Growing Assets

This title may have led you astray. I will not be talking about our stock portfolio. Mark will have to be a guest blogger if that were the case. No, it's about my other growing assets. Onion, bootie, derriere...you know, that asset. I'm not one of the exercising kind that goes to the gym in order to lose weight. Sure, I have moments of obsession with the numbers, but I've been in the same weight range since I was about twelve, so I've learned to move beyond that. It's not even so much about look, as I generally look the same (with the exception of that one Thanksgiving--the double chin was in FULL bloom then). For me, working out is about feeling strong and healthy, and to be honest, I haven't been feeling too strong since the elbow and knee issues. Finally though, I've been back into weight training, and I love the sense of strength and increased confidence that I can kick anyone's butt (Thank you, BodyCombat!). I've been attending BodyPump and BodyCombat Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays, for two hours. I come home drenched in sweat, and barely make it up the stairs to our second floor apartment. I work hard, because I just don't have time to go to the gym 6 days a week. And lucky for me, supposedly you can burn up to 1000 calories in each class. I think that's a bit high, but I know that I'm getting a great workout. I figure if I do my best in those three blocks, I don't have to feel guilty about sitting on my butt and writing for six hours the other evenings.

However, one outcome of my intense training over the past two weeks has been unexpected, and a bit unwelcome. My clothes don't fit, and it's not because I lost weight. I gained it. And like I said before, I have no problem with that, as long as I feel strong. This time is different though. Since I've had the same clothes for ::cough:: a few years now, I can tell when my body changes shape. It's changed like never before. Big time. My comfy "fat" jeans don't button anymore; my sweatpants are clinging to my quads; my three American Eagle khakis, staples for work, cut off my circulation when I sit down. How did this happen? (in a mere two weeks, no less!) Have I been binging and my stomach grew? No, no. Stomach is flatter than it has been in awhile...it's my butt. It's grown, lifted, bubbled out--whatever you want to say. I guess it's not the worst problem to have, but it puts me in quite a quandary.

Now what? Do I buy new pants? Ditch one of my routines? Lay off the weights? I don't know just yet. To be continued...