u2mom’s BodyBlog

I made it!!  Half way!   Woohoo!!  43 pounds gone!mmNow I just have to do it all again!   I am soo psyched!  I did the happy dance all the way back to my car after leaving Jenny Craig! 

I am soooo close to reaching my 1/2 way goal (203 pounds) that it is taunting me!  I weight in at Jenny Craig on Saturday morning.  When I started at the end of February my goal was to lose 86 pounds.  I can’t belive that I am sooo close to being 1/2 way there.  Once I hit that mid-way point, I’ll have the mental image of being over the crest of the hill and hopefully picking  up speed towards the finish line!

I’ve been kicking up the cardio some to try and blast as much fat as I can before a beach trip at the end of August.

This has been one heck of a jounrey, I love it!!

So I am usually happy with Jenny Craig.  They’ve helped me get the jumpstart I needed with my weight loss.  I know it’s not for everyone, but it’s been working out pretty good for me.  But this weekend, I had to see a consultant other than my regular one.  Fine.  No biggie.  She weighs me (down 2 pounds in the week) and measures me (down 5 inches in a month) and tells me that I am doing amazing work for having only been on the program for 12 weeks. 

She asked me what one of my ‘wins’ for the week was;  something that I did that I was proud of.  So I told her that I was proud that I had comleted the 10-week Boot Camp class and that I had taken 2 Spin classes.  I was worried that I would not have the stamina for Spin, but as it turns out, I love it and really think that it will be the key to busting through the my body fat.  (I was grabbing my tummy flub when I said that)

Now here is where it gets weird.  She looks at me, and with all the seriousness of a heart attack she said to me, "Sharon, Spin class won’t help you burn belly fat."

I blinked.  Stared at her blankly and said, "What?"

She said it again, "Spin class wont burn belly fat.  But it will help you with you legs."

I was totally dumbfounded.  She could tell that I had a hard time digesting what she was saying, so she elaborated for me…. (you’re gonna love this…)

"Sharon, if you want to get rid of belly fat, you’ll have to do ‘target cardio.’

I finally spoke up,  "what the hell is target cardio?"

Miss Informed then told me, "You know, like power walking where you twist your mid section, or hula hooping!"

I blinked some more, "You’re telling me that hula hooping will burn belly fat but a 60-minute SPin class won’t."

"That’s right.  You have to target the area that you want the fat to burn."

I told her flat out that she had no idea what she was talking about, to which she responded, "I used to be a ballerina."

WTF

"Ok," I said, "let me ask you this.. How many inches have I lost off my belly?"  (answer:  6.5)  "And how many inches off my hips?  (answer 5.5) "and my waist?" (answer 4.0)  "Gee, I did all that by taking Spin class and sessions on the CrossTrainer.  How many inches do you think I would have lost hula hooping????!?!?!"

 ARGHHH!  IDIOT! 

My regular consultant is NOT that foolish.  She knows the deal, but this one… ARGH!  Just pissed me off that she is giving THIS kind of advice to other people who are not as educated in fitness!

 ok.. /rant off

Every 4 weeks Jenny Craig does a ‘Milestone Meeting’ where they measure you to see how many inches you’ve lost.  I had that meeting this  morning!  I lost 5 more inches this month, bringing my total inches lost to 20"!! 

Sometimes the scale doesnt really make you realize how well your efforts are paying off.  So for today, I love the scale AND the tape measure!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Maybe I am being over-critical…  But way back in the day when I used to go to dance clubs, it irritated me when girls would ‘dance with the purse.’  I mean, come on… It’s hard to look cool/sexy when you’re clutching a drink in one hand, a cigarette in another and your pocketbook is slung across your shoulders and bouncing against you as you try to dance.  You’re on the dance floor to do one thing:  dance!

Well now I’ve seen something at the gym that has caused these repressed feelings of annoyance to surface:  working out with the purse.

WTF!  There is this woman at the gym who carries her pocketbook with her from machine to machine, puts it on the floor, does one set, and then moves on to the next machine.  I watched her do this for about 20 minutes as I was on the CrossTrainer.  It baffled me.  There was no real workout, other than toting the pocketbook from one machine to another.

Maybe I’m just cranky today, I don’t know.  Thank goodness the weekend is here!

Just got back from the gym and my final weigh in!  Down to 215 (started at 246!) and bf is down from 39.0 to 35.2

 Still have a long road ahead but DAMN if these past 11 weeks havent been just the kick start I needed!!!!

Tonight is the last night of Boot Camp.  Well, actually, Wednesday is, but we’re doing reassesments then, not a class.  I gotta tell ya, I am a little bummed!  For ten weeks now I’ve been spending Monday and Wednesday nights at this class and I am going to miss the training and the energy of the sessions.  I am going to continue working one-on-one with my trainer, but I really do thrive off the energy in the class.

Ok so my Boot Camp instructor suggested we all try RPM.  I was afraid that it would hurt my knee more (i hurt it doing a darn jumping jack a few weeks ago and it’s not been quite the same since!) and I made sure the instructor knew.  He helped me set the seat and the handlebars up and I was amazed that it didn’t really hurt.  I couldnt do the standing climbs, but at some point I will be able to. 

I have never sweated like I did in this class.  This was, hands down, the best cardio workout I have ever had.  I’ve heard rumors about the endorphin high that people get from these classes and I think that happened to me.  It was just amazing.  The only negative is that my tushy hurts from the seat!  I might need to look in to getting a cushion or something because,  YYEAAOOOW!!

And another bonus, my knee actually feels a little better!  The instructor has had 3 knee surguries from when he was a runner and started Spinning because it helped make his knee stronger.

So, I think I might stick with this a while!

Even though I am in the south  now, I am from New York.  Long Island to be specific.  (yes I have the accent - sooo sexy, right?)  Most of us Long Islanders use that old cliche ‘we don’t run unless chased’ when it comes to anything requiring running or sprinting.  (although I have been know to hustle to get out of the way of a bus!) 

 So cardio is not something that comes naturally to me.  I don’t LIKE running.  I don’t LIKE feeling my quads burn.  I don’t LIKE wondering if I’ll need my inhaler.  But since starting on this whole fitness quest in February, I have done my best to get rid of my old attitudes and embrace the fat burning that is cardio.  (I still dont LOVE it, but I LOVE what it does…)

 Last night I did something that I’ve never done before.  Might not be a big deal to others, but for me this was a HUGE accomplishment.  I went 3.02 miles on the CrossTrainer and burned 445 calories.  For me, that is like running a marathon!  I put some good tunes in the iPod Shuffle and it seems to be helping a lot. 

So, I am a little proud of myself today.  That was a big deal to me.  Sharon is happy.    Have a nice weekend everyone!

So I weigh in at Jenny Craig on Saturday. REALLY hoping that the scale is my friend this week as I’ve focused a lot on nutrition and cardio.  I get so frustrated when I’ve really focused on all the right things, kept my energy up and dont see more than a pound on the scale.  When that happens, I try to remember that not only have I already lost 23 pounds, but I’ve also lost a total of 15 inches and gone down 2 pants sizes.  I’m just REALLLLY ready for the scale to start with a number other than 2..