Weightloss training at Anytime Fitness

So recently something came to my attention. It was my fatness. Fat is a relative term I know. For me it’s when I wake up one day and realize that I am 12 pounds heavier than I was last year.  Fat for me is not just knowing that I no longer fit into my skinny jeans that I wore last year, but also that I no longer fit into my husband’s jeans that he gave me because I couldn’t fit into my jeans.

My husband has hinted at it the last year but I didn’t take notice. Then recently, my mom, in that way that mom’s have, put it plainly. As we were looking through old photos at a family gathering I mentioned how my mother used to encourage me not to dress so conservatively. My mom then said, “I did. She dressed too conservatively and she should’ve wore clothes that were more flattering to her figure,” my mom told everyone. Then she added, “Now she dresses like she should’ve when she was younger,” then she turned to me, “And you don’t have the figure for it!”

A loud audible gasp went through the house. I looked at my husband, who did what any smart husband would do–he sided with his mother-in-law. I didn’t know what to say. More importantly, I knew they were right. Not about the clothes of course but the fact that I don’t have the figure anymore.

It was time to do something about it. So I am. I began training at Anytime Fitness. My trainer is Jennifer Santos and she’s been crazy good at it. She set me up on a nutrition plan and we are trying to get me to lose 20 pounds. The best part is that because I was so athletic just over a year ago I knew that I needed a fitness program that can show me some real results. Every time I’ve tried to get back into shape in the last year my muscle memory kicked in and I just plateaued quickly.

With Jennifer at Anytime Fitness I’m confident I’ll see results and I’m excited. So here goes. I’ll be journaling my efforts each week and highlighting my successes, my weaknesses and my failures as well.

So here’s the BEFORE. Me at 156 pounds.

What I ate this week:

I’ll summarize it a bit for now. Breakfasts were either fruit like apples and pineapple and banana or else maple cinnamon oatmeal.

Lunch was primarily carrots and hummus, an apple and a handful or almonds. Or tuna fish with a teaspoon of mayo on one slice of bread and an orange or Spanish rice in a jalapeno cilantro tortilla.

Dinner was sweet potato curry soup over brown rice with zuchini and summer squash or a cup full of cheese tortellini with salad or a cup of homemade potato salad, soy sausage and some salad.

Did I cheat? Yes. There was a day when I had a half of a Twinkie. Several days when I couldn’t resist a Diet Coke. And there were a couple of glasses of wine and maybe a beer or two here and there. But I can’t focus on that. I am more concerned with what I’ve done right and that is to get stricter about my diet. I’ve always eaten a somewhat plant-based diet but I’ve really watched the junk that creeps in– like processed foods. So I’m choosing to be proud of that rather than to be bummed about the small failures I’ve experienced.

Check back next week for my next update. Wish me luck. And if you are going through a weight loss challenge feel free to share your experience as well!