Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Exercising Redux

Perhaps it's the looming decade and the big 3-0 around the corner, but I'm in a mood to make changes across the board. Whatever the reason, I found myself making an appointment with my friend Paul. He is a personal trainer and pretty much the most buff and fit person I know.


I've dabbled in working out before but it never really took. This time I was committed. Having a personal trainer and standing appointments really makes it easier for me. I hate breaking plans, so I'm determined to show up. Plus, we get to gossip about our weekends in between sets. We like to play the game of "Who Made The Worst Decision on Saturday Night?" It's often a tie.



So, I committed to working out with him 3 times a week. And it has been 6 weeks and I haven't missed an appointment. Who is this new Winnie Cooper?!? I still dislike it, but at least I'm there. We only do weight training, no cardio and at the end he "rewards" me with a protein shake that tastes like an orange creamsicle. It's insane how excited I've become for that shake. I'm like Pavlov's jacked dog.



A food reward used to be, well, every single meal, especially those with cheese. Now I'm getting excited for water and powder? We were discussing my diet recently and he couldn't believe what I eat and I came back with, "Of course I'm going to eat what I want. I (have had) a wicked metabolism and I'm an adult - isn't this the whole point of adulthood? I no longer have to eat food I don't want to and why would I choose to do so?" He is attempting to put a stop to this.



So, for the first 3 weeks I still ate whatever I wanted and worked out thrice weekly. For the fourth and fifth weeks I endeavoured to overhaul my diet and eat only what he told me. Mostly this was whole wheat pasta, tuna, oatmeal, Udo's oil, spinach, pita, salmon, chicken sandwich on ONE piece of flax bread and cottage cheese. Hardly any bread, no real cheese, NO sugar. It was awful. Well, that's not true, it was okay for the first few days and I lost some weight pretty quickly.

Then came the sixth day. Before, when I tried a 180 degree change the sixth day always proved the most difficult. This time the sixth day came on a rainy Saturday where I was working all weekend, exhausted and in a general funk. The thought of eating chicken (which is the most bland of meats) with 1/2 cup of whole wheat pasta made me want to cry. So, I broke down and ate what made me happy. Grilled cheese.

Food makes me happy. It just does. I get pleasure and enjoyment from food. Nothing in the diet made me happy. How can someone live like that? So, the one day slip stretched into a weekend and then a week and now I'm back to eating whatever. This is not good. We are in the process of coming up with a realistic compromise meal plan.

The thing about the working out is that I do get a small amount of satisfaction from it. For example there are these Romanian deadlifts that he's had me doing and the first time, I could barely lift the bar alone - 45 pounds. Now, I'm doing 115 pounds. And I really like that and feel accomplished.

So, I guess we'll see what kind of compromise we can make with regard to my meals, but I'm sticking with the workouts at least until Melebration and we'll see what's what.

But Tracy, I have just one thing to say to you: I'm coming for a rematch. And I'm bringing my guns.

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