Not as Expected

So over the last little while I have been watching what I eat (about 90% of the time) and of course, going to the gym to work out with my trainer. I have not however, seen much success in terms of weight loss. The scale and I are just not in agreement of what is good enough to get these pounds off. I have lost a few pounds I suppose, but nothing significant and definitely nothing consistent. I have however, noticed that I am much stronger – which though I will admit is a very good thing, it is not helping me look better which means I don’t really feel any better about myself. I essentially have a year left until I want to start looking at wedding dresses and just a little longer than that until I have to walk down the aisle. Though these two things are definitely not my only reason to lose weight, they are to driving points that make me want to get it done now. I don’t want a plus size dress – I don’t want to be ashamed of my wedding photos. Time to tighten the belt metaphorically so I can do it literally later on.

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Personal Trainer

About a month and a half ago, Dave and I signed up for personal trainers. I think I mentioned that we signed up at one of the many local Goodlife Fitness gyms and that we registered for the introductory peronsal trainers, but we have since signed up with them longer term (or at least, longer term). Right now our sessions will last until the end of November if we leave them at twice a week. We are thinking of bumping it up to three times a week but that will only happen if after a review of our finances, post-closing fees (house is coming in TWO days!) we are able to afford a longer contract at the three times a week frequency.

We have however, decided that personal trainers was definitely the way to go for us. After about 4 or 5 sessions both of us admitted that we would have stopped going if we didn't have a contract, a great deal of money invested in this and someone waiting for us at the gym with an appointment we can't really cancel at the last minute (not without a good reason at least). We also both really like our trainers and their individual approaches to our fitness. For those of you who know Dave and I personnally, you will already know that we are in two different categories in terms of fitness levels and what we are trying to get our of the gym. Dave is tall and pretty skinny, he has a high metabolism and before we started slacking in the last couple of years, he was pretty active. I on the other hand, am average height but overweight and have pretty much always been a non-active person. While my main goal for my personal trainer is to lose weight, his is to gain strength.

I will have to sit down sometime and give a proper review of how things are progressing and my trainer's regime to get me fit, but for now, I just wanted to say that if you are at all considering personal training to lose weight or reach any other of your personal fitness goals, do it. Sit down with a trainer and determine a schedule and payment plan that fits into your finances - our trainers were really accomodating and did everything they could to get us something that worked with our finances. We normally don't have issues with money, but considering the new house, wedding and photography business, we were a little worried about getting in over our heads and our trainers understood. It was really great. (my apologies if this isn't the best worded blog post, I am a little strapped for time these days and wasn't able to review it).

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Tasty Tuesday: Asparagus

Okay, so asparagus makes your pee smell funny, but whatever, deal with that and make this delicious vegetable dish.

This meal is really, really simple to make. First snap off the hard ends of your washed asparagus and place it in a baking dish. Lightly coat it with olive oil and garlic powder and give it all a good toss. Cook until tender (approximately 5-10 minutes depending on how crunchy you like them) in a 350 degree oven. As soon as the spears are cooked, pour a little bit of balsamic vinegar over them and then crumble feta cheese on top. Serve and enjoy.

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No More Curves

This past weekend I officially cancelled my Curves membership. I haven’t gone to Curves in months and even when I was going, I was no longer finding it enough for me to feel like I had a good enough workout. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great place and perhaps somewhere down the road I will return there, but for now it just isn’t right for me any longer.

I had been putting off cancelling my membership and as a result ending up paying for one month longer than I really had to, but it’s not that bad I suppose. Also, the ladies at Curves were pretty nice about  me cancelling my membership and didn’t harass me any longer than it took for the documents to print, better than expected really.

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And We’re Back…

I never really left my weight loss efforts, in fact that last month or so has been pretty hard core in terms of my exercising. But I did take a break from blogging and an even longer break from my weight loss blog. Sorry about that.

 

Long story short, Dave and I signed up at Goodlife Fitness in April and have been going on average three times a week since. When we signed up we got the introductory Personal Trainer package that they offer to all first-time registrants. We both got 6 1-hour personal training sessions and really enjoyed them. In fact we enjoyed them so much that we have since signed up with our trainers for 56 1-hour sessions. I believe that works out to twice a week until the end of November. My trainer’s name is Danielle and she is very nice, but pushes me very hard. The first two sessions were more about learning about the equipment so that when I was there on my own I would be able to do more than just run on the treadmill. Goodlife has a circuit system very similar to the machines at Curves and I found that I was able to do more on them than I originally thought I could. We also did some floor exercises and talked about a target heart rate I should be aiming for during each phase of my workout.
The next four sessions were pretty intense. In fact, the third workout (the first really intense one) made me want to throw up afterwards and I hurt for a few days afterwards. Danielle has since learnt my actual limits and pushes me very close to that state each workout, but never actually gets me to a point where I feel like being sick or falling over during the workout or even have muscle pains for longer than a few hours the next morning. I am definitely getting stronger as I am able to get through more of each workout before I feel very tired and am able to do the workouts (even new ones) faster than when we first started. Working with her two days a week will be very good for me.

I have my personal trainer (PT) sessions every Tuesday and Thursday and Dave has his on Wednesdays and Fridays. We are therefore going to the gym four times a week which is awesome. With gym attendance like this, mixed with healthy eating, there is no way we will not reach our goals.

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