Happy...and a little disappointed

Ok, let's get to the good stuff first!  I stepped on the scale yesterday and was delighted to be greeted with a loss of 1.5 lbs this week.  Oh yeah!  Hopefully my slightly dyslexic body is starting to get this whole "weight loss" idea and is finally catching on.  We can only hope.

The disappointing part of my week was my meeting with Dietitian Jennifer on Wednesday.  Overall she is very pleased with my food log and suggested a few changes.  One of them was to think about food before I consume it and ask myself, "Is this taking me closer to my goals or further from my goals?"  Good idea, now I just have to remember to actually do it and then LISTEN to the answer and not ignore it. I discovered a few tweaks that I could make to help me slowly make my way toward even healthier eating.  My ultimate goal is to get rid of as much processed food as possible.  I'm not sure if I want to or can COMPLETELY eliminate it, but if I keep moving in the direction I'm going, it is a strong possibility.  I'm a work in progress, as we all are.

The disappointment came when we began to talk about exercise.  Tomorrow night is my last Biggest Loser meeting and this is my last week with my trainer.  Jennifer expressed concern about me continuing to exercise, which is logical since she doesn't know me that well and she doesn't know all of my history.  I assured her that I would continue with exercising as I've been doing it pretty regularly for about 4 years.  Exercise is not my problem --- it's the diet part where I fall down.  As I told her, I am the poster child to demonstrate that old adage, "You can't out-exercise a bad diet."  You cannot.  It will not work, no matter how hard you try.  Well, now that my diet is much improved, I still can't seem to lose, but that's beside the point.

I was taken aback when she advised me to continue to lift weights, but to really work on the cardio because that's where I would get the biggest fat burn.  I was speechless because that way of thinking is so outdated and just plain WRONG!  Weight lifting is essential to losing weight because as you build muscle, it will continue to burn calories far longer than through just cardio.  Cardio will burn fat, don't get me wrong, but it's only for a short time.  Weights are where it's at.  And weights are what I like.

Since I am paying her to discuss food/eating and not exercise, I chose to ignore that advice and not even comment on it.  I didn't want to start something and I strongly prefer to avoid confrontation.  It was a "choose your battle" moment, and I chose to not engage.  I know that's not her area of expertise, so I'm just going to leave it alone. 

In other news, I'm excited and sad that our Biggest Loser program is ending.  It seems like it just got started.  We are down to 5 participants, and they are all students.  I have no doubts that I will probably finish dead last, but when you put a 43 year old up against 20-somethings, that's bound to happen.  I don't care about winning, because the experience and knowledge were worth it.  I have very much enjoyed working with my trainer and I have learned a few things from him that I will start incorporating.  If nothing else, it got me back to being comfortable in the weight room again.  Can't beat that!

I will NOT miss the 7:30 p.m. meetings.  Oh my goodness, my Mondays have been sooooooooooo long during this.  I leave my house around 7:10 a.m. and do not get home until 9-9:30 p.m.  That part has sucked.  I am not complaining because it was a sacrifice I have been willing to make.  I wish the meeting time could have been earlier.

What do you do for exercise?  Are you incorporating weight lifting into your routine or are you just relying on cardio?  If you aren't lifting weights, why not?  And are you lifting HEAVY weights?  I'm not talking the little 3 lb Barbie dumbbells...I mean heavy.  Did you know that women are physically incapable of bulking up like men?  Our bodies do not produce enough testosterone to do so.  Those lady bodybuilders that have the big muscles are taking some kind of supplement or something to make their muscles do that.  Plus they train and eat specifically for that.