Muffin Topple Monday #3 (and Audition Purgatory Day #1!)

So last week was awesome. Not even kidding. Lost five pounds, lost some inches...it was epic.

This week?

Nothin'.

That's right.

Nothin'.

At the same time, I'm okay with that. I would rather not lose anything than gain something. I am the first to admit that I was not as dedicated this week as I was last week. I skipped two days of Jillian (I hope she doesn't track me down and kick me in the face) and I ate bread. A lot of bread.

I was bemoaning this to Kat over sushi on Friday night when she very sweetly pointed out, "But it's show week." And I snapped my fingers and rejoiced, for yea and verily, the first commandment of theater (at least for me) is "Do not think about anything except thine show, for thine show is thy passion and thy greatest concern." Which, when translated, means "Just make sure you're eating, all right? It doesn't matter what it is."

I had four performances of the Three Little Pigs show this past week, and even though it's just a 30-minute pop culture retelling of the fable, it's still enough to keep me from thinking about anything else.

And anyways, I'm probably not going to eat all week. You see, today begins what I not-so-affectionately call "audition purgatory." Here's how it works:

Tonight at 6:50- General auditions. A one-minute monologue (from Summer in the City by Barbara Kaufman) and 16 bars of a song ("I Can't Say No" from Oklahoma!), plus a headshot and resume.

Sometime tonight or tomorrow: The callbacks lists are posted.

Wednesday: Madcap preparations for aforementioned callbacks

Thursday at 7pm: Callbacks for Beau Jest. These will be cold readings from various scenes. Luckily, I bought the script a couple of weeks ago, so I'm familiar with it in case I get called back.

Friday at 7pm: Callbacks for Guys and Dolls. First it's individual singing and acting callbacks for particular characters, then a general dance call.

Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc...: At some point the cast list will be posted!

You see what I mean about purgatory? Yeah. It's crazy. And not the good kind of "woohoo, let's have fun!" crazy. This is the bad, "I'm so anxious I can barely function" kind of crazy.

I always set myself up for disappointment with auditioning. My hopes always soar so high...and invariably I am crushed. It's been a year since I've auditioned and gotten a part that I wanted...and even then, it was my second-choice part. This time around I really, really, really want to play Adelaide in Guys and Dolls. All I can do is do my best and pray fervently that I'm the kind of Adelaide that Mike is looking for.

And if not, I'm going to be a hot mess for a while.

Actually, I'll be a hot mess until the cast list is posted. Then I will either be screaming, wailing, and mad dancing for joy, or locking myself in my room for hours on end with the lights off, weeping copiously while eating Cherry Garcia and consoling myself with the idea that "I did my best, I diiiiiid my beeeeest." (That's for all the Dane Cook fans out there.)

What was I talking about?

Oh, yeah, Muffin Topple.

Here's my stats at the moment.

Weight
Heaviest: 161
Starting: 150 (I had it written down wrong last week...it really was 150)
Current: 145
Muffin Topple weight lost: 5 pounds
Total weight lost: 16 pounds

BMI
Heaviest: 31.4
Starting: 29.3
Current: 28.3
Muffin Topple points lost: 1
Total points lost: 3.1

Inches Lost (from bust, waist, hips, upper arm, and thigh total):
Starting: 17"
Current: 20.25"
Total inches lost: 3.25"

My next goals are:
140 pounds
23" lost
27 BMI

Stay tuned for more audition whining...if you can!

Muffin Topple #2: I'm a sexay thing!

This week was actually really, surprisingly good. Like seriously. I didn't expect it to go this well.

I cut out as much white food as possible- white bread, white rice, pasta, potatoes. Typically these are my Waterloos, but I just really focused on not gobbling up everything in sight. I ate brown rice with ground turkey one day (thank you, cafeteria, for serving something decent) and I ate sandwiches on wraps instead of bread. I did, however eat desserts at Barefoot in the Park, and Cadbury mini eggs on Saturday (sooo good!), and my mom's yummy Easter cake on Sunday (white cake with homemade lemon filling, homemade whipped cream, and coconut) but I ate everything in moderation.

But the biggest difference is the 30-Day Shred. I hate Jillian and love her at the same time. The first time I did the DVD, I thought I was going to die, but I've done it every night since last Sunday, and I can see a BIG difference.

I've made it stick by making it part of my nighttime routine. It's charge computer, change clothes, do workout, braid hair, wash face, collapse into bed. I even did it after set strike for Barefoot...which went from 10:30 to 1 in the morning and was a workout in itself. (We took the set apart, loaded the pieces into pickup trucks, drove over to our workspace theater, and unloaded the trucks. Lather, rinse, repeat). I was SO RIDICULOUSLY PROUD OF MYSELF over that one.

And the good news is...it's paying off!

Because guess who lost five pounds this week?!?

(that would be me).

I'm absolutely ecstatic. This is the plateau I've been struggling with since last semester, and not only did I get over it, I dropped a lot more weight in one week than I have in January. It's terribly exciting.

So here are the specs:

Weight
Heaviest: 161
Starting: 150 (I had it written down wrong last week...it really was 150)
Current: 145
Muffin Topple weight lost: 5 pounds
Total weight lost: 16 pounds

BMI
Heaviest: 31.4
Starting: 29.3
Current: 28.3
Muffin Topple points lost: 1
Total points lost: 3.1

Inches Lost (from bust, waist, hips, upper arm, and thigh total):
Starting: 17"
Current: 20.25"
Total inches lost: 3.25"

I made out a whole reward system for myself...just to make it that more motivating. And I actually hit THREE of them!! So I'm going to go shopping. Yay, shopping!

Reach 145 pounds: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (why don't I own this book?!)
Reach 18" lost: Ouran High School Host Club part I
Reach 28 BMI: Ouran High School Host Club part II

My next goals are:
140 pounds
23" lost
27 BMI

Maybe I'll make them next week! Who knows?!

A week in review

Why is it I can always think of fascinating things to blog about when I'm NOT at a computer.

Oh, well.

Things have been going well on the Muffin Topple front. The focus on my eating habits has been mostly on eliminating white food- bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes. Which (except for rice) are all on my favorites list. It's been difficult, but I've been making it. And the exercise front is doing even better. I've worked out with Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred every day since Sunday, and I can actually see a semblance of a difference! It's tough as anything, but I solve the problem by making the workout part of my going-to-bed routine, so that, #1: I don't avoid working out, and #2: I can immediately collapse for several hours and not feel like a lazy slacker.

And to make everything even more worthwhile, two complete strangers on campus commented on how cute I looked, and several of my friend commented as well. One even said she could tell I lost weight!

Ego points for the win.

I've also been watching Ouran High School Host Club. Oh, man. I forgot how much I loved it! I used to be a big anime fan, but a couple years ago I got completely sick of it, partially because a girl I hung around with talked about anime and cosplay way too much, and it became a painful reminder of the fact that the girl was taking my best friend away. *cough* All right, enough with the emo. Since that girl went away, and things between me and my BFF are so much better, I am finally at the point where I can enjoy anime again. And seriously, Ouran is amazing. It's fluffy and funny and pretty and I DESPERATELY NEED TO PURCHASE IT BEFORE I LEAVE FOR ORLANDO.

The good news: I've been sewing like a fiend lately.

The bad news: I haven't photographed any of it.

Sad, right? Hopefully I can fix that. Especially the 1964 dress that I made for tonight, with vintage floral fabric. So cute!

Speaking of adorable dresses, hopefully I'll have one for tomorrow. P and I are FINALLY taking our engagement pictures. We've been engaged for nearly two years on the dot (April 19, 2007), and we've never taken pictures. Oh, well. They'll be awesome.

So yeah. That's what's up right now!

Muffin Topple Monday #1

So today was the first day on Muffin Topple Monday.

(By the way, my Flava-of-Love-style nickname is Biscuit & Cheeze. In case you were curious.)

Eating went decently well...even though there's a bag of Panera bread staring me down. I only had one piece! I'm so proud of myself.

I went out and bought Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred. OMFG. The reviewers weren't kidding when they said how hardcore it was. It is ROUGH. But I can tell it's going to work...if I stay motivated.

I lost twelve pounds last semester. I think I can manage losing more!

Also, hopefully next MTM will be more thrilling than this.

(sorry)

Lesson learned: don't let me blog during a migraine

I had planned to write a nice, cheerful blog yesterday...yeah, that didn't happen. I was real snippy, wasn't I?

Well, yesterday I gave myself an ultimatum. I've spent the past couple of years whining about my weight, and while I've lost some pounds and inches, I want to be so much...well, LESS.

My goal for Lent this year was, instead of taking something away, adding something. So I've been exercising pretty regularly. But still, I want to see more results. I want to be down to my goal weight by my wedding.

Hence, I'm embarking on Operation Muffin Topple.

My goal is to get down to 130 by June 21st...which, hopefully, will allow me to be down to 110-115 by March 13, 2010. The winner of Muffin Topple gets a big ol' basket of fun things, but honestly...I just want to finally lose the weight.

So now, there's more than just Musical Monday. I shall also participate in Muffin Monday. So BE PREPARED.

I'm also going to be real honest with y'all about where I am weight-wise. It's not good. Well, it's been worse, but it's not good.

My heaviest weight: 161 lbs, in the fall of '07
My lightest weight: 139 lbs, in the summer of '06 (the lightest I've been since high school!)
And my current weight: 149 lbs
I can't wait to see these numbers drop!

I get to be onstage again!!!

Last night we had auditions for the children's play...and I get to play Missy!! I'm so friggin' excited.

It's a funny little retelling of the Three Little Pigs, and Missy is the sticks pig with a personality reminiscent of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. Although when I was reading for her, some of Portia from the Mighty B! crept in...but I played it differently than everyone else, and maybe that's what got me the part.

I really don't care about analyzing it. I'm so so happy to be in a show!!

We get to perform at several daycares and schools during the month of April, and then...in December we're adding a second act to the show, where the Big Bad Wolf tells his side of the story. And at that point, we're going to be a mainstage show! We get to perform in Collins, and kids will come in to see us. I'm seriously thrilled about that. I'm freaking guaranteed to be in a show next semester, and that makes me feel a lot better.

This has been a really, really good week.

I went out for sushi, ice cream, and book-browsing last Friday with Daniella and Shannon.

I went on my birthday date (lunch and seeing Coraline in 3D) with P on Saturday.

I hit up Flattestan for a big birthday dinner and awesome Rock Band session on Saturday night.

I got accepted to the Disney Alumni Program!!

I got A's on my Gilbert and Sullivan and Shakespeare projects for Voice and Diction, and I think I did well on my storytelling project.

I impressed one of the most intimidating members of the theater department with my work ethic, introspection, and acting ability.

I've worked out for 30-60 minutes every day this week.

I nailed my audition for the children's show and got a good part.

And I'm going out to dinner with friends tonight.

I'm so thankful for a good life and a good week. Now, if only every week could be like this...