As I've been progressing towards my short-term and long-term weight loss goals, I've thought about posting before and after pictures. You know, the before picture where you look pissed at the world and miserable followed by the happy, healthy photo where you look like you can take on the world. Right. And don't forget to make sure you are in the same outfit for both. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), I don't have a lot of pictures where I look miserable; I love taking pictures and I pretty much love life. In any case, I've been debating about whether or not I want to post before and after pictures (mainly due to lack of courage), but also thinking that I don't really have any good before pictures. I guess as much as I love pictures, I don't have a lot of pictures of myself where you can see me from head to toe. Most pictures of me are from the shoulders up. As I've looked at pictures from last summer, I haven't noticed much of a difference between the me then and the me now. However, Friday, I found a "good" before picture. It's not a good picture by any means; I detest the way I look in this particular photo, but it's a good before picture, because by looking at it, I can see the difference between Laura circa late fall/early winter 2012 and the Laura now. We had staff photos taken, I think in the fall, for our new website and I came across mine on Friday. Yikes. I was talking to my co-workers about it and one of my co-workers said "Laura, that was you almost 45 lbs ago." Good point. So, as much as I really don't like that photo, it's a great reference point for where I was then and where I am now. I promise I will post a link to said photo soon and provide a current picture for comparison.
We've been enjoying the great, relatively mild summer weather this weekend and I'm thankful for all of the outdoor time we've had. Last night, we went to a free concert at a local park with some friends and it was so much fun! The band was really good and it was a perfect night to sit outside and enjoy the music and let the kids run off some energy on the playground. Tonight, we went for a walk and yes, I mean a walk not a wog. I tried to run one of my normal little stretches and I was so sore (more on that below), that I nixed running for the rest of our time and just walked. We ended up doing the full, big loop on the trail plus another half loop so we did just over 4 miles. I gave Matt a high five at about 3.3 miles and said "Congrats, you just did a 5K!" and he, Mr. Math, I might add, looked at me in surprise and said "Really? I could totally do a 5K!" Yes, babe, you could and you would crush it. It was nice just walking for a change and we kept a good pace the whole time.
This morning, I got experience my very first personal training session. You might remember a few weeks ago, I went to a fundraising event at a local training center, Evolve Personal Fitness (http://evolvepersonalfit.com/), at which I got to try my first spinning class, as well as do a bit of core work and strength training. My friends and I took home some information that day about other programs offered and we decided to do a small group personal training session today. I admit, my perception of personal training prior to this was a mental image of me in tears while some mean body builder yells in my face and makes me do like 1,000 squats or a 20 minute plank.
However, our training session today with Doug at Evolve was nothing like my perception! It was wonderful; a great, sweaty workout with a great trainer. Doug is awesome; incredibly knowledgeable and he challenged us for sure. There are muscles in my body that are sore (in a good way) that I didn't even know existed before. He let us know when we had good form and were doing the exercises correctly but he also helped us fix our form if we were a bit off, which I really appreciated. We got to work with the TRX suspension training apparatus again (I love TRX, a lot) and I got to use a kettlebell properly! I really liked the kettlebell, too, and may have to ask for one for my birthday. We even did some planks today and they didn't suck nearly as much as last time. I don't know if it was because we did the planks relatively early on in our workout or if it was something else, but it was much better today. I was able to hold 2 planks for 20 seconds each and I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but it was. I really loved my first personal training session with Doug at Evolve and I'm looking forward to more in the future!
I indulged a little bit today. I was in the area of Ted Drewes Frozen Custard and I have been craving a Dottie concrete, so I had one. Those of you who live in St. Louis will understand. Those who don't, next time you are in St. Louis, go to Ted Drewes and then you, too, will understand.
I'm guessing I'm going to feel a little sore in the morning from all of my training today, but it's totally worth it.
"You can feel sore tomorrow or you can feel sorry tomorrow. You choose."
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