Baby Step #2

I hired a trainer. We've started and he's a hard ass and I'm pretty sure that that is exactly what I need. His name is TK and his biceps are the size of my thighs. I'm not exaggerating here. He's like the black version of The Rock and his motto is, "Go hard or go home, the only person standing in your way is you." His specialty is womens' fitness, which did surprise me, and he's actually interested in the reasons why women gain weight. Which also surprised me, as he is a man and really most of the time the emotional stuff flies over their heads. But he gets it, which is nice.

He measured my body fat and took measurements and we did before pictures. Be prepared, I'm going to post them soon and you will be scared. But he thinks, and I'm beginning to see why, they're necessary. I need a constant reminder of the goal here. He asked what the ultimate goal was and I said, "to just like the way I look again", which is complete truth. I don't care about numbers or measurements or percentages. I want to look in the mirror and like what I see. I want to put on a swim suit and go to the pool with my kiddos and not be focusing on myself.

So he put me on the eliptical and said he was going to test me. He just "knew" I could do more than I thought I could, that I just wasn't willing to push myself. He jumped on the machine next to mine and away we went. Now normally when I get on the eliptical I put it on 0 resistance, around a 4 or 5 incline (as that incline works all of the leg muscles and not just the hamstrings and quads) and I go for an hour. I do somewhere between 4 and 5 miles without a problem and burn around 450 calories. I thought that was fantastic... well TK had other plans.

Every time I'd start to slow he'd speed up, encourage me, push me, coach me. He started my resistance at 8 and by the end had upped it to 10. He wouldn't let me stop. He'd let me slow and catch myself for 30 seconds and then push me to keep going and harder. By the end I'd done 5.5 miles and had burned over 650 calories. On an 8-10 resistance! He was right. I wasn't giving myself or my body enough credit.

This isn't going to be a speedy process. I'm not going to wake up in a few weeks, look great and move on. Heavens, I wish! But I like TK, I like his plans. So that is where I am right now.