[Lyria]

All my victories seem to be non scale related lately lol - that thing just wont budge!

I was at the gym yesterday in the spin class when the instructor did this huge double take and exclaimed "wow, you look STRONG! I can see all your muscles!"

It wasn't my usual gym (visiting this one with a friend whose been needing a little motivation to get started) so I was really thrilled It's nice to know the work is paying off even though the scale doesn't reflect it it one iota.

After the class when my friend and I were stretching down even she took a look and noted I'd "definitely a lot of mass lately, you're definitely thinner looking!".

I was happy dancing that evening

I blame the Dragonboating - it's an amazingly awesome total body workout. Love it. Just started 3 weeks ago.

[forestroad]

Congrats! I have always wanted to do Dragonboating...they do it on Lake Champlain up in Burlington but I've never taken the initiative to join a team.

[stellarosa27]

Lyria that's awesome!! I would be happy dancing if I were you, as well

What is dragon boating?

[Lyria]

dragon boating is paddling - the boat seats 20 people total in pairs (so ten seats) plus a "drummer" at the front and a sweep to steer at the back.

Not like rowing where your oar is fixed and the seat moves, paddling you lean out into the water, your butt fixed to the seat. You use every single muscle lol. It's an awesome cardio/strength workout.


Forest, you should definitely give it a go. Its well worth it. The improvement in my strength has been great even in the short period of time I've been doing it. I've already increased my upper body weights in some cases by 5+ kgs (11+ pounds).

It's great for interval as well as sustained cardio work as well as you do short sprint races and long haul endurance. At least, we do lol.

I'm a pretty fit person (can run 10kms in 48mins) but my lord does this take it out of you :P

...yes...it's my new addiction and I have a tendency to gush lol.

[JigglyBits]

yay congrats on your NSV! Sometimes a complement like that can really lighten up my day especially when someone notices the effort I am putting into my weightloss and lifestyle.

Dragon boating sounds like fun!

[merose]

my mum lost about 30kg a couple of years ago - and the number 1 thing she thinks did it for her was dragon boating! I've always wanted to try it but they don't do it where I live.
Oh well, I'm relocating in a few months, so hopefully there'll be an opportunity there

[luvja]

Way to go!

[Lyria]

I wasn't aware they had it here either until a friend of mine joined last year. She was pretty much a walking advertisement for it. Her fitness went through the roof in a short space of time.

A few weeks ago we had a 10km fun run - she'd never run that distance before (probably never more than 4-5 total) but she ran the entire thing in an hour. Her only form of exercise paddling and walking.

[shasha17a]

That is great! I remember a couple years ago when I lost weight slowly and gradually, I would get so frusturated because I wasn't losing like 10lbs a month. But as time went on, people really took notice and that made me feel great. I'm sure your scale will move soon.

[phoenix]

Well done Lyria! It's so inspiring to see people finding non-scale victories, sometimes I feel like I'm too tied up in numbers.