Findings from the fitness club
I just had my assessment at the gym I've joined. Aside from embarrassing myself (I couldn't even do five minutes on the bike machine, set at Level 1, and the planks and weight-lifting part was even more shameful), I've emerged from it with the realization that I really need to get a personal trainer and a nutritionist. The personal trainer is because I don't have any friggin' clue what I should be doing, and how to do it (the assessment told me *what* I need to do, but not *how* - the *how* part falls under a PT's skills).
The nutritionist is because my diet is generally comprised of okay food, but I'm still messing it up. The time that I'm eating things is quite wrong for me (the assessor felt it was almost certainly contributing to my sleep difficulties, for one thing), and I need to be changing the carbs I do eat from simple to complex, and basically there's a lot of calculations that need to be done so that I'm eating enough, of the right things, at the right times, in order to stabilize my blood sugar levels, increase my sleep, and most importantly, not lose any more weight (especially with starting the new workout regime).
"And no cardio," she said. "No high-impact classes, no cardio, no bikes. Cardio will burn a lot of calories as well as build muscle, and right now we need to do the exact opposite of half of that. We need to focus on increasing your weight via building muscle, while minimizing the amount of calories you're losing in fat. You should really have a few more pounds of fat than you do now, because your body-fat levels are extremely low, what we'd usually see in a competitive athlete just prior to a competition. So we need to increase your muscle and your fat, and that will increase your energy levels and help your immune system. So it's going to be about body-building and increasing your core strength for now, and that will have some cardio effect, but primarily it will be about building the muscles. Once we get all that under control and we've figured out the eating, then we can add in cardio activities."
I said, "So no Muay Thai classes, huh?"
"No. You can do yoga and Pilates classes, but that's it until we have everything else under control."
So my goal for now is to add two pounds of fat (but in a sustainable way, not in the power-loading-on-Boost-drinks way like I do when I lose weight due to illness) and ten pounds of muscle. The assessor felt that fifteen pounds of muscle was an ideal goal, but we'll start with aiming for ten.
Now to figure out how to afford a PT and nutritionist. Of course the club offers them, but it would add $35-$50 dollars onto my bill each month, for the next 12 months. Ouch. :/ I need to see if I can find a PT and nutritionist from among my network of friends who might be willing to help me out at a reduced fee. Sessions with a nutritionist that cost $30 (or whatever) each would be a lot easier for me to swing than sessions that costs $55 each.
The nutritionist is because my diet is generally comprised of okay food, but I'm still messing it up. The time that I'm eating things is quite wrong for me (the assessor felt it was almost certainly contributing to my sleep difficulties, for one thing), and I need to be changing the carbs I do eat from simple to complex, and basically there's a lot of calculations that need to be done so that I'm eating enough, of the right things, at the right times, in order to stabilize my blood sugar levels, increase my sleep, and most importantly, not lose any more weight (especially with starting the new workout regime).
"And no cardio," she said. "No high-impact classes, no cardio, no bikes. Cardio will burn a lot of calories as well as build muscle, and right now we need to do the exact opposite of half of that. We need to focus on increasing your weight via building muscle, while minimizing the amount of calories you're losing in fat. You should really have a few more pounds of fat than you do now, because your body-fat levels are extremely low, what we'd usually see in a competitive athlete just prior to a competition. So we need to increase your muscle and your fat, and that will increase your energy levels and help your immune system. So it's going to be about body-building and increasing your core strength for now, and that will have some cardio effect, but primarily it will be about building the muscles. Once we get all that under control and we've figured out the eating, then we can add in cardio activities."
I said, "So no Muay Thai classes, huh?"
"No. You can do yoga and Pilates classes, but that's it until we have everything else under control."
So my goal for now is to add two pounds of fat (but in a sustainable way, not in the power-loading-on-Boost-drinks way like I do when I lose weight due to illness) and ten pounds of muscle. The assessor felt that fifteen pounds of muscle was an ideal goal, but we'll start with aiming for ten.
Now to figure out how to afford a PT and nutritionist. Of course the club offers them, but it would add $35-$50 dollars onto my bill each month, for the next 12 months. Ouch. :/ I need to see if I can find a PT and nutritionist from among my network of friends who might be willing to help me out at a reduced fee. Sessions with a nutritionist that cost $30 (or whatever) each would be a lot easier for me to swing than sessions that costs $55 each.