The weekend is flying by...

This weekend has really flown by quickly! Thank goodness we get to relax today. Originally, Chris's parents were going to come up for his mom's birthday (their idea because we would go down usually) but the weather is challenging so we're going to hook up with them next weekend. Nice because I don't have to scurry to clean the house until later!

Yesterday we hooked up with Ryan and in typical trainer fashion, he challenged us greatly. The exercises were pretty challenging because I have minimal core strength and he's targeting those areas. Another challenge with myself is balance and switching over like when doing backward lunges...switching from the left leg to the right leg is a semi-challenge for me. That right/left switch is something with me. Another thing that I have noticed about my learning style is that when explains the exercise that we are going to do, I have to have the weights in my hand and actually feel it. I just can't pick up on most of the movements when he is just explaining it/demonstrating it. I don't know if I can chalk this up to my lack of experience in the gym or simply my learning style. We're going to hook up with him again in about two to three weeks so that will be good. Chris and I now have a wide variety of things to add into our workouts.

Drum roll {please}...I am down 1.8 pounds! Wow, what a week. I was pleasantly surprised to see this number because I haven't lost this much weight during a weeks time in so long. I had to ask the receptionist twice if that was correct. She laughed and noted that it was. I explained how generally, I lose about .5 pounds a week and she noted that today is my week! I opted out of not celebrating my success in the group with getting that 5lb book marker or what ever you get when you reach a 5 pound loss. In the past, I've contributed to the class by sharing my thoughts on what they were talking about but this time around, I'm not doing that. I'm keeping the mouth shut. Partly because the majority of the class is at a different stage that I am at. For example, a woman shared that she just lost 20lbs but she is not eating any of her flex points nor activity points. One thing that I have learned is that you have to eat to lose and move to lose. I can't imagine going back to eating only 1200 calories a day. I would be starving and extremely irritable and probably killing my metabolism. It's like I wanted to shout out, "Girl, eat those points" because when she starts to add those points in, what's going to happen? Nothing but frustration because you get the "I'm not losing spiel". I also heard 5 people grumbling about adding activity to their plan and all of them thought that they were going to get these huge losses but guess what? They didn't. It's almost like Weight Watchers needs to print somewhere in that exercise book that "Don't expect a huge loss when you add intense activities to your life because it's not going to happen for a few weeks". Stick with the activity and you will be pleasantly surprised in a few weeks. We also discussed how to eat pizza, chocolate, etc. As I sat back and just thought...eat it. Really, have that pizza but make your own and load it with your favorite toppings. Eat that chocolate if you are craving it but watch your portion size. If you want a beer, drink a beer but keep it realistic, don't binge. If you don't eat that now when you are on plan, it's not going to be a smooth transition when you are going to maintenance. This time around, there is no food off limits to me because I'm cooking it at home. I can whip up some healthier options than some of it's restaurant versions.

I also talked to Ryan about the loss because I was a little freaked out but he noted that when people tend to change their workout, you will see a better result because your body gets used to things. I switched up two things last week. I added in personal training and swimming on the sixth day of working out. So we'll see how next week goes.

It's been a good weekend so far. Chris and I ran our errands yesterday and we managed to walk out of Costco with a $20 bill and Meijer Outlet for $5! Though, he spurlged at Gamestop so I think the Anji idea is working out. She suggested an allotted amount for fun spending. Good idea because when it's gone it's gone. At first he was afraid to do that because Chris is like "I don't want to spend it unnecessarily" but it's hugely benefited when we walk into a Gamestop store and goes "Humm, this game is 50% used" so it totally helps out. We also splurged and went to a "Brew Ha Ha" event put on by a local radio station where they had micro-breweries. Chris and I love to scope out new breweries especially when we are traveling we have a few favorites. There was a couple of MI breweries we haven't been too so we decided to check it out. When we got there, we were kind of ticked to see that we had to pay $5 for parking because it was going to cost $30 to get into the door. So we paid for our tickets and we were supposed to get a glass but we were too late for that. We get in there and there's tons of people and some of the breweries are already gone or out of beer. It started to turn around when I found some sample tickets on the floor so all is good (it makes up for not having the glasses). I found that it's true "Grand Rapids" fashion that they are under prepared for how popular the event was going to be. That's the one thing that I've noticed about living in this town is that they are under prepared for some of the events or the popularity of it. It's like we are somewhat cultured over here. Growing up in Detroit, they had expos up the wazoo but Grand Rapids feels like they are just getting started sometimes. My only other complaint about this town it takes so long to get unique things. We finally have an excellent Mediterranean joint, a decent Thai joint, a great Ethiopian and Indian place. We're finally getting a Chipolte (I'm spelling this wrong, I know) this week. I hear that they are giving out free burritos on Thursday. Now only if we get a darn Trader Joes sometime soon! It stinks that the closest one is in Novi, MI or Tinley Park, IL. Well that's it for me today, take care all-Kellie