Pain & Suffering

Now that the new-years-resolutioners have left the building, time to return to the gym!

While I am still at my "LA weight," my pants no longer fit. My muscles seem to have converted into squishy nougat, a byproduct of Halloween gone wrong. Instead of a large plastic dog, all swimsuit pictures at this point have to be taken with a large car in front of me.

(I like to keep this picture on my computer desktop to remind me of how I've failed myself.)

I've started sending a daily homework email to my virtual training partner, Nonny. Somehow giving her homework is shaming me into going to the gym and doing the exercises too,. My husband is also being forced to participate, so it's a win-win for me. 

If you are interested in being included on my daily weight training 101 e-mail, let me know. I may not be a certified trainer, but think you'll be impressed by my extensive experience:

• Once in 8th grade I was in weight training club for a couple of months
• I saw a personal trainer 4 times in the past 34 years
• I spend a lot of time on the Men's Health website

This is designed for people who are beginners and don't know the first thing about lifting weights. We're starting off with dumbbells and eventually I suppose I'll have to learn what those barbell things do. Or I'll just make one of my brothers take over at some point. 

For now we're just learning 2 exercises per day and then spending the first hour of the following day emailing each other discussing what hurts from the day before. At some point we'll either develop actual daily routines or just revert to discussing our favorite chick-fil-a milkshake flavors.

My resolution update:

1. No chick-fil-a milkshakes until my birthday. = 3 weeks down, 4 to go

2. No eating in car except super long road trips where I might fall asleep and kill people. = I've found myself standing next to my car in parking lots eating, which just makes me sad. But I haven't eaten IN the car, so still winning on that one too.