Workin it out....

I made a resolution this past New Year's Eve that I would get in better shape this year, but, if I'm honest, I didn't really have a solid plan that I could stick to long enough to make it happen.  I pinned, and repinned tons of diets, exercises, tips, and tricks.  I got new exercise clothes.  Last year I had tried to begin a running regimen but I tore both my ACL and LCL in my right knee, and the LCL in my left knee, so, after eight  weeks in knee braces I knew running would be a bit too ambitious, so, I dialed it down to just doing Yoga.  

I actually stuck with that for a whole month or so before I started forgetting, procrastinating, and just choosing to skip it for another day.  Again, Yoga was too ambitious, at least to do on my own.  After all, I only have my dining room with a firm enough floor to do Yoga on, and a TV to play the Yoga programs on.  That puts me in the pathway of every single family member in our house to ask questions of me, tell me something that simply cannot wait, plus, the phone invariably rings and no one else can answer it except me.  It just goes on and on.  Frustration was the only thing that was consistent. 

Then it happened.  The ultimate motivation to get fit.  At least for me it was the ultimate motivation.  I was walking out of the grocery store and the sun was shining brightly behind me.  I could clearly see my shadow on the pavement.  To my horror, I could also clearly see the shadow of my thighs jiggling as I walked.   I didn't even know my shadow could be that vivid, and I really didn't ever want to know what I looked like in real life as I walked.  What was clearly vivid was that I needed to slam the brakes on and figure out how to get into shape and stay that way.  

The one thing I had avoided all these years was staring me in the face and I didn't really want to do it, but, I swallowed my pride and womaned up.  I asked my husband to train me.  
Now this is a man that is not just in shape, he's ripped, cut, tone, built, and every other adjective invented to describe someone that can bench press over 300 lbs and that's a light day for him.  I've always bristled at the idea that Tim would question how I work out, make suggestions or try to kibitz in my fitness routine, but, everything I had done up to now since my Hysterectomy had failed to achieve any real results, so, what did I have to lose.  The upside would be that perhaps this is going to be a bonding experience.  Tim was cautiously agreeable to set up a training program for me, and added me, at my request, to our family membership at the Anytime Fitness in our town.  He showed me how to use a few of the machines, and helped me determine the weight and resistance, how many reps and how many sets, and I was off.  

That was way back in early Spring, and here it is September, and I have lost seventeen pounds and dropped from a skeptical 12 to a solid size 10.  I started using the leg machines pressing about 30 lbs and am now up to 210 lbs. I've found a love of the Helix machine, and use it to warm up and finish off my routine.  I'm at the gym about three or four days a week for an hour each time.  Of course I have adjusted my diet, but, not all that much.  It helped that I also got braces on in June, so, eating is not as much fun as it once was.  Still, that goes for healthy foods more than unhealthy, so I end up eating a lot of soft things like potatoes, and soups and such, but, I have found ways to incorporate healthy foods in my diet as I have developed ways to manage to actually eat them.  

What I found was that it was more fun to make my workouts more about strength training than losing weight and by building muscle I actually lost weight faster.  It's the simple fact that muscle burns fat even at rest and muscle weighs more than fat so while I lost seventeen pounds of weight, I don't really know how much of that was fat, but, I can surmise it was probably more than I think.  I now use seven different machines, plus I do squats, dips, and try to spin cycle once a week.  

Either way, I'm feeling great, and I have to admit I look pretty good.  Yesterday, while I was out grocery shopping I found myself in the exact same spot at the exact same time of the day with that bright sunshine behind me.  To my delight, no jiggly thighs.