Will I Ever Not Hate It?

Believe it or not, I have now made it eight months!  I have been doing weight lifting or circuit training 5x a week.  I have been successful in staying on track through a busy period at work (a first) and a period of grieving/depression (also a first), and through a few minor illnesses and a few injuries (always previously good reasons to quit!). At times I did well with my diet, and at other times less well, but I persisted with the exercise and made it a priority no matter what - so when I couldn't do everything, my food slipped instead of my exercise.  I think this was a good move as the exercise is way harder to start up again than good eating habits.

At the moment, I am swimming 16 laps, a lap being 50 yards.  I will soon be up to a half mile, and my goal is to do a mile (35.2 laps) by mid June.  I have a persistent foot injury (plantar facitis) that has made it impossible to do cardio machines or walk, so swimming is the only safe cardio, which has been a real setback.  I am lucky that there is a new pool though, and with that I am able to swim more than I could before - when I need to most.

Currently, my diet is on track and I am swimming 5x a week and doing weightlifting for an hour 5x a week.  I feel huge frustration with the effort and energy this takes.  Every morning I have to take several bags - my swim bag, my gym bag, my work bag, my purse, and my lunch...and my dog, who comes with me to work nearly every day...and coffee, and breakfast.  That's a lot to prepare every night.  It's a lot to hassle with.  I hate it.

After all these months, I still hate the exercise.  Though I have stuck with it, I never hit the magic "I love it now!" that people talk about.  I actually wonder if I will ever not hate it, and if I thought I had to live every day of my life making all this effort every day, I'd probably quit on the spot.  I try to just take it week by week, a little progress here and there.

I am training up for a big trip in June that I *really* want to be able to hike on, and to be able to do a long walk.  I have to heal my foot, that is priority one, and increase my cardiovascular fitness, and stay with healthy eating so I don't regain any weight and I continue to lose.  Wish me luck!

Slow but sure

Well, today I will have made it six weeks with the intensive personal training.  Circuit training for an hour a day, and cardio for 30 minutes in addition - ideally daily, but so far the most I have built up to is 4x a week.  Still, that is pretty darn good considering 2 months ago I was doing nothing at all.  The diet is also going well, that is actually the easy part for me compared to the working out.  I am now down 11 pounds, and in a little under 6 weeks I can live with it...despite the fact it seems so slow and I am not very patient.  Usually things I work that hard at get done a lot faster...but there is not a faster way to get there so I just have to stick with it.

In a few weeks I have a trip that will take two weeks.  I am looking forward to that.  However, I had planned to train up a lot for hiking, and I am getting over some plantar facitis in one foot (hopefully) so I have been doing Physical Therapy for that as well...and sticking with low impact cardio like eliptical, bike, and swimming.  I look forward to hiking again and hope to get to the other side of the silly condition as soon as possible.

Getting More Intense

Well, I survived five weeks of circuit training an hour a day 5x a week, and getting in other cardio as I can.  Now things will increase for the next month, to trying to get at least 30 minutes of cardio daily plus the 5hrs a week of strength training.  I have only lost 9 pounds in 5 weeks, which I know is not bad, but given the amount of effort it takes, seems paltry!!! 

After One Month

After one month of working out 5 days a week, it hasn't gotten any easier to do.  I am down seven pounds and up in strength, but to me the changes are still very minor, and it is still a huge effort to force myself to do something I hate so much every day!  Hoping it will get easier as it becomes a habit.

Sticking With It...ug

Well, two and a half weeks into training 5x a week, I am sticking with it...though I admit, hating it most of the time.  I am determined to stick with it....though there are some days I literally have to drag myself there!

Two Weeks of Training Down!

I have survived two weeks of training 5x a week with a personal trainer, doing mostly circuit training.  Each week I have also gotten in two other cardio things - this week swimming and walking to work.  Also aiming for 3x a week, and if I can bike tomorrow I will make that - but this week I was a bit sick and so I didn't want to overdue it.  As it is, going from doing nothing to 5x a week is hard; adding 2 or 3 more things on top is also hard.

I am liking the Lose It app for iphone fairly well for a calorie/food log.  It does make me more conscious and perhaps more careful of portion size and not going on snacking binges. 

I have been more tired, and have some minor stiffness or soreness now and then, but overall - going okay.

Week One Down With Success

Well, I made it to work out every day an hour a day for 5 days this week - with a trainer - as planned.  I also worked in tennis and hiking (not a great deal of each, but better than nothing) and plan horseback riding too.  My calories were good, 1,200 - 1,500 a day, and I am tracking them.  So far, it feels like I've already been doing it forever and I would just as soon stop and relax.  But I will persevere.  I have several future dates that I can measure progress against - the first being a trip just a little over eight weeks away.