 |
| Pictured above; NOT ME. Intellectual Property of Iguanamouth. This person's art is so cool. So, so cool. Iguanamouth, if you see this and want me to take it down I will. |
I just kept this one pair of jeans because I really liked them. They're Victoria's Secret Blue London boyfriend style jeans. In 2004 you could still easily find 100% cotton jeans. In fact, if you wanted spandex in your jeans you had to look for it.
I love these jeans. They have a button fly. They are stone-washed but they are also good, thick cotton denim, not the light-weight stuff you find nowadays. This is a well-made piece of clothing. And they look pretty good on me, I think. I had another pair in dark denim. I don't know why I didn't keep those too, but I wish I had. I never figured 100% cotton would be so hard to find again. And not just because Vicki apparently doesn't sell jeans anymore. Bitch.
A more important part of the story is that I am also hoping to put on some muscle, I want to be stronger for my martial arts classes. Muscle is denser than fat. A pound of muscle does not weigh more than a pound of fat. A pound is a pound is a pound. The density of muscle versus fat means the number on the scale may move down, or may move down very slowly, or may even increase and I will still be healthier than I was before, because that lean muscle has more benefits than just taking up less space than fat.
 |
| Five pounds of fat in a side-by-side comparison to five pounds of muscle. |
Quoting the article One Pound of Fat Versus One Pound of Muscle: Clearing Up the Misconceptions by Jennifer Regan:
Having more muscle mass in your body will:
- Create a leaner physique
- Reduce your risk of injury
- Increase strength, stability, power and endurance
- Improve balance and mobility
- Improve confidence
- Increase energy and vitality
- Enhance athletic performance
- Create metabolic reserve in times of traumas such as (car accidents and burns)
- Increase your metabolic efficiency
- Improve insulin sensitivity and improve blood glucose control
Ms. Regan is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, her article is well-referenced and written mostly in plain-speak. I'm going to print it out for myself to study it in more depth.
Along with all the benefits mentioned above, lean muscle mass means I can easily slip right into those old jeans, button up that button-fly, sit and move with grace and ease, and I don't have a muffin top. So even on a day when I feel run down I know I am healthier than I was last year, or even last month.
That is the hurdle I have gotten over today. No, that's not a fitting analogy. A person leaps over a hurdle to clear it. There was no leaping involved in this (unless you count skip kicks and spinning round house and heel kicks). There was slow trudging and occasionally the falling down and the getting back up. I have reached the down side of a hill...or maybe reached the edge of the plateau.
 |
| Not even the spinning backward roundhouse kick will get you over a hurdle. Also, we haven't learned this yet. Property of Welsh Karate Jutsu Kai |
Whatever, I'm digressing. I do that.
Those jeans that slide on so easily now, they are a symbol. A symbol of how far I've come and how far I can still go. When I reach the end of this path those jeans won't fit again; they'll be too big, But I'll keep them anyway because they will still mean something to me.
When I reach the end of the path I'm on now my journey will not end. I will head off over the fields and into the woods where there is no path, finding new facets of myself along the way.
And I'll have to make friends with Levi Strauss, because they seem to have exactly what I need. If I'm lucky I can dig some up at a thrift store, otherwise...I'll have to...
GO. SHOPPING. Maybe even at the mall. The horror! No, I'm serious, that will be a hurdle for me. There will nothin' to do but leap.
 |
| Photo property of Levi Strauss. Thanks for keepin' it real, Levi. You're a peach. |
No comments:
Post a Comment