Day 1 at the gym with my Polar Watch

I LOVE THIS THING! I wish I would have invested in this watch MONTHS ago!

Today at work,I was telling the exercise guru in my department about my purchase and using it at Zumba last night. I told her I could not wait to go to the gym tonight to see how many calories I would burn. My biggest calorie burn so far had been 800 calories. This number was compiled from all the "machines" at the gym that record how many calories you are burning. Well my co-worker then burst my bubble. She told me those machines can not be trusted because it is based on an average person. She of course is petite so she said the machines always say she is burning more calories than her watch would show. Before talking to her, I had set myself a goal to burn 1000 calories tonight. After talking to her, I decided I did not want to set myself up for failure, so I set my goal at 600.

When I first got there, I jumped on the Stepper as usual. I was determined to go 20 minutes AND I did. I went 50 stories in that 20 minutes, 1 mile in the sky. : ) The machine said I burned 140 calories -- my watch --- OVER 200. I don't remember the total amount because my watch keeps track of it all for me. I did not stop it after each exercise, I just kept letting it rake up the calories. When I got off that stepper I was dripping with sweat. I went to the rest room and put a wet towel to my face, then headed for the treadmill.

In my preparation for the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge, I upped the incline to an even higher incline than I had done before a 4.5. I was lucky, tv right in front of me was showing Texas Hold 'em. I was like YES, that will take my mind off the workout. I decided to get off the treadmill after 30 minutes because my toes on my right foot were SCREAMING! I jumped off and looked at my watch -- OVER 600 calories. HOLY COW -- I have only been here almost an hour and I have already made the goal I had set for myself.

Next I went and did the weights for about 30 minutes. I went to the gym about an hour earlier than I usually do tonight and there were TONS of people there. So the weight machine for Crunches -- everyone loves that one. I had to get on the Harder Crunch machine where you are actually lifting your legs too. You know the whole seat moves. That was an awesome burn!

I don't quite remember what my calorie count was when I headed to rowing machine. Since I had my watch to keep track of the calories, I chose to do "the fishing game" on the rower. Basically you have to get out of the way of the Black Fish. You move your fish on the left by how hard you are pulling the row (if that is what you even call it). I was concentrating so hard on getting out of those black fish way, I have no idea how long I was on there. LOL. I do know that I was grunting and carrying on. LOL. I laugh about it now, but at the time, I did not CARE who heard me. I was trying to rack of the points. I did the game twice and if I had to guess, I bet each game last 5 minutes. After I got off, my watch said that I was OVER 900 calories burned!

Headed to my favorite exercise, the stationary bike with a fan. I decided to set it at Level 8, Random Hill, for 40 minutes. I stayed going pretty fast the entire time until after about 18 minutes and the hills got intense. There was nothing on the tv's in front of me, but luckily the lady next to me started talking to me so it made the time pass. She was quite comical. She was looking at a magazine and at times she was so into it, she was not even pedaling hard enough for the machine to register. I don't see how these people can sit there and read a book. I guess I still, as my fellow blogger puts it, jiggle too much. : ) I wouldn't be able to see the words without getting a headache. LOL. Anyway, she had some magazine that had an article on that lady that is wanting to become the Biggest Woman in the World. That is so sad. What an ambition? I think she is looking for a reason to EAT BAD and LOTS of it! No way! I cringe to think about pallbearers at my funeral straining to carry my coffin. I know that is morbid, but can you imagine? I bet she does not even live long enough to reach her goal. I feel bad for her. The Biggest Loser ought to give her another way to be popular, a change of life style!! Hopefully she will come to the light of things before it is too late.

I stayed on the bike my 40 minutes going a total of 11 miles. And what was the total after I got off the bike? 1375!!!! I did not even know that was possible, but I guess if you are an obese female my size moving that much, it's possible. For those of you not familiar with the Heart Rate Monitor watches, during set up, you enter your weight, birthday (so it can determine your age), height, sex, and today's date. There may be a few other things that I am forgetting. Then I have a chest strap that has a little computer in the middle that communicates with my watch. It keeps track of my heart rate. What I was not expecting that was cool, is it also communicates with all the machines at the gym. You know how on the treadmill for example how it has the part where you hold your hands on it to find out your heart rate? Well I did not have to do that on ANY machine tonight. It automatically showed up on all the machines. At first I was puzzled on the stepper wondering how it was getting a heart rate because I have never seen a place on there to find it. But I looked at my watch and sure enough they matched. What an added bonus I wasn't expecting. So at the end of each workout, the machine gives you the summary, you know for sure the heart rate they posted was your highest during that workout because it kept track of it the whole time, not just when you touched that special spot. At the end of my gym experience, my watch told me that my heart rate averaged 145 the whole time I was there and the highest it got was 158. When I got off that bike -- my butt was asleep. LOL. So I did some stretches, and headed out the door.

Next to the gym is a Taco Bueno. I was really hungry and thought about driving through and getting me a nacho salad. I got on my phone and googled the calories and even if I omitted some of the items, it was going to be 600 calories. HECK NO! Not after the workout I just got. I did not go there! During my workout I drank all 64 ounces of my water and I was still thirsty so I drove through Sonic to get a Large water with lemon. The drive thru attendant was taking his sweet time so I had PLENTY of time to look over the entire menu. I was so hungry. What did I decide upon you ask? Apple slices with Fat Free Caramel. It was good! I enjoyed ever bite. Once I got home I put a couple of pork chops on the George Forman and had some veggies for a whopping 320 calories.

What a GREAT NIGHT!!! I can not wait to see how many calories I burn tomorrow night when Holly and I go walking. : ) I totally suggest everyone get a HRM watch!