Posted: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:40 AM - 10,115 Readers

By: Jean Farley

It was my first week of Fit for Life and I was down 1.2 pounds! This was exciting news, and many of my team members had lost weight or maintained weight. This really inspired all of us to work that much harder at working out and eating healthy.

Exercise

The Fit for Life exercise classes meet twice a week, and we are only required to be at one class. The workouts vary from step aerobics, to using an exercise ball, hand weights or elastic bands, and walking. Each exercise works different parts of the body, ensuring that we get a total body workout. I have been very sore after these classes and it feels great to know that I am developing stronger muscles. The hardest exercises for me are the ones that use the arms and upper body. It makes me realize how little muscle I have in these areas.

Each class ends with a positive chant about changing so we can truly be fit for life.

Nutrition

Something I learned while our nutrition teacher taught class last week was how I am really dedicated to not skipping meals, which is a point that we are taught. However, I will skip out on exercising when I am busy. I need to make the exercising more of a priority like I do with my meals.

This past week’s class was dedicated to figuring out our BMR (basal metabolic rate). I missed this past week due to a trip I had planned and will share the information in my next column about the BMR.

Vacation

After my second week of class, I went on vacation with my mom to visit family in Austin, Texas. I was very excited to share my class information with my mom and to try it out it while traveling. What I did do is jog/walk, however only one day. I have to say that morning I got up and went for my early walk and jog, it felt great to be in a different place and take in the scenery.

Austin is an extremely fit city. My cousin and I walked around Lake Austin, and there were hundreds of people jogging and walking.

I do wish I would have done more walking on my trip - lesson learned.

Food-wise, there was cake for mom’s birthday and our hotel we stayed at one night had the all-you-can-eat free dinner and breakfast buffets. I ate healthy for breakfast; however, the rest of the day was a lot of eating out and my portions were more than I needed.

I did not meet my five-a-day requirements on most days.

I never felt like I totally pigged out – except maybe at the Ethiopian restaurant buffet. Yum! I will find out Monday evening how my Austin trip will weigh in.

Goals for the next two weeks: get better at writing down what I eat and how much I eat. Also, I need to eat my five a day allotment of fruits and vegetables. I will start counting calories, once I verify my BMR.  My workout goals are four cardio classes and four strength training exercises per week.  Last but not least, I need to get up to running one mile without stopping.

*  Story Contributed by: Jean Farley