Girls' Night: Belly Dancing!!

Yes! Finally, someone decided to have a social night that included a physical activity! We do a lot, a lot, a lot of hanging out centered around food and drink during the year.

In the summer, we always try to get people hiking with us, but it hasn't been the most successful campaign. Our friends really like music and spend most of the summer going to festivals and concerts. In the winter, our friends DO like to ski/snowboard a lot, but there is always a huge focus on hanging out in the lodge and eating (because when you are cold, it's awesome to head inside and eat big plates of hot food) so that gets tough, as well. We often end up going skiing by ourselves (we like to ski for the full 8 hours the mountain is open and get back home for dinner).

We have TV nights all year and lots of just hanging out.

So finally, someone suggested a girls' night activity everyone was into: belly dancing!!

One of our friends is friends with a belly dance instructor who volunteered to give us all a free lesson, so cool. We are just heading to our friend's house and getting an hour of belly dance instruction (sure to be insanely silly) and have wine and chat. I'm really excited about it!

There will be snacks, but I am bringing veggies and baba ganoush to make sure I have a healthy and paleo snack to munch on to distract me from the other tasty things sure to be around...

No Chip December. I just have to repeat that to myself over and over!

I will be having wine, though. I've abstained from alcohol for several hang outs now, and I really want a glass of wine at girls' night! No shame :D

Still weighing in at 120.2 (third day in a row!)... I like being stable in weight and I like not gaining. I wish I was already down to 119, though, haha. But I worked out a lot the past two days and my muscles are really, really sore, so I am sure there is a bit of swelling going on.

And I realized I might have a different readership from when I first started this blog, so I wanted to give you some background and my stats:

I am 31 and was obese the entire time I was a teenager and into my early 20s (up to 200 pounds)... I lost 65ish pounds right after college was over (I took a year off and focused on myself and my health while working). But I really never got truly healthy. There was so much misinformation out there and my weight yo-yoed for a while. Eventually I met my now-husband, who shares my desire for long term true health and fitness, became an ardent hiker and found the Paleo Diet (which I adhere to about 90-95% now) as well as learning to focus on clean and organic foods. I lost the last 10-15 pounds and have stayed under 130 pounds for almost 2 years now. This year I finally made the last mental leap and realized how I need to eat and need to live if I want to weigh 120 pounds or less, which I do! I am 5'4 and small-medium framed. I write this blog now because even though I am maintaining and finally have learned to love my body - it is still a struggle. This is a place for me to explore how to live life after weight loss.

Namaste, enjoy your weekend in balance!! <3