This is me smiling!!!

I weighed in today just to check in. Still at 134.8! That is great for me, it means that my first weigh in where I weighed 134.8 was not a fluke!

::does a little dance of happiness::

That means I only have five pounds to lose to get to goal.

Now, I know those will probably be the hardest five pounds to lose, but I think it is more than possible. I have to tidy up my calories (the past two days I went over calories, not enough to gain by any means, but definitely enough to make sure I didn't lose). So that issue needs to be dealt with. Exercise is going great, however! Cardio four times a week, strength training twice a week, and yoga once a week. Add in hikes, walking, and biking on the weekend.

Had a good session at the gym. I stayed a half hour longer than usual because I am going to a friend's birthday celebration at the bar tonight and I wanted to have a beer. So I figured I had better earn it!

One weird thing I noticed today at the gym: I suck at running on the treadmill. After a half mile, my body kind of started to hurt and my breathing was irregular and so I slowed it down to a walk. I hate running. It hurts my joints (knees and hips) and I feel so jostled around. Yuck. I do mostly biking or elliptical for cardio at the gym.

But I find it strange. Isn't running natural? We are supposed to be able to run well. It was pretty important for survival evolutionarily and everything. I do run outside better than on a treadmill. I do 5Ks in about 30 minutes. So, not a rockstar but not a slouch, either!

No more treadmill for me.

The other thing: when I run, I wear Vibram five fingers (those awesome shoes that fit your toes and imitate barefoot walking). And I don't wear my five fingers to the gym. That's probably problem number one.



I love my Vibrams. Love, love, love, love. I am a barefoot walker. I wear flipflops till it is cold and then I wear soft boots without laces or anything to mimic barefoot walking. Actually: I walk on my toes most of the time. Chris thinks I force myself to, hahah (why would I do that! sounds like a lot of effort). But I don't. It's been that way since I was a kid. I remember my mom bringing me to the doctor to try and fix it. They gave me special shoes (yuck) but as soon as I was out of the shoes, back on my toes!

Hiking is so much easier with the Vibrams, because I can walk on the ball of my foot and also walk a lot more gently. I don't stomp into the ground in Vibrams like I do in hiking boots. In hiking boots, I will just simply not be as careful or thoughtful with my feet. Strong proponent of the whole back-to-natural movement!

Shoes are weird. I am a girl and I find high heels sexy. But still! In general, I am amazed at what a difference shoes make to our natural gait. I have a friend that grew up in Hawaii and only wore shoes about 25% of her life, if not less than that. She says it was hard to adjust to shoe wearing. Our little feets were designed to be barefoot in warm climates! But I certainly don't live in a warm, dry climate. So shoes for me (but as little as possible).

Chris doesn't adhere to this way of thought because he has kind of a screwed up ankle and needs the support good boots and shoes can give him.

Not I!

I actually once climbed one of the highest and steepest mountains (Dix Mountain) in NY barefoot. No boots, no Vibram five fingers, nothing (long story as to why). My knees and hips had NEVER felt so amazing after a hike as when I did it that day. It led me to get the Vibrams so that the sole of my feet would still be protected from sharp things (thought I didn't have even the smallest of cuts on my feet after the hike!).

So I guess that's just another weird factoid about me: barefoot most of the time, imitating bare-footed-ness the rest of the time :)

Peace and kind thoughts!