Most Recent set-back

If I may, I think I'll start with an attempt at a haiku... ahem.

Screaming, throbbing, pain
Tooth, why now? why today? what?
I have to go back?

Mid-week, last week I started experiencing a tooth ache. The pain mostly came and went during the day, but it was excruciating at night. By the second night, when I could not sleep for the pain was so bad, I decided I had to see my dentist. After sitting in the chair for over an hour, it was determined that I needed a root canal. I'm told that normally it does not take over an hour to diagnose a root canal, but it turns out that my teeth are impervious to hot and cold sensation. My dentist was surprised to learn that I've never experienced the sensation of "brain freeze." My teeth were also impervious to being banged upon with a metal object.

We were pretty sure we knew which tooth was the source of my pain, but I was not responding "normally" as my dentist expected, and she didn't want to perform the root canal on the wrong tooth, and frankly, neither did I.

She ended up sending me to a specialist who performed a root canal.

Let me tell you that I have experienced pregnancies, labor, and two c-sections, but for me, there is nothing worse than mouth pain. I do not handle it well, I do not respond to it well, and I certainly do not enjoy the mouth gymnastics that one must endure while having a root canal performed.

I did my best to workout through the pain; I saw my trainer on Thursday in the middle of most of that pain, but I was not a very good patient before, during or after the experience on Friday and never got around to working out that day. I was feeling really sorry for myself due to the pain and the expense, oh the expense when you have terrible dental coverage... I'm crying just thinking about how much this tooth is costing me.

My mouth is fine right now. There is very little, if any residual pain, but the worst part is, it's not over. I have to go back for the "rest" of the root canal on Friday once the swelling has gone down and the infection has gone away, so I get to do it all over again! Yay!

3d30Day10: Haven't gotten my "Shred On"

Ok, so I didn't get up this morning to Shred. I had a 10 am training session scheduled, and I decided to give myself a break. I still have my workout outfit on (I know, gross, but I'm planning to wash the car with the kids after lunch, so I may as well wait to shower and change...) so, there's still a chance that I'll get my Shred on, but I'm only doing Level 1!

Today's training session was led by Nick. It's official, I think Nick knows what he's doing better than Aaron. By my calculations, I only have 3 more sessions left in my package, so I need to decide what I'm doing. The price jumps up significantly now that I'm no longer considered a "new client," and I just don't know if I can afford it. I need a job, is what it boils down to. Our trip to Mexico is 3 weeks after we get back from Norway. I'm thinking that I'll have to purchase one more set of 8 sessions and go 3x per week. If I purchase additional sessions, I'm going to tactfully ask that the majority of my sessions are with Nick, or at least, I'm going to have to tell Nick that I need Aaron to "step it up." Not quite sure how to handle that situation, but it's my money and my body, so I better figure it out.

Now, onto the Flat Belly Diet portion of the post.

Breakfast: I woke up in a decent mood. I allowed myself a little extra sleep, so that's always a good way to start the day. My kids all woke up in good moods, too, so that's a bonus for mom, also. Happy mom = Happy kids = Happy mom.

Hunger before breakfast: 0
Hunger after: 3

Lunch Mood: I had a great workout session with Nick, and it's translating into a decent mood for the afternoon. My son came off the bus still in a good mood, so all is well.

Hunger before: I drank one of my protein drinks directly after my workout, so I wasn't as hungry as I normally am at lunchtime. I'll say I'm at a 1.

Hunger after: I ate more than I thought I would. I mixed in a few craisins with the sunflower seeds, and it was pretty good...3

Will update dinner later.

Dinner: We are still in decent moods as the evening begins to roll in. It's another gorgeous day here. The kids spent much of the afternoon playing with their friend across the street while I washed the car.

I'm not all that hungry for dinner again, but the problem is, I can't really wait to eat until later. I have to eat when the kids eat or at least close to their time. I pushed the dinner hour back a little bit, I know they were hungry from all of the running around outside.

I am now done with dinner, and I am satisifed; not too full. I'm hoping I can convince the kids to go back outside for a short after dinner walk around the block.

3d30Day2: I think I might be nuts to even try

I'm determined to keep up with the "sisters" and their shredding for the next 29 days, but in order to do that, I have to incorporate shredding on the days when I have a training session. On the days when I have a training session, I'm not going to do back to back sessions of the Shred, at least not at first. I'll stick to doing Level 1, one time through, in the mornings before I go for my training seesion. We'll see how it goes. If think I can handle doing back to back sessions, I'll re-evaluate as I go along. I simply don't want to be too tired to get a good training session in. I only have 8 or so sessions left, and I don't want to waste any.

Today I trained with Nick again. He worked my legs again, which is exactly what I need. In addition to the walking lunges with 15 lb weights and the walking squats with the 8 lb medicine ball, he had me running sprints outside and running on the treadmill. My legs were like the proverbial jelly at the end of the workout. I'm going to be sore in the morning, I hope I can get my butt out of bed to Shred. The plan is to do back to back level 1. This blog will keep me honest.

2d30D25: Of all the places

Just got back from my training session with Aaron. I woke up sore again today. I'm still not sure if it's from my workout with Nick on Tuesday or from running yesterday. To add insult to injury, my forearms are sore. Those are sore from holding 8 lb weights while walking on the treadmill with an incline of 8. I can not believe how sore they are. I've been trying to stretch them out, but it hurts too much.

Just a short one today. I've got to pick up my daughter from school.

2d30D23: Quick update

Just a quick note to write that I had my training session today. Aaron was not there, so I trained with the owner of the facility, Nick. I have to say that I think Nick did a better job than Aaron, I'm almost tempted to make a permanent switch, but we'll see. The issue is the timing. Nick works the afternoon into evening shift, while Aaron works the morning into afternoon shift. It's easier for my schedule to go in the mornings, so we'll just have to see.

Nick worked out my legs today, so I know they're going to be sore in the morning. I plan to work out tomorrow morning, but we'll see what I feel up to doing when the alarm goes off. It may have to be a yoga day.

Day 28: Not that sore

I went to bed last night thinking that I could already feel the "soreness" coming on. I even contemplated taking a few asprin just to ward off some of the soreness, but I didn't. This morning, I'm not as sore as I thought I would be. I remember the day after my first session with M, I could not even raise my arms above my head, and I also remember by shins feeling like they were on fire. Today, my shoulders are sore and so are my abs, but that's about it. I did 30 minutes of Yoga and 10 minutes of Pilates abs earlier. I know my abs are sore because I could barely get through "The Hundred" which is usually not that hard for me. I'm glad I did the Yoga, my body needed the stretching.

On an unrelated note, I made Leek soup last night. It turned out really good. I thought it would be a good thing to have for lunch and dinner tonight so I don't eat meat today, Good Friday.

First training session report

My first session with the trainer went pretty well. I don't think he expected me to be as strong as I was. Some of the things he had me do were pretty basic, but I'm sure it will get harder in the next few sessions, and I'm even more certain I will be sore tomorrow.

I can't remember everything we did in the exact order, but I'm going to try to give a full report so I can try to keep track of what we're doing. At least for today, it wasn't about completing "x" number of push ups or squats, etc, is was about exerting good effort for 45 seconds and doing as many repetitions as I could.

The way the 2 on 1 training works is that there is one trainer working 2 of us for one hour. I started with a warm up on the treadmill for about 10 minutes while the other person worked with the trainer. When it was my turn to work with the trainer, I did three circuits of each of the following for about 45 seconds each: (1) push ups off a bar, (2) double arm rows with resistance bands, (3) and mountain climbers holding onto a bar. Then it was back to the treadmill for about 12 minutes. The workout continued with and additional 3 circuits of (1) squats with a 15 pound weight and (2) a squat/arm press up with two 7 pounders. He also had me do intervals of knee ups. Then it was back to to the treadmill for another 8 minutes. We finished up with ab work which consisted mainly of doing sit ups while catching and throwing a 6 pound medicine ball. I think I did a total of 36 sit ups on each side. He also had me do a dead lift-squat combo. I think there were 1 or 2 other exercises in there, but I can't think of them at the moment.

All in all, I think it was a good workout. I used heavier weights than I would have doing it here at home. I also pushed myself harder than I would have at home, and that is what I need. Aaron said he'd give me some interval training to do while I'm on the treadmill, today all I did was walk at pace of 3.5 mph on a 5% incline. I'd like to run on the treadmill, but I didn't want to over do it on my first day.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a day off; I might do some Yoga, we'll see how sore I am in the morning.

Day 27: First Day

Today is my first session with my new personal trainer. As I've written a few times, I have high expectations. This morning, the scale said 138 lbs. I weighed myself at the exact same time as yesterday morning, so I can't explain the 2 lb weight loss. I'm hoping that I'll start seeing the scale keep going down, as opposed to hovering around 138/140.

I will report back on my session later this afternoon.

My meeting with the personal trainer

I met with a personal trainer today. I'm pretty sure I want to do this, it's just a matter off when to start and what days I can commit to training and finding a baby sitter. I'd really like to get down a few more pounds on my own before I start. I'm not really sure why, I just want the sense of accomplishment that comes with losing weight on my own.

When I told him that my goal was to get down to 120 pounds by mid-June to coincide with our anniversary vacation he didn't seem to think that was an unreasonable goal. I told him all about my previous experience with a personal trainer, and he said he thinks he can do better. I scheduled up an "assessment" for next Tuesday at 1:00.

He encouraged me to drink more water and to incorporate a protein bar into my dailyy routine. I've been working on drinking more water for the last week or so, I suppose I can try the protein bar. He says it will help me build muscle.