Wednesday, July 28, 2010

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!

Friday, July 23, 2010

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.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

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.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Working with a personal trainer

Having had a number of starts and stops, I finally bit the bullet and spent the money and hired a personal trainer to work out with me five times a week for an hour each day.  That's a big adjustment for me, and I am only in the first week, but it has been good because I feel compelled to work out every day and I make the most of my workout time.  She pushes me without irritating me and it is a good personality fit - very hard to find, as I want to kill those perky trainers and I am not into the yelling, screaming ones either.  Low key but able to apply pressure to get the job done, in an effective way, is what I need.  The gym is very convenient to my work, and I have eliminated most excuses - the timing isn't ideal and the cost is not great - but it's silly to spend money on things that don't work and not what definatly will.

I got an iphone a few months ago, and I find the free Loseit! app useful.  You can log what you eat as you go and you always have it with you.  Eight Glasses a Day is a cheap app that helps you log water consumption and try to get to 8 glasses a day.  I also love the MotionX app that maps my walks with the dogs and tells em average speed and distance/elevation, etc.  Mapmyride is a bicycle one I haven't tried yet.

I am pushing myself to not only do the workouts, but to add in as much extra as I can.  Yesterday I played tennis for the first time in about 20 years.  I am aiming for a hike with the dogs tomorrow, and horseback riding this weekend.  Overall I am feeling positive about commitment to a program I am confident will work, and I have some short term goals - the fist one being training up for a trip I am taking in 8 weeks and 4 days, so I can see if I am down a size or two and have more clothing choices for that trip.  Also, ideally, the trip will be better the more fit I am when I go.

I have some plans for June of next year where I am planning a "trip of a lifetime" too and I really want that to be a great trip where I am as close to my goal/ideal body weight as possible.  So, progress will be tracked......and hopefully success is in the making, though long, long overdue.