i'm sorry, i know it's my second post in two mintes, but i've been wanting to post about both these things ALL day and i couldn't pick just one! *addict*

ok. so i've never been amazingly heavy, but i've always been on the curvier side. and i've never been willing to give up the pleasurable things that put me on the curvier side - i mean, really, to be my 'ideal' weight i'd have to totally give up ALL my favorite foods, like pasta, just to be skinny. no thank you. i'm determined to accept myself, and my boyf's response when i say i want to lose weight is always: 'you're not going to lose THAT much, are you??? ...so i'm cool.

that being said, i'm SO happy, i lost ten pounds!!!! in two weeks! heh. and almost without trying.

i wanted to share, because i know there are some girlies out there who wanna lose a couple.

the difference in my routine in the last two weeks: i've been swimming. and not really exerting myself, either. a couple times a week, after classes, i go and swim for half an hour - i put no emphasis on speed, at all. i go reallllyyyy slow, and just concentrate on the way my legs and arms are moving, and noticing the different muscles that are being used, etc. and i think. and it's been very peaceful.

anyway, i got on the scale today and viola, 171.5.

the question that actually has to do with swimming underwater: this never happened to me growing up, but now, water comes into and down through my nose every time i go underwater, and i feel like i end up inhaling it, and it's icky. suggestions?

The trick to swimming underwater and not getting water up your nose is to constantly keep a little bit of air blowing into your nose from your lungs..it doesn't have to actually escape..but just enough so that the water can't get in, and remember to keep doing it when you come up for air!
That's really awesome about your swimming.

swimming is so good for you! great job :) i was a swimmer in high school but completely stopped after i graduated. i miss it so much. there's a suit at speedo.com i'm hoping will go on sale.

yeah, blow out of your nose. or get a nose clip thingy. backstrokers use those quite a bit.

Take a breath. Hold it, then bear down, kinda like you would if you were on the toilet... Anyhow, the light pressure you exert on your lungs will keep the water out of your nose. Certain movements, like backflips underwater require additional pressure, but just swimming a bit under water is not a big problem. It does get to the point where you don't notice you are doing it anymore.

when you come up for air, make sure you don't just breathe in with your nose! I normally take a breath through my mouth and then go for nose...i think this lets any water in my nose kinda fall out (ew...we swim in nose water!).