Last ditch effort

I worked out at the gym today for almost 2 hours. I've been working out with Nelson, a personal trainer at the Pro Club for the last 6 months or so.

Some background - the Pro Club is the gym that Microsoft pays for - it's about the snootiest gym I have *ever* seen. And I've seen a lot of gyms, especially when I worked for Deloitte Consulting and traveled a lot. This gym also has a full service spa, medical center, cafe, gift shop and restaurant. For those who want to be really healthy, they also have tanning and Botox. (Go figure.)

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled program. A month ago, Nelson decided to change our workouts from an hour to 1.5 hours, and was nice enough *not* to charge me for the extra time. (I'd probably have to sell the Peanut in order to pay them more money...) We spent 45 minutes doing insanely hard cardio, with my heart rate around 160 bpm (80%) up to 190 bpm (gasping for air). The problem is, I couldn't listen to music or read a magazine during these cardio sessions because Nelson was there. So I got to stare at the console and watch every passing minute. Nelson would talk to me, but most of the time I was working too hard to answer him back. Horrible!

So today I took matters into my own hands. I went to the gym an hour early and did my 45 minutes of cardio before my appointment with Nelson. I stayed on the evil Stepmill for 20 minutes, thanks to Live's first album, Mental Jewelry. Matchbox 20's Yourself or Someone Like You provided me with an awesome soundtrack for a really good 25 minute run/walk interval training session. Yay for MP3 players and Rob Thomas (who I met several years ago, but that's another story.) Then I met up with Nelson and did an hour of weight training.

I'm not sure if all of this insane working out is really helping much, but I've lost 5 lbs in the past 5 weeks. I'm also seeing a nutritionist at the Pro Club (I've basically signed over my entire paycheck to them...) and she has me on a low-sugar, no-refined-carb meal plan. It involves eating *a lot* of protein (about 100+ g per day) and pretty much no sugar (except sugars that naturally occur in fruit and dairy products) or bread or chips, etc. I am allowed one piece of whole wheat bread per day, or one packet of the Low Sugar Quaker Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal (manna from heaven, I say). *However*, I need to eat my carb fix with some fat and 2 oz of protein.

Is this much suffering worth it? I suppose so. Since last fall, I have lost about 15 pounds. I think it's been slow because I am pretty bad at sticking to any sort of diet. I LOVE food, and eating out, and nachos, and cheese, and chocolate cake ... you get the picture. I halfheartedly did Weight Watchers Online for a while. But I think there's something to the *way* I'm eating now. I've got a lot more energy, I'm not supertired in the afternoons and I seem to be doing ok without my usual 10 hours of sleep. So after the wedding, I'll probably go back to Weight Watchers (much easier to "count" - I hate tracking calories!) and just keep the eating patterns I have now. I'd like to lose the equivalent of Spike (actually, what Spike weighed when we got him - he's kind of pudgy now too) and then if I could maintain that, I'd be done with this whole thing. I've vaguely "dieted" for the past 15 years (half my life!!) and I'm so sick of it. Enough already and let's just get rid of this last beagle!

And on that inspiring note, I should give the computer back to TJ so he can continue with his current project, cataloging his coin collection using a Microsoft Access database. He's got so much more patience than I have. Good thing I'm marrying him!