Update on all that is. Long!

Last Saturday, I awoke, went pee and stood on the scale. I couldn't believe my eyes. It said 199.5. YAY! Of course this was just my morning weight (which can be anywhere from 2-4 lbs lighter than my evening weight). I was so happy. I stood on the scale and tears streamed down my cheeks. A few moments later I was tapping Rob's leg to wake him up. It was about 7:40, but he got out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom scale with me so that I could show him my big news.

Unfortunately, ever since then, the 190's have only shown up in the mornings. Which can be a bit frustrating because I just want to be under 200 lbs so bad! Monday evening, at Weight Watchers, I weighed in at 201.4. I lost 2 ounces. Last week, I did pretty well staying OP. I even tracked everything I ate and I worked out two times.

***CORRECTION*** Monday evening at Weight Watchers, I weighed in at 201.4 which means I lost 1.4 lbs. Thursday morning, when I went to another WW meeting I weighed in (for the heck of it) and it said 201.2. That's where the .2 loss came in. The only reason it was significant is that it is my morning weight, not my evening weight. :(

This week I've worked out everyday. Monday, Tuesday & Thursday, I did water aerobics and Wednesday I went to my first Irish Dance class. Today I am giving my body a break because Irish Dance about killed me. My muscles were not ready and have been pleading with me to stop already. I will be dancing around the other dance floor at my kids Irish Dance class today, but other than that...I'm taking it easy on exercise today. Tomorrow, I'll resume water aerobics. I'm proud of myself. My friend, Stephanie, said that she was proud of me. She told me to look at how I was just 3 months ago. Making excuses (though valid because I was sick) as to why I couldn't exercise and here I am now working out 5 days a week.

Do you know what your weak muscles do when you start exercising and stretching?

What Causes Muscle Soreness?

Your muscles should feel sore on some of the days after you exercise. If you go out and jog the same two miles at the same pace, day after day, you will never become faster, stronger or have greater endurance. If you stop lifting weights when your muscles just start to burn, you won’t feel sore on the next day and you will not become stronger. All improvement in any muscle function comes from stressing and recovering. On one day, you go out and exercise hard enough to make your muscles burn during exercise. The burning is a sign that you are damaging your muscles. On the next day, your muscles feel sore because they are damaged and need time to recover. Scientists call this DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness.

It takes at least eight hours to feel this type of soreness. You finish a workout and feel great; then you get up the next morning and your exercised muscles feel sore. We used to think that next-day muscle soreness was caused by a buildup of lactic acid in muscles, but now we know that lactic acid has nothing to do with it. Next-day muscle soreness is caused by damage to the muscle fibers themselves. Muscle biopsies taken on the day after hard exercise show bleeding and disruption of the z-band filaments that hold muscle fibers together as they slide over each other during a contraction.

Nobody really knows how these hard bouts make muscles stronger, but the most likely theory depends on the fact that hard exercise damages muscle fibers. Then other cells release chemicals called cytokines that cause inflammation characterized by soreness (pain), increased blood flow to the injured fibers (redness), and increased flow of fluid into the damaged area (swelling). The damaged muscle cells release tissue growth factors to heal the damaged muscle fibers, and if the athlete allows the muscle soreness to disappear before exercising intensely again, muscle fibers become larger and increase in number by splitting to form new fibers. If the athlete does not wait until the soreness goes away before exercising intensely again, the fibers can be torn, the athlete becomes injured, and the muscles weaken.

Next-day muscle soreness should be used as a guide to training, whatever your sport. On one day, go out and exercise right up to the burn, back off when your muscles really start to burn, then pick up the pace again and exercise to the burn. Do this exercise-to-the-burn and recover until your muscles start to feel stiff, and then stop the workout. Depending on how sore your muscles feel, take the next day off or go at a very slow pace. Do not attempt another intense workout until the soreness has gone away completely. Most competitive athletes exercise at low intensity during recovery, rather than taking days off; this makes their muscles more fibrous and resistant to injury. If you’re not interested in competing, you can take one or more days off until your muscles feel fresh again.

My morning weight today was 201.5. I know this has alot to do with my impending cycle and massive water retention in my muscles for healing. I can't imagine me losing any weight this coming Monday, but next week when my cycle is over and my muscles are a bit more stronger, I hope my evening weights will be well under the 200 lbs mark. I'm doing everything else right so I'll see rewards soon enough.

Casey comes home from camp today. I'm excited to see him. I've missed him so much. I'm sure he's had a great time! Thanks mom for making it possible for him to go. :)

Brenden & Braden have been showing us that we can trust them. They've gone to a local skating rink the past two days and I'm very proud of them. They've stayed out of trouble and are doing chores around the house to earn money so they can go. Unfortunately, their roller blades don't fit them any longer, so I've had to shell out $3 each every time they go. Rob and I are hoping we can buy them roller blades this weekend as an early birthday present. We figure it's better than waiting till November 24th, when it's all snowy and icy, to buy them skates. I sat on our bed filling out their Jr. High registration forms and started to feel nervous. There are so many fees that we have to pay. They even require them to have a heart rate monitor for P.E. now which is another $5 dollars on top of about $80 dollars (PER STUDENT!) fee's. This doesn't even include optional things, like pictures and FOOD!Luckily, the fee's are refunded at a pro-rated rate when we transfer them to a different school.

Well, I'm off for now. I've got to get ready to go pick up Casey and finish straightening the house.