More Advice From My Trainer

Ok.  Get this. 

Our personal trainer, Chris, went on vacation back to his hometown of California, the last week of Feb.  The first of March, when I found out that my unemployment was ending in 2 weeks, I called Billie and told her I had to stop paying for the trainer, because that's $60/month I just can't justify if Dwayne's going to be paying all of my bills until I find a job.  He would let me keep the $20/month gym membership, but not the personal trainer that we see once a week.  Since I had just paid for the month of March a couple of days before, I have this month left with the trainer. 

The same day I told Billie I was cancelling and only have this month of March left, she texted me later that afternoon and told me the gym called her....that Chris, on vacation in Cali, decided not to come back!!!!  So...they assigned us to a new trainer....a girl named Theresa.  She took our measurments last Thursday, and that's when I found out I lost 1.5 inches off of my bat wings over the last month!  Tonight was our first workout with her, and I'll only get to see her a couple of more weeks, and then my personal training days are over until I can find a friggin' job and afford to start it up again.

After our workout on arms and abs (she's a killer, by the way)....she asked me how much water I'm drinking.  I told her (3) 32 oz. glasses a day.  She told me that's not near enough....drink more.  How much more?  She said I should be drinking 1 oz. of water for each pound I weigh.  ***Brain freeze after I do some quick math in my head***   Ummmm....that's like (30) 8 oz. glasses of water a day.  She said, "Yep...I weigh 156 lbs and I drink 156 ounces of water a day."  So, according to her, I'm only drinking enough water for a 96 lb. person.  I asked her then why is the recommended amount of water 6-8 glasses a day.  She said that's all you need to live and function okay....but if you're lifting weights and building muscle, it needs to be one ounce for every pound you weigh. 

I started to say I'll think about it...I said, "I'll thhh....I'll try."  She said all she asks is that I try!! 

Ok....so has anyone else ever heard of this before?  I really just can't even fathom drinking that much water in a day....much the same way I can't fathom eating 2300 cals a day/7 days a week and actually losing weight, like the nutrionist told me to do.   I swear, the more I try to involve myself in this fitness crap and try to get in better shape, the crazier the advice gets!!! 

Came in at 1800 cals again today, and as you just read, another great workout.  I get so red-faced and red-chested & so drenched in sweat....soaking wet head and clothes...that I think my trainers are worried I'm near heart failure.  Both Chris and Theresa have asked if I'm ok...if I got in the tanning bed before I worked out because I'm so red, etc.  And Billie never sweats.  Ever.  She even commented tonight after the workout that she was actually SWEATING tonight (told you Theresa was a killer).  I don't get it...but whatever.  Maybe some people just don't sweat no matter how hard they work.  I leave the gym every night looking like I just got blasted with a water hose....sooooo attractive, lol.  Another good day in the books.  'Nite friends. :)

Quote For the Day:

"He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else."  -Benjamin Franklin

B*tch Cakes Rocks!

I've said ever since I started my weight loss blog that my goal is not to be stick thin.  I don't need for my rib cage to show or for all of my limbs to look like pencils.  First and foremost, I wanted to lose enough weight to get off all of my meds, which I did.  After that, I want to get to a healthier weight, but still keep my curves.  I've seen pic after pic of other weight loss bloggers who have reached their goal weight or are well on their way, and just haven't seen a version of the vision I have in my mind of what I think looks FABULOUS for me.  Until today!!!

I was reading B*tch Cakes' blog and scrolled down a couple of posts to catch up.  I was going to post the link, but I can't get it to copy and paste here.  She's the first one listed on my blogroll, so just click on it and scroll down a couple of posts to see what I'm talking about.  Her body is my idea of perfection.  Of course, it's only a dream for me to look that damn good.  I've got enough stretch marks covering my body to construct a road map, and I'd have to have surgery to have all of the excess skin removed when I've lost all the weight....but still, a girl can dream!  B*tch Cakes is smokin'.  If I could pick anyone to mold my body after, it would be her.

I haven't been following her blog very long, but she did another post the other day that really struck me.  She said something about losing some weight, and then coming out of the honeymoon phase and stalling out for a while.  She never lost her desire to reach her goal, but she did get stuck for a while....as in two years.  TWO YEARS.  And then she caught that spark again and pressed on to what you see now.  She is the picture of perseverance and determination to chase your goals until you reach them, no matter how long it takes you to get there.  I admire and applaud that kind of positive attitude and fierce dedication.  She makes me want to try harder, pick myself up when I fall, and press on to the goals I've set for myself. 

Speaking of goals, I had another spot-on calorie day and a good, hard workout in the gym with Chris.  I really like this guy.  He doesn't scream or yell at you, but he doesn't let you quit either when you feel like wimping out.  Hiring him as our personal trainer has been worth every penny.  It's an investment in my health, fitness and weight loss goals and I don't think I could ever regret that.  What I DO regret is not having enough money to have him push me 5 days a week, so I'm just going to do my best to keep pushing myself when he's not standing over me asking for 30 more Mountain Climbers.

I took a peek at the scale this morning.  It's not near as awesome as the 6 lbs I dropped last week, but I've got a little something to report tomorrow.  I'll save it 'til then. :)

One last thing before I wrap this up.  Since that dang nutritionist told me to get my carb count up, I made another pasta salad today.  This time it was seafood pasta salad.  I used 5 oz of Dreamfield's pasta (lower glycemic levels for us diabetics), a bag of Contessa frozen salad shrimp, a little pkg of imitation crab meat, 2 Tbsp of lite mayo and 1Tbsp of ranch dressing to give it a little kick.  I added in a little s&p and some diced onions.  Didn't have any celery.  The whole bowl totaled 1034 calories.  I measured it out into 2 portions and ate one of them for lunch, which was 517 calories.  The serving size I ate was almost 3 cups.  I'm posting a pic of the Dreamfield's pasta box and of the bowl of seafood salad.  It was delish! 

Quote For the Day:

"You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through."  -Rosalynn Carter

Getting My Money's Worth

This trainer we've got is tough.  I like him.  I like knowing I'm getting what I'm paying for.  I like knowing I'm going to see some actual results faster than I would going it on my own.

I'm not really sure what my calories came in at today.  We had our gym appt at 7:30pm, so we had a little over an hour to kill inbetween then and the time Billie got off work.  We decided to eat dinner together at Ruby Tuesday's because they have a dish called Chicken Bella with grilled chicken and portabella mushrooms for 417 cals.  Then I got to thinking.  I've proved over and over that I can gain 6-7 lbs. OVERNIGHT from a restaurant meal, even if it's a healthy one.  It's the sodium that gets me every time.  It's what I call "fake" weight, because I know it's water and it will fall off.  However, I knew it wouldn't have time to fall off by Friday morning when I weigh. 

I decided to go with the salad bar instead.  Billie said she didn't think a salad would provide enough carbs for the workout the trainer was going to put us through, so I had about 1 1/2 c. of pasta salad on the side.  The main salad had mixed greens, spinach, a little boiled ham, a little boiled egg, 2 grape tomatoes, green bell peppers, cucumbers, red onions, fresh mushrooms, and a few pumpernickle croutons.  I had a low calorie balsamic vinaigrette on the side.  I saved 430 cals for my dinner before I got there.  Even if I didn't hit the 1500 calorie mark exactly, I feel like I came pretty close. 

I want to get back to putting a daily inspirational quote at the end of each of my posts.  I'll leave you with that quote, and a pic of my dinner tonight.  :)

Quote For The Day:

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."  -Eleanor Roosevelt

Groovin' Right Along

Well, I was at my sister's house yesterday, and it went surprisingly well!!  I went over the 1500 limit, but I'm okay with the 1625 I landed at.  Those extra 125 cals came from snacking.  Kids = stress = snacking.  When I got there, they had a big ol' pot of Northern beans simmering on the stove.  Excellent!!  I HATE BEANS!!  I ate the tuna salad sandwich on a whole wheat bun that I brought with me, and outside of a couple of snacks, I felt good about last night.  Brandy's house is rampant with crap food, which kills me, knowing how slim she is.  She's just way more self-disciplined than I am.  Although I didn't touch either of these, here's a pic of just a couple of things I was faced with:

And remember how I told you my niece Carla is smarter than I am?  In that she'll NEVER eat too many cookies so she doesn't get fat like me?  Well here's a pic of my niece Grace and nephew Elijah, who are also smarter than their Aunt Tammy, eating their healthy beans:

I skipped the gym yesterday morning because the sun was shining bright and I wanted to be out in it.  So Scarlette, my sister Amy, and I went for a 2 mile walk at the park.  Today's calories were good.  Normally, I take the kids out to lunch on Tuesdays when I babysit because I don't leave from there until 2:30pm.  But in the effort to stay comfortably within my calorie count and minimize temptation, we stayed home.  I'm sitting at 1510 cals for today.  As much as it stresses me out sometimes to count every single one of them, never feel really "full", and not give into any yummy temptations (i.e., Chinese food!), it definitely makes for a much anticipated weigh-in on Friday.  I'm really looking forward to it, and that's the first time I've been able to say that in a couple of months.

Now....for tonight's happenings at the gym.  I had asked the personal trainer to tell me what amount of calories he thought I should be eating when we met with him this past Saturday.  He took all my stats, said he'd do some reading in his book at home, and let me know tonight.  Oh he let me know alright. 

He said he triple-checked it, because he was surprised it was so high, but I needed to start eating 2306 cals/day. 

I totally freaked.  My quick and succint reply to that was "Are you effin' nuts???  No way!!"  lol

We talked back and forth for a few minutes.  He admitted that he thought it was a little high.  I asked him hadn't he ever heard that when someone just wants to maintain their current weight, that they should eat around 2000?  He said yes, between 2000-2100.  So I said well then you can see why when you tell me to eat 2300, my brain thinks I'm going to GAIN instead of lose??  He told me to go ahead and stay at the 1500 cals/day for a couple of week and let him know what my losses are.  He said if they stall or slow down significantly then we'll bump them up.  I told him that I did expect him to tell me something like 1800, but 2300 just sounds unreasonable for any kind of real weight loss. 

So, if I like what I see on the scale this week, and I'm pretty certain I will, then I'm shooting for 1500 again next week.  I'm also not going to freak if I have one "bad" eating day out of the week.  I am not perfect and that's not what I'm striving for.  But I do want to get back on track with some significant losses and the blinders are on.  I'm counting my calories again and I'm exercising 5-6 days a week. 

Since I know a lot of you have been doing the strength training WAY longer than I have, then I need to know if you think the 2306 cals/day sounds as insane as I think it does?   I know a couple of people that are in the gym 5-6 days a week, and they have a couple of high calorie days a week....but ALL SEVEN DAYS??  Seriously??  Does anyone else that's working out consistently eat like this?  I'm really curious to know why his "book" told him that.  'Nite friends.  :)

What Have I Done???

Billie and I had our free one-hour session with the personal trainer at our new gym tonight.  Well.....that one hour turned into two hours and before it was all over, we signed up.  I can't believe it.  I've never hired a personal trainer before, mainly because I can't afford it.  So why did I do it tonight?  For one reason really.  I'm desperate.  I want to reach my goal, I've been struggling for quite a while, and I need to be pushed.  So I'm paying someone to push me.

The cost is $30 per session.  At one session per week, that's $120/month.  He's letting us split the cost, so my half is $60 a month, or $15/week.  That will buy me one session a week with the trainer, and an exact plan laid out for us on what's expected of us to do on our own the other 2 days in the week (we're supposed to do 3 workouts a week w/ strength and cardio....and I imagine we'll just do cardio on the other 2 days a week, so that we're working out 5 days/week still).

We're also required to write down everything we eat EVERY day.  My accountability level just rose 100%.  That's exactly what I need....kick my a$$ in the gym and monitor every bite of food that goes in my mouth.  Hmmm....maybe I'll actually lose the weight and get fit!!!  This could be worth $15 a week.

Many of you asked the logic behind doing the weights before the cardio, so I told him tonight that I have a weight loss blog, and I want to know the science behind his plan.  He explained that he wants us to do a 5 minute warm-up of cardio (we chose the elliptical).  Which, by the way, he told me tonight that I'm the most graceful person he's ever seen on an elliptical machine.  That embarassed me, but that's cool.  At least I don't look like I'm having seizures up there anymore.  That gets your heart rate up, and then you move to the free weights, and weight machines. 

He said doing these first burns through the crap in your body, and he listed off a bunch of stuff like glucose, sucrose, fructose, etc.  He said you do weights for 30 mins, and then you do 20 minutes of cardio, which is strictly fat burning.  I didn't argue with him....but I know that you can do it in whatever order you want.  Different people are all going to tell you different things.

The trainer at my last gym does cardio first, and then weights, and never told me the science behind his idea.  However, he did tell me to never eat before you do your cardio.  If you do, then you have to burn through that food first.  If you don't, then you go straight to burning through the stored fat.  But the trainer I met with tonight said that's stupid logic.  He said you have to have energy to fuel your workouts, so you should absolutely eat before you go to the gym.

The trainer tonight also said protein repairs muscles.....always have some after a workout.  And he said carbs provide energy.  Then he said what kind of energy do you need while you're sleeping?  None.  So never eat carbs for dinner.  I asked him what he had for dinner and he said a grilled chicken breast and asparagus.  Alrighty then, lol.  I challenged him and asked him if really NEVER has carbs for dinner.  He said of course he does....he even went so far to tell me that sometimes he has pizza and beer, saying that he's human...not a robot.  I'm going to like this trainer.  :)

Obviously, there are plenty of people who can't get to the gym til after they get off work, so does that mean they're not doing themselves any good because they've already eaten all day?  Of course not.  I think it all works, no matter what order you do it in.  Also, both of the trainers at both gyms are in prime shape...full of muscles, hard-bodied, without an ounce of fat on them.  Yet they do opposite routines.  That's proof to me that it all works.  Since I'm paying this current trainer, I'll do what he tells me to do.  Makes no difference to me....I just want this fat gone.

I also asked him to tell me my body fat percentage tonight.  I knew it would be hideous, but I felt like I really needed to know exactly where I'm at.  I was praying it wasn't 50%.  He tested it and said I'm at 37.6%.  As I said...hideous.  He said he's going to get me down to 24%.  I was surprised.  That sounded high to me, because Sean had his checked recently, and is at 16%.  He said that his personal trainer said a guy should be between 10-15%.  Now I'm curious as to what a woman's should be.  Does anyone know?  Is 24% too high? 

I'm not looking forward to this Friday's weigh-in, but I'll be looking forward to the next one.  Our first session is this Saturday.  They'll do all of our measurements, go through all of the machines with us again, go over our food sheets, give us a small workout, and lay out our plan for the other 2 days during the week when we won't have the trainer.  After the workout we had tonight, I feel pretty positive that I won't be able to move when I get out of bed in the morning.  But we're supposed to have one more day of sunshine this week, so I'm going to try and grab my sister Amy and go on a hike.  My niece is spending the night with me tomorrow night so I won't be able to get to the gym with Billie, so I want to make sure I get in some kind of exercise.  A hike in the sunshine sounds perfect.

The weather is supposed to turn bad Friday....they're calling for a little snow Fri night/Sat morning.  As long as there's not ice on the roads, then I'll be at the gym at 9am on Saturday for our session.  I'm kind of scared, lol....but I'm excited, too.  I think this is exactly what I need.  I did it.  I bit the bullet.  I hired a personal trainer.  God help me, lol.  :)

Learning Lots

I went to the gym this morning and walked just over 2 miles. My knee still isn't back to normal yet, but it's a lot better than it was. Billie and I went back to the gym tonight at 7pm and learned all kinds of stuff from a personal trainer named Dell. This man is 59 years old, has 27 years of experience in body building, personal training and nutrtion. He's been Mr. Universe and won numerous other competitions around the word...Italy, Germany, Spain, etc.

I hate to say this, lol, but a lot of the stuff he told us is stuff my mother has been telling me every day....oh how it pains me to say that. I know you're reading this Mom...I hope you're basking in the glow. You deserve it. I don't give you enough credit. :)

Let's see....there's a lot of stuff we already knew....stuff like:

-It takes 3500 calories burned to lose 1 lb. of fat.
-Eat 5-6x a day.
-Protein, protein, protein.
-Water, water, water....at least (3-4) 32 oz. glasses a day.
-Toning requires less weight and more reps.
-Look for a 1-2 lb. loss weekly.
-Do the weight training/toning every other day.
-Do the cardio 5-6 days a week with one rest day.

Here's what I didn't know:

-Yellow squash (my fave) is a bad carb; zucchini is a good carb
-Always do your cardio (treadmill) BEFORE you eat ANYTHING.
-Cottage cheese is the absolute best protein you can eat.
-If you eat a snack after dinner, make it cottage cheese.
-Jogging is BAD...too hard on the joints, and it wastes energy...you get more of a workout from walking. That was a hard one to swallow.
-Change your daily calorie limit EVERY 2 WEEKS to keep the body guessing.
-Change your exercise routine EVERY 2 WEEKS to keep the body from stalling.
-If you're going to count calories, keep it between 1500-1800 to lose weight.
-He listed about 6 supplements you should take, but the only 3 I remember is 5HTP, flaxseed capsules, and green tea EXTRACT in capsule form.
-Have a cheat day ONCE A WEEK. I knew cheat days were okay once in a while to change things up and jolt the body, but I did not know they were okay once a week.
-Walk backwards on the treadmill to strengthen my screwed up knee. I saw a girl doing this yesterday, but thought she was just a weirdo, lol.

Half the time I was shaking my head "yes" at stuff I'd heard before....and the other half I was picking my jaw up off the floor...especially the thing about the yellow squash, lol. I can't believe I made it this far in life not knowing it was a "bad" carb. Which doesn't mean not eat it....just don't eat it as plentifully as you would eat zucchini. I always thought the 2 main veggies that fell under the "bad" carb list were corn and potatoes.

He is in such perfect shape that I just had to ask him if he ever eats fast food. He said yes, and that he eats at Waffle House all the time...today, in fact. My eyebrows raised, my jaw dropped, and I think I blurted out something like, "Are you effing kidding me??? The Awful Waffle???". He laughed and said it's all in the ordering. Today he had steamed hashbrowns and a couple of eggs cooked in cooking spray, not the regular oil of butter. First off, I had no idea they had cooking spray. And secondly, I had no idea you could request "steamed" hashbrowns. I seriously thought they fried everything. Tonight was a total learning experience for me and it was awesome.

We worked out on the machines when we were there last night, but tonight he showed us how to do them "correctly". I feel a big difference in the soreness tonight from the soreness last night. Last night, I had to much movement in my exercises on the machines...I was wasting energy, or something like that. Tonight the movements were much more compact, efficient, intense, with higher weight than I used last night. Last night I used 10 lbs of weight for everything...tonight he put us on 30, 40 and 50 lb weight for everything. Big difference, lol. HUGE. But it feels good. I'm glad I know how to do it right now.

I'm going to weigh in tmrw morning, and then Billie will be here at 8:30. She's working from home this week, so she's able to go with me in the morning BEFORE BREAKFAST. That will be a change. I've been told for so long to eat 30 minutes after I get up to kick in the metabolism. He said that is correct, if you're not going to do any cardio that day, or if you're able to do the cardio in the morning and not after work. We all know I have no job right now, so I'm supposed to get to the gym and get the treadmill in before I eat anything. He said the purpose of this is if you eat breakfast, the body will burn that first. If you don't, it goes right into burning the stored fat. Makes perfect sense to me.

I doubt I'll have time to do a post before I go to the gym, so I'll do it when I get back in, sometime between my household chores and my errands. The goal this week was to lose 1 lb so that I could show a loss 2 weeks in a row and start gaining some consistency, so that is what I'm hoping for. :)

Quote For the Day:

"Your goals, minus your doubts, equals your reality." -Ralph Marston