four-letter word: the February update

The four-letter word is diet, and it's a four-letter word because I can't diet.  If anything has been proved to me over the past month or two, it's that diets don't work for me.  So... moving on.

But I'm still fitting in my clothes better, and feeling better, and (although I haven't weighed myself in the last couple of weeks) I think I've lost a few pounds.  I think I've figured out why.  You remember I joined Fitocracy at the beginning of the year as a way to track my workouts.  Now that I've been there for awhile, I feel like I should put "workouts" in quotations marks, because my piddly little attempts at exercise are pathetic compared to what many of these people do.

But you know, I'm fifty, not 24, and what I'm doing is working for me, so to hell with it.  I just keep doing my little thing.  At least I'm consistent.

Anyway.  The other thing I am is crafty.  I'm an expert at figuring out how to work the system.  So as I've tried various exercises that I've seen online somewhere, or in a magazine, or whatever, I've "tracked" them on Fitocracy and figured out how to maximize my points.  I don't cheat-- I never log something I didn't do (well, except one time by accident)-- but I don't feel bad about choosing activities that maximize points and minimize time and effort. This morning, I spent about 35 minutes on my workout (20 minutes yoga and 15 minutes floor exercises) and it was 225 points.  My standard yoga and abs routine when I first started was about 105.

But what the heck do you know--  There's a reason those exercises are worth more points.  I can feel myself getting stronger and more resilient as I do the exercises that earn more points-- and not just a subtle change, but a big change.  My body is starting to feel entirely different.  I'm very psyched about this.  (and in case you're interested, the exercises with more points are lunges, planks and side planks).   

And then, even though I haven't been dieting at all other than trying not to over-indulge, I've started to notice that my clothes fit better.  I think I might actually be losing weight.  (I'll let you know next week, I wanted to wait awhile before weighing myself again, because if it's bad news, it depresses me.)  I read somewhere (comments at ReFab?) that muscle burns calories faster than other types of tissue, so maybe this is actually working.  Or maybe I still weigh the same and I'm just toning up.  Who knows.  It feels good, I'll take it.

Which is a good thing, because I'm too embarrassed to do the treadmill with a house full of construction workers.  I haven't done it since we moved in.

The continuing saga of the shower:  when the tile guy got here, he discovered that the flange around the edge of the fiberglass pan sloped down (funneling water away from the drain) instead of up (toward the drain).  We had to special order the pan because of the dimensions of the shower, so he called the plumber, who called the company, who said the pan is defective and they're sending us another one.  Which will get here ON THE TWENTIETH.  No I am not making that up.

*sigh*

I had originally intended to talk about what I learned from the Beck Diet book, but this went on longer than I expected.  Maybe I will do that tomorrow.