Day of 12 of my challenge and I’m just now starting to find my groove. It’s been tough and I don’t think I went about this the right way. I tried to do too much too soon and it’s affected my game plan.

Vowing to exercise and practice more sounded feasible enough, but I shot myself in the foot by changing my diet the way I did. Quitting french fries and the office candy drawer cold turkey made my energy levels dive for the first 10 days or so. I was irritable and unmotivated and just couldn’t find the strength to do much extra in terms of activity. The good news is I feel MUCH better and I don’t even want to eat those things. I’ve seen a reduction of body puff, and my thighs jiggle less than they did a couple of weeks ago. It seems I’ve lost a solid two pounds.

I’ve learned that drinking crack-strength coffee a couple of hours before dancing is a terrible idea. I did this last night and instead of giving me energy, it just made me sick. I felt jittery all through class and was sweating more than usual. So when Homegirl, also butt-tired and sweaty, suggested going out for shave ice, I said “YES!” Man, we booked it out of that studio so fast, you’d have thought flamencas could fly. I went for a lime/mango/Hawaiian Punch treat and the moment I took the first spoonful, I felt I’d never had anything so good. The steam rose from my pores and my core temperature went back to a safe level. All was right in my gypsy temple again and I was content. And what could be better than a refreshing reward and mini-gab session with my Homegirl?

Tomorrow begins a better phase of the challenge, I think. Class on Saturday, private studio time on Sunday and I’ll start all over again next week with classes on Monday. Yes. I’m on a roll now.