Feel the Burn!

Jeremiah and I have spent the majority of our evenings this week at the gym. On Monday, we met with a personal trainer and he showed us a variety of strength/free weight exercises that he wants us to do twice weekly. I've always thought that I had decent core strength (I'm a fan of pilates!) but the ab work he had us doing was extremely difficult--and the lunges and squats, though they didn't feel as hard--had us hurting for days afterward (we could hardly do stairs!). We took Tuesday off to recover, and Wednesday we went back for more punishment--and we also bought heart rate monitors, which are really quite cool. Next week we'll each be taking two tests--the first to determine how many calories our bodies need on both exercise and non-exercise days; the second to determine what our heart rate needs to be during exercise to optimize our fat burn. I'm really excited about finding out that information. Over the last few years, my sisters, friends Rachelle and Betsy, and I have spent countless hours discussing the most effective modes of weight loss. With these tests, Jeremiah and I will have an actual formula to follow rather than (somewhat) educated guesses!

So that's our life as of late. I have to say that I'm fully enjoying getting back into exercise--I have so much more energy and feel way better!

What are your plans for the weekend? Jeremiah and I are celebrating Valentine's Day early by heading up to Duluth on Saturday, where we'll be staying at the AG Thompson House B&B--we're both really looking forward to it! After staying in a B&B in Duluth for our "mini-moon" we've decided that B&Bs are way better than hotels (and often times, no more expensive!) and we'd like to travel around and visit different ones all over the country. While we're in Duluth, we're also planning on checking out the Great Lakes Aquarium and a comedy club. I can't wait! Duluth is so beautiful and really reminds me of Marquette. Ah, Marquette. I really miss it there.

I'll post again after the weekend when I'll (hopefully!) have some pictures. Have a great weekend!