Good food and a healthy heart

Today marked day three of all out training and my body is pretty sore but constantly feeling more resilient. Today was a test of eating choices as two of three meals were eaten out but it's amazing what you can find in restaurants if you start looking. I had wonderful fresh fruit with lunch and fresh avacados on my salad at dinner. Years of eating fried and fast food have really caught up with me as witnessed in my poor performance in these early workouts so it's really nice to rediscover good wholesome food. It's also fascinating to watch how my body performs with better fuel. Becky from FT is helping me with online diet journaling and she suggested Monday night that my time between meals was too long. Yesterday and today I added several pieces of fruit over the course of the day and my energy was markedly higher. I'm also eating less at my meals and not walking away from the table hungry.

To compensate for soreness, the trainer and I avoided major work on my legs at workout this afternoon opting for an upper-body and core workout along with a good cardio session. The diversity of exercises was very engaging and my heart rate stayed up even though we were doing exercised aimed more at strength training. For those of you who are reading along and looking for pointers, here's the biggest ah-ha for me so far. Wear a heart rate monitor when you work out. Some excercises that are tough on your muscles aren't that hard on your heart. I recalled today that several years back I got in a very steady "workout" routine. I did quite a bit of weightlifting and very limited cardio and hoped my weight would trim back. I now realize that in spite of gaining strength and muscle mass, I wasn't working my heart enough to keep it healthy or lose weight. With no weight loss, I eventually got frustrated and gave up on the program. Heart rate monitors are relatively inexpensive and are very telling about workout intensity and cardiovascular health. They are easy and painless to wear. You can pick one up in about any sporting goods store.

One other thing, for those who think personal training and gyms are for roided out meatheads, think again. Since starting the workouts, I've run into friends and colleagues and I've seen people of all ages and shapes and sizes working to build their personal health. We live in a society that seems to have forgotten that little more than 100 years ago, many of us were growers, hunters, or gatherers. Our bodies are designed to be active and they get pissed when we let them get out of shape. The soreness that I feel now is a constant reminder to never let myself fall this far out of shape again. I look forward to a day when I can look back at this week as the turning point for my personal health. That alone is motivation to keep charging forward.