Learning Guitar...

A couple of years ago, I purchased a fairly decent acoustic dreadnought guitar.  I had tried to learn guitar before, but living under the shadow of my child-prodigy brother who had taken all of Old Dominion University's music theory classes by the time he was out of third grade and who was probably born with a guitar in his hand, I got discouraged and learned clarinet and percussion instead.

For whatever reason, with the purchase of this guitar, I started playing it every day.  I learned a few things, a cool picking pattern, some pretty chord progressions, but I couldn't really sit down and play.   Then my beloved husband surprised me with guitar lessons.  I've been doing that now for about three months.  It's surprising what a little "direction" can do when you are trying to learn something new.

Next, for my birthday this past April, my husband gifted me with an electric guitar (Cort G200... strat type body, very nice) and two amps (Line 6 Spider IV 15a and Fender Frontman 25a).  It's also amazing how much longer one can practice when not having to reach so far around the guitar... I am um, generously endowed, which can complicate guitar playing quite a bit if the body of the guitar is deep.  It shortens my reach by about eight inches (you lady guitar players out there know what I am talking about.  The electric guitar has a much thinner body.  I'm in heaven.   I also can play "backing tracks" on my ipod through the amps while I practice.  It's much more fun to practice soloing around a scale with some percussion and bass in the background.  Much more fun than a metronome for keeping tempo too.

At 46 years old, I'll never be a guitar hero.  I'm not a teenage boy who can lock myself in my room for seven hours a day to play.   I'm lucky if  I get ten uninterrupted minutes in a row to practice.  I have to steal a few minutes in the morning while my 7yo eats breakfast, a few in the evening while dinner is simmering/baking/boiling, and a few more before bed, after I've got kiddo to sleep, and Mom's diaper changed, meds done, etc...   But you know what.  I'm having fun.  I'm making progress.  And my new electric guitar is so ... Shiny!!!

Nine Months Later... the new me, slowly emerging!

I've been on Medifast since October 6th, 2011. That's 236 days as of this blog post.  This morning I weighed in at 205lbs.  My starting weight was 248.  I could have done better had I stuck 100% to plan, but there have been times in the past eight months that I've not followed as closely as I should.   I tend to fall off-plan on weekends.  During the week it's easy.  I don't bring money to work.  I just bring my 5 packets. I either eat those, or I don't eat.   I keep a 3 liter bottle of water on my desk. By the end of the work day, I make sure I've made it gone.

 This was at my wedding last year, May 28th, 2011.  I think I was actually much more than 248, but I wasn't weighing myself.

 On the left is me at 248lbs, around the time I started Medifast.  On the right is me at 215lbs.

And me hovering just above 200lbs.  I think I'm 203lbs here.

Friday I was down to 201lbs.  Just a good poo from "one-der-land" (i.e. under 200lbs for the first time in >20 years).  But, it was our anniversary.  And it was Memorial day weekend.  Now I buckle down.  I'd like to be in transition before the end of the summer...