A personal training & food journal. Read about our weight loss progress at Train With Ron in Chicago, our nutritional habits and the life changes we're making to get in shape and stay healthy!

Well, the time is here and in about 24 hours from now we will be in Hawaii. I am so excited!  It’s been a busy day-before and a turned-upside-down week before, for me.

So what is the last thing you would want before leaving for a 9 day tropical vacation? To get sick, right? Well guess what? Saturday I started coming down with a cold. Then I screamed and cursed it for an hour. Until Tuesday night I was still convinced that it would pass and that it was nothing.  I was under the impression that if I told myself I wasn’t sick, then I wouldn’t be. Apparently the cold had other ideas. I awoke Wednesday morning and felt like I was hit with a sledgehammer. I had to skip the gym that morning (I hated to do it! But had to.) I spent the entire day resting, drinking fluids and trying to mentally will myself out of this cold. Luckily, with the help of some rest and medication, I was feeling better this morning. And I hit the gym first thing. Well, 7am. That’s as ‘first thing in the morning’ as I’m going to get.

Had a great workout with Matt. I let him know that I was feeling under the weather but to go ahead with the normal program and I’ll slow it down if I need to. The last couple of times that I worked out with Matt he had me do part of my workout with a tension belt around my thighs. It’s basically a wide rubber band strapped around both of my thighs so that as I walk it works out my upper legs and butt. You can vary the tension level based on your fitness level. I quite liked it actually. Some of the exercises I did with it on were to walk, in a squatted position, sideways up and down the 40 yard strip, in between, every few yards, pump some iron , curls, presses, push up curls (push up position but one hand is lifting a weight) and squat presses. All while wearing the belt.  The belt really works your upper legs and butt. I think I pushed myself pretty good and had a great workout.

I stepped on the scale last night and I’m down another pound since Sunday. I was hoping that if anything, this cold would help me loose a couple of extra pounds. Wishful thinking, right? But I am really happy about where I am at and like I said looking forward to part 2 once we return. Matt told me that it’s not just about the weight I loose but also the muscle I gain. He’s right, I feel much more toned after this month than the 5lbs lost would have you believe. That’s part of the reason I don’t like those numbers. I mean 177? … I do not feel 177! I’ve weighed less and felt less toned than I do now.

But now I’m off to pack and take Brady to the doggie hotel. It’s going to be tough leaving her for 10 days.

ALOHA!

PS. I have given up on trying to beat the Shaun White Snowboarding Wii game before we leave. I unlocked Shaun last week and have been killing, just KILLING the scores. Dominating! And then I got sick and the 9 Respect levels I have left will have to wait until I get back. There are 54 total respect levels and the 9 I have left are pretty tough.