First Day with a trainer

Today, I did 200 calories better than yesterday, but still overstepped my caloric goal for the day. I made whole wheat bread today that I knew was really tasty, and so I had 1 and a half slices, eventhough I had already had a carb for dinner, in the form of pasta. Other than that, I did well. This morning, my new personal trainer (PT), Connie, came over and we talked nutrition and fitness. She gave me a kickstart meal guideline, that basically eliminates sugars and fat, while including more essential fats, like the omega oils (flax or fish---hmm flax of course! Last time I tried fish oil, I burped fish ALL. DAY. LONG.). The very restrictive one is only supposed to be during the first month, so I can 'detox', so to speak. Eventually, I can start adding some other things back in so I don't feel so restricted, but still have a better eating lifestyle from now on. One tip that I think will help me is to have my carbs during the day, when I need them for the most activity. She said to try not to have any carbs after 5pm, just having protein and veg for dinner. That is my goal to do that for dinner the rest of the week.
PT Connie also told me that she doesn't want me to use a scale because of a few things: 1. Muscle is heavier than fat 2. She doesn't want me to feel like I'm not making progress if I don't lose 2.3 or more pounds a month. 3. People stress more about pounds than size. She wants me to use the "clothes-o-meter", so that I will see how I'm doing according to how loose my clothes are. She took measurements around my middle at my belly button, widest part of my hips, and the middle of my upper thigh. They are in slightly different places than the measurements I took, except for the hips. She wants me to go by those measurements rather than pounds. However, I feel like I really have a good grasp on the reality of weight loss, and I do truly understand that what the scale says doesn't always reflect the progress that actually goes on in a body becoming healthy, so I will still do my weekly Monday weigh-ins. Here are the measurements she took this morning:
Belly:40
Hips:45.5
Thigh:22.5

She also gave me a list of exercises to do, for both weight training and cardio. I am to do cardio everyday, and weight training every other day. With the cardio, I am supposed to work up to doing a 30 min workout, with a 5 min warm up and cool down, and using the other 20 mins to do Speed Bursts for 2 mins, recover for 2 mins and repeat 5 times. That will totally be intense. When she had me try a couple of each weight exercise, I began to truly feel the punishment for letting my body waste away its muscles. Wow... I was jelly legs, and can still kind of "feel the burn" in my inner right thigh. I know, however, that it won't be like that forever. I'm going to make this happen, and I WILL get stronger. She also told me that I can do abs everyday, if I want to.

Here's a ranch dressing/dip recipe for you that PT Connie says comes from the South Beach diet. It's like dipping your veggies in straight protein.

Fat free cottage cheese
Skim Milk
Packet of ranch dressing mix

Put it all in a blender and mix to desired consistency.

How easy is that! Oh, and I REALLY need to remember to stretch from now on...I'm saying 'ouch', in my head at least, every time I get up to walk.