[10/3/08]

Have you ever had that delicious feeling of putting on your old pair of skin tight pants and noticed – ahh – why there’s a little space between the pant and top of the back thigh BECAUSE MY BUTT IS A LITTLE LIFTED NOW! It’s not land sliding into my knees!

YA HOO!

Okay, I’m back. Not just here with the writing. I am on my comeback tour and Tracy Anderson and her Mat Workout made it possible.

I can stand and I feel from the inside that little diagonal indentation between my hip bones and the abdominals. Yes I still have gut flabage to lose, but the indent is there and through the flab, definition is a comin’! But remember, my gut is 50-60% less now.

And—when I lay on my back – hallelujah – my stomach is flat now. I thought those days were gone forever. (Gravity could only do so much before when I was sporting a belly the size of a small turkey).

When I stand I notice that I feel more youthful around my hips, above my knees and around my ribs. It feels tighter and, well, it just reminds me of days long ago. This is better than Spanx.

I’ve been doing Tracy’s Mat Workout every day. I decided I wasn’t going to have days off because for me it’s too easy to start taking more days off the next week.

I also have survived from the increase in time for exercise. In the summer it was, and I’m not lying, 5 minutes daily on the elliptical and once a week I did some squats and lifted some 10 pound weights for triceps and biceps curls. Also once a week I did resistance bands for an hour. Now, I’m doing an hour or so of Tracy’s Mat workout + the 30 minute walk daily. My life is continuing as I know it otherwise. I also have gone from being a whiny victim of my weight gain to feeling very hopeful over my time commitment.

I have noticed that my hip flexors (those little muscles at the bend of the top front of the thigh) have been stressed. Probably from all of the new leg lifting. That indicates I’m weak there. I started doing Tracy’s warm-up fully and that helped tremendously. In fact now I do the warm-up before I go walking. I know I said I’ve always hated warm-ups, but hers is concise and delivers on its purpose.