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Quest for Skinny Erika: Week 1.

Posted By: Erika Mitchell on 02/05/2011

Hello! My name is Erika Mitchell and I’m a cupcake-loving, exercise-loathing, out-of-shape mother of one who is on a quest. A quest to find out what Skinny Erika looks like.

I gained about 35 pounds while pregnant with my son, who was born in February of last year. Most of that weight…Has not come off. I’ve been breastfeeding him, and about a month ago I was appalled to realize that I was gaining weight.

I figured that if I was gaining weight while burning a crazy number of calories breastfeeding, I was doing something wrong. So I started looking into some options.

I joined a gym and realized I have absolutely no idea how to exercise. Sure, I can climb on a treadmill and usually not fall off, but I had a sneaking suspicion there was a better way to lose my insidious baby weight.

Lucky for me, there are a lot of personal training options in Sammamish (where I’ve lived for a great many years now). I investigated a few of them before connecting with Alan, the owner of Fitness Together Sammamish.

Intrigued by their model of uniting one client with one trainer, I took him up on his offer of a complimentary training session and I was sold. My first session with trainer Donna Kicked. My. Butt. I was sore in muscles I didn’t even know I had!

So now I have help on my quest. This is my first week on the road to finding Skinny Erika, and I’m so grateful to have such excellent help!

I did my Fitness Assessment with trainer Katrena, wherein she took a bunch of measurements of things like my strength, flexibility, heart rate, weight, and fitness level in order to establish a good baseline. She was so encouraging, letting me know that “Everyone’s gotta start somewhere!”

What I particularly liked about this assessment, though, was the psychological aspect of it. Katrena asked me questions about what was happening in my life, stressors, anything that could hinder me from reaching my goals. It’s very helpful to make fitness goals when you take your whole life into account!

Now that you know my story, here’s where I’m starting:

Hip circumference: 48 inches

Waist circumference: 43.3 inches

Thigh circumference measurements: Left 27.2 inches Right 28.3 inches

Weight: 207.4 lbs (clothes on, no shoes)

As you can see, I’ve got some work to do!