Bo-Bo Knows The Shredded Mind (Day 28)

In much the same way that my muscles are starting to assert their presence beneath the fat in my body that's still waiting to be burned off, the shredded head I dreamed about on day 6 has whipped out it's gardening shears and started pruning back the wrongheaded thoughts that had sprouted up and were threatening to strangle my mind.

Yesterday--a day with showers so heavy that I had to drag my dog on his walk (he refuses to believe that he won't melt in the rain) and a dental hygienist who went at my gums with sharp and shiny metal things--was still hands down the best day of my week. Before you fret about the quality of my life, let me explain.

Yes, it was a day off from work. And yes, I'm working six days a week. But it was more than that. It was about a shift in my thinking--my head was clear, the world was my playground, and nothing was impossible (if you read the "fitness is funny" post I put up yesterday, you'll get an idea of the mindset I'm talking about) . Because yesterday fitness was funny, writing was the primary goal of the day, my husband was working for home which meant we got to laugh and joke with each other when he took the breaks, I wrote 6 pages I was happy wtih, had a healthy thai meal, met with writer friends for a killer workshop, one of my best friends shared dance-when-you-hear-it good news, and I topped the day off with a little hot-fudge covered frozen yogurt that I savored while talking shop wtih one of my newest friends.

It wasn't that any of the individual parts were life-changing,* but the mood was. It was the first time in a long time that all of the moving parts seemed to be clicking along nicely. I want to be healthy, and I made healthy choices. I want to be writing, and I blogged and wrote fiction without worry. My desires and my actions synched up like they do that all the time (they don't, believe me, they don't), and for the first time in a while my head felt as strong as my body's becoming. If that's not a shredded head, I don't know what is.

* OK, my friend's news was absolutely, positively, probably going to be completely life altering in the best way possible--yaaaaaay!!!!-- but we're talking about me now. And didn't I set you up for that one? Yes. We're always talking about me here. Funny. Very funny.

Bo-Bo Knows Shrinkage (Shred Day 20)

And with this workout, I completed level 2 of the 30-day shred. It may have been touch and go there at the start, but there really is something to be said about pushing through. And though I'm not supposed to measure myself until day 30, I couldn't resist--the husband is taking a work- from-home-day and was right there for the assist with the ribbon and the measuring tape.

Drumroll please....

There is officially one less inch of my middle to pinch. One and a quarter less inches in fact. In other words, those 1.25 inches have been cut from my gut, chased from my waist, and whittled from my middle. I'm dismantling my handles, burning flab from abs, and flushing yummies from my tummy.

If I could come up with a rhyme for stomach, I would.

Tomorrow, it's on to level three. I've already decided to ease in as a beginner for reasons I've already mentioned (see day 16). I've also stepped up walks with this blog's furry namesake to 40+ minutes. As of this morning I was a bit more than 32 pounds down from my starting weight, and I have 14.8 pounds to go to reach a weight that would put me at the tippy top of the normal BMI range for my height. So close I'm hatching grand ideas about presents I can give myself this Christmas:

• To be at a normal weight for the first time since 1997 and
  
• To write 200 new revised novel pages

Is the wishlist above a recipe for ho-ho-ho or humbug? I've got 66 days to figure it out...

Bo-Bo Knows Shred Day 18

Busy day. No time for blogging. Not that the blog is the point of this 30-day experiment, afterall. The point is balance, and I had it...for today anyway: writing, walking, shredding--the balance trifecta.

And yet. And yet. I'm staring down the barrel of my Tuesday schedule and wondering if I'll have time for any exercise at all, never mind writing.

That's the trouble with balance. Look over your shoulder for one measly second and and wobble, whoa, and it's gone. A work in progress, this balance thing, huh?

Bo-Bo Knows Shred Day 17

Exercise-induced out-of-body experiences mean one of two things:

1. You've either bounced yourself into unconciousness (and really, it's a minor miracle there isn't a shred fainting pandemic given how often this workout asks we workout-ees to jump around with our heads hung low ), or


2. You're about to have a serious light-reaches-your-cave-brain moment.

So I'm bouncing around (head hung low over shaking arms while my bottom half does jumping jacks) when I realize three things:

1. I can shred muscles all I want, but I'll never be shredded until I lose the 30-pounds I have left to lose.


2. I probably need to boost my cardio to burn through the fat.


3. As excited as I am that I get to put on a fitted shirt I could have never worn three months ago, if I keep prioritizing exercise over all else, I run a very real risk of getting to the end of this, fit, healthy, and bookless.

Bookless. It thudded in my ears as the DVD--and me a half-second behind the ball--transitioned to double jumps.

Normally I opt for the the single-jump modification, and today is no exception. But my head was back on epiphany number three, and I was through the set before I realized that my single-jump modification had been more like a demi-jump modification.

Here's the thing: Fit and healthy are great things--fantastic things!--and I've dropped 30 pounds with the express goal of getting healthier (sub-basement-low cholesterol and trigliceride levels--check!). But all this focus on physical milestones isn't really a focus on health. Because while I'm absolutely grateful for the current status of my phsyical health, true health is really about balance. I want to be fit and trim, yes. But I've wanted to be a writer long before I packed on all the weight I'm in the process of unpacking (I'm the blonde on the horse). And yet I've put the revision of my book on hold while I tackled my physical self by fostering healthful habits. I think it's fair to say those habits have taken root. I think it's also fair to say it's time to broaden my focus from physical health to true health. It's time to remember balance.

Which is not to say that I'm bagging the shred. I'll finish it, I swear. In the past I've piled on the pounds as I've piled up the pages. For once in my life, can't I integrate writing and healthful living? If I kick the devil slug to the curb, won't there be plenty of room for dual priorities? And what's the matter with promising myself that the cardio I want to add won't come at the expense of renewed focus on the book? Here's what I figure: If I can animate characters with nothing but my brain, 26 letters, and a handful of punctuation marks in my toolbox, I can figure balance out, too. And if I can interpret the wave above as a salute, it's looking like my skinny-me, baby-faced self agrees.