A while back I posted about how I’ve been doing Zumba a couple of times a week in hopes of trimming some flab. Of course, all that gyrating was thwarted by my lack of willpower, coupled with a big, fat chocolate cake. And so, I was a little anxious about the upcoming weigh-in & measuring session, scheduled for the first of the month. Since I was nearly dying every Tuesday and Thursday night, I was going to be really disappointed if I found out that I’d gained weight.
The good news is that I did not gain weight or inches. Whew! In fact, I lost 1½ lbs, in addition to ¾ of an inch. (Shut up! Something is better than nothing. Besides, I’m building muscle, which we all know weighs more than fat. So there.) Jamie, my Zumba instructor, tried to encourage me by saying things like, “That’s not bad.” But when I lamented that I’d hoped for a little more, she was quick to point out that if I’d just stay out of the chocolate cake, I might see more progress. Some folks might have been offended by having their fatness thrown back onto their own lack of willpower, but I just laughed. Yup. I know. Chocolate cake—bad. Zumba—good.
I’m apparently the kind of girl that makes folks feel like they can just tell me about myself. Because this is a fairly regular occurrence these days. Just the other day I was talking to Molly and had a similar experience. Molly is one of my besties, and our relationship is pretty much one big long episode of telling ON ourselves to each other, and telling each other about herself. So in our conversation the other day, I was griping to Molly about how I’d picked up this new shower cleaning stuff because it was on sale, and it didn’t work very well. “I hate that!” I griped, “I spray it on, and it’s supposed to cut through the soap scum, but it doesn’t! I’ve done it, like, 6 times and it’s barely made a dent.” To which Molly replied, “Well, I think that stuff works if you don’t wait ‘til you’ve got ¾” thick soap scum before you decide to clean the shower.”
Wow. So, between Jamie & Molly, I’ve gathered that I’m both flabby and nasty. Go me!
It’s actually been almost another month since that weigh-in, and I’m feeling a little more confident this time because I think my pants are looser. Not, like, a size looser or anything, just looser than they were. And I feel like I’m just all around less flabby and more firm, which is good because it indicates that I’m building muscle (see, I told you that was why I only lost 1½ pounds!) which is important to anyone whose been through breast cancer treatment. All the surgery and chemo and what-not tend to cause an increase in body fat. In fact, evidence has shown that chemotherapy changes body composition—causing a loss of lean body mass. Muscle being replaced by fat! And more body fat increases the risk of cancer. So this exercise thing is way more than just vanity for us, girls. And I’m only half kidding when I talk about that muscle weighing more than fat thing—I really AM building, or rather re-building muscles lost to treatment. So, if you needed another reason to exercise, here it is…now get your Zumba or whatever on and don’t give The Cancer a chance to sneak up on you.
In The Pink 