My Trainer

When working on getting fit and losing weight, a big decision to make is whether to get a personal trainer. With YouTube, Pinterest, and a million blog posts about workout ideas and training plans, it's super easy to get the information you might get from a trainer. So why fork out the money for one? The obvious reason is to be sure your form is correct so you don't hurt yourself, but for me it is worth so much more than that. 

I feel really fortunate to have the trainer I have. She teaches as a group, so the cost is much lower than a personal session would be. She sends a text an hour or so before every workout I've signed up for to remind me. She brings positive energy and motivation to every workout to encourage me to work harder. But the big value for me is having someone who's job it is to cheer me on every day. It's her job to not let me quit or get too busy. Having someone who literally will not let you give up is amazing!

I have worked hard and focused on getting healthy many times in the past, and I've succeeded in losing 10 pounds on my own. But then life happens. Depression happens. I get sick, my kids get sick, my husband gets sick. Holidays happen (as a friend told me the other day "I do really good except for the time from Halloween to Easter"). It's so hard to persist in living healthy when other stuff is going on. I've said on many occasions "that's just not something I can focus on right now in my life." Well, right now I am focused on it, and my trainer has helped keep me focused on it for almost a year now. The only way to make a lot of progress, in anything in life, is to work at it consistently and diligently for a very long time. 

Giving my daughter a piggy back ride is really easy because she is the same weight as the number of pounds I have lost this year!

Rolling

Working out every day can be a challenge because of muscle soreness. Some soreness is going to happen and you can keep going, but the sore quads (front of thigh) and calves that make it hard just to go up the stairs can keep you from working out the next day. Even worse for me are sore knees! I hurt one of my knees when I was 21 and the other one at 26, and when I work out a lot I feel like they are going to give out on me.

Well, I have a secret cure to share....

It's so simple it's crazy! All last fall my trainer said to roll my muscles when I complained that my knees hurt, and I did it every once in a while when it got really bad, but I didn't really believe it would help. Since the new year I have rolled 4 to 6 times a week and my knees haven't stopped me since! 

I really want to explain WHY and HOW this works, but...just google it: foam roller, or muscle rolling. You will also see lots of pictures of what to do and how to do it. Some of the exercise are really intimidating though, and might not be accessible for beginners, so I took pictures of how I do it.  

For the knees, the important muscle to roll is your IT band. 

Go all the way from hips to just above the knee joint. It's just above the knee where I get knots I need to work on. The hand on my hip is often on the floor for balance. 

The other main muscle I roll is the quads, and I do right in front along with just off to each side. 

(Confidence level: butt pictures! All of the pictures I've seen online of this don't make it clear how you support yourself with the other leg)

I also always need to roll my calves. 

The way I see other people get their calves rolled with a purvottanasana pose (backwards plank) is impossibly hard! I use my hand to push down to get enough pressure. 

It takes a little bit of practice to roll the back, but it helps a lot too. Doing bridge pulses is a good way to build up strength to be able to do this. Reposition for low back to high back. 

Watch your hair!

I just barely realized how to get my glutes. 

Before I tried to get them by just sitting on it and rolling, but I never felt that do anything. 

Each muscle I roll up and down about 5 times, and when a spot hurts I hold it there longer. You know you're doing good when it hurts so bad you feel a litte nauseous, that's a knot that you need to roll extra!

I'm probably missing some important muscles...write in the comments your favorite roll! Or your favorite stretches to help with soreness!

These foam rollers are in the stretching area at the gym. You can also buy them for $20-$30 at Target. Now you CAN work out every day! You're welcome. 

2016 FTW

This is what I call my plans for this year (FTW means "for the win"). You may call them "resolutions", or "goals", but it's my plan for losing weight and I'm sticking to it. 

My plan has 3 components:

1. Healthy eating 

2. Cardio

3. Strength training 

For eating healthy, I still can't wrap my head around the "lifestyle" concept. If you tell me I can never eat chocolate again, then I will eat all of the chocolate immediately. But, I am so competitive at heart, that the idea of a "challenge" works for me, I will win all of the challenges. The Advocare 24 day challenge was very doable for me, so I'm thinking that I will do a challenge every month this year, and then take a week break between each to eat the foods I've been missing. This will work well for a few reasons. First, this follows the 80/20 rule I mentioned here, just on a monthly basis instead of a weekly one. Second, when I want and crave a food, writing it down on my "break week" list and knowing I can have it then really helps me move past it. Third, I have found that Spark works really well for me at first, but my body builds up a tolerance so I need to take a break from it to reset its effect.  (Note that you cannot do the herbal cleanse tablets part of the 24 day challenge every month! I don't do that part anyway because it isn't allowed with breastfeeding)

For Cardio, I tried to fit it in last fall, but I didn't make it a priority. This year I plan to do Zumba on every Monday, Friday, and Saturday because those are when they have classes I can get to. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I plan to go to the gym and walk/jog on the treadmills, just 25 minutes for now, followed by some time stretching. It turns out that the kids LOVE playing at the kids club at the gym, so all the time I'm spending there is good for them too!

For strength training, I will continue going to Bootcamp 3 days a week.  On the other days I do it with my friend, we aim for 2 days a week.

That's my plan! What do you think? I have a great reward system figured out, but it's a little long so it got its own post. 

Boot camp

Tomorrow morning is my first day of boot camp. I'm afraid. I'm terrified. I don't have the energy to do laundry. I don't have the strength to stand for over 15 minutes. Why do I think I can do this?

While I was still pregnant, I decided to prevent post-pregnancy weight gain by signing up for this. I knew I'd be very weak to begin with. I wasn't in good shape before getting pregnant, and I was practically on bed rest my entire pregnancy. 

I'm afraid I won't be able to do any of the exercises. I'm afraid I will be too sore to function the rest of the day. I'm afraid I won't even have the energy to get out of the door in the morning to go. And I'm afraid my two kids, that I'm dragging along, won't cooperate with the plan. 

So, instead of getting to bed early so I have more energy, I decided to write down my feelings about this along with my reasons for doing it. Hopefully, this will keep me going tomorrow and in the future when I start questioning if this is a stupid idea. 

1. I like the instructor. Her personality is highly motivating to me. 

2. The peer pressure of this environment is going to push me to keep going. 

3. I need the structure to even get started, on my own I tend to do nothing. 

4. The strength I gain from doing this will make my body hurt less and work better. 

5. This boot camp will provide therapy and healthy eating motivation that I desperately need. 

I really hope this will work out.