Week Twenty-Six. Six Months. The pain, the pain. And I do mean pain. Oy, such contortions that man tries to put me through!

Twenty-six weeks and we’re both feeling so much better than when we started – more stamina, more energy, able to repeatedly carry things up and down the stairs without getting even the slightest bit winded. And forty pounds lighter. It’s pretty awesome.

And then we have days like today where I felt like I was back at square one and couldn’t do a damned thing. I have found that I can do a lot of things on machines, do lunges like a pro, and swing a kettleball until the cows come home, but when I’m left to doing things strictly with my body… all bets are off.

I start off each session with a good 10 minutes in the sauna to help warm and loosen up the muscles. One of my prime problems is lack of flexibility and tight muscles. I still can’t bend over and touch my toes, but today, in the sauna, I actually was able to squat and get my fingertips on the ground. Being that it’s the first time, ever, I thought it reasonably significant.

I walked out to start our session kinda pumped up, and within minutes was knocked down to the ground – figuratively speaking, of course. Our trainer brought things to a whole new level and my body did not want to cooperate.

It’s difficult to describe it all, but right off the bat, I’m hampered by a few things. I cannot touch my toes and I cannot sit with my feet straight out in front of me, so sitting on the floor with my legs raised out in front of me passing things back and forth and building stacks using two hands is going to cause discomfort. And then there was squatting down, grabbing dumbbells from the floor, walking back, doing a push-up, walking back into a squat, picking up the dumbbells, curling, twisting, and then lifting them straight up overhead, back down, into squat, lather, rinse, repeat. I wanted to die after the first one. I did twelve. Sweat pouring off me like I was a fountain.

Victor, who is a lot more limber than I am, was able to at least look better doing it all, although he was writing his obituary, as well. The pain, the pain. And for all we went through, I barely lost a pound and Victor stayed the same as last week.

Obviously, we’re still eating too much. I made a big batch of lunch soup, yesterday, so that will help. I need to switch up my breakfasts and start drinking more water. I’ve slowed down on the water consumption – and that was key in keeping me feeling full during the day. And dinner portions need to be more realistic, as well.

We’re still 40 pounds down in six months, but we can do better. And carrying less weight will help with a lot of the contortions we’re being put through.

Back on the plus side, our recovery time is excellent. As beat up as we were, we were feeling just fine as we walked in the door. More or less. My legs will be sore for the rest of my life. That’s just the way of it.

Using up leftovers is just the way of it around here, as well. We had filling left from the stuffed peppers, yesterday, so I reworked it into a sauce with spaghetti squash.

A while back, I heard or read about cutting spaghetti squash into rings instead of in half lengthwise. Evidently, the strands go around the squash, so cutting it in rings gives you longer squash strands.

And I think they were…

For the sauce, I chopped and then sautéed a bell pepper, and then added about a cup of tomato sauce and some leftover cherry tomatoes. Next went in some olive tapenade and a bit of pepperoncino to spice things up.

When it was all nice and hot, I stirred in the spaghetti squash, let it get hot, and that was it.

So… six months down and six months to go.

Bring on the aspirin. We’re ready.