Oh my. The Denise Austin DVD is getting easier already! I've only done this 40 minute workout all the way through about 3 times now, and I now can survive the on-one-leg stuff and the "plank" portion - my form needs some improvement, but I can hold it for as long as she yammers encouragement. I can feel my muscles loosening and lengthening, my neck and shoulders aren't nearly so tight, my spine is more flexible, and - here we skirt into Too Much Information - I am getting an ASS again! Middle age and marathon sitting had flattened my butt - it was definitely an Old Lady Butt. I averted my eyes from my own reflection, because it depressed me so much. I noted today, when catching a view of myself in the big vanity mirror while wearing yoga pants, that things are looking better from the rear. There are still areas in need of serious improvement, but this "Mind, Body, Soul" workout is doing wonders, and I am actually starting to believe that I really can get my former body back. After I master this workout it will be on to the Power Yoga.

I'm sharing this because I really had some concerns about how I would look after losing weight - I wanted to be smaller, but had this niggling concern that I'd just be a smaller version of my flabby middle-aged self. I just wasn't sure what my body was capable of, after years of being a sedentary blob (punctuated by occasional bursts of exercise, quickly abandoned with various excuses). It's incredibly encouraging to see how quickly my middle-aged slacker body is responding to regular exercise, I can actually see and feel myself getting stronger and more flexible on an almost daily basis. My posture is better, I can feel myself standing taller, my energy has increased. That is so empowering and encouraging, I now cannot imagine abandoning this lifestyle change and returning to slacking on the couch. This is too much fun and feels too good.

Tonight is girls' night, followed by, I hope, some serious Bardot time. I'm trying to push my bedtime back later each day, in the hope that I can hit on a schedule that will break the middle-of-the-night awakening cycle. I think I've just gotten into a bad rhythm - I wake up in the middle of the night because I went to bed too early, then I am tired early the following evening and go to bed too early again, and around and around we go. I'm going to try to push bedtime back, and use this time to really crank out and complete Bardot and the Lo-Tech Sweat, so I can go on to working on that Patons shawl. The yarn is in a bag on my dresser even as I type, and gosh, I love it. I've never touched a "shiny" yarn that was this soft and pleasant on the skin, it will be perfect as a wrap over sleeveless this summer.