NSVs Sublime and Ridiculous

1. I added a height extension to my step aerobics thingy (um, step).
2. I bought a new pair of size fourteen jeans at Ross last week after noticing that my trusty size sixteens were a bit baggy. But that's not the NSV... yesterday, I was chasing my five year old around the garden and the new jeans fell off! Right down to my ankles, major hilarity ensued (just the family, thank heavens). I'm so glad I only spent eleven bucks on them... I'll be back at Ross tomorrow in the size twelve section...

What Am I Doing?

At the end of 2008 I found myself self-medicating with See's Candy and mugs of hot buttered rum. After a few weeks of butter and rum induced stupor I managed to snap out of it, eventually saying to myself something like "Huh, I wonder what that was about?" I've read enough Geneen Roth in my life to comprehend that something's wrong if I'm in binge-mode... I just wish it didn't take two weeks of binge-mode to figure it out. (Maybe it won't now, after that experience...) At any rate, I started emerging from the binge coma by walking. One of my dearest friends recommended an Omron pedometer (HJ-720), which I bought in late January. I started walking. I was probably walking around 3,000-4,000 steps a day before I bought the pedometer; I worked relatively slowly up to a 9,000 steps per day goal. Six months later, I'm walking at least 10,000 steps a day. I live in a hilly neighborhood which is great for the calves... and I love walking up to a recently developed McMansionland (vaguely mediterranean architecture, stunning views) so I can entertain myself by denigrating everything about it: the architecture, the landscaping and everyone's choice of patio accessories. It keeps me from envying their pools. Kinda.

Then, in February, I started hankering for a Wii Fit. Playing Wii Fit made Heath Bell sweat up a storm, why not me? While I was researching the Wii Fit (and thanks, IzzyBeth, for the fabulous reviews), I discovered My Fitness Coach for the Wii, which eventually led to buying both games in April. Which, in turn, led me to buy EA Active the very day it came out. (Wii fitness geek much?) So I think I'm a little tech-heavy with the fitness toys, but it seems to be working. I work out with My Fitness Coach 30-45 minutes daily. I've completed one 30 day challenge in EA Active. I'm a little less mad about Wii Fit now, but I still use it as a scale and my piggy bank/toaster-looking-thing is silver. So here's my daily routine:

30-45 minutes aerobics with My Fitness Coach

30-65 minutes of walking (we've had access to our neighbor's pool this week, so I've been slacking with the walks)

20 minutes or so of the EA Active workouts, which combine a bit of aerobics, strength training and yelling at the annoying trainer avatar

In addition, I've been experimenting with some fitness DVDs: I've tried Jillian's 30 Day Shred and a couple of Samba workouts from Netflix.

All of this adds up to the most exercise I've had in years. It feels so good to move! I can't believe I wasted so much of my life not exercising. But I can't imaging going back- even if I were to enter another binge coma, I'd keep exercising. Exercise is an integral part of my life now. When I've lost weight before, the exercise component was almost an afterthought- now it's front and center.

Why Am I Here?

A month ago, I wasn't aware of fitness or weight loss blogs... now I spend way too much time reading them. I've been on a seemingly endless plateau for months now- okay, that's not "endless" but "seemingly endless" is quite apt. I'll save My History of Fatness for another post; most recently I've gone from 194 pounds just after Christmas to 180 today, which feels glacial to me. I'm 5' 6" and I start to look skeletal at 135, so I'm shooting for about 140.

I'm hoping that by blogging I'll be able to give myself a place to sort out my feelings about weight loss, diet and exercise and hopefully (someday) gather support. That's what I've really enjoyed as I've spent the last month looking through weight loss blogs- it seems like a wonderful place to gain support. It's fascinating to read other people's success stories (even the not-so-successful stories are fascinating).

A little about me: I live in Northern California with my husband and two sons (14 and 5- yes, I've extended my child-raising years wa-a-a-a-a-ay too long). I'm a part-time college librarian and instructor. I love to garden and bake and read about crafts (I never have time to actually do any crafting, though). I'm in my late mid-forties (okay, I'm 48). In my yout' I loved The Clash and Elvis Costello-- I still love them, which is why, though I'm growing out a head of mostly gray hair, I have a purple streak lurking underneath my chin-length bob. I tend to overuse parentheses (you may have noticed this already).

Hello!

I'm trying to kick myself off a weight loss plateau- help!