Don't Bugg Me!

I received many unique gifts this past Christmas as some of you may remember from one of my posts, but this year I got something I've wanted for awhile.

I'm a huge reality-tv fan, although I am trying to limit myself somewhat. (No Dancing With the Stars for me this year! Way to take a stand!) But one show I can't resist is The Bigget Loser. I would love to have Jillian come in and train my, excuse me, behind.  Last Christmas Mr. Tennis, at my request got me a Jillian Wii program, but it was just not motivating.  Digital Jillian was a poor substitute. Although I liked hearing her yell at me. JK

Besides, I have my own "Jillian".  I have a good friend, Maria, who has helped me get in shape the last 4-5 years.  She looks better than Jillian, is more "mature" and doesn't yell except when she's teaching a class.  She has helped me shed about 60 lbs overall and get in the best shape of my adult life.  If Maria lived with me 24/7 I would look absolutely stunning, but, hey, I like to eat real food and I just don't have her willpower when it comes to food and wine.

Mr. Tennis and I joined a new gym last summer and it just happens to be the one featured in the Biggest Loser shows.  I swear it was a coincidence!  But meeting Shaq while we took the tour kinda sealed the deal for Mr. T.  Besides we pay half of what we paid at our old gym and this one is cleaner, has better classes, and, okay, this was a big selling point, my personal Jillian, Maria, is an instructor there. 

I take water aerobics, body sculpting, kickboxing and boot camp with Maria. She manages to get me to do things I never thought I was capable of doing - ever!  I should be a physical specimen, but alas, I have my weaknesses and so I had to call in some extra support.  I asked Mr. Tennis for something for Christmas that I hope will help me go that last leg of my "get in shape" journey.  And he and Santa delivered!

I'm excited to say, I have a BodyBugg.  No, not the flu, but a little device that I wear on my arm and it measures the amount of calories I burn.  It even calculates how many I burn just sleeping at night (over 600, apparently).  I'm not quite sure how this little bugg works exactly, but I connect it to my computer to download the info it has recorded while I'm wearing it.  The computer has my height, weight (no I will not reveal that) and resting pulse rate.  You can also add body mass index (BMI) and fat %, but I don't have that info.  So I imagine it takes all of those into consideration to make it's calculations.

I took Maria's body sculpting class last week and my bodybugg said I burned about 950 calories during that.  Then I took her kickboxing class on Saturday and it said I burned 750 calories.  Her kickboxing class is much more challenging for me, but the sculpting class involves weights, but less cardio.  I thought my calorie expenditure would be the reverse between the two of those. Hmmmm.



Anyway, the idea is to monitor how many calories you burn throughout a day and then tailor your caloric intake so you lose weight.  So, that is what I intend to do.  Now, how do I convince Maria, or Jillian, to move in with me, prepare my food and tell what to eat and not to eat?