Losing It, Part VI

The swine flu totally knocked me off my rhythm. I was trucking along, eating right, working out both at the gym and on my own and then - BAM! - sipping sodas to combat nausea, eating what sounded good instead of what was good and barely moving from a prone position for close to a week.

Not good.

Still, when I got on the scale Sunday afternoon with the Less is Moore team at the World Gym on Georgia Highway 74, I was down from 210.5 to a little over 208. And I had enjoyed a good sized brunch at Mike and C’s a few hours earlier. I told the instructor, Amy Moore (get the team name now?) that I had been out of commission for a week and that my energy level might be a little off. She didn’t seem too concerned, so neither did I and I proceeded to work as hard as possible with the team for the next hour. It was a good crew. There were a few guys including me and everybody seemed to have a good time, joking around with Amy and each other. I was very impressed at the dedication of the group because getting up and out of the house late on a Sunday afternoon is tough, especially during football season.

Amy stated that the focus of the class that week would be legs and she wasn’t kidding. From using the steps in both a walk and a jog to walking with our legs bound in colored elastics, we worked our legs as if we weren’t going to have to walk out of there in an hour. There were lunges and squats, duck walks and a terrible exercise that had us with our backs against the wall supporting our weight with our legs. We were asked, “Can you feel the burn?” and when we moaned out a yes, we were told “30 more seconds.”

The leg exercises seemed small but felt big. For instance, we stood on the step with the backs of our feet hanging off and did calf lifts. Small, little lifts as we raised our bodies up and down and yet it took everything I had to keep going as we were closing in on the end of each 30 second burst. Overall, if there was a lesson from the “Less is Moore” class I suppose it was that even small exercises that don’t seem too difficult can have major impacts on fitness and weight loss.

There are two sessions left in the program and the groups are stepping up their intensity. Amy was adamant about her group making good choices food-wise and keeping up with their food logs. Nobody mentioned Halloween or Halloween candy, but it is definitely the elephant in the room this week. I guess I will have to work extra hard to be able to cheat a little next Saturday. Not only will my kids be collecting treats but I am also judging the Chili Challenge in Peachtree City on Saturday. Salads and cheerios all week for me.