Gee But It's Great to be Back Home

It's good to be home in snowy, snowy Massachusetts. I had a really great trip in terms of staying with my fitness goals. I had a long talk with Mark at Fitness Together on Friday before I left about eating strategies on the road. Flying is usually a problem for me, because there really aren't many healthy choices at airports. I brought an egg and cheese sandwich, apples, almonds, and protein bars for the flight to LA, so didn't need to get anything at Bradley or at my layover in Las Vegas.

I also texted a friend of mine that was also going to be assisting at the workshop over the weekend. I know she usually goes to Trader Joe's for food for the weekend and I was going to be arriving too late to go there, so I asked if she could pick up some yogurt, turkey, and cheese, which were great for breakfast (with almonds and fruit) and lunch and I had protein bars for snacks. I ate out for dinner, focussing on protein and veggies, avoiding sauces and breads. I was tired of turkey and cheese by dinner time on the flight back, but found sushi at the Baltimore airport--perfect. Sushi is high in protein and low in calories, is filling, and tasty.

I also managed to get one workout in over the weekend. The result was I came back weighing exactly what I weighed when I left. Success!

Speaking of protein bars, finding a good one is hard. Most of them are candy bars in disguise. If you read the ingredients, sugar in some form is usually the first ingredient, and if it's not, it's probably because they use a bunch of different forms of sugar, which if combined, would make sugar the first ingredient. What I want is a bar that's high in protein and low in sugar. The one I've settled on is the Think Thin Peanut Butter Protein bar, which has 240 calories, 20 grams of protien, 8 grams of fat, and no sugar, although now that I look it up, it says something about sugar alcohols. I have to find out what that means. When I first started eating them, they seemed pretty tasteless, but now they taste fabulous and are really filling.

Just a little over a week until my assessment!

Hey Hey, Goodbye

Today was my last day training with Brandon. I've been working out with him for 4 years, and even though I know we'll stay in touch, it's sad. It was a lucky happenstance that I discovered Fitness Together and started working out with Brandon. Liz and I were at the Tunnel Bar with our niece Grace having chocolate martinis to celebrate Grace's 21st birthday. We were walking from the bar to Main Street to find a place to eat dinner (yeah, martinis on an empty stomach--not the best idea) and when I saw Fitness Together, I was curious about what they did. I had never worked out with a personal trainer, but in my slightly inebriated state, I immediately thought that working with a personal trainer could give me the edge I needed to do an inline skating marathon in 2 hours. I went in and learned that Brandon also did inline skating and started working out with him shortly thereafter.

Brandon's always challenged me to push myself and I told him for our workout today, I wanted him to push me so hard I'd have to crawl up the stairs at the end of the workout. I was able to walk up the stairs, but had the kind of workout that was fitting for our last one. I know I'll continue to make great progress with the other trainers, but it does feel like the passing of an era. Brandon said he'd come in to do my final assessment for this free training period, which I'm really happy about, because I want him to see the progress he's helped me make, going from sitting in a chair for 6 months to a high level of fitness in 2 months.

Speaking of which, I was talking with Brandon today about how slowly my weight is coming off, given how careful I'm being about eating and how much I'm working out. Brandon reminded me that after sitting for 6 months, I had lost a lot of muscle (yes, when Brandon calculated my percent body fat a month ago, it was not a nice number--40%), so when I'm working out now, I'm really building a lot of muscle, which weighs more than fat. That makes sense, because I can feel the shape of my body shifting. Brandon said that at some point the weight will start coming off fast.

Brandon was named by Business West as one of their "40 under 40" this year--an honor he earned and deserved for how he ran Fitness Together and his contributions to the community. I know he will continue to be successful in whatever he takes on next. Thanks, Brandon, from me and everyone whose lives you've made better by improving their fitness and that of the people they love.

Taking the Lunge

I did my first workout of my new training program today. The first thing I learned is that when I'm working with a trainer 3 days a week, we really focus on specific muscle groups each session, as opposed to the whole body workout I'm used to with once a week training.

After warming up, here are the two things I did:

160 lunges. That is a lot of lunges. I am anticipating problems sitting down and standing up tomorrow. My quads, hamstrings, and glutes were burning by the time we were done. Here's a picture of me doing a lunge while Brandon makes sure I have no form breaks.

I can't do lunges without the pole yet because of the stiffness and soreness in my left ankle and foot, but I can reassure you, it didn't make it easier.

I also did 71 presses, alternating between 10, 12, and 15 pound dumb bells. That's a weird number, isn't it. My triceps already are sore, and I didn't even know I used my triceps to do presses. Here's a lovely picture of me exhibiting classic signs of muscle failure.

I love feeling sore after a hard workout, so tomorrow will be a good day.

I also did an assessment of my overall fitness. It's the 7th assessment I've done since I started working out at Fitness Together in 2007, and my last one was in April, right before I broke my arm. It's really interesting to see what sitting around for 6 months has done to my fitness level. I read once that you lose the effects of training in 1 month, so I thought after 6, I'd be completely out of shape. My overall fitness level is 63 (I have no idea what the top of the scale is). That's down from 71 in April, but is still above average, and higher that my fitness level in 2007 and the beginning of 2009, despite being at my highest weight!

The most surprising result is that my resting heart rate is 62, which is well below the average rate, and the lowest I've tested. I'm attributing that to the excellent job I did resting in my chair for 6 months Here I am, with the boot on my leg and splint on my arm, working away on my resting heart rate. Look at that--I'm wearing my same workout clothes!