Well, I increased my laps to 30 on Thursday.  So, in 7 days, I have completed 160 laps total.  I skipped Friday, since I have guaranteed myself one night a week free.  Last week, it just happened to be Friday.  I had a Student Bar Association Budget Committee meeting, and I was just exhausted and starving by the time we got out of it at 8pm, so I decided Friday would be my skip day.

Honestly, it felt weird to skip, since I had been going every day last week.

Yesterday (Saturday), I swam again – 30 laps and 200 kicks in the pool.  I do the kicks between laps 25 and 26, to give me a break and also to make me go the extra 5 laps to get to 30.  Going to 30 also allows me to finish on the same end of the pool on which I start, so I don’t have to either walk back or swim back anyway.  I was basically doing 26 laps either way, so I thought what the heck, I might as well push for the extra 4 and get 30 in.

I also signed up for MyFitnessPal online.  It’s a really cool service.  It counts your calories for the day and tells you how many you have left to go.  It helps you make good food choices.  It also has an exercise portion, so you can add in exercise, too.

Yesterday, my first day on the program, I ate and exercised before I signed up.  Unfortunately, I was like 1,200 calories over my goal, mainly due to a milkshake at Chick-fil-a and a small buttered popcorn at the movies.  My lifestyle habits have to change.  I want to look good in a swimsuit, and I certainly want to get there because living in Florida is going to be rough with a fat body.

Not that I’m fat.  I am 160 at 5’6″, so I’m not terribly overweight.  I would like to be around 130, which is my target goal.  I don’t mind admitting that I have probably gained about 15 pounds at least, since I’ve been in law school.  The “freshman 15” becomes the “law school 50” for some, I’ve noticed.  I have several friends who are quite overweight, who weren’t when we started school.  It worries me.

I put the fitness app on my cell phone, too, so that I can update my status at work.  It will be great seeing the progress.

I’ve decided that after school starts, I will have to modify my workout routine a bit.  I have class starting at 7pm on two days a week, and then I have a break in between on Wednesday.  I also get home at 8pm on a couple of days a week, so that will be nice.  I may take Thursdays as my “fitness day off” just because leaving early enough to work out before going to school would be pretty tough.  I’m also going to need some study time in between, but swimming laps doesn’t take more than about 30 minutes anyway.  I just hope that I’m able to get a lane at Bess Chism, because I don’t really have another good choice that’s close by.

So, I feel good.  I’m 40, and I feel more in control of my life than I have in a long time.  It’s my life.  I’m finally starting to live it my way.