# 31 - Old Clothes, New Clothes

Old clothes, new clothes. Black clothes, blue clothes.
When I grew out of my old clothes, I probably never thought I'd fit into them again. I sadly gave away most of them. But for some reason I kept some too.
Well, lately I've been digging into my closet to see what is there. And I've been finding some nice outfits that I had relegated to the Once-Upon-A-Time category. You know what? I tried them all, and they fit!!
So I started to wear my old clothing again, and it feels like I'm wearing something brand new. That's so much fun.
Of course, I have dozens of outfits that are still too small. I'm not discouraged. I'm planning on trying them on next month, Iy"H.

# 30 - Ditch the Dishes and Dance

The Sabbath ended tonight after 6 PM. In my previous life I would have stood in the kitchen at the sink with my dirty pots and dishes for about an hour or two. So would my friends and neighbors.
But those days are gone. Now as soon as the Sabbath is out, we're in our sneakers and workout clothes, and we're all off to Zumba.
Really, tonight I walked in five minutes late to Zumba (how do people get there so fast), and found a room full of women jumping and twisting. Everyone has ditched those dishes to dance for an hour or two and salsa off the chulent and challah.
Well, there may be a lot of dirty kitchens in my neighborhood, but B"H, there are going to be a lot of healthier mothers around.

# 29 - Celebrating with My Friends

I went to Zumba tonight to try to shake off some of the challah and honey that I ate the sukkah today. The room was packed. I guess everyone felt they ate a bit too much of those holiday favorites, gefilte fish and tzimmes.
One of the Zumba-ists tonight was also a member of the Efrat Women's Health Center. After tonight's class, she came up to me and told me that her child came home for the holidays and said, "Ema,  you look great!!"
My friend was so happy. She said she told her child, "Thank you. I still have a way to go." Her child said, "Ema, you look great to me."
I gave her a giant hug. She was just flying high and I flew with her.
Hooray. Victories like these mean so much!!
We've worked so hard for the past three months. Sometimes we wonder if we've actually made any difference in our shapes. Then we see someone we haven't seen in a while and they tell us how great we look. Well, that feels terrifico!!

# 28 - Is She Trying to Kill Us?

Twice a week I go to the Efrat Women's Health Center for interval exercise, Zumba exercise and a round-table with the Center's social worker and its nutritionist.
Tonight we had an exercise class with Daphne Kupietzky. Now, we've been exercising with Daphne for three months. When we began I asked our instructor, "What's the goal?" She said, "Move and sweat." I moved. I sweated. I enjoyed our exercise class.
A few weeks ago, Daphne explained that we had to turn our classes up a notch. We started doing interval training - working on something really hard for 30 second sprints, then taking a 30 second slower pace.
An interval training website said, "Interval training can supercharge your fitness, boost your metabolism, burn off that extra fat and start reaching those goals that you have set yourself."
So, Daphne feels she's pampered us enough and it's time for some real action.
We were on our feet doing a football run, squat jumps and pushing knee lifts. We gave it all we had to give. (Of course, next week, she'll probably say it wasn't enough and turn the screws up another notch. Wish me luck.)
I was sure reaching Daphne's goal - moving, sweating and going for the personal gold. I also reached my own goal tonight - surviving a session of interval training and then feeling great about it.

# 27 - The Ultimate Compliment

Although I've been busy like everyone else preparing for the holidays, I took time to join my friends at a protest rally against danger on our roads. The rally was very well-attended, and since I was running late, I went on my own. I stood alone during all the speeches and watched my friends from a distance. Before we left, my best friend came up to me from behind, and put her hand on my shoulder.
"I was looking for you," she said. "And then I caught sight of you, but I wasn't sure it was you. You look really good."
I was speechless. My best friend did not recognize me from across a crowded rally.
I must really be changing...for the better.