Yes, I am now 3.8 lbs from my goal.  I’m excited, but a little nervous because I’m leaving on vacation Saturday and will be gone for a week.  One of my sons in law has researched numerous restaurants to try while we are in Destin, so I will be eating out frequently.  I know that eating out does not have to equate to weight gain, but it can make it more difficult. I have a decision to make about my weight before I leave. The way I see it, I have 3 options available to me where my weight loss progress is concerned. I always tell clients they have choices about what happens with their weight when they are on vacation. It feels better when you decide what outcome you want ahead of time.

Option #1

I can decide that I want to lose weight on vacation.  This will require me to do the best I can to make entrée choices that are the lesser of many evils on the menu – no fried, no covered in cheese, no white sauce,etc. If you ask a waiter/waitress for dressing on the side, and have certain condiments held from entrees and sides, etc. your requests will usually be honored.  One just needs to speak up.   I’ll need to ask for a “doggy bag” up front so that I can bag up some of my order before I even start to eat.  Now that I think about it, like Kim I will have someone with me who loves to clean other peoples’ plates, so maybe the doggy bag wont be necessary.

I’m bringing some 100 calorie bag microwave popcorn and I’ll stock up on fruit and other low calorie foods when I get there.  

Option #2

I can decide that I want to maintain my weight.  This means that I will need to do a lot of what I mentioned in option #1, but I will have a little more flexibility in what I order.  I should be able to do a couple of meals that are ”splurge” meals and maybe a special dessert or two without any damage done.  Of course, keeping regular cardio workouts in the plan is a given for all 3 options.  We will be near the beach, so walking/running on the beach with my daughters will be my choice way to get in cardio workouts.  I plan to spend a lot of time doing fun activities with my granddaughters as well as reading on the beach, so as always my cardio workouts will be shorter in nature, but high in quality.  I will miss my training with Matthew, but one week might be a welcome break to my muscles.

Option #3

I can give myself permission to gain a little weight on vacation. This is knowing that I will need to be patient and get back into a solid routine when I return so as to get my weight loss efforts back on track.  Making a decision to allow a 2 – 4 pound gain and to plan accordingly gives you control over the weight gain.  You are less likely to do major damage by abandoning all your hard earned healthy eating habits.  This option simply means, you do alot of what I mentioned in option #2, but give yourself more flexibility with choosing entrees, drinks, or desserts.  It doesn’t mean anything GOs!  Portions are critical and making trade offs at one meal to have what you want at another is necessary.  However, this option does allow you to actually take a short vacation from your regular diet while not having to stress each day that you are undoing everything you’ve worked so hard to do with your fitness program. 

One option is really no better than another.  There is no judgement.  The point is, regardless of whether you are on vacation, it’s a holiday, your birthday, etc. etc., manage your fitness program.  It’s called making it a lifestyle.  Unfortunately, many of us set up unrealistic diet & exercise expectations for ourselves on vacation or special occasions.  We jump into that “all or nothing” attitude and we continue the yo *yo  game rather than establishing a lifestyle.  It’s so much nicer not to have to stress over food and exercise and just enjoy life.

By the way, I’m going to go with option #2 * Wish me luck. 

Beth Pirtle

It’s amazing how slow I am to share last week’s weight gain.  Here it is, already Wednesday, almost time for me to weigh in this week and I’m just now reporting that last week’s weigh in was discouraging, but never the less I know the ¼ lb gain is temporary.  I’d be more frustrated if I had gone crazy with high fat, high sugar foods, but I didn’t.  I had my Caramel Crunch, but that’s just part of the plan and works well with my weight loss efforts. I’d like to say that this weight gain is just the inevitable plateau that comes with most weight loss efforts, but it’s not. 

When Matthew, my trainer, asked me why I thought I gained, I told him that I sort of let myself add extra berries here and an additional apple and orange there, etc. etc.  His response was something like, “What do you think you want to do different this next week?” Of course, my response was to watch how much, although healthy, additional calories I take in. I doubled the amount of fruit most days; hence more calories than I have been averaging weekly. Since my experience tells me that no one ever got fat on fruit I expected that these kinds of extras would not have an impact on my weight loss.  Of course, I know that if I want to get back on track with my weight loss, I need to be honest with the fact that a calorie is a calorie regardless of what food it comes from. Portion control is as significant to weight loss success as documenting what I eat.

My training is going well.  It’s hard, but I know if I only do what I think I can do, I’m not going to reach my goals.  With the push and drive I get from my trainer I will.  I’m 55 and the quality of my life is “sweet”.  If it’s in the plan, I plan to live a very long life so I intend to make the quality of my life as sweet at 80 as it is each year prior.  I realize that means stretching myself physically and mentally now.  So, whatever it is “they” say I should do at 55 isn’t necessarily acceptable to me and I’m grateful Matthew assumes the same.

I’ve changed my cardio plan since I am not training for a ½ marathon. My cardio philosophy is the opposite of my eating philosophy.  Instead of thinking in terms of maximum as I do with calories, with cardio I think in terms of minimal.  I do a cardio workout 4 times a week.  I do a 5 -6 mile run with my youngest daughter on Sunday; a 35 – 40 min interval treadmill workout (includes warm-up & cool–down); a 35 – 40 min steady rate treadmill run; and a 35 min elliptical workout.  That’s 2 ½ hours a week.  It’s a livable plan and it contributes to my being able to eat an average of 1600-1700 calories daily.

 I’m nearing weigh in time again and keeping my fingers crossed that the scale will reflect my hard work this week. 

Beth Pirtle

Too awesome! I lost ¾ of a pound this week. Miraculously, my body is on kind of a weight loss roll.  I’m trying to forget that hitting a set point or plateau is probably inevitable. We can talk about those challenges another time. 

Because I have a history of portion distortion with many of the foods I commonly eat, I’m weighing & measuring some of those foods and writing down everything I consume.  Using visuals, like the palm of my hand, to determine whether I’m having a 3 oz piece of chicken rather than 6 ounces works nicely.  However, when it comes to foods like light mayo, parmesan cheese, peanut butter, light salad dressings, etc. – You know all those foods that give you a calorie count based on a 1 – 2 tbl serving somehow turn into mountains rather than tablespoons, and wow do those calories add up.  As much of a pain as it is, measuring these foods has made a big difference in my weight loss progress.  

I gravitate towards foods that I can eat a lot of and that are low in calories since I tend to be a “bulk” eater. I’m not quite ready to type out what I eat because I fear great embarrassment.  It’s not that I don’t eat healthy, it’s that my day is full of food and I enjoy every bite of it while losing weight.  I guess that indicates that I need to get more of a life.  All fun aside, I know for me that it’s critical that I eat as much as I possibly can while getting any kind of weight loss at all, even if an average of only ¼ lb a week.  I need my body to be accustomed to eating when it comes time to maintaining my weight loss. I’ve had to learn this the hard way.  I too have said to myself many times after losing weight that I would never gain it back again “I feel too good”, “I worked too hard” to gain it back.  I gained it back.  I’ll never be one of those people who only eat to live.

Being accountable to my trainer and to the goals I documented and handed him in January has kept me going when the results weren’t instant and when I wanted to use my age as an excuse for not losing weight or progressing in my training.  I’m excited about where my training has taken me even though it is hard. Despite the fact that it is my son who trains me, he’s never planned a training session or set expectations that indicate that I might be “fragile” or incapable.  I’m grateful that he sees only potential in me as he does in all his clients.  My training with Matthew, even more than the weight loss, makes my body younger and stronger.   Of course, when you get down to it, true fitness commands we do a number of things in order to maximize the quality of our lives.  None of them are easy, but they feel good.

Beth Pirtle

Well, reading Kim’s blog has not only entertained me but has inspired me to share my own experiences with training.  I, like Kim, am a personal trainer training with a personal trainer.  Actually, Kim and I are being trained by the same trainer, Matthew Pirtle.  I can call him “Matthew” because that’s what I named him.  You see, I actually gave birth to this man and because he and his sisters, as I see it, were primarily responsible for my body becoming swollen, disproportionate and “soft” – he now owes me a better body. Interestingly enough, personal training with my son has convinced me you can pass 50 and actually be as fit, if not more fit, than in any other decade in your life.  And, what’s even more exciting, the body can be as tight, firm and flexible than ever before.

My fitness life actually started some years back when I lost near 30lbs with Weight Watchers.  I became so excited about the weight loss industry that I eventually ended up working for Weight Watchers for many years and eventually became Regional Manager of WW of greater Missouri and Southern Illinois.  The demands of the position were never as challenging as keeping my weight off and staying fit. Even before I left WW to become a personal trainer, it became clear to me that if I wanted to keep my weight off I was going to need to do more than eat healthy – although eating healthy and eating appropriate portions is critical to weight loss and weight loss maintenance. 

Cardio exercise was something I resisted for a long time.  It was hard enough that I needed to give up favorite foods or learn to eat them in appropriate portions, but in addition I was learning I had to do exercises that required repetitive movement for at least 30 minutes 4 – 5 times a week and break a sweat while doing it.  As distasteful as it all sounded, this was the something I needed to help support my efforts in not putting on and taking off the same 10 lbs over and over again.  So, somewhere around age 33 I joined a small club and started doing the stationary bike.  The first couple of times I did the bike I got to 4 minutes before feeling as if I was going to go into cardiac arrest.  I stayed with it and who knew that regular, moderate cardio workouts could enable me to have my M & M blizzard and still keep my weight down.  Those blizzards have now been traded in for a Fritz’s caramel crunch.

There’s so much more to my quest for weight maintenance and fitness, but it all brings me to today.  I’ve been training with Matthew for a a while now and actually went from once to twice a week several months ago. This is where my body really started to defy mid life.  Wow, you can actually change your body (for the better) without changing the numbers on the scale.  What a wonderful thing for a baby boomer!  However, I also realized a few months ago I still wanted those additional 10 lbs off that were keeping me from being within those healthy body composition ranges and making it more difficult for me to do some exercises that I wanted to do.  As of today, I have lost 6 lbs since updating my goals with Matthew in January. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that there are certain lifestyle changes that I need to be consistent with for weight loss/maintenance and fitness.  It’s really nothing new to me – it’s just a decision.

Beth Pirtle