Week 30

This is the second week of Briana's new workout routine. We are now doing 15 minutes on the treadmill to warm up, 35 minutes of exercises, followed by another five minutes on the treadmill to finish. Her exercise sequences consists of Pilates tower exercises, hand weights, and cardio bursts. I am giving her little time to rest between sets so that she keeps her heart rate up to trigger her metabolism. I have also added in two rounds of stairs for her at the end of her hand weight sequence. The first week of this new program was challenging. Briana tired quickly and kept wanting to rest between exercises. I did my best to keep the resting moments short, but she became very irritable. "I refuse," she said when I asked her to do a second set of power circle exercises with her arms. I tried to talk her into it. I tried cheering her on for encouragement. Nothing worked. She crossed her arms and said, "You can't make me do it." "Okay," I replied. We will move on to the next exercise then." "No. No. I can do it," she said to me. This happened a few more times during the workout and I finally said, "Briana, you seem really upset today. Should I call your mom and ask her to get you early?" "Oh no, no, no. I'm sorry. I'm just so tired," she answered. "I know you're tired, but I am so proud of you for not giving up," I encouraged. "Your body is working extra hard to learn these new exercises and to not rest as often. I know it is hard, but you can do it." So, we made it through the week, each day getting a little easier for her than the previous one. Which means, that as we entered Week 30, I felt confident that she would do a great job. When I saw her on Tuesday, it was time to weigh in again. After two weigh-ins of two pounds or less, I was nervous. Briana was nervous, too. She climbed onto the scale and I took a look. I asked her to step off and get on one more time just to be sure. I looked at the numbers again and they were the same. Briana now weighed 182 pounds! She had lost five pounds in two weeks! We were both ecstatic. She gave me a huge hug and asked if she could make her calls. She called her program first. "Are you sitting down?" she asked when they answered the phone. "You better sit down to hear this. I lost five more pounds for a total of 45 pounds!" she exclaimed. She made the same call to her mom and was thrilled at how happy her mom was to hear the news. Making her mom proud is her number one goal in this journey. When her mom is happy and proud, Briana has awesome workouts. Which means Tuesday was no exception. She got through the treadmill without a complaint. She did all of her exercises without becoming frustrated. She tackled the stairs with enthusiasm, then finished strong on the treadmill once more. I told her that I was proud and happy with her hard work. "I am definitely going to be in the fashion show now," she told me as we finished our session. "I'm getting skinny and I feel healthy now." Being healthy is what this is all about, Briana, I thought to myself. I gave her a hug and told her I would see her the next day for another great workout.