Facing the facts

Today someone told me they could they could tell I was losing weight.  When I said that my scale agreed but I didn’t quite see it yet they said, “But, no, I can tell it in your face!”  Hmmm…. ok, but I’m not working out my face.

That would be interesting though:

“Hi, I’d like a trainer to help me improve the health and appearance of my face.”

"Your face."

"Yes, my face."

“OK just wanted to make sure.  Why don't you join us for a class in session right now?  No need to even change!  OK, class, now smile REALLY wide!  Hooooold it…. and release!  Let’s do that again – reps of 15, everyone.  Even you, newbie!  OK, great job!  Now furrow those brows!  Harder!  Harder!  You came to work your face so let’s see you work it!!”

Hmmm, maybe I’ll try to incorporate a face workout into my next training session and see what happens.  Wonder if my trainer would ask what I'm doing.  Or maybe I already make interesting faces and just wasn’t aware of it… thus the weight loss in my face!

Fitness away from home

Maintaining my fitness goals on my business trip proved to be an adventure.  My first order of business upon entering my hotel room was to find a place to secure the TRX that I brought with me.  I assumed there would be a hook on the back of the door.  Nope.  I considered the shower curtain rod but a light tug told me it definitely wouldn’t hold.  As I looked around the room, I noticed the armoire that housed the TV, mini bar, and drawers for clothing.  It appeared fairly heavy and stable, and a spire in the center was perfect for securing the TRX.  I tested it gingerly at first and then pulled with all my weight.  It didn’t budge.  Awesome!  No excuses to not work out.

I loved having the TRX set up in the room and ready to go!  I made a point to get up early every morning to work out (ok, I missed one day).  What I found interesting was that in the evenings when I came back to the room, seeing the TRX set up made me want to do a few more rows or see if I could plank just a little longer.  I can’t remember the last time any kind of fitness equipment inspired me to do anything more than I had already planned for my workout.  I’ll be honest that part of my motivation to do some extra exercises was because I wondered if my trainer would have pushed me harder in the morning if he had been there.  So I wanted to make up for any slack.  One night I even dreamt that I came back and my trainer could tell that I had continued working out and was proud of me.  I wanted to make that dream a reality; I did NOT want him asking, “Did you do anything while you were gone??”

That’s the good news.  Food choices were FAR more challenging.  It’s amazing how many menu options have things you’re trying to avoid for clean eating: white bread, rice, pasta, potatoes…  Even selecting a healthy salad can be difficult since they’re loaded with bacon, cheese, croutons, candied pecans, etc.  But even worse was trying to make healthy choices when meals were catered.  For example, what do you do when the provided breakfast consists of a variety of donuts and coffee?  Do you try to go for the least of all evils and pick the plainest donut, or do you forgo breakfast altogether??  I did bring whole-grain nutrition bars with me on the chance this would happen, but of course I forget them at the hotel the morning this happened.  So what did I do?  I ate half of a plain donut… and then went back for the other half later on.  :-(

One evening we went to a restaurant well-known for its burger specialties.  Now for some people, it’s difficult to resist chocolate, ice cream, chips, etc.  For me, it’s somehow burgers.  If I could explain why, I would, but I really don’t get it.  Burgers can be such a trap for me.  Maybe it’s because fries and a Coke are necessary accompaniments in my perspective.  Regardless I knew I was in trouble when I saw where we were going.  I tried to prepare myself to order a salad instead but by the time we got to the restaurant I knew that probably wasn’t going to happen.  So I texted my trainer and asked for his input on choosing veggie burger, turkey burger, or bison burger (with whole wheat bun and no mayo).  Fortunately he was quick to respond AND I had the strength to substitute a side salad for the potato wedges.  I also managed to stick with my water (with lemon) instead of a Coke.  It felt like victory!  I was able to enjoy a pseudo burger without getting derailed!  You know what else?  I even stopped eating when I was full instead of finishing the burger or the salad!!

As much as I normally enjoy traveling and being out of town, staying in hotels and eating at restaurants (especially not on my dime), I was glad to get home to a more controlled environment.  In fact, I found that I’ve lost 6 lbs so far in the two weeks I’ve been going to a trainer (including this past week of difficult choices on my own).  The changes in my lifestyle are absolutely worth it!  I am so excited to see what happens in the coming weeks and months!

Nightmares with lessons

It seems like a lot of people don’t remember their dreams once they wake up.  I usually like that I remember my dreams but sometimes it’s not so great.  I wonder how many parents have dreamt terrible episodes of tragedies involving their children.  I think those are my worst dreams ever and I had another one last night.

Without going into all the detail, I dreamt that my son was waiting for me at a certain location.  While I was away, an environmental catastrophe occurred and I had no way of getting to him to help him or even make sure he was ok.  I didn’t care about myself or my own safety; I just wanted to get to him.  I was finally able to make my way to where he would have been waiting but I couldn’t find him anywhere.  Even if he was safe somewhere, I knew he’d be worried about me and I didn’t want him to put himself at risk to try to find me.  Would he stay put wherever he was??  I was in tears, calling out his name between sobs.  I saw friends and acquaintances huddled with their children, relieved that they were safe but unwilling to leave their own (understandably) to help me find my son.  Such a devastating feeling to not know if your child is ok or even where they are.

Of course I woke up before I found him.  It would have been nice for the dream to end with me finding him safe and secure.  But on the other hand, it’s a greater blessing to wake up and know that none of it was real.  My son is fine.  No tragedy actually took place.  BLESSED RELIEF!

Dreams like these don’t occur often (fortunately) but when they do, they have a tendency to weigh heavy on my mind for a long time.  Today I decided to take a different approach.  Instead of reliving the dream in my head over and over, I took the opportunity to thank God for this amazing son that I have the pleasure of raising him (even if it’s part-time).  I prayed for my son, that he will grow in wisdom, joy, and the assurance of his own personal relationship with God.  That he will become the young man that God wants him to be, and that I will never, ever take for granted the time that he is in my life.

If you have children,  love them and pray for them today.  Don't wait for tomorrow.

One hour of liquid awesome!

This isn’t me… yet!

Crazy awesome workout this morning!  An hour of kickboxing/TRX suspension training to 80s music.  I was drenched in no time but loving it!!  Our warm-up was a lot of the moves I loved from Kenpo-X (jab, cross, hook, uppercut!), using real boxing gloves and hitting weighted bags instead of the air.  Then circuits using the TRX suspension things, kettleballs, and medicine balls.  Wow, who knew there were so many different ways you could work your body with just a suspension thingamajig!  And so many ways you could hurt!  All of that followed by more hitting the bags and then some terrible ab work.  I was SPENT!  But I’m grinning about it now.  Makes you feel like you can take on the world… except that you can barely move when it’s done, haha!!

But bad news.  Go figure something would try to trip this up.  I have to be out of town on business all next week for meetings.  I will miss TWO training sessions and the bonus workouts at the gym.  I’ll definitely talk to my trainer about it when we train together tomorrow and see what homework he can give me for my hotel room or the fitness room at the hotel.  Another downside is that I can’t prepare any of my meals and I’ll be armed with a corporate card to choose anything!  Actually during the meetings, some meals will probably be provided already so I’ll be at the mercy of whatever they arranged.  Must. Be. Strong.  I am NOT going to let this trip derail (no, not even affect) my progress!

BRING IT!!!

If it doesn't kill you

If it doesn’t kill you, it’s supposed to make you stronger, right?  Well, after my first personal training session, if this doesn’t get me in killer shape, nothing will!  Oh. My. Goodness.  I’ve never felt so close to puking while working out!  In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever felt like that, which tells me I haven’t always pushed myself as hard as I thought.  It also made me feel good about giving it my all today.  Unfortunately my “all” was quite unimpressive today.  But I’m on a mission to change that.  Watch out (literally in case I puke)!

A few things I discovered.  The warm-up itself is no joke.  And I need to learn a few moves.  When I was asked to skip, I galloped.  Of course I was shown the correct gait and given the opportunity to try again.  Very interesting doing things backwards too, including the skips.  I quickly discovered and demonstrated much room for improvement in the area of agility.

Then we moved on to the real workout.  Time to showcase what I’ve been working on, I thought.  I should never have said that I worked out at all.  I was given all the things I’m especially terrible at – pull-ups (oh how funny!), pushups (did a blend of real-but-not-real-low and halfsies), and weighted lunges.  My balance has always been terrible with those so I have to be honest that I haven’t pushed myself as much as I should.  It was kinda obvious.  And the weights wouldn’t have seemed so heavy except that my forearms were already going into shock from all the pull-ups and pushups.

At home I thought I did squats fairly well and was glad to have an opportunity to redeem myself.  Ha!  Apparently my form really wasn’t that great and once corrected this move was definitely more challenging.  But probably the easiest one for me to adapt to so there’s hope.

There were some kettleballs, ropes, and TRX suspension work.  And lots more variations of lunges.  And I could tell he was still being nice.  I’m really gonna get it as we progress!  Yikes!!

Considering all the before/after pictures of people that I know he has trained and his approach/conversations with me, I do believe I will experience a transformation too.  So excited!  It won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight (might take 2-3 nights instead, HA!!) but it will be absolutely worth it.  He gave me homework for tomorrow and then I’ll be back for a bootcamp class Saturday morning.  When he asked if I wanted to come in for that class (no extra charge but not required as part of my training), the thought of sleeping in instead tried to come to mind but it was fought back with this question:  “How bad do you really want this??”  No brainer!  I'm in this to WIN THIS!

Sew what?

I don’t know what has come over me.  I suddenly want to start sewing again.  Not pillowcases but clothes.  To wear in public.  When did I suddenly become Ms. Homemaker??  I already blogged once about wanting to garden and since then have had many more thoughts on sustainable living (including collecting rain water for re-use, especially in the garden once I begin).  And now I’m thinking about picking up a long-lost interest in sewing??  And admitting it publically??  (Haha, now THAT is progress!)

This time I think I know exactly where the motivation came from.  I read a friend’s blog on combining shirts to make a dress and became very excited about salvaging some tops in my closet.  I trust a sewing machine more than my hands for a project like this but haven’t owned a machine in several years.  I know there are some very affordable machines out there so I started to browse.  The more I looked, the more excited I got about the clothes I could be making and other projects I might enjoy doing.  I promise not to subject my son to home-made clothes unless he actually asks.  Which is unlikely.

Wow, so many projects already in mind.  Somebody stop me!  (No, don’t really.)