New Exercises

Monday was my last hour with my personal trainer. She wanted to make me hurt. She did.

I wanted new exercises to add to what I already know. She had me doing toe taps during the regular planks. She added more weights and leg lifts to my step ups. And she had me doing side planks as shown in the photo example above. Wow. I was bad at those. My core is still far from where I need it to be but I kept trying.

Then I asked for more ideas for abdominal exercises. She gave me them and had me do them many times. The one I had never done was a reverse incline crunch. For mine, I used a bench at an angle and laid on my back. Then I grabbed the bar so I didn't slip down. Then I had to lift my legs. She had me do those in 3 different ways.

All I can say, is please don't make me laugh. It hurts. :-D

As if that work out wasn't enough, I also did my 3 mile walk around my neighborhood and cut 4 minutes off my time. It was a good day for my work outs!

Goal Setting

GOAL: The purpose to which an endeavor is directed; an objective.

To help me stay motivated I've decided to start setting a weekly goal for myself. This first week, it's simple, work out 4 times between 3/14-3/20. I already worked out an hour at the gym on Sunday and I have my last session with my trainer on Monday. I should be able to easily fit in the other 2 work outs before Saturday.

In the past, I've tried the typical goal of losing 15 pounds by a certain date. Even with something big, like a wedding, I never succeeded. I've found it to be a stress and I quickly lose sight of the "why" and I don't achieve it. So I'm trying something new; setting smaller goals. One week at a time. They might be small victories but in the long run, it will help me get rid of those bad habits.

I'm okay with small victories because I know it will help me reach my ultimate victory of losing this weight!

Accountability

Accountability...no excuses. It's been almost 3 months since my last post. And almost 3 months since I worked daily on my diet and exercise. I could make a few dozens excuses but that's all they are, excuses.

What it amounts to is I did not put myself and my health first. I let life, stress, work and every other excuse keep me from improving my health. No more! I'm back to working out, back to eating properly.

On a positive note, as a good motivator, I did not gain back any of the weight I lost last year. I maintained it the last 3 months. So while, my weight is the same, I'm happy with myself that I didn't have a gain, leaving my Project # at 55.

My task now is prevent another 3 month break. I have learned I need motivators. Once I stopped blogging my motivation quickly fell. So, I'm setting a goal for the next month to identify my motivators and list them.

I'm happy to be back!

Verdict for my new trainer......

I admit, I was leery of hiring a female trainer. I didn't like the last one I used. I want to compare everyone to Eric, my all time favorite trainer that I used 6 years ago. He was awesome but he's too expensive now that he's on his own. But today I went openly to my session with Amy. She deserved a fair chance and an open mind.

I'm happy I signed up with Amy! She's come from a place that was heavier than I ever reached. Looking at her, you'd never guess it, she looks incredible! Plus she's a mom too, she understands those responsibilities. She could easily relate to my issues and how I gained the weight. She's willing to push me when I want and she listened when something hurt my knee. When the hour was done she said, now go do at least 20 minutes of cardio before you go home. Awesome!

I was surprised to learn how bad my balance has become, that will be a primary goal to improve. I have my next time and date set up with Amy. I've already been warned that come Sunday she's going to kick my ass. .....I'm already sore now, so all I can say....Bring it on!

Back to the Gym

Most of my workouts I've been doing at home. I have plenty of DVD's, a BOSU balance trainer, that I love! Plus a large stability ball. That one varies between being my friend and my enemy. Lately it's been an enemy.

Today I made it back into the gym and met with a personal trainer for an hour. We went over my history, my goals and what I'm currently doing for nutrition, cardio and resistance training. They came up with my "real age" at...gulp...44. At least it was down from the prior 48 the last time I did the test but it needs to come down and preferably below my actual age! I have some work to do.

Together with the trainer we determined I need the most help with resistance training. My diet he called good to excellent, yay, love the reinforcement! I'm doing well on cardio. But I want to get off the weight machines and use free weights. I don't know how to start! So starting on Thursday I'll see another trainer and start some sessions with her, with concentration on resistance training. The trainer comes from a similar background, she's lost a lot of weight and is also raising 2 kids. We seemed to get along easily. I'm really looking forward to Thursday and getting more ideas!

Holidays and a great NSV!

The week after Thanksgiving threw me into a new struggle. I'm still working my way back into my new habits.

I'm doing ok on my diet, I could do better but I'm not ruining everything either. I did gain back .04 lbs during that bad week, now I need to take that off. Thankfully I have a good plan for the weeks ahead. I finally have my holiday decorations boxes put away so I can work out at home again. I also have an appointment with a new personal trainer tomorrow. Getting back to my workouts will help me get fully back on track.

I am only hosting one Christmas party this year. I'm already planning a good menu with more healthy choices. For the parties I'm attending I'll be bringing at least one healthy dish. There will be the traditional foods too but I'll be well prepared in advance.

One of my favorite accomplishments happened this past week. I decided I needed at least one pair of jeans that fit me. I was so surprised when I was able to go down 2 sizes in jeans and 3 sizes in a top. That was a great NSV for me, it re-enforced what I'm doing and why... so that I feel better!

The Dreaded E.........

Emotions. Oh can they get the best of me! I've been struggling for the last week. I got through Thanksgiving day without gaining, no loss but no gain! Yeah! That was good.

Starting Thanksgiving through today, it's been one thing after another. I thought when my friend Loren died that I'd be tempted to overeat. I thought I'd fall back to old habits. But I didn't, I stayed strong. I cry when I need to, talk about him when I need to talk. If I can't talk to anyone I'll text someone and say, I miss him! It's helped me stay focused. (You know who you are, thanks for letting me text so many times to say that!)

I learned this week, it's not the big thing that will get me, its the piling up of the small things.

The family drama on Thanksgiving. Seeing old family habits return. A stressful day on Friday. Saturday I upset a friend and wasn't sure if we'd talk again. Then I had a talk with another friend that made me feel awful. I cried so much my eyes were bloodshot the next day. Sunday included a medical emergency for extended family. Monday and Tuesday included botched blood tests and mixed up doses of my medication. Wednesday was another stress with a friend and learning my favorite hair stylist is retiring. A stress headache started Sunday and won't go away. Little things in the grand scheme but they added up and I quit caring early in the week.

I've not watched my diet. I'm eating what I shouldn't. I've eaten more than I needed. I haven't been working out enough. Today I'm beating myself up over this last week. Tomorrow's weigh in will show the damage.

I prepared myself for the big thing but I need to learn how to manage the day to day stresses that add up. One week can't be the start of my downfall and failure. I can't let it.