July 7, 2010
Today I signed up for the Courthouse Nutrition Plan. Here's what got me here:
Back in February, me and my fitness coach had figured on a base of 1450 calories and on days that I run several miles or do two workouts, to add back about 60% of the calories I burned so my body knows it's not starving. That worked to get 7 more pounds of fat off my body. But to cut any more (and I'm talking a measly 50 calories a day) I was hitting a MAJOR wall. I'd be starving and because I was so hungry just abandon the whole darn thing and eat whatever, whenever until it filled me up. Then get frustrated and guilty and start all over again. I've been riding that roller coaster since April and out of desperation, joined the Courthouse Nutrition Plan. For those of you who do not live in Salem, Oregon, no, I am not an inmate or otherwise affiliated with the judicial system here in Salem. The Courthouse is our local gym that has managed to take over our town with 5 locations. They've created an image that makes people feel status-y by belonging there and they get away with charging roughly double what the others in town charge all while keeping the major chain gyms struggling in their wake. It's impressive. As a budding entrepreneur, I can only watch in awe and inspiration. Ahem, anyway. I like the Courthouse because I feel at home there. Their staff rocks and are always willing to roll up their sleeves and get all up into my fitness business when I ask them to. So it seemed natural to gravitate toward my "home away from home" for my eating dilemma.
This program was just rolled out in June and due to me never being aware of my surroundings, I didn't catch wind of it despite the posters, pamphlets, etc. until now. The consultation is a 30 minute one-on-one with Personal Trainer-now-dubbed-Nutrition Trainer (who I will now refer to as NT). I explain my problem and the trainer takes my weight and does a caliper test to test my body fat. We establish I am 23% body fat and while that is a healthy number, it's not uncommon for someone in their thirties to be in the teens and since I feel I am not to my goal for my body, we decide to press on with some more weight loss. We decide that if I lose 10 pounds, and if it is all fat mass (and not losing any lean muscle), we may be well at our goal. I am encouraged to think that 10 pounds is all I have left. I mean, I've already lost 50, so 10 seems like such a manageable number! On the other hand, I've been through hell trying to lose ONE POUND as of late, so... Then we look at my activity level. She has me guestimate on average how much I work out. I'm a maniac. I admit it. I love exercising. Mostly I love to dance and move my body in choreographed bliss. And as an adult, exercise classes seem to be the closest I can get to that on a regular basis. I started to weightlift and run, hated those at first, but grew to love them for the way they alter my body athletically. So, I exercise a lot. Mostly because I so rarely have quiet time in my head and time to just listen to music and be me, that I treasure my workout time and fit it in whenever I can. So my estimate is 1 1/2 - 2 hours a day. It's fair. Some days it's more. Somedays it's not. Every once in awhile if I'm tired, I take a day of rest. It's a good number. Based on that, she puts my calories at 2,000. 2,000!! Scary because it's more than I'm used to, comforting because it means I might actually get to eat something. She asks me to trust her and I tell her of course I will, because obviously what I'm doing now is not working. She gives me a booklet that has a grocery list, meal plan, and outline of the "10 Healthy Habits" they want you to strive for as a lifestyle (things such as hydration, rest, yada yada yada). She tells me to wait until Monday to start so I can get my groceries, prep a lot of my food on Sunday and get a running start for the first week. I'm eager to start now, but do as she says. I get a "free" (aka totally paid for in my new nutrition dues) lunch bag, measuring cups and spoons, food scale, food journal. "No excuses" she says as she hands it to me.
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