Can't Get Enough

Calories on Mondays, that is. My goal is to eat 1,950 calories a day, and at least 1,600 after subtracting the calories I burn exercising. That's hard to do on Mondays. I estimate that I burned 172 calories in 45 minutes at Fitness Together in the morning and my heart rate monitor estimates that I burned 747 at spinning class this evening. That means I need to eat 2,519 calories of food to be at a net 1,600 for the day.

I never in my life have had trouble eating the number of calories I need on a diet. It's usually a struggle to stay within my caloric limit. But this is the first time that my focus is on both the quality of the food I'm eating, along with the calorie count. My goal is to eat food that will support my recovery from exercise and building my muscles and bones. So no sugar or alcohol and no processed food. I also try to eat many small meals during the day to keep my metabolism high.

Here's what I ate today to try to meet my caloric need:

Breakfast before exercising: protein shake with whole fat yogurt, protein powder, banana, blueberries, raspberries, and peanut butter--494 calories
Breakfast after exercising: 2 fried eggs on brown rice with steamed kale--301 calories
Lunch: homemade blackbean soup, toast with melted cheese on it--414 calories
After lunch: apple and cheese--224 calories
After, after lunch: almonds--83 calories
Before spinning: protein bar--230 calories
Dinner (I was not hungry at all, but knew I needed to eat, so I didn't eat the chicken dinner I was going to): yogurt with almonds, blueberries, protein powder, raspberries, pumpkin seeds--584 calories

So after all that food, I had eaten 2,330 calories, netting 1,411 after exercising, 439 short of my goal and 189 short of my minimum. I feel stuffed and can't imagine trying to eat anything more.

I remember reading an article about what Michael Phelps ate on a typical day--he had to eat thousands of calories because of the amount of exercise he does each day. I couldn't understand why he ate so much crap. It makes much more sense to me now. It's hard to get enough calories without putting down a pizza or two.

Anyway, it's a great problem to have, and much preferable to the one I normally have when I'm trying to lose weight!

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.

You Can't Always Get What You Want . . .

. . . but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need. I had a fabulous workout with Seann today. We did lots of push-ups, tricep extensions, dead lift squats, lunges, and fun ab work. It was the first time since I broke my leg that I could do actual lunges without some kind of support.

Here's the crazy thing.  I've been feeling like my workouts with Seann weren't hard enough. First, I dismissed it thinking that he's starting easy and will make it more difficult as he gets a sense of what I'm capable of. Then I've been justifying it by focusing on the parts of the workout that were harder. But I really knew I wasn't working out like I wanted to be, and I wasn't saying anything. I was more worried about Seann feeling bad by me telling him I wasn't working out hard enough than I was on getting what I wanted. I realized yesterday that I'm half way through my two month training, and if I really wanted to accomplish my goals, I needed to say something.

So I told Seann today. He was fine about it and immediately gave me the kind of workout I wanted. It was hard to do and know I'm going to be sore tomorrow, which is what I want. Afterwards I realized that I was somehow expecting Seann to read my mind--to know what kind of workout I wanted. That's really crazy, and I wasn't being fair to either Seann or myself.

Do you want to hear something even crazier? When I use the Wii balance board to weigh myself, it always asks me if I want a fitness tip. Usually I say yes, but lately, I haven't had much time in the morning, so I've just been weighing myself, and saying no to the fitness tip. And I know part of me is worried about hurting the Wii's feelings because I don't want its tips. The WEii's feelings--and I think that even though I know the Wii doesn't have feelings. Hmmmm--I think I was too well socialized as a female and as a Minnesotan. It's a bad combination. Because most of the time, in order to get what you want and need, you need to be able to ask for it.

Hitting the Bars

Today was my last workout at FT before heading on vacation. In addition it's Christmas eve and Alexandra's 14th birthday. We're going out to lunch to celebrate Alexandra's birthday and I'm making prime rib for a group for dinner tonight, so it was a good day for a tough workout.

Brandon had me workout with barbells today. I started with 60 squats, with weights ranging from 15 to 65 pounds. I'm pretty sure I alternated squats with some other exercise, but I sure can't remember what (perhaps osteoporosis isn't my only aging-related problem).

Then I alternated the bench press with the standing row.  Weights for the bench press went from 45 to 65 pounds. I really worked up a sweat with 65 pounds. I did 50 presses in total, but only 5 at 65 pounds. I am going to be sore tomorrow!

I did 60 standing rows, with weights ranging from 15 to 45 pounds. That's a tough exercise to keep good form with. I want to lift the weight with my shoulders instead of my back.

I am feeling great. I've lost 5 pounds in 3 weeks, and can feel the difference in how my clothes fit. I think I see a difference in the pictures of me  lifting weights. Be the first person to comment on my noticeable weight loss, and win my undying gratitude (or if you're a Pokela, a frozen Snickers bar at the lake--I know what appeals to my family).

So now my challenge is continuing my progress while we are in Los Cabos for a week. It's hard to know how many calories I'm consuming when restaurants are preparing my meals three times a day. Brandon recommends sticking to proteins, fruits, and vegetables and staying away from dishes with sauces or a lot of cheese. I'm hoping there is a scale there to help me stay in touch with reality. I know from pictures on the website that the hotel has a great health club. It'll help to be in beautiful weather--we'll be spending a lot of time be physically active outside.

Happy holidays!!!

Shape Shifting

I'm starting to feel the shape of my body changing and I'm feeling stronger. It's a great feeling. I know I built a base for this when my doctor said I could start working out again at the beginning of November. I worked out 2-4 times a week, with 1 workout at Fitness Together, 1-2 spinning classes at the Y, and 1-2 weightlifting sessions at home or the Y.

But working out with a trainer 3 times at Fitness Together plus 2 spinning classes for the past week feels like my fitness level has accelerated amazingly. What a great feeling!

Today after doing a lot of squats, deadlifts, calf raises, and stair stepping, Sean led me in an intensive ab and oblique workout. The pictures are of my 2 favorite exercises from today. If you have a Swiss ball, the exercise pictured is a great way to have fun strengthening your abs while having fun. You just start by holding the ball with your arms straight and your legs bent and raised, lower the ball over your head until it touches the floor, raise it up and shift it between your ankles like on the left, and then lower your legs till it touches the floor. Keep your back flat on the floor, and you'll have nice sore abs tomorrow.

For the obliques, Sean had me lean sideways on a weight bench as pictured below, and then lower and raise my hips using my oblique muscles. A great way to isolate those muscles!

So with intense workouts like this, it's not surprising that I'm feeling my shape shifting.






What I don't like is how when I feel great, my mind is quick to undermine me. You're feeling good--do you know you're still 35 pounds over your ideal weight? Just think about what kind of shape you'd be in now if

you hadn't put on that 15 pounds this summer and fall. You'd be close to your ideal weight by the time you left for Nicaragua. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I remind myself that I am where I am and I can't start anywhere but from where I am. If I had been in better shape to begin with, I might not have won the contest and been given this opportunity. Enough with the self-hatred. I'm having fun, getting stronger, shifting shape. Life is good!

Psycho Trainer Que'est-ce Que C'est

Yes, I was a psycho today about training. My training program with Fitness Together starts on Tuesday, but I have a commitment to work out 4 times a week and had only worked out 3 times. I took a spinning class yesterday at the Y, and was debating whether or not to take another one today.

The main issue is that I don't know how much stress I can put on my healing left leg. Two months ago I set myself back a few days by doing the grocery shopping without crutches. A month ago, I did the same thing by taking a spinning class and then going to a play with Bennett at the Eric Carle museum (it involved a lot of walking and standing).

After the spinning class yesterday, I spent the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon shopping with Bennett. Yes, shopping. I hate to shop, except for sporting goods and electronics, but I discovered yesterday that taking a 3 year-old to Barnes & Noble, Petco, and A2Z was like going to three playgrounds. We had a great time. Here's a picture of Bennett with Curious George at B&N.


So what was driving me crazy (not a long trip) was whether spinning again today would hurt my leg, not only because of everything I did yesterday, but because tomorrow I'm going to the Patriots-Jets game with Bob, and that means many hours without my leg elevated, and lots of walking--taking the stairs alone up into the very top of the stadium will be a workout--think of Rocky.

The main thing is--I don't trust myself. I don't trust that I won't do too much and hurt myself and I don't trust that I'm thinking that because I'm being lazy and rationalizing myself out of working out. And I realized that one of the great things about the training program I'm going to be starting is that I don't need to worry about playing those psycho mind games with myself for the next two months. All of my workouts have been scheduled--no thinking needed. I also realized that I have a trainer who will be a partner with me in this. I don't have to engage in this internal debate--I can ask Brandon what he thinks.

So what did I do? After debating back and forth from early this morning until 2:30 this afternoon, I took the class. And felt great. Here I am at the end of class. I'll let you know how the stair-climbing goes tomorrow. Go Pats!