725 Calories

So, today's work-out at the gym was 55 min of elliptical and 35 min of recumbent bike including the 5 min cool down... for a total of 1 1/2 hours.  :)  The machines say I burned 725 calories.  I like that number.  I can see how this could be addicting. 
Yesterday, I didn't manage a trip to the gym.  Instead I spent over two hours at the Verizon store getting the mp3s onto my phone so I can listen to something at the gym since I seem to have lost the charger for my Zune.  By the time I'd completed that, I ran out of time for the gym.  But, I figure this first week is all about working out the kinks in my theoretical plan for losing weight and getting in better shape.  That's one kink now worked out... so far so good.  I'm remembering to take tons of water with me to the gym, and today I even remembered to bring a hand towel, which was definitely treasured as the sweat began dripping.  Seriously though, there was this one lady who was "spinning" for a long time... and not only was she absolutely gorgeous and in amazing shape, she didn't seem to be sweating at all.  I know this to be false, I did see her use her hand towel once or twice, but she didn't seem to be flushed, drippy, etc.  It's as if she looked amazing in spite of the high levels of exercise.  I had no idea that the presence of so many "eye candy" men and women would make this so enjoyable.  Do they mind if we stare at them while pedaling furiously to maintain the correct heart-rate for fat-burning?  How often do people ask them out simply because they're so freaking yummy?  Today, there were two people who tie for favorites in my game of people watching at the gym.  One was a lady who floated in... looking like a doppelganger for Idina Menzel (whom I adore!) and did some weight lifting.  I'd been thinking to myself, "Is the gym somehow gender segregated between boys over here by the free-weights and girls and/or wussy guys over there on the nautilus equipment?  and then she just kind of floated across the room to the free-weights, did a couple of reps with this, then with that... and breezed right back out.  Where did she come from?  Why didn't she stay for a very, very, very long time?  I would have loved to have her demonstrate some other exercises for me.  *le sigh*
Oh yeah... the other person who caught my attention at the gym was a guy on a treadmill.  He wasn't anywhere near the eye-candy that dopple-menzel was, in fact he was kinda average bordering on plain.  He was endless entertainment and fun to watch though.  Can you guess why?  I bet you can't guess why.  No, he isn't a midget...  no he wasn't in his '90s...  Nor was he decked out in full Goth attire.

He was juggling the entire time he was walking on the treadmill.  I only saw him drop one of his juggling balls once!
How fun is that?  Live entertainment at the gym.  Who'd have thunk it?  ;)
Well, that's it from me for today... I'd best get some sleep.  My body will need time to recover from all this added activity. 
Does anyone else have a favorite people-watching experience while working out at the gym?

Day 1

The adventure has begun.  J  Today’s the first day I stopped by the gym on the way home from dropping my daughter at school.  I signed up for my new 2 year membership.  I plan on using these upcoming 2 years to lose at least 80 lbs by pairing regular aerobic activities with weight lifting and muscle building and an improved dietary lifestyle.  I’m really pushing the veggies, whole grains, and lean meats lately and in addition I’m trying to switch from eating 2-3 times per day to eating about 5 times per day, 3 reasonable sized meals and two snacks each day. 

Breakfast today was a whole wheat crepe with fat-free strained Greek yogurt with a touch of maple syrup and fresh raspberries.  I also had ¼ of a 3 egg frittata that had some left-over potatoes & steamed broccoli, and some fresh red onion, patty pan squash, green onion, and tomato topped with a bit of reduced fat Colby-jack cheese.  I had an 8 oz. glass of apple juice with it as well. 

After breakfast, I dropped my daughter at school and headed straight to the gym.  After going through the sign-up process, I went down and did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine and 35 (including 5 minute cool-down) on the recumbent bicycle machine.  I’m going to skip the weight training this week and ease into things a bit.  Plus, I’ll need someone to show me what I’m doing again and the lady wasn’t able to leave the front desk today to do so because she was the only employee there at the time I finished signing up.  I’ll put this on my plan for next week.  I think it’s enough if I just go get my half hour work-out in each day.  I haven’t officially weighed myself yet, I don’t have scales here and I forgot to do so at the gym.  My last awareness of weight is that I’m about 235 lbs.  I’d like that to drop down to about 150-160.  I know that when I weighed that much, I really felt healthier… even though it was ages ago.  I’m okay if I don’t lose exactly 80 lbs, that’s just my rough guess as to about how much I’m aiming for.  I figure if I lose about a pound per week, I’ll be at my goal in about a year and a half.  So, for now…  I’d like to lose about 20 lbs by end of Jan. 

Next time I go to the gym, I’ll need to be better prepared.  Didn’t have my MP3 player charged up or loaded with what I want to listen to during my work-outs.  I also didn’t remember to take the Sport or OsoLean until now… not sure yet if I’m to take them before or after a work-out or before/after/during a meal.  I’m going to check on that now. 

Now I’m off to lunch with my mom.  We’re going to Biaggi’s.  When I go there, I usually get half-and-half of either soup and salad or pasta and salad.  I’m looking forward to something delicious.  :D

Embarking on a new journey

Welcome to my new blog where I'll be talking about all I'm going through in my new adventure toward fitness, weight loss, and better nutrition.  I'll post at least once per week about my exercise and fitness progress and at least once per week about my food escapades.  I welcome feedback, especially encouragement. 

I'll be eating better and working out regularly in an effort to find the body I've long been yearning for hidden inside the one I currently have. 

I'm looking for the new me. Come join me on the journey!  :)


I've joined 24-Hour Fitness here in SLC and will be aiming to go every day on my way home from dropping my daughter off at school.  Hopefully this will allow me to build it into a routine experience rather than leaving it to chance as to when I will be able to stop in.  I'm embarking on this journey of sweat and discomfort in an effort to lose weight, wear cuter clothes, and additionally to build strength, endurance, and cardiovascular fitness.  I want to look better, feel better, and get back to where I can do what I want to do without suffering and panting as a result.  It's been ages since I could just go hiking, biking, swimming, dancing, skiing, etc, without really feeling as if it's not a good fit for me.  (get it... fit... hahaha - I crack me up!)  My plan is to do 6 days per week of pretty intense exercise. I'll alternate upper and lower body weight lifting and pair that with a good 45-60 minutes of cardio on an eliptical machine.  I feel like that will be a damn good start if I can pull it off. 

In addition to the new exercise plan, I'm working on eating better.  I'm making sure to eat 3 small, balanced meals each day... and a couple of healthy snacks.  I'm using many of the concepts in Tosca Reno's "The Eat-Clean Diet" books.  I've had several friends make huge health improvements by changing how they eat, and used those books as a guide on how to change one's eating lifestyle.  I'm far from perfect, but making improvements.  I'm also relying on Leanne Ely for help... her books Saving Dinner, Saving Dinner the Low Carb Way, and Saving Dinner the Vegetarian Way are helping me with dinners.  (http://savingdinner.com/)  Her books help a lot with meal-planning, sticking to reasonable portions, and getting more balance in what foods I'm preparing and consuming.  Plus I've found that I am getting a much wider variety of meals than I would if left to figure it all out myself.  The books have weekly meal plans complete with the recipes for the main dish, side dishes to serve with it to flesh out the meal, and the weekly grocery shopping list that goes along with it.  They're broken up into seasons and then further broken down into weeks.  I love the meals and have friends coming over to share in my meal-plans in order to improve their diets and to have time spent together.  It's fabulous!

I'll be using the Manatech products Oso Lean and Sport to help with my weight-loss, health-building activities.  Oso Lean helps the body burn fat while exercising and Sport helps the body repair itself after exercise.  Hopefully that will allow me to get the most out of my work-outs and recover quicker than normal. 

In this blog, I'd like to eventually add in some other major themes in my life:  parenting, home organization, de-cluttering, simplifying life, gardening, arts & crafts, and emotional well-being.  For now though, I'll try to start simple with posts about my health goals.