Zumba and Mama Bean

I went to my second Zumba class today.  Wow.  It is way too much fun.

For those of you that are following my secondary weight loss blog, you are probably aware that this time on my quest to lose weight, I decided to only do exercise that I like.  This isn't too terribly difficult, as I like pretty much everything.  But this time, I'm raising the bar.  I don't mind working out, but I wasn't loving it.  Every time I went to the gym it was a reminder on how much I had let myself go. Working out used to be a great stress reliever.  I could feel my muscles grow stronger every time.  Now, I can't even find my muscles beneath the layers of fat.

So no more cross training.  No more weights.  No more treadmill.  For now.  When I'm at a point where I'm trying to get fit, I will add those back in.  Right now, I'm just trying to get to fat.

Seriously.

I have 21 pounds to lose to be "just" fat.

I will be the happiest fat person in the world once I get there.  Or as I will refer to myself- non-obese person.

What a sad goal- to be fat.

But alas, it's where I"m at right now and I'm okay with that.

So rather than look at this next year as a giant mountain to climb, I decided to dance up it.  I just had some cookies, too.  What I didn't do was eat a dozen.  I had some.  Last week I had ice cream.  Tonight, I will have a glass of wine at my book club.

And every week, I have lost a pound. 

And every week I've only done things that I liked.

Now I'm sure if I really put my mind to it, like the folks on "The Biggest Loser" or "I Used to Be Fat" I could get most of this weight off much more quickly.  Trust me, it would find me again. 

I have very intentionally decided to do this sloooooooowly.  With fun and a little flair.

So today I shook my booty.  The hard part isn't to shake it.  The hard part is to get it to stop shaking.  And as I was gettin' down with my funky self, I noticed the treadmills.  The people on them looked like drones.  Not the runners-- but the walkers. They were my size or bigger.  Headsets on.  Eyes glazed.  Trudging through life.

I wanted to tell them "You're not going to stick with it.  Trust me.  Might as well have some fun." 

I'm not by any means the biggest or the most uncoordinated person in the class.  I don't even think there's a profile for the class.  I may even be on the younger end.  I'm not sure.  There's a wide range of ethnicities, too.  There's a gentlemen who must be in his late 70's-- he rocks.

It's all very motivating.  Dancing doesn't discriminate.

The older women who have adopted me in the back row, keep me going.  I keep them laughing.  It's nice.

According to my heart rate monitor, my cardio health is improving.  According to my scale, I'm losing weight.  According to my smile, I am having fun.


And that's what it's all about, isn't it?