LAF: Weight Check down 8+

See all that medical equipment. It might easily be what I walk into at work on any given day. I know exactly what to do with it and within a short time I will have hooked up all of it to a single patient or two. It is complicated, sophisticated and serious business.  I can't get it wrong!

And this, this is the face of a treadmill and for the life of me I can not determine exactly what I am looking at. To make matters worse I can hardly start the treadmill without a great deal of effort. I am a firm believer that if equipment is spitting out data then it must mean something. But this, this little track with all its colorful blinking lights, for the life of me I can't figure out what it is telling me or what its value is. Go figure.

It only starts here, my trouble with equipment in the gym. But I am going to save the rest of my equipment woes for another day. Today I only have a minute to report in and then I am leaving for some sunshine.

Lucky for me I am a stick with it kind a gal and even if it takes me 10 minutes to get the treadmill moving I hang in there. Today marked the beginning of my fourth week of working out at LAF. Now if I were to say I love it, or even like it, that wouldn't be telling the truth. I am tolerating it. I do love the swimming, but then I am really really good at that. I do feel better and I have dropped 8.65 pounds. When my trainer asked me what my goals were I said "weight loss".  "Great, anything else?" "Yes, weight loss and more weight loss." I tend to focus on single issues. Maybe once I loose some weight I can consider some other benefits of this rigorous plan of mine.

I was so hoping to be down by 10 pounds at this point. You see I have some really lovely bathing suits I'd like to fit into starting tomorrow. While packing today I was grateful that at least one in my collection of four fits. I am just going to be grateful for that and keep my chin up. I  have 10 days of personal training with my wife to look forward to which is more than most girls get in a life time.

Musings From The LAF Training Room

My wife is the best ever. Monday morning I had my first training session. I came home and by Monday evening I could hardly move. It really wasn't just a matter of hurting. I simply couldn't conduct the activities of daily living. I was a little pissed off to say the least. I had a "free training" session last week, part of the deal when you join LAF. After reviewing the training costs when I first joined I decided they were cost prohibitive. After my free training session the training manager said he could offer me something more reasonable.

I came home and contemplated the offer and decided to give it a try. The training manager had taken me through an upper body routine. I was surprised I was able to do anything and while I hurt for the next day or so it wasn't god awful and I could carry on in my other activities.  My usual MO is to go at these things alone and since I suffer immeasurably from the disease of addiction that usually gets me in trouble. It seemed like a smart idea to have a professional teach and guide me through the strength building aspect of this endeavor.

So on Monday I had my first session with "a  trainer".  He had me do three sets of Goblet Squats with boxes and a 35 pound weight, 12 rotations each time and taking one of the boxes away each time. By third set I was practically squatting to the floor. Then I did three sets of one minute planks, three sets of leg presses 12 reps each time with 70 pound weights, three sets of ball curls 12 reps each time and some sort of cable hold with 20 pound weights.  By the time Paula and I got to the bee yard I could hardly get out of the car and by the end of the day I was completely incapacitated. Seriously people, a girl should be able to sit on the toilet to pee. Period.

I knew something wasn't quite right with this clearly over zealous routine. I don't mind hurting and I am not going to pay for training only to slack my way through it. But for the love of Christ I am a 54 year old women who has never lifted a weight. What was he thinking? By Tuesday evening I hurt so much I couldn't sleep.

Getting back to my wonderful wife. I had a scheduled fit test Tuesday morning. I am not sure who's idea it was to schedule a fit test the day after my first day of training, seems to me it should have been scheduled the other way around. Anyway, I got to the gym and discovered a really sweet card in my bag. Buoyed by her encouragement I carried on and completed the fit test with startling results. To make matters worse I was told I would gain weight before loosing weight. Hard to stomach when the primary goal is weight loss.

I am getting a new trainer, no more young men who have been fit all their life and have no idea what it is like to be a 54 year old female who is completely out of shape and has never lifted a weight in her life.  I will work hard but I am not willing to find myself in a place where I can't even function for two days because I hurt so bad.

My musings may give the impression that I am miserable. I am not! I am feeling better, even after only 10 days. Lucky for me that little issue with addiction makes it really easy to establish new routines. If I do something twice it becomes a routine.  I have now put together 10 days of  a new routine with one day off. I am walking 2-3 miles a day. I am riding a bike for 3 miles a day and I am swimming, every day which I love. Swimming is my reward. I am only going to do the weights 2 or 3 times a week for the time being.

I will admit I was taken by surprise at the results of my fit test and my measurements. I did a little more damage during my year of sabbatical that I realized. Right now I am going to take some lessons from my program of recovery "one day at a time". And, I am going to come up with some daily goals so I can get those rubs from my wife every single night!  In the meantime I hope you all stay on board and cheer me on. It makes a big difference.