M. the [To Be Determined]

I'm just back from my first appointment with M., my new trainer. My fourth trainer. Heh. If you had told me four years ago that I'd go through all of this weight-loss stuff with four different personal trainers, I wouldn't have believed you. And yet, here I am.

The verdict after one hour with him: I like him. He seems nice, and he's reasonable ("Of course you can have a piece of pie on Thanksgiving. I let myself have a cheeseburger every Friday as a reward for working hard and eating well the rest of the week!"). He is a stickler for form, which is good. Today we spent the majority of the appointment taking measurements (it's always interesting having a guy measuring your neck, bust, waist, hips, legs and arms upon first meeting you) and discussing diet regime.

From now on, my morning bowl of Kashi is out and eggs are in. I can scramble them with veggies and all that good stuff. And from now on, I need to make a protein shake and drink it twice a day. Fruit, veggies, protein powder and flax seed. This is to be consumed between my three daily meals. I'm also adding fish oil pills to each meal.

The most important thing we agree on, however, is my ultimate goal. He asked me what my overall goal is and I told him that originally, it had been 130 pounds, but after seven months of working with Gershom, it had changed to "wherever my body tells me to stop." If that is 140, that's fine, but I want to ultimately determine my goal weight by getting to a point where I'm at peak fitness and my healthiest habits; that point where my body levels off at a certain weight and seems content to stay there. M. said, "Good!" and admitted that he hates setting goal weights because it is such a hard number to calculate, and different for everyone. He told me I have the right attitude about approaching working out and eating (thank you Gershom, that's all on you, buddy).

My workout today was just a series of basic, simple moves--a pull-up, a squat, a push-up and a lunge. He wanted to watch my form and see what I'm capable of. He seemed impressed with my form overall, and only made some minor corrections here and there. Tomorrow, we'll meet again and do a full workout. I will definitely be sweating then.

I told him that I have a blog, and that I blog about my weight loss adventures regularly. "I never use the full name of my trainers in it, just their initial and a nickname. I've had B. the Sadist, C. the Sweetie, and Gershom was G. the Meanie. You, I haven't determined yet." He laughed out loud and said, "Give it some time, you'll figure something out for me."

I think we'll be a good match. He will make me work, he will monitor my eating habits, and he will be honest with me when I need blunt honesty.

Now, the admission: I weighed in at 173.4 today. Compared to the 160 pounds I weighed at my last appointment with Gershom a year-and-a-half ago, this is bad (though I still fit in the clothes I was wearing then, for the most part). Compared to the 180+ I was secretly dreading, it's good. Either way, it was the first time in ages I've weighed and it's good to know where I'm at and what I need to do. That weight is coming off, my friends, and it will not come back.