This week

Hello!

For the record, let me state that I am super sore as I type this. This week's workouts were really hard: both on Tuesday and Saturday. At first, as soon as I got back from my South America journey, my Personal Trainer prepared lighter sessions to kind of ease me back into it without scaring me off. Now that I have been at it for over 2 weeks, it was time to step it up a notch.

This week we focused on chest and triceps (bench pressed 68 lbs., pull ups, push ups), legs (squats, lunges), core (crunches, turkish get ups, and leg lifts) and cardio. Donna (my personal trainer) says it is important to keep my heart rate up while I do weight training as it maximizes my fat burning rate.

I must confess that I have not made much progress in the food intake department. While I have been eating smaller portions, I can't say that I have been eating only healthy foods. I did cut back on the sweets this week, but I have had lots of carbohydrates. Donna gave me an idea though: she says that if I keep track of what I eat by using a food journal I will be more accountable and watch what I eat. I will get started on that this week. Oh, and did I mention I am SORE?!? God it hurts. It even hurts to breathe.

Progress this week (I try to weigh myself once a week, at around the same time and with the same amount of clothes. I used to do it every day, but it sort of drove me nuts): 167.1 lbs.

Overall loss: 0.9 lbs.

Measurements coming up soon.

Hello!!!

Hello everyone!

I am super excited to start a blog to document my weight loss adventures and undertakings. First and foremost a big thank you to Leelou Blogs for this amazing blog layout! It was absolutely free!!!

For the record I absolutely hate going to the gym. To make matters worse, I love to eat. Food brings me happiness and I blame this on the way I was raised. My family is of Italian descent and the way to everyone's heart is through their tummy.

I used to be skinny, really skinny, anorexic looking even. I started gaining weight for no apparent reason in my early twenties.

Some stats:

Female, 28 yo, 5'7", 168 lbs, 30% body fat. I have been working out with a Personal Trainer at least 2 times a week (both cardio and weight training) since Sept. 2009. When I first started working out I weighed 174 lbs. and my body fat percentage was 35%. 2 months ago I weighed 163 lbs. and my BF% was 29%. I spent the last 2 months in South America on an "eat pray love" sort of adventure, thus the recent weight gain.

However, before this recent weight gain, I had been going through the so-called plateau effect: I had been able to maintain my weight, but had not been able to lose any extra pounds.

I am committed to losing 10 lbs. by the end of this year. That translates into a little over 1.5 lbs./month, which is totally attainable. I plan on doing this by continuing to go to the gym at least twice a week, watching my calorie and food intake and taking an all natural weight loss supplement.

All of my progress (and set backs) will be documented here.