Good News!

The thing I’ve been hoping for has finally happened – I received a promotion! I went to my co-worker’s office, closed the door, and jumped up and down. I am sooo happy! I have two new bills coming up in April, so this was definitely needed. I had already decided that the first thing I would be buying would be personal training. I went to the gym after work last night and told my trainer friend about the promotion. I got a high five, and a question of, “So are you starting personal training?” He’s also hoping to get a promotion, lol.

Personal training is more expensive than I had imagined. The rate sounds reasonable compared to what I found on a quick Google search though. I’m just a cheapskate, and not used to buying something like this. I was also bummed to find out I can’t use the trainer I want to use. It turns out my buddy up there isn’t technically a trainer. He’s more of a management person. So I get one session a week with a person who is technically a personal trainer, and some free sessions with my buddy.

Trainer buddy gave me a fitness evaluation last night. I wish I had done measurements when I first started all this back in September. My weight wasn’t exactly where I wanted it, but he reminded me that I am probably gaining muscle. As far as weight, I’m only 7 pounds down from when I started all of this. My clothes are loose though. Yesterday I put on a dress for work that I had bought at the beginning of December. When I bought it and wore it to a party, it fit comfortably. Yesterday it was VERY loose. It’s sleeveless, and the arm holes were hanging loosely. I had to pull the belt on it very tight also. I was a little cautious about it and asked my co-worker who saw me wear it to the party in December. She was shocked and confirmed my thoughts. She even called another female co-worker into the room.

I felt a lot more confident this week as well. I’m usually fairly self-conscious about my body, but this week was different. I love that feeling. I was in a situation where I would usually feel self-conscious about my body, but I felt sexy. I did feel self-conscious about how I was acting, but that’s a whole other problem. At least I had one less thing to worry about.

Anyway, with the fitness evaluation, I was able to do 25 girl push-ups (LOL). That was shocking. I also did a 3 minute step test, and my heart rate was 120. He told me I need to work more on cardio. I spent 20 minutes on the treadmill this morning switching between jogging and walking, per his suggestion. I HATE running. Hopefully I will get better at it. In the fitness evaluation, I also did an upper body strength test. I did 3 reps at 70 lbs. For my lower body strength test, I did 3 reps of 385 lbs. Wow. When I was doing it, he said not to look at the weight. That was definitely a good idea. With that machine I’m used to doing 100 lbs. I love maxing out on an exercise. I remember doing it in HS and loved saying, “I can lift such and such weight.” (I once got to 90 lbs on the bench press!)

My body fat is 28% and my BMI is 24. 24 is normal for my height and weight, though on the higher end of normal. Not so long ago, I was overweight according to the BMI.

I met trainer buddy at the gym this morning for a session. We did arms. I also spent 15 minutes on the stair machine beforehand. The treadmill was after. He told me to walk backwards on the stair machine. I was sure I would end up falling but it wasn’t too hard because there’s a mirror right behind the machine. He said it would work my glutes.

I came home, showered, and had a nasty meal replacement shake. It was extremely filling though and had 50g of protein. I hardly ever get enough protein in my diet. That was my last meal replacement shake. I bought 8 individual packets three weeks ago. I will buy more when I get paid again.

After this, I’m going to work on the inspirational collage I talked about in my last blog, and I will post pix of it tomorrow (hopefully!).

Do any of you have personal trainers? What weight do you max out at, and how many push-ups can you do?