The gym (Jennifer)

I posted last week about how I joined the gym. I was a little hesitant for a few reasons. I have never been a gym type person. I dont know much about fitness, and I dont like to make a spectacle of myself especially when I was at my heavier weight. And until recently, I have always HATED exercise. I was lazy for sure. And it was uncomfortable to do at a heavier weight. But I know that toning is something that I really want to do, especially now that I have lost some weight. And this is a women's gym and that is nice.

So I went and met with my trainer for the first visit. This, in my opinion, is an excellent bonus that they include in my 3 month membership. She had a piece of paper with all sorts of info that she was writing down. Before any of the machines, she took my measurements and also my BMI and %body fat. I thought these were the same and that right there shows you just how much I (dont)know about fitness. My BMI was 28.8 and my %body fat was 33.8. She said my BMI should be around 25 or so but I was so excited that it was no longer 39 like when I was heavier. Then she said that the 33.8% body fat was not bad at all because the high end of of normal is actually 33. ME??? Almost normal? I am not sure about that. That will take some time to sink in. I cant remember being at a normal weight, or happy with my weight.

Then we started on the machines. I started on the treadmill for 10 minutes. She told me to do a speed that challenged me but not to overdo it. So I did. I set the incline and walked on a 3.8 or 4mph. I will say this...I used to have to JOG at 4mph. I was proud of myself fr my brisk walk. And I had confidence. The treadmills were set up in front of a mirror. At first I thought I wouldnt like that but to my surprise I found myself pleased with what I saw. I was going, my arms moving, I even broke a sweat and was so proud to see myself working out. I had a new shirt that I love on so that may have helped some too :) After 10 minutes she brought me over to the eliptical machine. And I was pretty surprised by how doing this machine made me feel. I could feel it in my thighs. Almost like doing a squat? It was harder than the treadmill but I loved it. I did my 10 minutes on there and then she came back and brought me to the stair climber(it is actually moving stairs that you have to keep up with). They do have the jacob's ladder there like on the Biggest Loser and maybe someday I will be motivated to try it. But I got on the stairs and that was a tough one too I thought! I kept tripping for some reason but eventually got it down. And I think that both the eliptical and stair climber each burned around 100 calories each in just the 10 minutes I did them. I liked changing it up.

Then we went to do some of the weight training machines. She said that every time I go to the gym I shoudld be doing 30-60 minutes of cardio and the 2 ab machines. Then I can choose to do upper or lower body if I want to. My abs are in dire need of help and I am not sure they are even "helpable" after two kids who severely stretched my skin(and not to mention the surgeries that played a roll in how gross my tummy looks). The ab machines were tough. Like nothing I have ever seen or done before. She said my abs will tone up fast and I will be able to change the weights before I know it. We'll see about that. Then we did some bicep and tricep curls on another machine. She told me to look in the mirror because I could see the muscles working. And she was right! She said some people cant see the muscles working from underneath their weight. It made me proud of my 53 lbs lost so far :). My arms had gotten heavier but they were never one of the areas of huge concern to me. Although I did see the stretch marks that I hadnt realized were there.

And that was it for the exercise. I will learn the rest of the lower body machines tomorrow. We went over some nutrtional stuff which I found to be quite interesting and helpful. For example, one meal included 1 piece of toast, 2 oz of meat, a fruit, cottage cheese, etc. All of that for one meal? And it was only a 1200 calorie/day plan. It made me realize just how grateful I will be to have a sandwich (even if it is half), or fruit, or anything more than just a tiny meal like I am eating now on MF. She said that if I am going to be going to the gym 3-4 times a week like I plan she would even suggest 1400 calories a day. Wow. And they too want you to eat a good snack between meals for 5-6 meals a day. My hope is that I wont go overboard and that I will feel privileged to eat other foods like bread and fruit, etc when the day comes.

I will post tomorrow about how my second trip to the gym went. And today I am getting more sore as the hours go on from my weight training yesterday.

Today's reason for losing weight:
*to attempt to get my stomach into way better shape. I will NEVER wear a bikini and I try to keep my expectations real. There is just to much stretched skin for that to ever be a possibiity, but there is no reason I cant make it look better when wearing clothes! There doest have to be rolls, right?

Today I am grateful for:
*my MF food that came today. I was running really low and now feel more prepared.

Have a nice day everyone!