Week 29 Recap : The Hunt for a Fall Wardrobe

Shopping. For. Clothes. Three words that I have a love/hate relationship right now. As soon as I stepped foot in store this week - cash in pocket and ready to spend some dough - I instantly realized why I had not done this so long. Aside from being entirely time consuming, the amount of options was overwhelming. I mean, how do I dress now? At 28, there is a fine line between dressing my age and looking like and old women (or a too-old women dressed in too-young clothes). The clothes in the teen-geared stores are certainly not appropriate (not to mention I can't quite squeeze in to those anyway) but how do I still look trendy? How do I still set myself apart from everyone else by the way I dress? How do I find my new style? Walking in through the double glass doors, under fluorescent lighting and standing in front of literally hundreds of racks of clothing, I took a deep breath and dived in.

The time it takes for me to find pieces I like enough to spend money on is unreal. In the first store I visited (TJ Maxx) I walked in to the dressing room with 10 pieces. I braced myself as I had literally guessed on the sizing, hoping for the best but admitting to myself that none of these things may actually fit me. And then something happened - they fit. Not many things slimmed my figure or fit me properly, I'll add, but they did fit. After more than an hour in the first store I managed to purchase a top, jeans and a pair of shoes. I realized that this wasn't something that could be done at one stop, in one hour.

So the next day, I tried somewhere else. With even more options (a full on department store) but knowing sort of where I was size-wise, I was a little more encouraged. Time consuming, still. I had to try on everything and go back for different sizes multiple times. By some sort of magic coincidence, I ended up with two sweaters that were a  'Medium' size [I am sure they were cut large or something, I'm not a Medium]. There I bought two sweaters, a blazer, a sparkly tank and a belt. I bought as many non-stretch pieces as I could, because I could.

I still need to find some accessories, shoes and a cute top to go with the blazer but I'm almost there! I'm happy with my purchases and I even bought a dress that fit but was maybe just a hair too small. It was so adorable I couldn't resist. Just another reason to help motivate me to the next 10lb milestone! Oh, and here is one of my outfits. I call this look 'I haz waist!'

Workout this week :

Monday : Spin and Sculpt = 480 calories

Tuesday : Bodypump = 370 calories

Wednesday : Spin & Sculpt = 470 calories

Thursday : Bootcamp = 480 calories

Friday : Short Walk 1.6 miles = 200 calories

Lost another two pounds this week, which is surprising to me. I have been pretty exhausted the last two weeks, and I thought it would show more on the scale. Getting up 1.5 hours earlier means no time for morning workouts, more coffee, less water. It's been a challenge, but just another hurdle I need to overcome. I need to get more rest and get back to two workout days.

I'm glad I made it to bootcamp this week though, it was one of the first workouts I've done in a long time where I thought the rest of my lunch may come up. It was a challenge class, she called it. The name was fitting. There was a seemingly harmless orange cone at the top of the hill. Simple instructions really. A circuit workout - carry two tires up the hill back down, bear crawl (on all fours) up the hill and back down. Lunges with a medicine ball up the hill and back down. A squat jump that propels you forward, up the hill then down. Then a short break with 10 sit ups (your legs going up the hill) and 10 pushups with your legs also up on the hill. Oh, and when you're done all of that you do a nice lap the length of the hill and back. For 40 minutes you tried to complete this circuit as many times as you could. We did it four and a half times, I was barely breathing or moving by the end, drenched in my own sweat. Sounds fun right? The odd part was, I actually thought it was fun, the challenge was fun. Recently I found myself hoping to get back on my bike again, I'm exited for the next ride. How things (and thoughts) have changed for the better. Thirteen more days left in September, hoping to lose four more pounds by then!