[rixatrix]

My favorite thing to do at night lately is to sit on the floor (in front of them, um, TV =oD) and stretch out my hamstrings. They've always been tight. My hams are probably my least flexible body part, going way back to when I was in middle school and high school and on the tennis team.

It's just so gratifying to release tension from the muscles and see steady improvement in my flexibility, all from just sitting on the floor and reaching forward every so often.

I made it through my sleepy day mostly unscathed - I went to the health food store over lunch and bought myself some more tea (didn't need to spend the money) and a bar of dark chocolate with coconut, cashews, and mango, and had a square of the chocolate back at work. Which was better than pretty much any other idea I had regarding my sweet tooth.

It seems like every week I go through this process of talking myself out of any progress I've made. Like, I start to think maybe my measurements are all off and I haven't really lost any weight or gained any muscle. But with somewhere around 53lbs of fat on my body right now (and the goal being 25lbs of fat, or something like 16% body fat - give or take a few pounds), of COURSE I'm not going to be able to SEE all the progress that's being made. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think I see a difference - a shadow on my stomach, my chin a little tighter - but then I look again and it's gone. So which is closer to the truth? What I see? Or what I talk myself out of seeing?

Only time will tell! There's no other way to do this journey than through hard work in the weight room, cardio, and good nutrition.