 of the 8lbs I gained since the start of my TOM 2 Fridays ago and through my fall off the healthy-food wagon last week. Which means, technically, I can still lose the 4lbs necessary to meet my March Mad Dash to 290 goal by April 1st. I'm on a mission!