Love your personal trainer

One of the activities at the gym which is very helpful in losing weight is weight lifting. The reason is that as you build muscle, you increase your metabolism. Muscle burns more fat, even when you're resting, it makes everything you do easier, and it makes you feel better. I would never recommend trying to lift weights without getting educated about what is beneficial and safe to do. Injuring yourself is going to ruin all the fun, and set you back on your progress because you'll need time to heal and you'll lose the muscle you've gained when you stop your work out. Weight lifting is a commitment, but it's one that really pays off with big results.
Danny is my personal trainer. He's about two years older than my oldest son, and as a mother of 3 sons, I felt a connection with him right away. He was captain of his high school football team, so before he went to school to become a physical trainer, he already knew a lot about exercise. He's a really nice kid, and great to kid around with, but when we're working out, he's all business. In the beginning I told him that I have a history of shoulder and knee problems. I don't know if that was a good idea or not, because it seemed like he gave me a lot of exercises for my shoulders and knees. I had a tough time with the knee exercises. There was pain. I had to learn what pain I could push through and what kind I needed to avoid. I found after a few work outs, that my knees were getting stronger and I was having less pain. The muscles around my joints were building up and taking the pressure off of the joints themselves. Taking Glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM supplements seemed to help too. Six weeks later I'm doing the exercises quicker, and using more weight and feeling more confident. That being said, I confess I did exclude the lunges from my routine. They were just too much for me. Danny doesn't know about that yet.
Today I had another training session with Danny and he gave me some new exercises. This is important because your body becomes accustomed to a routine and changing the routine helps make you stronger and get quicker results. Of course, now I feel like I'm back at the beginning when I didn't know what I was doing and the work was harder. It's all good though, it just means I'm making progress. I get excited when I make good progress. I look back and see how far I've come and then looking forward I begin to feel that anything is possible. When I first started at the club, 5 minutes on the Precor would make my feet cramp, and 12 laps in the pool seemed like a lot. Now I do 20 minutes on the Precor and my first 12 laps in the pool I can do no sweat and without stopping. Today I did 30 laps. Danny says he can't swim 4 laps. I don't believe him. Two days ago when I told him about the weight loss, he said you're looking good, and asked me for a date. I told you he's a kidder.
I like to stop in and visit with Danny or with Ellen ( the person who signed me up for the club membership ) and tell them about my progress. A few weeks ago, I had an at work physical at the bus company. The nurse practitioner did some tests and the results made me very happy: my blood was 98% oxygenated, my resting pulse was 53, my blood pressure was 112/68. Hearing that made me feel very healthy, and pleased with my investment in the health club. A few days ago I saw a new number in the tens column when I stepped on the scale. That always makes me very excited. This time it meant I was only 2 pounds away from being able to tell my middle son that I've lost 30 lbs since the last time he's seen me. He's coming home from college in 3 more days. Unfortunately we had a little party at work the next day. I wasn't really bad, I just ate a large plate of the salad that I brought ( which everyone raved about because it had romaine and mixed baby salad greens, plus side dishes with onions, mushrooms, peppers, olives, feta cheese, etc. ) and 5 or 6 little hummus tahini pin rolls, 2 of Lori's meat balls and 1 slice off of a slice of Linzer Torte. The next morning I was up 3 lbs. I know that doesn't sound fair, and it isn't; I mean all that was in place of dinner and even then only 1 lb makes any sense, but maybe it's a sign that my cycle will be only a week away. My body does that to me. So I probably won't be able to say I'm 30 pounds thinner when I see Sean at the airport, but I did fit into some smaller jeans today because it's not only about the pounds on the scale. Danny took my measurements today and in the last 39 days I've lost 12.2 lbs, 2% of body fat, 1/2" off of my hips, 1/2" off of my thighs, 3 1/2" off of my waist, 2 1/4" off of my biceps, and 1 inch off of my shoulders. So the story of my weight loss has been a little like the bunny hop: Two hops forward, one hop back. I just have to keep focused in the right direction and stay on track. This is not a short term goal. This is for life, and in a year or so I'll have hopped along way towards that size 12 or what ever it will finally be. The important thing to remember is that everyday I'm getting better.
Next post: Can I reach the 50 pound mark in the two months before Brian comes home?
Yeah, I do like to make unreasonable goals. But if you are shooting for the stars, it's o.k. to land on the moon.