New Member Introduction

jharbeck

Hello! I am almost 46 years old and 4 weeks ago yesterday I set foot in a YMCA gym for the first time in well over 20 years and began a 5-6 day a week exercise regime!

Last year I made some changes to my eating habits and lost 36 lbs, this year I'm focused on adding exercise and activity to my daily routine. I'm also trying something different, while I have natural curiosity where I am or how I'm progressing weight wise and will be checking it on occasion, it is not my primary focus to lose a specific # of pounds, or reduce my BMI by any specific amount, etc at the end of the day I simply don't want to feel bad because I didn't reach the magic # on the scale, I'd rather keep focused on fulfilling my commitment to the gym, good eating habits, and how I feel as a result, we'll see how it works but so far it's been great!

I am 5' 4" tall and currently weigh 204, the last time I was weighed prior to last week was in August, I'm down 10 lbs from that, plus the additional weight I'm confident I gained over the holidays from all the goodies. I did weigh myself last week to establish whether I was moving in the right direction with the exercise regime I had been doing for the last 4 weeks, and it sounds like I am.

I am very lucky that I do have an incredible support system in my boyfriend who works out with me daily, coaches me and we do a great job of encouraging each other but I'd still like to connect with others for added support, sharing of ideas and any insight people might have regarding specific exercises, equipment, nutrition, etc For instance... the deltoid machine, argh! This is the only machine I have not improved on in 4 weeks, most machines and the free weights I've incorporated into my workout I have improved on pretty significantly, what am I doing wrong? lol it's driving me crazy, I despise this machine and I don't want to despise it, I want to kick it's hiney and improve like I have on everything else!!

Other than weight lifting 5-6 days a week in which we alternate high weight/low reps and low weight/high reps we also start each day off with elliptical. My current diet mostly due to my work schedule and associated time constraints consists of a high protein shake and fruit for breakfast and dinner, nuts and dried fruit for snacks, chopped salad with chicken breast and fruit for lunch and the two days a week we do not go to the gym we eat pretty much what we want but generally it's steak and a vegies.

Feel free to weigh in or ask questions about anything I've mentioned, I'm pretty open, I genuinely want to learn, share ideas, milestones, etc