I'll Trade You 3 1/2 Pounds of Fat for 5 Pounds of Muscle

I am pretty sure I blogged about my weight gain a few weeks ago. I had been feeling pretty awesome about my fitness level, so I weighed myself and discovered I had gained over five pounds. Gained. I gained five pounds. I had been working out 5-6 days per week... It made me sad.

The other day, I measured myself for fun. I'm actually doing a monthly measurement and writing it on a measuring tape, then painting over the ink in clear nail polish so it stays on. I want to remember this forever. You know, a visual of my hard work.

I measured an inch less on my arms, but that wasn't new. I measured an inch less on my waist... nice. I measured an inch less on my hips! Nice! I measured an inch less on my thighs! NICE!!! I was really excited! Give or take five pounds, it's working!

So today, for fun, I weighed myself (after eating a sizeable dinner and dessert) that I've lost 3 1/2 pounds! And since I'm exercising, I know it was fat that was lost!

I started imagining a game of Go Fish... "I'll take your five pounds of muscle, and trade you three and a half pounds of fat..." Which turned out to be a pretty nasty mental image...

My body is doing what it's supposed to. Right on schedule.

Tomorrow I run. And I will run with a little added enthusiasm. This time next month, my clothes should be fitting a little better, if not a lot better. That's pretty much fantastic.