Even You Can Do It!

So. The motivation has returned.  For the most part. I have given myself almost a 3 hour window every night to exercise and clean and take care of things that need to be taken care of. 

So the last few nights, I've been upstairs by 1130, turned on the walking video, and I been pushing myself through all 3 miles of exercise.  that's just under 45 minutes.  hot, sweaty 45 minutes of moving and walking through my weight.  And i'm actually keeping up with the lady now, and I'm succeeding in doing all of the moves without wimping out and going just back to walking.  I'm having some troubles with the arm motions and continuing them all the way through, BUT I will get there.  I will get my arms stronger. and I will get myself stronger.

I have, however, possibly encountered a small problem.  While exercising, the standard thing to do it to tighten your stomach muscles, the 'core', and hold it like that throughout.  now this is difficult to do in the beginning, but i've kinda gotten used to it.  and I now find myself doing it more and more throughout the day and my daily routines.  The problem?  I'm starting to get slight acid reflux from doing so.  Now I've had stomach problems with acid my entire adult life.  I take acid reflux medicine every day and have for years.  But, I noticed that while gardening the other day and leaning down to pull weeds, I was getting the same acid in my stomach and chest that i got a little bit of tonight.

I wonder if this is standard....

Also, it is impossible to exercise with Manu, the cat, anywhere near me.  He wants to cuddle. He wants to cuddle now.  And if the only way for us to cuddle is for him to lay on the floor behind where my head would go while doing crunches, well then dammit that is where he will be.  And forget trying to do this pilates move of lifting your hips and butt off the ground while laying in the core position.  The cat will be ON your stomach, trying to get loves.  Or headbutting you until your glasses come off.  Or any other number of things. It's just... It's a comedy of errors, and if I was not so embarrassed about how my body looks, I would have somebody video tape it, because I don't think anybody would believe me without seeing it.  But I'm not getting in front of a video camera like that until i'm down at least another two pants sizes. At least.

Now! Moving on to other self improvement I have been working on.  My dental hygiene is not the best.  It never has been. My parents tried when I was younger, but I knew that there was flouride in our drinking water and I'd never had a cavity, so what was the point in brushing my teeth? That's persisted into my adult life as well.  Add on the nine years of smoking and coffee, and you can well imagine what my teeth look like.  Well.  I was getting tired of not being able to smile. And my Kiwi has just the best teeth ever.  Well ok, some celebrities might have him beat, but those people are not real and probably gargle bleach.  So, I have begun a regimen with whitening toothpaste and mouthwash.  And it's only been a few days of using them twice a day (morning and night) and my teeth are already looking whiter and feeling cleaner. 

But the problem?  Nothing tastes the same!!  I mean, I had a bowl of honey nut cheerios the other morning (before brushing my teeth for the morning) and my mouth still had the toothpaste taste from the night before and the cheerios tasted terrible!  Sadness!  But that is a small price to pay for looking pretty and having teeth in my mouth for a few more years at least.

97 days until Seattle.  I bought my plane tickets tonight..... So much relief.