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!

Throughout this weight loss process there have been ups and downs, both emotional and physical. Before meeting with Ron at Train with Ron in October of ’09, I felt like a failure at losing the weight I’ve gained over the years. My emotional state was pretty depressing. I once had a body that I was proud of and that was very long ago. I longed to get it back – or even a fraction of it. I went through fad diets, pills and exercise. I yo-yoed through many tens of pounds but it always came back twofold. That DID NOT help to encourage the progress, if anything it made me feel even more depressed about it all.

After meeting with Ron and hearing him out I started to feel some of that motivation that I once had, return. I was still a little skeptical, but mainly because I thought that my body just was not going to lose the weight and this is the card I’ve been dealt. I was however willing to try and give it all that I had. I knew that it was going to mean that I needed to sacrifice some things I’ve been enjoying up until now. Foods that I’ve found comfort in and my time. I was willing to give those up and replace them with the things that made me healthier and happier.

When we decided to go for it, it was very motivating. We put a plan in place to make the changes necessary. We talked to the guys at TWR about the nutritional changes we should make and incorporated them in our lives. We also learned about the experiences we would have at the gym and the types of workouts we should expect. Dan and I thought about it and made the decision to support each other through the ups and downs. Started out going to the gym twice a week and that quickly turned into 3 and 4 times a week as we gained strength. Watching the numbers dropping over the first few months was fantastic and only made me want to push harder and go to more sessions. When I’d hit a plateau and my numbers wouldn’t budge it would freak me out. I’d feel like that negative attitude was always right around the corner waiting for me to give up so I can go back to my old ways. I pushed through each time. With the help of Dan, my personal trainers DB, Matt and Ron as well as friends from the gym I was able to go on and be encouraged that I CAN reach my goal.

Today I am about 25 lbs away from my goal weight and I have lost 45 lbs and 15% body fat to date. Not to mention the incredible amount of muscle that I have gained. Muscle weighs more than fat so that can play with the numbers in a mind numbing way. I hear this is the toughest stretch, the last pounds. And it is proving to be so. I am consistently going to TWR 6 days a week and this week I actually added 2 afternoon sessions for a total of 8 sessions. I do listen to my body and if I have a bad pain in the knee or shoulder I’ll take a break for a day but this week I seemed to have an abundance of energy, felt really good all over and I wanted to take advantage of it. TWR has a great Unlimited Program for over achievers .

As Dan wrote in his post a couple of days ago we have been closely tracking our nutritional intake. We watched what we ate up until now but now we’re tracking each and every gram of calorie, protein, fat, sodium and ALL of it! I’m on my second week. I shared my numbers with DB at the end of last week and he gave me some tips to tweak my carbs, protein and fat intake. This week I’ve made some improvements but still have some work to do. I continue to seek his advice because I intend to reach my goal and I’m not afraid to ask for help anymore. It’s tough but I’m doing research on what foods are high in protein, naturally, and revised my shopping list and menu. I do my best to stay away from manufactured low-fat, fat-free and ‘diet’ items and gear towards natural foods with little to no processing. I look for recipes that use natural and single ingredients. Having to punch in those nutrition numbers at every meal helps avoid the slip ups. ESPECIALLY knowing that I will have to share it with DB. And eating something bad and not putting it in is only cheating myself so it makes no sense to do. I’m honest. So if I have gummy bears then I log them.

Today I am feeling really good and positive that I will meet my goal and I needed this reflection to remind me how far I’ve come. Tomorrow after my eighth workout of the week I am treating myself to a day at the spa. 60 minute deep tissue massage, facial, mani & pedi. Much needed and well deserved if I may say so myself.

I wanted to share this series of pictures throughout my weight loss process (so far). It certainly put things into perspective for me.