Plug In Stereo | amo.says

Sweat was dripping down my forehead as I looked over at Jolly, both of us on all fours, scooting across the basketball court on hand towels. With a slightly pained look in my face, I asked,

Why is our government spending so much money training soldiers in coercion tactics? We could just take spies, make them do this Boot Camp workout, and they’d be spilling the beans to make it stop in no time. This is obviously a much more effective, quicker, and cheaper option!

I took a second to catch my breath, looked around at the other gym members in class doing the other Boot Camp stations and just told myself, “Don’t quit. Don’t quit. Whatever you do, don’t quit!” I guess my stubbornness does come in handy from time to time. For someone who is naturally lazy in the fitness department and could care less about whether or not I can bench press 100 lbs or win a wrestling match, it takes a lot to motivate me to work out. Thankfully, I am surrounded by amazing people who help me work on my weakness . . . literally.

I’m grateful for the incredible team at my local gym, 24 Hour Fitness (Northgate). They offer a very diverse selection of classes and the instructors are wonderful! You can imagine how incredibly uninspired I am to wake up early on a Saturday to lift weights, do kickboxing, or circuit training. However, knowing that I’ll be greeted with a smile at the front desk and motivated by the encouragement and challenge from the class instructors has helped me come back time and again to Body Pump, Boot Camp, and Turbo Kick.

Another cool thing I’ve been able to do at 24 Hr. is work with an amazing trainer! My trainer, Josh R., has been able to work with my lack of knowledge/skill and teach me some GREAT workouts that I can do in and out of the gym. Because of his training, fun sense of humor, and patience with my sassiness, I was able to make healthier choices in my nutrition and do some quick, fun workouts when I was home for the holidays. The result of that was not only avoiding the excess holiday pounds, but shedding a couple instead. Getting a gym membership has motivated me to actually get off my butt and out of the house to make healthy change happen in my life. It’s also developed in me a confidence that even when I can’t get out I can still do kick-butt in-house exercises. It is perhaps one of the best investments I’ve ever made in my life.

Another part of my motivation to work out has been my awesome workout buddies. I get to work out with my best friend, Heather J., every Tuesday night before going to Biggest Loser night with our friends. We also work out together every Saturday morning, alternating mainly between Boot Camp and Turbo Kick classes, and every so often the Body Pump or Aqua class. On Mondays, I’m going to be working out with my other friend, Maggie, in Zumba class. Yes, Zumba—that class that reminds me just how un-Latin my hips are. Again, the instructor is fun and it becomes more of a dance party than a workout. My housemate, Afton, also comes to the gym to workout with me from time to time. Other times, I have to find my own methods of motivation to drag my butt there. So I game plan my workout, fill up my water bottle, and crank up the tunes!

Music motivates me a lot during solo workouts. Though I am a punk rock princess at heart, my inner guilty-pleasure pop queen comes out to play when it’s just me and the machines. Here are my top workout tunes that help me sweat to the not-so-oldies:

Some other things that help me with my nutrition/fitness/health:

Evernote

My trainer got me started on keeping track of a food log at the end of our first session. When he asked me to keep track of it for the first week, I thought, “No prob. I got this. This is silly.” Since I’d never done one before, I went online to find a sample and I did. Keeping a food log is great and I wish I’d done it sooner. Yes, it’s annoying and tedious, but it caused me to be more aware in the moment because I knew I was going to have to write down how much of everything I was eating and turn it in to someone else. Still I did it and I ended up doing fairly well. When I came back from vacation to check in with him, I realized I had a minor problem—I accidentally left my papers in the literature pocket of my airplane seat. After that, I decided to change my method so that I wouldn’t have to worry about losing papers. I created a notebook in my Evernote just for FITNESS. In it I keep my food logs, my weekly menu/shopping list, and exercise ideas. Since I have the app on my phone, there’s no excuse for me to not write things down in the moment or lose a piece of paper . . . unless I lose my phone, which would be a total nightmare.*

Lose It! App

On this fitness journey, I am a calorie-counter. Now, let me just say that I know there are so many differing views on this approach. Some think it’s silly, some think it’s overwhelming, some think it’s unnecessary. And you know what, maybe it is, but it works for me. And since it works for me, I decided to make it REALLY work for me by using an app to help me out. This handy dandy app allows me to track what/how much I eat and how many calories it equals up to. It’s been a really good way for me to look at the bigger picture of what I’m putting into my body and learning where my weaknesses are when it comes to food. It also provides a website, that it syncs to, where I can keep track/print up reports that I can show to my accountability partner each week so we can see what I need to add/take away from my diet.

Social Networking

When my trainer looked at my food log, he noticed the amount of times a week I eat out and set forth a challenge: Go grocery shopping and make meals at home. My immediate excuse was that I was too busy and my life is just so go-go-go. He said for me to just think about it and try it. I gave him my skeptical sassy look and probably rolled my eyes, and he just dealt with me patiently and said, “Seriously, think about it. This is your chance to decide what you want to put in your body.” His grace, patience, and perseverance in that conversation motivated me to get serious and really think about it. Shortly after, I realized that I actually know next to nothing about nutrition and health, so I shot some rescue flares out on Facebook and asked others for ideas. My friends all rallied with me, commenting their suggestions, emailing me recipes, offering to go shopping with me, and sharing some more nutrition advice with me. I’ve also been able to use the EXERCISE/CLEAN EATING/HEALTHY FOODS tracked tags on Tumblr and my Pinterest for health tips and workout ideas.

I now feel more confident about my weight-loss journey and I’m looking forward to seeing more results and having more fun times at the gym with my friends. And to top it all off, I can tell that BL nights are going to be even more of a riot—this season of The Biggest Loser is already shaping up to be a hit!**

* first world problems, duh.

** see what I did there??

amo.says

my life in my words

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