MY PERSONAL TRAINER (and some training)

My personal trainer's name is Isaac Ho. He is 19 years old, hilarious, and an exercise/physiology scientist. He has to put up with me twice a week (normally on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 8pm - 9pm). In all fairness, I have to put up with him, too. He makes me do the most embarrasing exercises that he can think of...most of the time, in the highest traffic areas. Seriously.

When I first started, Isaac told me that I was a mesomorph. At first, I was super offended and got up to leave, but then he explained that it was a certain body type. Intrigued, I decided to stay to see what he had to say about it. Turns out, there are three different body types: ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph.

It all has to do with the color of the muscle and how fast/slow it twitches....weird, right? The only traits that I remember are my own and here they are:

• Athletic
• Hard Body
• Hourglass Shaped (I'll take it!)
• Mature Muscle Mass (Does this mean "old"?)
• Muscular Body
• Excellent Posture (I don't know about this one.)
• Gains Muscle Easily
• Gains Fat More Easily Than Ectomorphs
• Thick Skin (But still really sensitive inside.)

Now for the exercises....

We start with walking on the treadmill at the highest incline with weight on my shoulders....for about ten minutes. Then we battle. :) This means that we both stand on one leg, about three feet apart and hold on to a rubber cord and try to pull each other over, while staying on the one leg. Its pretty fun. Right now, Isaac wins every time. Soon enough though, I'll be really good....and don't think that I won't be posting about my first triumph in the battle! :)

We do all kind of lunges and squats and obstacle courses and push-ups. Probably the most embarrasing exercise that I've had to do so far, is the Spider Man push-up. This is essentially doing a push up while pretending to climb up a wall.....touching your knee to your elbow while your down and then extending when you push back up. IT IS HARD!! Try it...see what I mean.

I haven't really lost any weight but I've really been shaping up. My clothes look better for sure. And I definitely feel strong like bull.

Anyway, time for me to eat......so I got to go! More later. And PS - anyone who wants to come and work out with me is welcome to....Isaac already gave the okay.....but you WILL have to battle him first. :)

MY NEW DIET

The thing is, I'd hardly call this a diet. Isaac, my personal trainier (more about him in a different post), has me eating about 1400 calories a day. At first I thought that was WAY too much food, but I gotta tell you, I really like eating that much. Its exciting...I'm never, ever hungry. :) And PS - I love food. And I really like eating healthy....who knew?

Don't get me wrong, there are times when all I want to do is eat a huge pepperoni pizza to myself...and drink a pitcher of beer to myself (sorry Mom) but Isaac is also making me keep a food journal. Its kind of embarrasing to write WHOLE PEPPERONI PIZZA in there. So I don't do it.

The things that I really need to look out for are: Fat, Saturated Fat, Trans Fat, and Sugars. I need to eat as little of these things as possible. You'll notice that the word salt is nowhere to be found, which makes me a very happy girl. I LOVE SALT! But I did find out this little trick, if you eat sea salt, you won't crave salt quite as much. See the thing is, sea salt has a nutrient in it that will fulfill your craving; table salt tastes the same but doesn't have the nutrient so you'll want to eat it and eat it. (I mean MAYBE its the potato chips or the french fries that you like so much, but imagine those things w/o delicious salt. Yech!)

My typical day of food consists of 6 small meals.

Breakfast - organic brown egg (bigger than regular ones), multi-grain/sprouted/or whole wheat toast, and coffee (unfortunately mochas, lattes, etc. had to be cut out.)

Snack - fruit, vegetable, or yogurt

Lunch - protein, healthy carbs and vegetables. This can be in the form of a sandwich, in soup, or in salad. Usually a V8, too. Fresh vegetables and fruit are super because they taste delicious and I don't have to worry about the fat/sugar content quite as much.

Snack - Protein bar or shake (I've learned to tolerate them)

Dinner - protein and vegetable....pretty much the same as lunch but I don't eat the carbs as late and I like for dinner to be hot. Grilled chicken or fish and steamed or grilled vegetables (I have been loving brussel sprouts with olive oil, sea salt, and cracked pepper grilled on my George Forman.)

Snack - protein shake (I've always got to eat a little protein after my work-outs. This little gem came from my good friend Jonesy. Great tip!)

Anyhoo, its time for me to eat again so I've gotta run. More later.