The session was fast paced, varied, exciting and great fun. My polar watch recorded one of my highest heart rate 176 (!!!), burning 554 calories with 40 % fat in our hour session. Just what the doctor ordered.

Even better news, I managed to knock Michael off the fitball whilst we were working out fast with bands. Yes!! *Punches fist up in the air again with glee.* I shall treasure that moment for a long time…

The only snag with the session though, was the dodgy DJ White’s seriously crap taste in music! Who gave that man control of my iPod and remote control?!?

For more on health and fitness or just for a place to vent some steam, check out http://www.tearingmyhairout.com/

So after the elation of reaching the 5 stones, the next week, I lost a further 2 pounds. However disaster struck! In just 9 days from Saturday 17^th July, I gained 5 pounds back, that is 2.3 Kg. WTF!! It is totally pointless deluding myself if the weight gain has been my fault by pretending that it isn’t, but absolutely 100%, this has been unexplained. I have been exercising as usual without fail, 5 times a week, and as usual, twice a week with my trainer Michael. My food and drinks intake, which are tracked carefully in my food diary, have also been good.

Losing weight to a healthy size, is the only thing that I haven’t succeeded with in my entire life. I’m not afraid of hard work, and I work my freaking arse off. I can handle plateaus and I can pretty much handle everything that happens with this difficult weight loss journey of mine, but inexplicable weight gain, seriously pisses me off!

I’m not a violent person but if I hear one more clueless idiot generalise that people who are overweight are like that because we are lazy and only need to eat less and exercise more, I will smack them one or at least give them a freaking mouthful! How about those of us who have medical reasons for weight gain and try our hardest and still struggle to lose weight if the one-size fits all solution is simply to eat less and exercise more? I have exercised hard for more than 15 years (never less than 4 times a week) and certainly in the last 2 years, 5 times a week, without fail, come rain, shine or holidays. Similarly, I have carefully and accurately recorded every single thing that I eat and drink religiously, even on holidays, birthdays and Christmas. It doesn’t mean that I am a saint and don’t have days off my eating plan, of course I do, but even those days, I ensure I complete my food diary.

I have no doubt whatsoever that my eating plan works. Modesty apart, I know my stuff when it comes to exercise and nutrition. In my bedroom alone, I have a library of 12 books on weight loss, let alone other books and countless magazines that I have acquired over nearly 20 years of struggling with my weight. I have also designed eating plans that have successfully helped many other people lose weight and more importantly, keep the weight off. And yet, when it comes to myself, my body chemistry continues to fail me.

This journey is fraught with difficulties and in weeks like the last week, I forget my achievements so far, and I despair of it. But the alternative is…there is no alternative. So pity party and rant over. Back to talking it one day at a time, carefully monitoring and tweaking my food plan, exercising hard and telling myself that the changes I’m making in my life are lifetime plans, not merely until I get to a certain dress size.

But it will be so bloody helpful to keep seeing consistent results that reflect all my hard work!

 For more on health and fitness or just for a place to vent some steam, check out http://www.tearingmyhairout.com/

We’ve done all sorts, boxing for the first time with me standing on my crutches instead of our usual seated position, very hard and challenging; working out with the fitball on wet grass, wild winds and light rain, and throwing balls; trying to hit make-shift cricket stumps which was just another excuse for cricket obsessed Michael to try and convince me that his favourite game isn’t just the dullest ever.

Having not learnt his lessons last week, where he declared that I would never be able to hit the stumps, and I did on my second thrown and two other times including with a left hand throw, Michael decided today (his rules not mine) that he would do 5 press-ups in the wet ground if I managed to hit the stumps. 15 press-ups later…I’m LMAO!

I enjoyed that last wicked laugh after Michael asked me today if I was taking the pathetic pills. The cheeky so and so. But don’t go feeling sorry for me just yet, I give just as good as I get!

For more on health and fitness or just for a place to vent some steam, check out http://www.tearingmyhairout.com/

The first good news is that I’ve today FINALLY (!!) lost exactly 32 kg, 70.4 lbs, 5.03 stones since my weight loss quest which started end of August 2008. I’m mega chuffed and grateful to all. This is a marathon and not a sprint. I still have a long way ahead but I can only take it one day at a time.

The last couple of weeks, especially this week, have been very hard. But even in the darkness of this week, I can be grateful about the positive changes in my life. Two years ago or so, this sort of week would have been “cheered up” with salty Chinese takeaways, pizzas and a big box of Belgium chocolate or two. But instead of relying on food for comfort, in my darkness, I continued with my exercise regime and food. Things culminated on Wednesday when my 30 minutes plus cycling on my exercise bike was done crying and singing to my angst partner, ABBA’s The Winner Takes it All. It could have been worse though because it could have been that favourite, Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive, my ultimate angst companion!

Sometimes in life, you’ve just got to ride the blues, wallow a little bit in misery and then hopefully find solutions to your problems, dust yourself off and get on with it. But enough of all that gloom, let’s celebrate some good news.

I’ve finally lost 5 stones!!! OMG!!!!

The last couple of weeks have been amazing working out with Michael. We’ve done all sorts ranging from him kneeling on a fitball whilst we box, the challenge being to knock him off the fitball. Try as I did, and as motivated as I was to see him flat on his arse, with my heart rate once going up to 171 BPM, as I boxed my little hands off, I’m sad to report that I couldn’t knock him off the fitball and that smug smile on his face. The boy is fit!

I guess other things I love about Michael, other than the fact that working out is fun, and we have a laugh, are that he keeps things fresh, challenges me, and makes me do things that improve my life on a practical level, as a disabled person.

Having practised ways of getting up from floor to chair in the comfort of our work-out area, on one of our outside sessions, Michael decided to make me get up from the grass in my back garden on to my wheelchair. That day, as I laid on the grass in my garden in the beautiful sunshine, and looked up at the sky, I felt indescribable joy and a sense of achievement. It was the first time in the 6 years we had lived in our house, that I had laid on that grass.

Having determined that I could sit on the grass and be able to get up, on another session, Michael decided to box from the grass! Sounds easy but was actually much harder than our boxing which would usually take place with me sitting on my wheelchair because of the lack of movement or momentum helping the swing.

I appreciate that this blog is becoming a Michael love-fest, but I think we ought to give praise where praise is due. Sometimes, I think that my work-out with Michael have gone far beyond merely exercising with a personal trainer with a view to improving fitness and losing weight. Our sessions have often resulted in practical things that are helping rehabilitate and enhance my life as a severely disabled person who rely heavily on using a wheelchair and less so on crutches.

My independence has been significantly reduced by the fact that I had stopped driving our car. I’ve driven twice in the last two years. Driving our car independently, involves being able to lift my wheelchair which weighs about 15 kg or more into the car. I had lost confidence doing this because it means balancing on my unsteady legs and had even lost confidence driving. At one point, I also had pains which prevented the sort of awkward lifting putting the wheelchair in the car entails. I mentioned this to Michael on Tuesday (we meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays), and on Thursday, he decided that part of our session will involve practising techniques for lifting the wheelchair.

In our indoor session, we practiced lifting the wheelchair but action man Michael decided that we should go outside and have a real-life practice lifting the chair into the car and we did! Great, tick that box!

With the wheelchair secured in the boot of the car, I did not anticipate his next suggestion to drive the car that I hadn’t driven in 7 months! But off we went for a little drive down the road.

Michael’s temperament, enthusiasm and excitement mean that he will make a great injury or sports rehabilitation therapist. I know that he has changed my life, in more ways than I ever imagined possible the day I decided to find a personal trainer from a Google search!

Thank you Michael but come on, let’s make it 5 ½ stones!!!

For more on health and fitness or just for a place to let out steam, check out www.tearingmyhairout.com

Not all bad news though, the good news is that I soldiered on and didn’t allow the weight-gain to derail my weight loss efforts and even better news is that the excess weight gain seem to be shifting, so fingers crossed it’s all good to go.

 For more on health and fitness or just for a place to vent some steam, check out http://www.tearingmyhairout.com/