Yo-yo no more

   So where have I been for the past 2 months….?  BUSY!  Our Photography business is really starting to take off (not to the point that Brett can quit his job, but busy enough that any spare time he has or that I have is spent editing pictures).  So, that’s part of where I’ve been. 

   I’ve stayed clear of the blogging because I didn’t feel as if I was making enough progress to warrent writing.  I just haven’t been as excited about working out and my diet for the past few months.  So…. I have now thrown the “trainer-preferred” diet out the window and have decided to pick up Weight Watchers again.  I lost 40 pounds in about 5 months on Weight Watchers.  I loved Weight Watchers.  I was happy with Weight Watchers.  But I let other people influence me into thinking that Weight Watchers wouldn’t work as well as a different diet would.  So… I’m back to Weight Watchers and SO excited about it!!!

   Another change is a comin…. we found out that our personal trainer and her hubby are moving to Colorado (we live in Oklahoma) in August.  So….. it will be up to ME to exercise.  Yikes!  This scares me.  Although a couple of the ladies who I’ve been training with have all vowed to keep it up together.  It’s a blessing in disguise because that will be extra money a month that we can put towards camera gear. 

   I have also resigned as the Black Team Leader on the Biggest Loser challenge at 3FC.  It was a HARD decision because I LOVED doing it so much.  But I felt like to continue doing it would be so selfish on my part as the people on the team deserve a leader who will be SO much more involved than I have been able to be. 

   I have a lot of updating to do on my blog.  Mainly the “weigh-in” tab.  I need to re-measure myself too.  I dropped doing those things when I became unhappy with my diet…. amazing.  But, now I’m SO excited to be back on Weight Watchers and want to keep track of my progress.  So….here I am!!!!

Yeah, I wrote a whole LONG post, hit “save” then went in and hit “publish” and now the post shows up empty.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I probably won’t write about EVERY meeting with the trainer.  But, right now it’s in its new stages and so exciting to me I just want to write it down and remember it forever!

My legs (mainly the backs of my legs) and my butt were no less sore today than they were yesterday.  Jessie loved this and said “good!”.  It may hurt, but at least I know that something got worked! lol.  Today we did upper body stuff.  I managed to hang by my elbos from 2 straps in the air and do 5 lifts with my legs….. I’m still amazed!  We did crunches and push ups (on a workout ball and on a workout bench) and lots of squats (my legs hurt more now than they have over the past 2 days).  Jessie is SO encouraging though!  She kept saying how “fit” our kids parents were going to be.  We also met her hubby who told us how awesome he thought it was that Brett and I are training together.  (yeah, I think so too :-)  We trained for nearly an hour and a half.  She found out that Brett and I both have the day off on Thursday, so she’s scheduled for us to do an extra workout on that day.  So, for the rest of this week, we will meet with her on Wednesday at 7am, Thursday 11am and Saturday 7am.  We go in the gym tomorrow and I am to do 35 minutes of cardio while Brett does weights.  (I guess that’s my homework).

Something that Jessie said today that stuck with me.  While doing rounds of push-ups, crunches and squats, she said “… and when you feel like you can’t do a single thing more, when your body is telling you ‘no way’, always do 2 more!”.  Hmm… I never thought of it that way!

So, I am enjoying it so far.  I’m hoping this will get me out of my 190’s plateau and into the next decade!!!

***PRE-WORKOUT*** 

Le hubby and I have hired a personal trainer at the gym we go to to whip our bodies into shape.  Part of me is scared to death of what she might do (she is SUPER sweet, but so is Jillian on The Biggest Loser), but the other part of me knows that with the help of someone pushing me really hard I will succeed even faster than I have been!

At our first consult yesterday, we talked about my goals (goodbye arm jiggle, I shall never see you again!), my nutrition (YAY, I can keep Weight Watchers as long as I modify it a bit to her liking), and exercise (have you ever heard of a kettlebell?)

However,  right now it is 6:30 am (I am SO not a morning person), I’m hungry, cranky, and sleepy…. all great components for a first workout with a personal trainer, huh? *giggle*  I am still excited though - but wonder how much yawning I’ll do this morning that will in turn make her make me do even more……. maybe I’ve watched Jillian too much on TBL.  Oh well.  I will write more after our first session.  We’re supposed to be at the gym at 7. Stay tuned….

Starting weight with a trainer: 195 (I weighed this morning, in fact)
Starting Body Fat %: 35.3 (*YIKES*, I wish I knew what it was when I started - alas it is on its way DOWN)
Starting BMI: 31.5 (but I knew this already)

***POST-WORKOUT***
     Ouch…. ouch…. and ouch again….wow!  As I write this, I’m sitting in a hot bath with Epsom salt (I shall transfer this to the computer when I’m done in the bath), hoping that it helps me to walk again! HA!  Okay… it’s not THAT bad… but it’s pretty bad.
     So, I was begrudgingly up at 6:30 this morning.  Our gym is a 24 hour gym, so the lights are always on.  We were supposed to be there at 7 to start our warming up.  When we pulled up at 6:45, it was still dark outside and….wait a minute… dark inside too?  Yep.  Apparently they were doing electrical work on the building next door and in turn had to shut off power at the gym for a few hours this morning.  There were 3 cars in front of the gym, all of which had their headlights facing the gym to shine lights inside.  Luckily everything still worked except for the treadmills.  I was quickly thrown into the episode of The Biggest Loser during “Green Week”!  How fitting!
     I introduce Brett to Erica.  She’ll be training with us on Saturdays also.  She’s really sweet, and a mommy just like me!  The three of us start our warm-ups.  Erica and I on bikes and Brett on an eliptical.  We find out that the 3 of us are the “pioneers” in the “Boot Camp Saturdays” for Jessie. 
    Jessie then introduces us to “KettleBells” (that’s Russian for PAIN and TORTURE!!!!…. okay, maybe not so much).  However, check out www.russiankettlebells.com to find out what they’re all about.  Apparently this form of exercise was used by the Soviet army to keep their soldiers in shape.  And, it is r-o-u-g-h!  Now, I have witnessed a Kettlebell class there before.   I thought it looked so easy and wondered how on earth it could possibly help you to lose weight… and why was it so popular at our gym?  HA! Did I ever find out.  For an hour I never once ran, walked, did sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks, etc…. but I ended up sweating more than I ever have before! The kettlebell is like a cannonball with a handle and you use it in conjuction with your body in different motions and movements.  Let me tell you, I feel muscles in my legs that I never even knew existed!!!  It is truly insane.  But, I loved it!! 
     So Brett and I are set up to train together on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays @7am with Jessie.  I can’t wait to see where we are in a couple of weeks.

My diet has also been modified by Jessie.  I eat 6 small meals a day.  Each mean contains 50% protein, 20% fat and 30% complex carbs… but I can also follow WW while doing this.  It’s so awesome!

More later!