You've been served!

Last night at bellydance class our teacher had us gather in a big circle for what she calls the "Yalla circle" (yalla="let's go!" in arabic). Then she had us go in two by two and have a "dance off" with each other. One would dance and the other would reply and try to outdo the other.

It was too much fun! This was the first time that the ladies really came out of their shells and got jiggy with it. In fact those shells were cracked wide open. I keep smiling thinking about how fun it was. It was fun to watch the mothers and daughters especially. Nothing like a little friendly competition to get things rolling.

Ha ha, it was a female fight club with hips instead of fists ;) But no black eyes and everybody laughed. Now that is exercise for the soul.

And that was after we each did a shimmy solo in which the teacher told us which direction to move. Again -- too fun!

How could this be exercise. If this is exercise than I will take more of the same please!

This week R and I entered into a little friendly competition of our own, a little weight loss competition to see who can lose the most percentage of body weight each week and by the end of six weeks. Again, no losers. This was just what I needed since I was finding it hard to find a new and exciting way to motivate myself to lose these niggling few pounds (six to eight to be technical if you want to go with the evil night reading at my official weigh in on Monday night). The winner gets a massage! The loser also gets to have one that day, but must pay for the winner.

I too have joined the ranks of myfooddiary.com and am loving the little motivating comments about how much weight I will lose or gain if I choose to continue to eat a certain way. In fact it encourages me to eat my exercise calories to get the most bang for my buck. Interesting how at my weight it also recommends I lose no more than .9 pounds a week. I know I can make that goal. I also know the difference between one and two pounds is dessert every day which I refuse to give up!

I wasn't that way when I was losing 110 pounds. Desserts were sacrificed for the greater good and I was fine with that. Nowadays if I don't get my Weight Watchers cookie dough sundae fix or my Skinny Cow, I am doomed.

In any case the MFD has encouraged me to cut my Skinny Cow ice-cream sandwiches in half and see if half will work as well as a whole. And you know what? Mostly it does!

If you are in any way competitive, I recommend a contest. In the end it is only ourselves we are competing against and if you pick your contests wisely, all will be winners in the end.

Just a catch up on this week's happenings... got in uber long run (13 miles, but felt like 15) with L on Sunday. The heat haze and humidity (welcome Monsoon season!) was a killer, but we did it and finished strong. That post-run dunk in the pool never felt better!

Monday was aerobic machines, abs and free weights at the gym.

Tuesday was my first speed workout in like forever with R. We covered about 5.5 miles of undulating terrain doing fartleks of 2 minutes fast with 3 rest. There were some warmup and cool down miles as well.

Wed I met L and she kicked my b#++ in the weight room. We were doing all the stuff you need spotters for, the stuff I usually avoid doing because I don't have a spotter. The Hubster used to spot me on the bench, etc. Now there is L! I SO feel it now.

Not to mention last night's veil, zills and basic BD moves class.

This morning's 5.2 mile run started slowly and a little sluggish, but I managed to pick it up on the way back. Methinks I just had to wake up.