12WBT Round 4, Day 2

Today I met a friend at a small local gym.  I had heard they were having an introductory special this month.  $15 for 30 days.  That includes the gym and classes.

We were just meeting there for a coffee as we heard there was a coffee shop there too.  I really wanted to check the gym out first as it is not the usual sort of gym I have been a member at.  This certainly has a lot of classes and good facilities, but it's not, I don't know, it's not all nice and sparkly.    The last gym I was a member at had lovely change rooms, pretty new, hair dryers, shampoos, big TV screens to plug your headphones into the machines to listen to, treadmills with tv's built in.   A little bit of luxury.

This gym is not like that.  It has modern equipment.  It's very clean.  But it's not in a modern premises, there is NO luxury, it's very basic, sort of a no frills gym.   But I wanted to have a look as for $15 for a month trial, it was almost too good to pass up.  I want to give it a go.  I don't know that I really need all of the luxury.  I mean, really I don't use the hair dryers.  But I did use the TV's.

When I arrived my friend was already there.  She was at the counter filling in a form.  I said Hi and was passed the form.  I said "are we joining", she said "well yes, what did we come for?"  I said "oh ok, I thought we were just checking the place out?"  She said "well for $15 we may as well join and check it out for a month!"  So I joined.

I am now a member of a gym for 30 days!  I am not sure if I will keep going there after.  The weekly price is almost the same as another gym near by, one that I have been a member of before.  I cancelled that membership because I used to have an asthma attack whenever I went.  Mainly when I was on the floor doing push-ups, sit-ups etc.  I think the carpet was not well cleaned and I am allergic to dust.  The thing that I like about my new no frills gym is there isn't any carpet.  Therefore it will be good for my asthma, no dust mites can live in a hard floor.   I was also hoping to find a gym with a pool, I really want to swim laps, but my no frills gym does not have a pool.

I know it sounds crazy, but I get so embarrassed going to the gym.  I just feel like everyone is watching me, like they are wondering why someone my size is going there.  Crazy I know as i don't think that way when I see people there.

Anyway I will keep you posted.  I have the membership, now I just have to use it!

Home Again

Well after a wonderful, relaxing, two week vacation we are home.

It was really good on the trip.  Stuck to my eating plan most of the time (yes I was naughty sometimes, but I was on vacation, LOL).  I also went to the gym almost every day.

The gym was quite small, but it was all I needed.

Yes it was small.  But look at the view when you are on the treadmill, bike, eliptical etc.  Just amazing!

Not a bad view as you walk on the treadmill

Not a bad view as you peddle on the bike

To read more about my vacation, pop over to my travel blog A Mother, A Son and A Suitcase.

12 Week Challenge Is Almost Over

Can you believe my 12 week transformation challenge is almost over!  I can't.  The time seems to have gone so quickly.

Sadly I am going away on vacation so will miss the last week of the challenge and will not be able to go to the final presentation dinner.  I don't mind though, I will be relaxing on the gorgeous Hamilton Island, showing off my 10+ kg lighter body.  Now I do still have about 20kgs to lose, I'm about 1/3 of the way through my weight loss journey.

I have my final weigh and measure in on Monday at the gym, a week early thanks to being away at the end.  Also I have final photos!  That is what I'm really looking forward to, to see the difference on camera.

I'm actually really looking forward to the trip.  At the place we are staying at, there is a gym, so I will be able to continue with my workout routine.  There are also lots of gorgeous walking tracks that I can do too to add something different to my workouts.  I have been to Hamilton Island so many times and not once have I done a walk.  Well I tried one day up one of the massive hills and I walked about 100 metres up and it almost killed me, LOL.  It will be interesting to see how much further I get this trip after I have been exercising for the last three months.

I will keep you updated on my progress whilst away for the two weeks and will let you know how I go on Monday with my final weigh/measure/photos.

Plodding Along

Well I weighed myself this morning and I have lost a total of 9.9kgs (21.82lbs) so far, that's in 8 weeks.

So I'm really happy.  I'm averaging about 1kg a week.  They say the slower it comes off, the more likely it is to stay off.

I have to say that I am finding it hard to keep motivated to go to the gym at the moment!  Something else always seems to come up or I'm sore from a previous workout.  I have still been going about 4 times a week, but those times, I really have to force myself to go.  I know that my blood pressure had come down and in order to keep it down I have to exercise so I will continue to go.  I'm still sticking to the diet too, which I thought I would find hard, but maybe that I am actually eating more than I did before and that fact that I can still have my dark chocolate keeps me on track.

So for those still following my journey, Thank You!

FTC So Far

Today is day 5 of my Fenix Transformation Challenge.

I am going to head off to the gym shortly for a cardio session.  Just the bike, treadmill and elliptical (which I hate, LOL).  I did more of a light weights session with my personal trainer yesterday and I have to say I am in agony today, LOL.  My arms are sore and oh my legs... they are sore with every step!  My legs were like jelly for hours after the workout yesterday.  But I am really enjoying it.  The only annoying thing is that I have to take it easy and work up to more intensive workouts thanks to my high blood pressure and the vertebral artery dissection that I suffered from last year.  So I feel as if I could do more, but am restricted to not getting my heart rate over 145.

Now the diet.  I am still trying to get my head around that and get it all perfect but I'm doing pretty well I think.  The diet is based on Metabolic Precision  and from what I have read so far, you ultimately want to eat six times a day.  With three of those meals being protein shakes.  You have to have protein at certain times and carbs at certain times, around exercise, which I have been sticking to well.  I have the guide printed up on my fridge to keep as a guide and I haven't been hungry once.  In actual fact I am eating a lot more than I usually eat!  I think my metabolism has slowed down to almost nothing or is it possible to actually have a negative metabolism, LOL.  If it is I think that's what I have.  The exciting thing is... is that I can still have my dark chocolate!  I love dark chocolate and I think if I had to remove all of my very favourite things from my diet it would be harder to stick to, but having the chocolate makes it all fine and easy to stick too.  Now when I say have dark chocolate, I'm sure they don't mean have a block or two a day.  I have good quality organic dark chocolate and will have just one row or two a day.   So with Metabolic Precision it's all about building up your muscles to increase your metabolism and burn more fat while in the end once your muscles have built up it will increase your metabolism enough so that you don't have to exercise 7 days a week to maintain, from what I can gather so far.

So I hopped on the scales today to just have a sneak peak to see if I was losing anything.  After all it's not a week yet, its the beginning of my 5th day and I have lost just over 1kg (2.2 pounds),  so that is exciting and encouraging!