movement in the body

This post could be about a lot of things. No, I'm not about to regail you with tales of my gastrointestinal functions. I am celebrating a milestone.

I have lost 30 pounds!

I can't tell you how amazing this is. The first 20 or so seemed a breeze. Then I got sick, then things got a bit hard, then the birthday season came and my sister was here for a visit and the weight loss seemed to slow down a bit, but it's still happening. I'm back at shooting for two pounds a week, but we'll see how it ends up really happening. I'm being less vigilant about tracking my calories because, while I *do* want to be losing weight, I also want to keep healthy and still enjoy myself. I have made tremendous progress so far and I'm 3/5 finished what I set out to accomplish. 

So when I title this post 'movement', I mean that the weight on my body is moving. It is moving off my body. It is also changing the proportions. The weight first started coming off the chest area, something I waxed wistful about in a previous post. But while my arms and back are thinning out, the weight on my lower half was stubborn.  It seemed like it would never go. 

And then it started. I wear scrubs for my job and when I went to buy a second round, I had gone down a size. My 'thin' pants finally started to fit. This was about a month ago now. Now my thin pants are getting loose on me. The wind pants I put on over my tights when I exercise outside are loose on me. I can't actually remember being this thin - it's been a decade since I was here. 

So this is exciting, that my clothes are all draping a lot more. Alas, I have no budget for new clothes at the moment, I'll have to try my hand at alterations to see what I can do to my current wardrobe in the mean time. But the other thing I wanted to talk about here is how I am moving, how I move in my body now. 

I'm having a hard time picturing myself at 30 pounds more than I am now, but when I think about that, I think about having 30 pounds of weights attached to my thighs. I feel lighter now, I am lighter. I am a person who moves quickly to begin with, but with being lighter, my movements are less clumsy and more precise. I am becoming lithe again, my flexibility is returning. I can fold myself and bend in ways while doing yoga that, when there was more fat on my hips, were difficult because the fat would get in the way. It's made me wonder about yoga teachers - are they aware that body fat can be a limiting factor in what positions they can get to? That it's not just about flexibility but that sometimes the body just gets in the way of itself? 

This LoseIt! app for my iPhone has been amazing, and I can't believe I just downloaded it on a whim, that it has completely changed my life. And it was free.

In less than six weeks now, I'll be on the relay team in a marathon race. Our team isn't out to be competitive, but for fun, and it's a good thing. I haven't really been training (better get started soon, right?) I do know that if I end up getting one of the 10k legs, that it will take me about an hour and fifteen minutes, give or take, at my slowest. But I feel confident that I can do better than that, between how light I am getting on my feet as well as all the training I'll put in between now and June 12th. I think this is going to be a really good summer. Did I mention my bikini fits again? When I get rid of that last 20 pounds, even my swimsuits won't fit.