Workouts, Diets, and Personal Trainers, Oh My!

It's been a while since I've made a post, so I'm just gonna give you a quick update on what's been going on in my life lately.

I recently signed up for a big block of personal training sessions at Fitness Together in Allen (www.allenft.com) and I did my intitial assessment on August 7th, and got the results and started working out in earnest on August 15th. An assessment basically measures all sorts of things, like your weight, your metabolism, resting heart rate, strength, flexibility, and measurements of pretty much every body part you have. I've learned that my metabolism is slow (like I needed another obstacle!), I can bench press 95 pounds (that really makes me sound like a wimp!), my resting heart rate is 60 (which is awesome), I'm really flexible (no problems there!), and I have a gazillion pounds to lose. So basically, I'm pretty strong, healthy and flexible, just need to drop some pounds and inches. All in all, about what I expected.

Currently my main goal is weight loss, with some secondary goals of gaining strength and cardio-vascular fitness. Given those goals, my diet is currently limited to 1200 calories per day (300 calories for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and 150 calories for 2 snacks between meals) and I'm working at with a personal trainer twice a week, and trying to get cardio in 4-5 days a week. I'm really just trying to make sure that I stick to the diet (not easy AT ALL) and do some sort of exercise every day (so far I've only missed one day, but I wasn't feeling well, so I wasn't being lazy!). It seems to be working, because I think I'm down 5 pounds so far, and considering I'm sore more days than not, I must be building up some good muscle mass, so that's helping me keep going. I like being strong, which doesn't make a lot of sense, since I'm not the type of person that will go into a gym regularly and pump iron, so I really need someone to make me do it, which is why I went the Personal Trainer route.

So far it's been an interesting ride, and I just don't really enjoy working out or dieting. The diet is the biggest challenge right now - keeping a food journal is really time consuming and can be frustrating at times since I spend a lot of time eating in restaurants (are veggies still healthy when you don't know how much salt & butter was used?!?) and have to spend a lot of time guessing how many calories were in the food I just ate. Luckily, I've gotten a good grasp on portion control and eating right before I started this, so it's not as hard as it would have been if I'd started 8 months ago. Basically, the idea is this: eat lots of fresh foods (just say no to processed foods!) with an emphasis on lean protein, vegetables and fruits. I can do that. I really enjoy that! My weakness however, is sweets - I love to bake and I'm trying to wean myself off of my morning mochas, but who knows if I'll actually do it. I did go from a Grande Non-fat No Whip Mocha (220 calories) to a Tall this week (170 calories), so that's a step in the right direction, but there's still a crapload of sugar in there. I'm trying to take it one step at a time though, so if I can keep the calories in check, I might really start watching the sugar in a week or two. I'm trying not to do too much at once so that I don't get too overwhelmed or discouraged.

Right now, I'm just trying to stay focused and try to make it to the 8 week mark when I do another assessment. The way I see it, if I stick to the diet and exercise as much as I can stand, I'll reach my goals sooner and be able to go back to a more realistic lifestyle. Some days I do better than others, but if I know I goofed a little, I try to throw in 15 extra minutes of cardio to make up for it. For me, a lot of it has to do with planning. For example, if I know that every Wednesday is Happy Hour day, and I really want to have a cocktail, I try to budget my calories very carefully so that I have enough left for that cocktail without having to cheat or go over my 1200 calories. It helps knowing that sticking to this will help me reach my goals faster, and knowing that I don't have to avoid anything, just eat it in moderation. It's really not as painful as I thought it would be!

I'm enjoying the progress, and enjoying the training, but I know I can't maintain this lifestyle forever. I know me, and I'm not a gym rat. Even after this is all over, I'll keep the yoga up, keep going to bellydancing class, and keep taking walks in the neighborhood. Pumping iron and hopping on treadmills on a regular basis.... not very likely. I know me and I just won't do that stuff without outside motivation. I'll have to revisit in a couple of months to see if I need to keep doing the personal training thing once a week just to keep me motivated and accountable.

Whew! So much for quick! Time to sign off... keep an eye out - I've got 5 more weeks until my next assessment, and if you're lucky, I'll have made enough progress that I won't feel embarrassed about posting my results...