One week to go!

I can't believe it's been 7 weeks that I've been working with Amanda now. My results are absolutely amazing... and I still have one more week before Put-In-Bay!!

I just bought a new bathing suit, and for once I actually enjoyed trying them on, and I feel really good about this one. Super simple blue and white stripe, but really cute.

This weekend I've been in Cincinnati to find an apartment, and I had success! I have a really nice two bedroom that's right in between two of the main squares in Cincinnati (Hyde Park Square and Mt. Lookout Square). I'm about a half mile from each of them, so easily walkable when the weather is nice. Yay!!

I did really well with my diet this weekend too. I knew that I was going to a wine tasting with my friend Krista on Friday, so on Thursday and Friday, I was very careful about keeping my carbs and fat really low so that I could enjoy a few glasses of wine and some appetizers. Turns out the apps were just cheese and veggies, but I enjoyed each bite :) I'm also staying at a Hannaford Suites hotel, so I have a kitchen in my room, which allowed me to go grocery shopping and cook my own meals. Saved me money on not dining out, and I didn't have to worry about finding more healthy options on menus. The only exception was that I went to Panera for lunch during the apartment hunt yesterday. I had their vegetarian black bean soup, which tastes delicious and isn't bad nutritionally, but has A LOT of sodium in it (as in, more than 1,500 mg). I tried to drink a lot of water to help flush it out, but I can tell I'm still retaining some water. I'm drinking plenty of water today too, so hopefully that will do the trick.

My hotel is right next to the mall, so after I found my apartment yesterday, I went shopping and had another day of nice surprises when it came to sizes. The size 6 pants that I bought a few weeks ago are now baggy, and don't look particularly flattering, so I went into the Limited and found a new pair of size 4s that fit much better. I also went into banana republic and found a new pair of jeans that were on sale for $25, so I was thrilled!

My training schedule with Amanda this week isn't particularly ideal, especially since it's crunch time before Put-In-Bay, but it'll have to work. Monday I have to do a group workout as she didn't have any individual time slots that fit my schedule. Then I'm in Tuesday and Wednesday evening, and Thursday morning. No workout on Friday, which is the day before we leave for PIB, so that day's exercise is up to me. Then I get to go crazy with my classmates all weekend! Sooo excited!!

Number Crunching

Had my first "official" weigh-in in about a month today, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. In the six weeks I've been working with Amanda, I've lost 7% body fat and 15 pounds!!!!! It's pretty incredible.

I went into the White and Black store yesterday to look for a formal dress (still not sure what I'm going to wear), and the sales associate was the same one who sold me an absolutely amazing dress right at the beginning of my training. I was a size 8 then, and yesterday, I was trying on size 2s and 4s. It was crazy! The girl even asked for Amanda's contact information... we'll see whether she actually calls, but it was a nice feeling to know that it really has made such an impact!

Formal Preparations

Fisher Formal is tomorrow night! I'm really excited, as this is one of the last times the majority of our classmates will all be together for a night! Last year's formal was so much fun, though I don't necessarily remember much about it (8 drink tickets will do that to you, I suppose). What's nice is that this year, they offered the option to buy a $35 ticket which got you 8 drinks and appetizers, or a $10 ticket that gets you appetizers and no drinks, so I'm going with that plan. Celina is having a pre-party at her house, so I'll bring some flavored vodka and some diet sprite to mix up and drink before heading to formal, and then I'll just munch on the appetizers and drink water once I get there.

I told Amanda about formal last week, and she said that as long as I was good with my diet Monday through Friday afternoon, I could go crazy and eat whatever I wanted once I got to formal, so I've been sure to keep my calorie counts really low. I'm also lowering my limits for carbs and fat today and tomorrow to prepare for all the yummy, classy bar-food type appetizers they're going to serve at formal (pizza, bruschetta, chicken satay, Asian spring rolls and a veggie and hummus tray). Coming up with 3 meals and 2 snacks that only amount to 40 grams of carbs and 25 grams of fat seemed like it would be quite a challenge, but thanks to the food tracker on Livestrong.com, I figured it out, and I don't think I'll feel too starved by the end of the day.

All I know is that the food at formal had better be really good to make today and tomorrow's diet worth it!

5 weeks in!

This will be a short post, but I'm still making great progress with my training!

I'm down 13 pounds from where I started (super exciting!), and while I don't know my exact body fat loss (Amanda has the body fat reader in her car, which has been in the shop for 2 weeks since she was in an accident, so she hasn't been able to get it), I see the results, and that's good enough for me.

I was trying on clothes at Macy's yesterday and actually looked at my body in an entirely different way. It's no longer just about looking "thinner"-- it's about looking healthier, and I definitely do. My waist is much slimmer, and my arms are getting really toned. Still working on my lower abs and legs, but they'll get there eventually.

Had lunch with my Mom and grandma yesterday, and while my grandma doesn't understand the point of all this (she "used to eat donuts made with lard, and [she's] still alive"), my mom was impressed with my progress and seemed motivated to take on a healthier lifestyle herself. I hope she does!

I think the real test will be bathing suit shopping in the next couple weeks. Put-in-Bay is just 3 short weeks away... can't wait!!

Water Works!

One of the most frustrating parts about my personal training sessions is that my weight fluctuates so much because of water retention after weight training. It gets particularly bad after we train my legs, and I can literally see a 1 pound increase after just 30 minutes of lunges and squats. The oddest part is that I can also see and feel in my legs where the water is stuck... it's kinda gross!

I have figured out a couple things that seem to help though. First, I make sure I stretch out really well after my training sessions. At least 60 seconds for each stretch on each leg when I stretch out my quads and my hamstrings. I also try to massage my quads a bit as I'm doing the stretch, and it helps them loosen up and feel better faster.

I've also been drinking a heck of a lot of water. It seemed really counter-intuitive to me early on... if I drink more water, that's just more water that my body can hold on to, so I would actually drink less after my training sessions. However, when I noticed that the water weight was sticking around for days after my sessions, I looked up remedies online and found that I should actually be increasing my water consumption a lot after my workouts so that my body understands that it doesn't NEED to hold onto the water. So... I've been drinking at least 16 8-oz. glasses (that's a whole gallon!!!) of water every day. And the water weight has gone down much more quickly.

I'm also being more careful about my sodium intake, as that can lead to water retention as well. As long as I'm drinking plenty of water, it should mostly flush out, but I just need to be aware of how much sodium is in my diet to make sure I'm not going overboard and eating more than my body (and all the water) can process.

I'm still seeing great results, and I feel like I'm starting to understand how all the pieces of a healthy lifestyle fit together. It's exciting!

Proof is in the clothing

I'm fortunate in that I generally only have to get dressed up for school 2 or 3 times a week-- when I work on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then occasionally for meetings with our clients at the Zoo or presentations for our Marketing Field Studies class. Since I've been mostly wearing gym clothes, jeans and t-shirts lately (and my favorite jeans always fit-- think Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-- no matter how my body shape changes, they still fit like a glove), I haven't paid much attention to how my dress clothes have been fitting.

I tried on a pair of pants this past week and they were pretty darn loose. I just figured it was because they had stretched out last time I wore them, so I washed them, put them in the dryer, and tried them back on. Still too loose. So I tried on another pair... same thing. I made it through the three days I had to dress up this week-- almost put on a belt one day, but it wasn't dressy enough-- and just wore longer shirts that would hide any gap in the pants. But today, I decided I needed to go shopping.

NY&Company is having their annual 50% off everything sale, so I made my way over. When I trained with Amanda this morning, I told her about my shopping plans, and she said she thought I would be a size 4. I told her that for most of my adult life, I'd been an 8 or a 10, so a 4 seemed unlikely. She told me to just try a pair of size-4 pants on, just to see where I was. I did so, and while I can wear them, I still probably have a few pounds and an inch or so to lose before they're 100% comfortable. I ended up buying a couple pairs in a 6, and I figure if they too become too large, I can certainly find a belt that will make them work until I have time to get them tailored. And who knows, by then, maybe NY&C will have an even better sale going on! I hate to buy clothes when I think my shape will continue to change, but I definitely couldn't wear the 8s anymore... and that's pretty exciting!

One more session with Amanda tomorrow morning with weigh-in (and hopefully body fat measurement). I'll be excited to see where I am!

Changed forever?

I had dinner with my girlfriends on Thursday night. These girls also started working with a personal trainer around the same time that I started working with Amanda, so we've had a good time talking about our different experiences. At one point during the evening, I told Melissa that "it will be so nice to eat normally again," and I expected her to say "I know what you mean," but her response was interesting. She asked "Do you think you'll ever be able to go back to eating the way you used to?" And the honest answer is, probably not.

I've put a lot of effort into changing my diet over the last month so far, and I'm definitely seeing results, so it would be a shame to just go right back to my old habits and have all this hard work go to waste. The work-outs with Amanda are certainly making a difference too, but even she told me that keeping up with the diet will be the most important thing for me to do to maintain my figure once I move to Cincinnati.

I think the main difference once I'm done working with Amanda is that I will allow myself to cheat a bit more often. If I'm out to dinner with girlfriends, I will most likely still eat a healthy, protein-filled dinner. But I may allow myself to splurge on a yummy dessert once in a while. Right now, I have not been cheating at all unless Amanda actually tells me to (apparently, I need to cheat once in a while to get my metabolism to kick into high gear). I also know that I will have a lot of food catered in once I start working at dunnhumby, and I just have to be smart about which sandwich options I eat. I think the key is just going to be enjoy the foods that I really enjoy, but in moderation. That's the key to healthy eating in general, but since I started working with Amanda, there's been no "moderation" in things like desserts... there's just been none of it.

5 more weeks til Put-In-Bay!