Week 5: where my PT tried to find my core.

"Hi Lisa, all set for today. We have a fun session planned!" I'm not sure if he's joking. Fun?
my weight loss journey journal week 5 - a personal training session
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Week 5: Monday 8th - Sunday 14th February 2021
See more weekly weight loss journey posts here
See key weight loss milestones here
Weight Loss Milestones - My Strongest Self
Summary of the key moments in my weight loss journey, including before and after pictures, and weight loss statistics.
Weight Loss Journal - My Strongest Self
A set of weekly posts, diarising my journey towards losing 20 kilos of weight, through transforming my eating and exercising habits.

A fun session

Wednesday is a personal training session day, this time late in the afternoon at 4pm, giving me more time during the day to accumulate an increasing sense of dread of what is to come. My PT sends me a message first thing in the morning:

"Hi Lisa, all set for today. We have a fun session planned!"

I'm not sure if he's joking. Fun? I'm not sure in what way these sessions could be described as fun? Maybe he means fun for him, whilst watching me struggle & slowly die?

He must be being sarcastic!

Unless he's bringing tea and cake and we're not actually doing any exercises today. I puzzle over the possibility of a fun session all morning. When I arrive I'm quick to query the 'fun' thing...

"Is it really going to be fun?" I ask. "Or were you joking?"

He laughs, with a shifty looking half-grin on his face.

"Well, yes, it will sort of be fun. Well, I think it will be fun. Of course, it will be hard. It has to be hard."

As it turns out, the session definitely isn't fun.

A ten tonne weight bar

He has me doing squats and step-ups. Which would be fine. Except that he has me doing these squats and step-ups whilst carrying a ten tonne weight bar on my shoulders.

I nearly died.

At the end of this set of exercises my PT has the cheek to ask me where I'm feeling the pain. Really? I'm carrying ten tonnes of metal on my shoulders and he's wondering where I'm feeling it?

"You may feel a little soreness in your shoulders tomorrow," he says.


My final PT session of the week is on Sunday. I find myself nervously worrying about what 'fun' he may have in store for me this time. At least the session is back to an earlier time of 11.15am, meaning there's not too much time to dwell on what lays ahead.

It turns out that what lays ahead is an excessive amount of running and star-jumping. Apparently, the aim is to keep me moving all the time in this session, with very little rest time.

More core exercises

In between all of the running and star-jumping I am faced with having to do a ridiculous amount of these so-called core exercises. You may remember that last week my instructor made an attempt to find and 'engage' my core. I don't think he succeeded last week - but he seems relentlessly determined to find and work those muscles today.

I felt like I nearly died again in today's session. But apparently I did well. The session follow-up text I received later in the day was as follows:

Hi Lisa, fantastic session today. Really happy with today!! Well done!!!!!

It's like being at school again - but instead of getting smiley face stickers on your work, my PT gives out exclamation marks - and the more the better! The fact that I got seven exclamation marks in one text makes me think that I must have done OK.

Weekly food diary

This week I have been eating...

Monday

Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two or three cups of black coffee throughout the morning.

Snack: None today.

Lunch: Mindful Chef's salmon with basil pesto, and bubble and squeak (one third of a two portion recipe).

Snack: Two cups of tea, each with a dash of milk. One orange.

Dinner: Mindful Chef's harissa pork meatballs with parsley millett.

Snack: A small bowl of bran flakes - with oat milk and a small sprinkling of raisins.

Tuesday

Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two or three cups of black coffee throughout the morning.

Snack: Two spoonfuls of grain free granola mix.

Lunch: Mindful Chef's salmon with basil pesto, and bubble and squeak (one third of a two portion recipe).

Snack: One cup of tea with a dash of milk. One orange.

Dinner: Mindful Chef's massaman beef steak curry with roasted butternut.

Snack: A small bowl of bran flakes - with oat milk and a small sprinkling of raisins.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two or three cups of black coffee throughout the morning.

Snack: Two spoonfuls of grain free granola mix.

Lunch: Mindful Chef's sweet potato and ginger rostis (one third of a two portion recipe).

Snack: One cup of tea with a dash of milk. One orange.

Dinner: Mindful Chef's massaman beef steak curry with roasted butternut.

Snack: A small bowl of bran flakes - with oat milk and a small sprinkling of raisins.

Thursday

Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two pieces of buttered toast with marmite (brown granary bread). Two or three cups of black coffee throughout the morning.

Snack: Two spoonfuls of grain free granola mix.

Lunch: Mindful Chef's sweet potato and ginger rostis (one third of a two portion recipe).

Snack: One cup of tea with a dash of milk.

Dinner: Mindful Chef's speedy Moroccan lentil spinach stew with rice.

Snack: A small bowl of bran flakes - with oat milk and a small sprinkling of raisins.

Friday

Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two or three cups of black coffee throughout the morning.

Snack: Two spoonfuls of grain free granola mix. One spoonful of plain yoghurt.

Lunch: Mindful Chef's sweet potato and ginger rostis (one third of a two portion recipe).

Snack: None today.

Dinner: Mindful Chef's speedy Moroccan lentil spinach stew with rice.

Snack: A small bowl of bran flakes - with oat milk and a small sprinkling of raisins.

Saturday

Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. Two or three cups of black coffee throughout the morning.

Snack: Two spoonfuls of grain free granola mix. One spoonful of plain yoghurt.

Lunch: Mindful Chef's cod with spicy butter beans and lemon yoghurt (one third of a two portion recipe).

Snack: One spoonful of grain free granola mix. Two cups of tea, each with a dash of milk.

Dinner: Mindful Chef's pork valentine and sauteed potatoes with kale salsa verde.

Snack: A small bowl of bran flakes - with oat milk and a small sprinkling of raisins.

Sunday

Breakfast: Muesli with oat milk. One cup of black coffee.

Snack: Two spoonfuls of grain free granola mix. One spoonful of plain yoghurt.

Lunch: Mindful Chef's cod with spicy butter beans and lemon yoghurt (one third of a two portion recipe).

Snack: One spoonful of grain free granola mix. Two cups of tea, each with a dash of milk.

Dinner: Mindful Chef's pork valentine and sauteed potatoes with kale salsa verde.

Snack: A small bowl of bran flakes - with oat milk and a small sprinkling of raisins.

Closing thoughts on this week

Exercise definitely isn't 'fun' and I think my PT may have a secret agenda of trying to kill me.

Up next: my weight loss journey week 6

Week 6: where I took a bath.
Monday is the day after the session where my PT was determined to find and work my core muscles. It turns out that he succeeded.
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Lisa

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