New Weights!

Yay!  At long last (ok, it's been a whole week) my new weights have arrived.  Some medicine balls, some kettle bells, some free weights, and a bunch of plates for my barbell.

Let me tell you something that will be glaringly obvious to anyone with an ounce of common sense: weights are HEAVY.  In that, they take a lot of effort to lift and move.  For some reason this basic fact completely escaped me.  In my mind I must have expected the weights to float into the apartment on gossamer wings or something.  In reality the Nerd did 95% of the heavy lifting and then I was left with the task of unpacking and organizing everything.  Even with that minimal contribution, however, I was working it - - my 45 pound plates weighed, well 45 pounds, and there's no getting away from the plain old mass of it all.  As Henry Rollins (my rock star boyfriend*) says, "the iron never lies". 

Here is the new equipment in all its glory, making friends with my existing gear.

I really love the look and feel of everything and how functional the space is.  That's probably a good thing considering I spend 4+ hours in this room every week (not all at the same time, of course, that would be bananas).

I can't wait to do a proper weight training workout in here, but of course I will have to wait - - it is a long overdue rest day for me tomorrow (because it's been a while and my old knees are not what they once were), and then Thursday will be here soon enough with Mr. Fitness here to kick my butt.  We shall see which of my new toys he feels like working with. 

* Not really, but give me a call the next time you're in the T-dot, Henry.  The Nerd will understand. 

Feeling Inspired

I am feeling very motivated right now following my recent positive strides and I want to strike while the iron is hot.

As a treat for myself (!) I have purchased a few more dumbbells and weight plates for my weight training as well as some medicine balls for a change of pace.  I also picked up a couple of additional kettle bells, one lighter and one heavier than my current kettle bells. 

I was going to get more plates for my barbell regardless because when I first got the barbell I only picked up a few of the lightest plates - - 2.5, 5 and 10 pounds - - because of course there was no way I was ever going to be strong enough to lift more than that.  When Mr. Fitness wanted to push me on the bench press by loading up everything I had, it was not super heavy - - 55 pounds only.  Clearly I had underestimated how much I could or would want to lift. 

The medicine balls are just to spice things up - - there are a lot of exercises that can be done with medicine balls, and I am all about variety. 

Can I just say that I never in a million years would have thought that I would be the kind of person who would purchase workout equipment as a treat.  A box of chocolates, sure.  But weights?  WTF?  You call that a reward??  Apparently, yes.  And the real sick thing is that I am really looking forward to getting the new weights and working them into my routine(s). 

Now if you will excuse me I need to go down to my workout room and rearrange some things...

Personal trainers work in a variety of ways...

As you know, I have been working with a personal trainer (aka "Mr. Fitness") since shortly before Christmas.  Although Mr. Fitness is a trained homeopath, that's not really my thing and I am working with him solely for the personal training.  This has been good for me on a variety of levels.

First and foremost, Mr. Fitness is kicking my ass.  So far he has set up a "pull" workout and a "push" workout, and he has hinted at an "absolutely killer conditioning workout" for next week [sidebar: I really need to teach Mr. Fitness about foreshadowing].  Each of the workouts have pushed me physically to the point where I feel their effects for a couple of days.  I am using new equipment (like my new kettle bells) and using some of my old equipment (like my balance ball) in new ways. 

He is also teaching me proper technique, something I have been lacking in my solo workouts, and he has introduced me to high intensity interval training, which I had never tried before.  At the very least he has shaken me out of my routine and taught me new skills, which can only benefit me in the long term.

But there's another benefit to hiring a trainer - - accountability.  Mr. Fitness has set up my routines in a convenient app and web interface called Trainerize, and I can not only see what I am doing at a glance, so can Mr. Fitness.  Knowing that Mr. Fitness will know if I have been skipping workouts motivates me to do workouts when I would otherwise be tempted to shirk. 

This is the toughest time - - after I am getting back into things, but with the sodium and bad habit hangovers from the holidays still lingering.  My work routine has been irregular too with the holidays, which doesn't help.  Things are slowly getting back to normal, and by the end of next week I will be back into a more comfortable rhythm.  Hopefully...!

But for now things are still a challenge, and it is a battle of wills not to snack all day every day, and to get my workouts done (especially if I don't do them first thing in the morning).  Having accountability to an external source like Mr. Fitness helps me to be more accountable to myself. 

Today is a classic example.  The Nerd and I got up early thinking that we would have to drive out of town to bring fish from the Market to the Matriarch, who has been unable to come downtown for several weeks.  Because a storm was forecast, we didn't want to linger but rather get a head start, so I did not work out as soon as I got up (which is my usual pattern).  As it happens the Market was closed (d'oh!), so the shopping trip and visit was cancelled.  And there was me with no workout...

What to do, what to do?  Recently it has been simply too easy to let things slide, skip the workout and try and eat below my calorie limit.  There's nothing inherently wrong in that, but it undermines the discipline of the routine that I am trying to re-establish, because the routine involves regular workouts. 

I was still struggling with this moral dilemma when I remembered that Mr. Fitness sees when I check in on the Trainerize interface.  Whups!  Time to get on the elliptical and bang out a HIIT cardio workout.  So I did that, and now I feel great for having worked out.  Moral dilemma resolved.

Week 1 of the new routine is in the books, and I am shedding the water weight from all the sodium I consumed over the holidays. 

Future weeks will not show such dramatic losses, but it's gratifying to get this jump start regardless.

I took my measurements last week when I was starting out, and I also took another set of photos, but since it has only been a week there is really nothing to see in the way of difference yet.  We'll see where things stand after a full month of Mr. Fitness kicking my ass - - what is left of it!

*dusts self off*

Photo by Patrick Dockens, licensed CC-BY-NC-ND

As I always say, it's not how many times you fall down, it's how many times you get back up.  Consider this me getting up and dusting myself off.  Again.

December well and truly kicked my progress in its proverbial ass.  The combination of 5 lunches out, 6 dinner parties, 3 large family festive meals, numerous cocktail hours, and eating approximately all of the sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, chocolates, and bourbon balls (i.e. literally dozens of these damn things) have led to me being a full 17.1 pounds higher than I was at my lowest before the holidays.  This puts me essentially where I was last year at this time strangely enough, so in a twisted way it's a kind of maintenance.  Bad maintenance, but maintenance nonetheless.

Let that be a lesson for me.  As if I didn't already know this (duh!), December's debauchery has taught me that if I simply eat whatever I want whenever I want, and if I combine this with skipping workouts for a week and a half in a row, I will put on weight.  I know, I know, this is not exactly earth shattering news.  Some would call it "glaringly obvious".  Some would also ask "didn't you learn this the last time you went off the plan"?  Sometimes it's nice to be reminded, however, especially when one is a slow learner.

Simply put, I allowed myself to get lazy and undisciplined this month, and I gave myself permission to break routine.  By doing so, I also gave myself permission to gain 17 pounds.  That's my choice, and now I get to deal with the consequences of my choice. 

I am not despondent about this little setback.  I know it's hard to look at 17 pounds as a "setback", but it's really only that.  Now that the holidays are over I have Mr. Fitness coming over to kick my ass tomorrow night in a return to my weekly sessions with the personal trainer.  The Nerd and I have recommitted to eating healthy and have thrown out all the leftover holiday chocolates that we received at Christmas.  I worked out this morning (for the first time in more than a week - gack!), and I received wonderful new workout clothes and 2 kettle bells (20 lb and 25 lb) for Christmas.  I feel reinvigorated and ready to get back into my healthy routine.  As part of this recommitment, I have restarted my MyFitnessPal calculator to my current weight (!) and reset my "days logged in" tracker to 1 - - although I was logging in during December, I was barely tracking a fraction of all the food I was consuming, so it's really day 1 of the new routine.

The key to success of course is to shut my piehole.  As in, to stop snacking on all the things.  We have cleared out all of the junk food from the house and by the time I next set foot in the office I will have 4 days of healthy balanced eating and workouts under my belt to help get me over the initial craving stage while my body readjusts to healthy calorie levels.

I am actually quite looking forward to seeing how my body changes and gets stronger with the personal trainer.  I will take a "before" photo tomorrow and do measurements to set the starting baseline, and over the coming months I will see what happens as I push myself and improve my fitness with the new routines Mr. Fitness will show me.

My objective is simple: lose the final 40 pounds by this time next year.  Since I am setting this goal before New Year's Eve it does not count as a resolution - - it is merely a redefined goal.   The distinction may seem a fine one, but it is critical because most people do not follow through on their resolutions.  Goals, however, are a different story.  And this one is totally attainable - - I have a great support network and a solid plan along with the resources to accomplish it.

So let's face 2015 recharged and ready for the challenge!  Bring it on!

Breaking new territory - - had my first session with a personal trainer

A few things combined for this new step in my fitness training. 


The first is that this month I have been systematically eating all the bad (yet delicious!) foods, like the Nerd's bourbon balls and sugar cookies, and all the baking that people have been bringing into the office.  When you combine the holiday baking with the sheer volume of social engagements - - festive lunches, dinners with friends, coffee dates, and potlucks, it's a wonder that I can still fit into any of my clothes. 


Now that I have released the Kraken, as it were, it will take about a week of eating properly without snacking to get my cravings back under control.  One day at a time will be the key. 


The second and bigger step is that I have hired a personal trainer.  I received a small inheritance from my grandmother, and rather than blowing it all on hookers and cocaine I thought I would actually turn it into a long term positive by taking the next step in my fitness and hiring a trainer. 


I have been working out on my own for almost 3 years now and I have lost 144 pounds (well, at least I had before blowing my brains out on cookies and lunches this month!).  But it is too easy for me to get settled into comfortable routines, and even tools like the heart rate monitor that are intended to help me push myself only can go so far.  Plus, as a self-taught exerciser, I have all the bad technique of the amateur, and no one to correct me.


As it happens, one of the marketers here at the Company is married to a personal trainer.  I looked him up and he seemed reasonable, so I booked him to come in and meet me last week at my office.  He was just as reasonable in person, so I booked a session. 


I was terrified about the whole thing, because what if he asked me to do things I couldn't physically do?  What if he pushed me so hard I threw up?  What if we just didn't work together well?  And, most concerning for me and my dark subconscious, what if he laughed at me?


Of course those of you who have trainers will know that all of my concerns were groundless - - the trainer (aka "Mr. Fitness") listened when I was having problems with a particular exercise and changed up the routine, he worked within my limits and pushed me, but not to the point of injury or projectile vomiting, and he did not laugh even a little bit.  The Nerd laughed at my struggles to do sit-ups whilst punching Mr. Fitness' hands, but I only found out about that this morning, and anyways, the Nerd is entitled to tease me. 


Mr. Fitness and I had discussed my cardio workouts last week and he recommended that I try high intensity interval training, which I began incorporating into my routine this week.  My pattern right now is a 5 minute gentle warm up followed by 10 sets of 30 seconds at high intensity (going around 220-230 strides/minute "as if being chased by a lion") followed by 60 seconds of low intensity.  These workouts are shorter - around 20-25 minutes rather than 30-45 - so  I don't get the same calorie burn as my previous elliptical work, but they certainly get my heart rate up and push my body. 


I did a HIIT session on the elliptical right before Mr. Fitness arrived, so I was warmed up and ready to go when he got there.  While that worked pretty well as far as a warm up, my legs did get wobbly later in my session so I might not go full HIIT on my personal trainer days in the future, just to make sure I have legs left for the actual training bit. 


We did pushing work last night, with bench presses, nose crushers, and shoulder raises alternated with swinging a kettle bell between my legs and up to chest height along with some squats.  We finished with some core work on the Swiss ball, sit-ups where I hit Mr. Trainer's hands as I came up, and then some jab/cross/duck routines (my favourite part of the whole night) with the boxing gloves and target pads. 


I was well and truly thrashed after my workout and I learned a lot about technique (especially on the squats and shoulder raises which I have apparently been doing completely wrong for years), and overall I had a good time so I consider it money well spent.  With the holidays we won't be able to meet again until the 30th, but that may be the interval I need to recover from last night's ass kicking!