Tuesday, May 15, 2018

83. Have a personal trainer

So I did it. I impulse-bought 20 sessions with a personal trainer. Her name is Hannah, and I started with her back in October. On my first day (in true me fashion) I ended it early by vomiting... yes, vomiting. I have this personality trait - I refuse to back down from a challenge - so if my trainer tells me to keep going, I'm going to do it until I LITERALLY can't do it anymore. After that session, it could only go uphill, right?

It has now been 7 months since I've been working with Hannah, and I absolutely love it. I go three times a week (or fewer, depending on if our schedules don't line up), and we only do weight-lifting. No cardio (I think because she thinks it'll make me barf... which it probably will), and I love it. I have increased the weight I can lift by 500% or more in some exercises since I started. On some of the exercises I can actually lift more than my trainer, and she is in incredible shape!

I feel pretty fantastic about myself, but the changes to my body have been slower than I anticipated, and the biggest victories have been non-scale ones. Since beginning training 7 months ago I have barely lost any weight at all (though the needle is FINALLY starting to move on that...), but my measurements have definitely gotten smaller. Clothes fit me differently now, and I can tell that my posture has changed drastically for the better. I used to have lots of lower back and ankle problems, and those are completely gone - I have strengthened those muscles to the point where they support me sufficiently now, and it makes day-to-day life a lot less painful. I can also tell that my arms are much more toned, and I'm really looking forward to wearing tank tops all summer! Another non-scale victory that comes from working out all the time is my mood - lifting weights elevates my mood better than nearly anything I've ever experienced. The feeling I have when I'm driving home from the gym could best be described as euphoria. I always thought it was complete bullshit when people said that working out fights depression, like they were being dramatic about the effects, but I am now a true believer in it; in fact, some days I look forward to it for no other reason than because I've had a bad day and want some cheering up.

The biggest change I can see in myself throughout this process is my confidence. My self-esteem has increased drastically, and I care a lot more about what I put into my body. For instance, my workout tonight was GREAT, and I truly believe it's because I ate well today - lean protein, no simple sugars, etc. I have also learned a lot from Hannah (and online research) about the reality of getting fit. I had incredibly unrealistic expectations of myself and of the effects of working out before I started this, and gaining the knowledge of how long a process this really is showed me that tiny steps in the right direction are still huge in the grand scheme of things. Celebrating the small victories along the way makes me want to keep going when I want to give up, and having Hannah there to celebrate them with me makes it even better.

Moral of the story - if you can afford it, get yourself a personal trainer. It has absolutely changed my life.

No comments:

Post a Comment