A possible turning point?

A couple of things to talk about tonight.

First, when I got to the gym tonight, the trainer that performed my initial assessment in July 06 was there. I've seen her about, but she's not said anything to me since I've been back the last couple of weeks. Well, tonight she recognized me and said that didn't recognize me at first (because of the weight difference). I was glad that she said something, because I was able to thank her for being a very big part of my success. If any of you have ever been to Lifetime Fitness, I think you'll understand how intimidating it can be. Even now...every day that I feel much better about myself, I get to the gym and realize how far I still need to go to get to the point where I really want to be. I would say that 75% of the girls there are athletes or models. When I went there last year, April was so cool and really made me feel like she was interested in helping me - even if it wasn't about selling me anything. We laughed a lot that day and she treated me like a real person. I was walking by her later on tonight, and I heard her telling someone about me. She was saying that it almost made her cry. Awwwww... Once again, I am so grateful to the people in my life that have helped me to get this far. I never in my life thought it could ever happen to me. I thought I was done for. Ok, so it didn't happen to me. I made it happen.

April mentioned that she has 3 girls that she's training in a small group right now. If I join them, then we will each pay $50 per 1 hr session. I am considering this. DEMF is 5 weeks away now and 12 sessions would last 6 weeks. The other option is to wait until the first week of May to sign up for a 12 week class for Team Fitness. They would both be about the same price - except the Team Fitness would last twice as long. Does anyone have any thoughts on which way might be better. Does it really make that much of a difference to have 4 or 12 people in a group. I'd be willing to do the shorter class if I could see great results by DEMF. Of course the other option is to continue with what I'm already doing....mostly cardio with resistance for the bottom half.

On another note, I was on the elliptical for 65 minutes again tonight. I took yesterday off, and I noticed a dramatic difference in my leg strength since the last time I went to the gym. This allowed me to push so much harder tonight - changing up the resistance. So far, I haven't gone over level 12. Not to say I couldn't, but I felt that I could still move at a nice speed at level 12. On top of all that, I actually enjoyed working out today. I was a little disappointed when it went to cooldown. Well, not that disappointed. It's just nice to feel like you're really digging in...if that makes sense. I was sweatin and lovin it. The machine said that I burned 800 calories. I realize that those machines aren't super accurate, but doesn't this sound completely far-fetched. Any thoughts on using the calorie counters? I am also noticing that my butt is rounder already. Ok, I am a little obsessed with it actually :)

Food for today: breakfast bar, oatmeal (I was starving when I got to work), super busy today and didn't have time for lunch, so I ate a healthy choice pizza when I got home from work, cottage cheese right before I left for the gym, and then more cottage cheese when I got home. I'm a little hungry right now...think I'll grab a piece of celery and put a little pb on it. mmm...

Ooooh... just remembered something exciting. I found my heart rate monitor. I spent $100 on it last year and put it in a safe spot so that I would be able to find it when I went back to the gym. Of course, I had no clue where that spot was anymore, but after a couple of months of searching...accidental SUCCESS!

I'm so tired...good night!