My sister’s getting married in a few months, so in typical sibling fashion, I want to show up in a stunning dress that’s, oh, a size or two smaller than I am now, with abs of steel to show off in the hotel pool.  That’s probably a bit too lofty a goal, but hey, I’ve been professionally trained on “being the best by any measure” and “bold and audacious goals”.  These are definitely bold and audacious.

In pursuit of those goals, I grabbed a copy of the South Beach Diet and spent two weeks in the first Phase of the diet.  No bread, cereal, rice, etc.  No fruits.  Eat reasonable portions, and multiple snacks.  Outcome listed in the book: up to 8-12 pounds in that first two weeks.  Outcome of mine: 1-2 pounds.  Not very inspiring.  One of my snack breaks, I ate pistachios (up to 30 is a snack serving) and roasted pumpkin seeds.  Closest to eating like a bird I’ve ever done, and end result was 1-2 pounds??!

Beyond South Beach, I’ve also started taking a class at the gym called Group Power twice a week.  It’s an hour of continual weight training to your basic cardio-pumping music.  The class is probably broken up into 6 or so segments, with maybe a minute or so break between them.  You take a bar and then add weight, depending on the basic body area you’re working on (biceps, triceps, back/shoulders, legs, abs, warmup, cooldown).  I always know that I’ve done the class afterwards, and the first time or two I did it, I knew it for up to 3 days afterwards.   I’m also adding some running back into my routine, with hopes of doing the Baltimore half-marathon in October, and then a trail marathon in November.

Becky’s wedding is in September: I’m hoping a few months of watching my diet (more gently than formally), lifting weights in class, and running regularly will give me some noticeable results.  Nothing like a little motivation to kick me up a gear.