Today was the end of my 6th week with Carla, so we did an assessment, to compare some body measurement numbers to what I was when I started.
Honestly, I was hoping for a little more progress at this point. I think I need to step up my cardio a little more; it’s easy to let it slip one day a week, and then all of sudden, it’s been six days since you’ve been on the treadmill. But after seeing the numbers again today, I’m dedicated to getting back on track.
And even though it’s not a lot, here’s how I’m doing:
Weight: I lost 2.5 pounds. My weight tends to fluctuate, so this isn’t unusual. I didn’t have a weight loss goal in mind, but I was hoping to see a little more here.
Body fat percentage: I lost 1.5 percentage points. I was on the high side of healthy, and I’m still not where I’d like to be, but it’s going down, slowly and surely.
Waist: Guys, I lost 1.25 inches off my waist! This is the number I was most excited about today. I look forward to working hard and seeing this number go down a little more before my first wedding dress fitting.
Hips: No change here, which was a little disappointing. Maybe I can just get the booty firmed up without losing inches 😉
Chest: I actually gained half an inch here, which Carla said is my back and chest getting a little stronger. I’m okay gaining there.
Thigh: Half an inch off the thighs. With my new workout routine, I’m expecting this will continue to go down…I’m working my upper legs a lot harder with this new set.
Calf: No change. Carla said it’s hard for ladies to get a ton of change in their calves. I wasn’t looking to lose weight from that region anyway.
So what I’m taking away is this: while the strength training is a ton of fun, cardio is just as important, and I have to make the same amount of time for cardio on the days that Carla doesn’t come. I’m committing myself to tracking my exercise (and I’ll share that with you next week).
How are your exercise and fitness goals going for the year?
Out of Balance... 
Congrats 🙂 Slow and steady and sustainable is better than quick and impossible to hold on to.
Without sounding too lewd…. nothing wrong with that rear end of yours.
I’m getting somewhat stronger, I can tell, I need to find a way to measure myself, though. Maybe how many pushups I can do or how long I can plank. I just need to hold steady through the end of the year and come January renew my focus and find ways to measure goals. I don’t want to fixate on weight (though it’d be nice to lose some); I want to work on being healthy and measure it via strength and how my clothes fit.
I also got a bit of a reminder this week — my mom came back from her annual checkup reporting that she is cancer free (yay) but otherwise unhealthy, with high cholesterol and overweight. I don’t want to repeat the struggles she’s had with weight and health over the years. I want to figure this out NOW and keep it going.
Renita, that sounds like a PERFECT attitude to go into getting (and staying!) healthy.
Part of my assessment is, in addition to measurements, push-ups (how many in a minute), sitting down and getting up (how many times in a minute), heart rate while running (how long can I run before it gets up to a certain number), and stretching (how close to/past my toes can I get).
Those are all pretty easy to keep track of, and super easy if you have someone there to write down the measurements and run a timer 🙂
Thanks Erin 🙂
Good call on the assessment… I’ve always been lousy at heartrate measuring but those are definitely good starts/goals.
When you say sitting down and getting up, do you mean on the floor or on a chair?
Besides the weight and heart issues, strength training and weight bearing cardio will keep your bones strong . . . it’s not something you worry about much when you’re young but it can really make a big difference in the quality of the 2nd half of your life.
I’m happy w/ my weight now but I’d really like to get rid of the gut so I can drop down to the lower of the two sizes I’m between. And my trainer says it’s going to take cardio (lots of it) to get there! So after the Christmas crazies, I’m going to work my way up from about 14 miles/week walking to 20-25 miles/week. I’m going to have to be creative w/ my time to get past 20 miles and still keep up the strength training and the rest of my life!
[…] just signed up for some more sessions with my trainer, even after my less than thrilling evaluation. Why? Because I genuinely like doing it, and I think I’m learning things from working with […]