Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

Wow, what a workout today! My trainer mixed up the workout again as he don't like me staying on the same workout too long. He didn't check my body fat percentage this time around but will do so again in two weeks. My weight was exactly the same as two weeks ago, so I don't need to adjust what I'm eating. He advised me to continue eating lots of protein and clean eating.

I've been doing circuit training for a while and now he wants me to focus on doing each set three times in a row with a 20 second rest in-between. This changes the intensity of the workout and doesn't give the muscles a chance to rest much after each set. The good thing is the workouts won't take as long. But I will have to go to the gym nearly every day in order to complete each routine.

I met with my personal trainer today and although my body fat percentage didn't go down much in two weeks, my weight did come down a few pounds. It's going to take some time to build muscle and lose the excess skin, but it's slowly getting there.

One thing he suggested last week is to continue doing the vegan challenge for a week each month. As you might recall, I did my first vegan challenge a few weeks ago. He felt that since I did so well with it that I should keep it going. This way, I can keep away from animal and dairy products for a week and can resume the Greek Yogurt and turkey during the other weeks. I'll try it for a while to see how I like it. The next time I plan to go vegan will be sometime in April. You really need to plan your meals as a vegan. The reason is you need to make sure you're getting enough protein and nutrients in your diet.

My personal trainer likes to mix up the work out every few weeks. This week, he has me using the free weights, which is more challenging than using the Cybex Smith Machine.

All the exercises are done on a weight bench. I'm doing exercises for all the muscle groups. The most challenging one for me was where I had to step up to the bench while holding onto weights. You have to make sure you have the proper balance for this exercise. I did this exercise before and it always had me confused. He taught me how to do it properly and I think I'll do better on this one than I did in the past.

I'm so tired of winter, especially the snow storms we've been getting lately. But one thing is for sure, you can get a good workout in just cleaning up the snow!

I was stupid… I thought I would be able to make the YMCA yesterday to work out. I received an email from the YMCA saying they would remain closed for the rest of the day. At first I thought, why can't they be open? Then I looked outside. OK, I'm going to be shoveling the rest of the day, who needs to workout after all the shoveling!

The strength training is going well, but I got kind of nervous when I stepped on the scale the other day. I've gained like 5 pounds, but from what I've been reading, and judging from what others have been telling me, it's supposed to go up some when lifting weights.

I think I'm not going to weight myself but maybe once a week. No need to concern myself over the numbers, as long as my clothes fit!