Gotta Do It

Jessica and I started going to a personal trainer ( - makes us sound like celebrities!) last summer.  She works through our church.  To describe the wonderfulness of her would take about 3 separate posts, so I'll just say that she got us on track.  We met with her once a week for an hour, and started attending aerobics classes (once or twice a week) that she taught.  

In addition to the exercise, we both joined MyFoodDiary and entered our weight goals and logged all of the food we ate.  

Lori, our trainer, gave us individual goals and taught us the importance of strength training in addition to cardio.   Strength training (the machines, the free weights, etc.) speeds your metabolism so that the cardio pays off even more, AND more importantly, it is the strength / weight exercises that get rid of the flapping /jiggling / hanging upper arm situation, and allow you to go sleeveless in the hot, hot summer.

My Food Diary is like a do-it-yourself 'weight-watchers';  you can eat ANYTHING you want, you just cannot exceed a certain calorie count per day or week, depending on your goals.  It is very affordable ($9 / month), easy, and gives great feedback:  smiley faces for meeting your goals, drinking enough water, getting vitamins and nutrients in your food, and dreaded orange frownie faces for getting too much saturated fat, too much sodium, etc.  They also have a forum where you will find all the encouragement, support, and fantastic tips and recipes that you could possibly need.

This combo worked!  We lost many, many pounds and inches; and I had so much more energy that I knew that if I were LOST on an island, I could keep up with Kate  -  a very important concept for me.

THEN: there was no LOST, and in its place was cold weather and holiday food.  Jessica has maintained her weight loss, but I've gained back approximately six pounds, and I most definitely would get left behind with Hurley on the island.

So, no exercise and no calorie-counting equals out- of- breath, tight pants, doubling chin.  

I am stating my goal of getting back to exercising, and back to logging my consumption on MyFoodDiary.    It doesn't matter that I waited to do this when the weather turned perfect (yes, three days after the snowfall), and no one can resist going outside anyway.  It still counts;  I'm getting out today for a walk, and I've already entered my breakfast for today's tally.

Here goes nothing. . .