Progress

I'm sitting in an obnoxiously sweaty t-shirt after my sixth workout in seven days. I've completed three personal training sessions, two cardio workouts at the gym and one massively annoying bike ride to Venice and back (on the Fourth of July no less...probably one of THE busiest days of the entire year on that f'n boardwalk). And I feel great.

My eating has taken a bit of a nosedive in the past couple of weeks. It started with Kathy's service and then has gone downhill since then. But I'm determined to turn that right around and also, to focus on the positive changes I've been making.

Let's get to it.

I've mostly given up soda. I'm not a huge soda drinker, but I typically have one or two cans a day. And if fountain soda is around, well, forget it. I love fountain soda and can go to town on that when it's within my reach. But with a little nudge from Britt, and a link to an article about how nasty soda is for you, I've managed to mostly cut this out from my diet. It wasn't that hard to do and I haven't felt like I was going through caffeine withdrawals or anything like that. But it does feel good to be drinking that much more water and to know that by implementing such a small change, it has the potential to make a big difference.

As mentioned at the beginning of my post, my workouts have continued to be very consistent. Apart from one week when I was sick with a nasty bronchial infection, I have worked out 5-6 times a week since I joined the gym in the middle of May. I'm really loving working out. I love getting out of my apartment. I love seeing other people and being in an environment where people are healthy and happy to be working on improving their lives through exercise. But what I love the most is that I am working on improving my life through lots of hard work. I'm pushing myself even when I'm not working out with Britt (the best personal trainer around), but am especially pushed hard when I do work with her. My body is getting stronger and I'm able to see progress. I can now hold the plank position for 1 minute and 20 seconds. I can also lift up one leg at a time while holding the plan position. When Britt and I first started working together, I could only hold it for 30 seconds and I almost fell over when trying to lift a leg.

While we have only weighed and measured myself once since the initial consultation, I take a lot of comfort in knowing how much stronger my body is getting. I know the food portion of this will fall into place and it will help make this body function so much better once it does. Tomorrow we are going to weigh and measure, and this will provide me with a better benchmark for the next few months. And likely good motivation to make more positive changes from a nutritional perspective.

Another great change is that I have a permanent workout buddy! Katie (my twin) is finally living in Santa Monica and I was successfully able to talk her into joining the same gym I'm at. I feel like I'm headed somewhere great with this very long and tiresome battle with my weight and I want her there with me. I'm not sure what pushed her over the edge- experiencing how kickass Britt is herself, knowing that Ty Pennington works out at the same gym or what- but I'm very very happy that we'll be able to motivate, push and encourage one another.

Those are just a few of the changes I've already made. There are other ones (not working around the clock, not having it be such a battle to step away from the computer, taking a multi-vitamin, calcium supplement and fish oil pills, adding flax seeds to most of my breakfasts) and I'm sure there will be many many more in the upcoming months.

I'm convinced that not making a ton of major changes all at once is what is going to help make me successful in the long run and I look forward to updating you on more as they develop.

For now, I'm happy with the progress I've made to date and am proud of myself for getting into a healthy and consistent workout routine. One that pushes me every time and helps me get one step closer to the healthy body I KNOW is in here.