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!
May 20thFebruary 16th was our last update and I feel I’ve let too much time go by. I’ve been busy, sure, but more than anything I’ve felt my progress slipping and my motivation draining. We’ve been going at this since November of ’09 and I have yet to reach my ultimate goal. My thoughts were that the last thing I want this blog to become is a place where I whine and moan. I want to inspire and motivate. So I didn’t write my feelings down thinking it won’t help anyone if I spread the negativity I felt. Truth is, that those types of struggles are the reality of so many people that maybe I was wrong not write during that time.
I wasn’t being vocal about my struggles with anyone and let it fester. I allowed myself to be convinced by my negative thoughts. I guess it was falling back on old habits. Bottom line, I’ve created the situation I am in and so I have complete control to get myself out of it. There is nothing wrong with getting stuck and asking for help. I shouldn’t take that as a sign of being incapable or inadequate. I realize how difficult it is to accept that as fact when you’re frustrated, depressed or just plain angry about a situation but I think you have to actually say the words to yourself over and over again so that you can accept it. You have to return to thinking positively. That’s easy to do when you’re feeling good and everything’s going well, but positivity is most effective when you are feeling down. I hope I can get back to being a little bit of that for you. (more…)
December 5thHi Gang,
Monika and I started this blog about 14 months ago. So much has changed since then – physically, mentally, and spiritually. We’ve made a lot of friends at the gym including – especially – Ron, Matt, and DB. We’ve settled into a routine of being at TWR regularly, taking that long climb up the steps, and sweating it out for an hour. We are glad to see new people coming all the time and we love seeing our friends and also the familiar faces of those we may not know as well – but who are on the same difficult path of working out hard and eating healthfully.
It’s gotten very comfortable – very comfortable, indeed… and that, for me, is a red flag.
Getting “too comfortable” was what got me into trouble physically in the first place. I stopped eating well and exercising because I was comfortable – comfortable in my relationship, comfortable with bad eating habits, comfortable with a sedentary lifestyle… and slowly but surely I got very UNcomfortable. Right now, I think that comfort level is manifesting itself in the lack of continual process of “body sculpting”… I’m working out twice as much and twice as hard as when I first got to TWR but have been stuck at around 225 lbs., the same waist size, and same body fat percentage for at least two or three months. When we first started I was eating very carefully at every meal – I’m still eating pretty carefully for breakfast and lunches, but with some dinners and certainly after dinner/before bed, I have gotten lackadaisical. As a result, I’m figuratively “running to stand still”.
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March 28thHere we go, one week, only 4 days actually, and we’re off to Hawaii. My workouts this week will be on consecutive days. I had previously only set up 3 days but after talking to a friend at the gym Saturday, I changed it to 4. She’s been going 5 consecutive days so I figured I can handle 4. And hey, I’ll get plenty of rest in Hawaii. Am I right? 
Last week I had a pretty awesome workout week. I got a chance to workout with DB, Ron and Matt and got four fantastic morning sessions. My personal trainers are really in tune with where I’m at and how much I can handle. The levels of difficulty increase nicely over time and the next thing I know I look down and I’m knocking out 50 sit ups in a row. I’m taking one break in between 25 reps instead of 3. I’m running up 4 flights of stairs 3 times in a row and I’m running all the way through. Do I pant like a puppy on a hot day? Yes, but still … amazing leaps and bounds. Just this week I was doing some squats and realized Hey, my knees don’t hurt! It’s been something that I’ve just learned to workout through hoping my knees would get stronger and the pain would go away. And, now it’s gone. That’s going to open me up to be able to push a little harder now. I always let my trainers know how I’m feeling, if I have some aches and pains, they adjust my workout as necessary. It’s important to take care of aches and pains.
There is a new picture of me from last week rotating in the My March Madness banner on the right I’ll take one more next week before we leave for our trip. Also, as Dan mentioned, we’ll post an entry from Hawaii to share how we’re working in some activities and keeping up with the nutrition. He’s got 3 days of golf booked and I plan to play some tennis and do some swimming. I love swimming! I think this will be a great test to see how we handle ourselves away from the conveniences of home, trapped by succulent surroundings.
My weight loss this week was again minimal at just a little bit over a pound but I have lost size around my hips and waist. I went clothes shopping today and noticed that I dropped another dress size. Such a great feeling!
There is such a supportive group of people at the gym. It’s great to be able to motivate others around me and then get that same level of enthusiasm and positivity returned. I don’t see how anyone would not be able to reach their fitness goals working out with these personal trainers and this group of members. I am so happy and thankful for my progress so far and am already anxious to get started on part two once I return. Not sure if I will continue with the mornings or switch back to afternoons but either way, we’re kickin’ some butt!
March 24thI have been truly terrified to step on the scale since Sunday, when I last wrote. To state the obvious, I was afraid that my numbers were unchanged, worse yet, be higher. So I avoided it. Up until just about 15 minutes ago. It had to get done. It’s Wednesday already! I have worked out twice this week already and kept up with my diet. But somehow, I just felt that my numbers weren’t going to be where I wanted them to be. Argh, it’s frustrating. OK, so I step on the scale and the numbers start rolling on the digital display. It feels like Vegas and I just put a token in the slot machine and pulled the lever. First, the weight…. Unchanged… Frown.. Then.. the body fat %…. It dropped 3%…. Smile…Happy…. Ecstatic? Maybe a little bit, yeah. I would like to have lost more than a pound but loosing 3% of body fat is huge! That’s something I’ve been wanting to improve. And look, I have!
I’ve got 2 more workouts this week and a little secret is that I am hooked on the Shaun White Snowboarding game for the Wii and have been playing a couple of hours pretty much each night. So I’m looking forward to weighing this weekend. I’ll continue to push hard at the gym, keep up with my diet and stay positive. That last one’s pretty important.
March 2ndI’ll start by saying that the last few times we’ve gone to workout in the evenings, I’ve taken a short cat nap just prior to leaving for the gym. About 20 or 30 minutes. I’ve found that it helps me a great deal. I stare at a computer screen for most of the day and even though I may not be exerted physically, mentally, I am. Some days more than others …
Our workouts during the week are in the evenings at 7pm and when we go Saturday mornings I’ve found that I have more energy. Of course, nothing ground breaking there, a person is much more refreshed after a full night’s sleep. Anyhow, since my cat naps, I’ve had a lot more energy during the workouts. If you workout in the evenings and time permits it, I suggest giving it a shot, especially if you’ve stopped drinking coffee or other caffeinated drinks as I have tried to. Dan and I talk about the foods we eat on here a lot and that certainly does make a huge impact too.
All of this is to be able to work out as hard as I can when I’m at the gym for the hour or so. It has been paying off a great deal. I’ve felt being able to push myself harder and longer, taking less time to recover, less breaks and definitely a lot less than just a couple of months ago.
Each workout is unique and challenging. I think everyone has certain moves that make them cringe just a little bit. Well, for me they are running up and down stairs and ‘push up walks’.
For those not familiar, ‘Push up walks’ consist of doing a regular push up and then walking one step left or right without getting up. You’re just walking side to side with your arms and legs while keeping the pushup position, then doing another push up and so on. Either you count how many you do or by distance.
Now, back in October, when we started, I could barely do a regular push up so I did knee pushups everytime we had to do pushups instead. Back then I was barely able to step over 2 times before falling to the ground. Those things are tough! You try it! That was October 2009. Yesterday, one of my exercises was to do push up walks for about 30 yards, and each time that I had to stop because I could not continue I had to run up and down 4 flights of stairs. Of course when my trainer DB described this task to me I immediately made a joke because that is what I do. (If not always out loud, at least in my head.) Then I started to mentally prepare myself for the task. I knew it was going to be tough but I also knew that I wanted to get through it and not let it beat me. I started out by telling myself that “I can do this“. “My goal is to do as many push up walks as I can so that I’ll have to do less stairs. And I am going to do ALL full pushups and no knee pushups.” I started out strong and continued to talk positively to myself in my head. If I had the thought of quitting I immediately started thinking about pushing through it and motivating myself. I had to stop a few time in between and run the stairs but I never quit thinking that I could and will do it. On top of that, DB was encouraging and pushing me. When I finished I felt like the toughest workout to date that I’ve gotten through.
On top of that and a few other exercises I was also proud of myself for cranking out 50 sit ups while holding a 15lbs medicine ball without stopping. Man, it felt so great! Especially because I didn’t really feel that I was struggling with it. I was done and thrilled to have accomplished it. On to the next one!
Our trainers offer so much vital information, support, motivation and experience that it is invaluable. Our personal trainers at TWR don’t just go through the motions; they bring a new level to working out that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
You have to work hard, sure, but hey, that’s what you go for. I’ve so far lost 25lbs and March is going to be a strong month for me. I can feel it.
Till next time … Monika
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