The results are in (and I'm an "amazing woman")!
The results are in!
It's been just over a month since I joined Curves. I know this because I just had to get weighed and measured again - you do this once a month to track your progress (or, occasionally, the lack thereof). Yesterday was an incredibly crappy day for me for other reasons (my dear sweet Otto, my beloved '99 VW Jetta, went in for his routine 50,000 mile maintenance and came out $2600 later with a bunch of new-but-apparently-critical pieces-parts like, oh, brakes, and something called an "ignition coil pack" which, if the shop wasn't completely lying to me, needed to be replaced because it was shooting sparks across my engine and I was in somewhat real jeopardy of Really Bad Things happening because of it....) so I was not particularly expecting it to get much better by standing on a scale. I'm 30 years old, and if I've learned anything in my life, it's that standing on a scale never improves my mood. In fact, just thinking about scales is usually enough to send me into a funk.
Yesterday was somewhat of an exception, I guess. My mood didn't really change, but it didn't get worse, either - that's a step in the right direction anyway. (And to be fair, there's not much anybody or anything could have done right then to make me ecstatic about life, so "not getting worse" is probably more significant than I'm giving it credit for). So anyway, here's what happened: the nice Curves ladies put me on the scale, then took my measurements and put them all into the computer to see what kind of progress I'd made. As I was doing my workout, I could see them huddled together and mumbling numbers. Every now and then they'd say my name and something about "awesome"...
[Before I get much farther, let me preface the rest of this by saying that I'm not going to post on here about every pound gained or lost, or what I did/didn't eat that did/didn't conform to my aspirations, and how it did/didn't make me feel that I did/didn't do whatever it is I should/shouldn't have done. I'm just rolling on a particular aspect of the results from yesterday here. Go with it.]
When they had it all figured out, they told me -- very excitedly -- that I'd lost 4.5 lbs and 15.75 inches, and "how about that???" Poor ladies, I think they wanted a better reaction than my blank stare and "okay, I guess - is that good?" question. I mean, I don't know. I don't have a clue if that's good. Numbers going down is good. But what on earth does an "inch" represent, and how many do "normal" people lose, how quickly? How many inches am I starting from, if I lost almost 16 of them and don't feel terribly different? I have no idea. But apparently, I was doing well. One of the ladies asked me if I'd been dieting in addition to working out regularly, and no, I haven't been. As I said in a previous post, I'm trying to eat better in general, but I'm certainly no saint about it.
So, 15.75 inches. As I mulled that over, I glanced at the "amazing women who've lost XX pounds or XX inches" list of names on the wall. It's broken into 4 groups, with a 5th saved for the super-extra-special achievers who've lost ungodly amounts of weight (and/or inches). The curious thing to me was which group I now belonged to. The categories are: "5 lbs. or 5 inches", "10 lbs. or 10 inches", "15 lbs. or 15 inches", and "20 lbs. or 20 inches" (and that 5th high-achiever group). Each column has a slightly smaller list of names under it, which makes me think that it's supposed to be a pretty big deal to land on any of the lists, much less progress from one list to the next.
If I did my math right, I land solidly in the "15 lbs. or 15 inches" group. I'm basing that on the 15.75" I supposedly lost in the last month. (Again, I'm still kind of fuzzy on what an inch is, considering that there are so many factors that can affect these measurements - not the least of which are who's doing the measuring and what clothes you're wearing at the time...). So that means I vaulted over the 5 lbs/inches group and the 10 lbs/inches group in my first month. So okay, that's more like it, I now have something to compare to, and understand a bit better why they were so happy and amazed for me. Cool.
Before I get too excited though, I'd like to see how this goes over the next couple months. I'm thinking maybe the measurements were a fluke, or she read them differently than the other lady had last month, or the fact that I was in workout clothes instead of street clothes had something to do with it. Because I just don't see where I lost 3" off my waist and 3.75" off each thigh (those two measurements alone accounting for 2/3rds of my losses) -- but hey, I'll take it. :) I just supect that over time the numbers will vary a bit, since these measurements are far from an exact science. And 2 data points hardly a predictable trend make.
I lost half a point of my body fat percentage, too. But there's no list on the wall for that, so I really don't know if that means anything. Going on the "numbers going down is good" theory, I'll assume it's good. Based purely on the weight loss results, in just over a year Dad will have to buy me that leather jacket he promised me a year or two ago when I reached a certain goal. (Doubt he remembers that, but I do.) And in just over 2 years I might reach that mythical concept of the "target weight" for my height. If I've ever been my target weight, it hasn't been since I was a kid. This could be interesting.
Dad also owes me a track suit if I ever run a mile without stopping. I doubt he remembers that either -- he offered it when I was in middle school I think, give or take a couple of years. I've never done it, so I've never cashed in... Even with all my years of soccer and volleyball and all of the running I did for them, I've never once entirely run a mile. And I've never once bought myself a track suit, either. (Dad, consider yourself reminded! :)
So there you have it, folks. That's my exercise/weight-related progress post for you. I promise there won't be copious numbers of them in the future -- that is, unless I have something more to say than "I lost X pounds!" As fun as it might be for me to post things like that, I know from personal experience how excruciatingly boring they are to read and will refrain from making you suffer through such things.
Boo ya,
J.
It's been just over a month since I joined Curves. I know this because I just had to get weighed and measured again - you do this once a month to track your progress (or, occasionally, the lack thereof). Yesterday was an incredibly crappy day for me for other reasons (my dear sweet Otto, my beloved '99 VW Jetta, went in for his routine 50,000 mile maintenance and came out $2600 later with a bunch of new-but-apparently-critical pieces-parts like, oh, brakes, and something called an "ignition coil pack" which, if the shop wasn't completely lying to me, needed to be replaced because it was shooting sparks across my engine and I was in somewhat real jeopardy of Really Bad Things happening because of it....) so I was not particularly expecting it to get much better by standing on a scale. I'm 30 years old, and if I've learned anything in my life, it's that standing on a scale never improves my mood. In fact, just thinking about scales is usually enough to send me into a funk.
Yesterday was somewhat of an exception, I guess. My mood didn't really change, but it didn't get worse, either - that's a step in the right direction anyway. (And to be fair, there's not much anybody or anything could have done right then to make me ecstatic about life, so "not getting worse" is probably more significant than I'm giving it credit for). So anyway, here's what happened: the nice Curves ladies put me on the scale, then took my measurements and put them all into the computer to see what kind of progress I'd made. As I was doing my workout, I could see them huddled together and mumbling numbers. Every now and then they'd say my name and something about "awesome"...
[Before I get much farther, let me preface the rest of this by saying that I'm not going to post on here about every pound gained or lost, or what I did/didn't eat that did/didn't conform to my aspirations, and how it did/didn't make me feel that I did/didn't do whatever it is I should/shouldn't have done. I'm just rolling on a particular aspect of the results from yesterday here. Go with it.]
When they had it all figured out, they told me -- very excitedly -- that I'd lost 4.5 lbs and 15.75 inches, and "how about that???" Poor ladies, I think they wanted a better reaction than my blank stare and "okay, I guess - is that good?" question. I mean, I don't know. I don't have a clue if that's good. Numbers going down is good. But what on earth does an "inch" represent, and how many do "normal" people lose, how quickly? How many inches am I starting from, if I lost almost 16 of them and don't feel terribly different? I have no idea. But apparently, I was doing well. One of the ladies asked me if I'd been dieting in addition to working out regularly, and no, I haven't been. As I said in a previous post, I'm trying to eat better in general, but I'm certainly no saint about it.
So, 15.75 inches. As I mulled that over, I glanced at the "amazing women who've lost XX pounds or XX inches" list of names on the wall. It's broken into 4 groups, with a 5th saved for the super-extra-special achievers who've lost ungodly amounts of weight (and/or inches). The curious thing to me was which group I now belonged to. The categories are: "5 lbs. or 5 inches", "10 lbs. or 10 inches", "15 lbs. or 15 inches", and "20 lbs. or 20 inches" (and that 5th high-achiever group). Each column has a slightly smaller list of names under it, which makes me think that it's supposed to be a pretty big deal to land on any of the lists, much less progress from one list to the next.
If I did my math right, I land solidly in the "15 lbs. or 15 inches" group. I'm basing that on the 15.75" I supposedly lost in the last month. (Again, I'm still kind of fuzzy on what an inch is, considering that there are so many factors that can affect these measurements - not the least of which are who's doing the measuring and what clothes you're wearing at the time...). So that means I vaulted over the 5 lbs/inches group and the 10 lbs/inches group in my first month. So okay, that's more like it, I now have something to compare to, and understand a bit better why they were so happy and amazed for me. Cool.
Before I get too excited though, I'd like to see how this goes over the next couple months. I'm thinking maybe the measurements were a fluke, or she read them differently than the other lady had last month, or the fact that I was in workout clothes instead of street clothes had something to do with it. Because I just don't see where I lost 3" off my waist and 3.75" off each thigh (those two measurements alone accounting for 2/3rds of my losses) -- but hey, I'll take it. :) I just supect that over time the numbers will vary a bit, since these measurements are far from an exact science. And 2 data points hardly a predictable trend make.
I lost half a point of my body fat percentage, too. But there's no list on the wall for that, so I really don't know if that means anything. Going on the "numbers going down is good" theory, I'll assume it's good. Based purely on the weight loss results, in just over a year Dad will have to buy me that leather jacket he promised me a year or two ago when I reached a certain goal. (Doubt he remembers that, but I do.) And in just over 2 years I might reach that mythical concept of the "target weight" for my height. If I've ever been my target weight, it hasn't been since I was a kid. This could be interesting.
Dad also owes me a track suit if I ever run a mile without stopping. I doubt he remembers that either -- he offered it when I was in middle school I think, give or take a couple of years. I've never done it, so I've never cashed in... Even with all my years of soccer and volleyball and all of the running I did for them, I've never once entirely run a mile. And I've never once bought myself a track suit, either. (Dad, consider yourself reminded! :)
So there you have it, folks. That's my exercise/weight-related progress post for you. I promise there won't be copious numbers of them in the future -- that is, unless I have something more to say than "I lost X pounds!" As fun as it might be for me to post things like that, I know from personal experience how excruciatingly boring they are to read and will refrain from making you suffer through such things.
Boo ya,
J.
posted by Call Me Joan @ 2:36 PM
1 Comments:
At 7:39 AM,
Anonymous said…
You're right, I remember neither the track suit nor the leather jacket, but you do so that's good enough for me. I eagerly wait for the day I have to pay up. Love, Dad
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