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Fifteen pounds might not seem like much, but for a newbie to boot camp completing bicep curls with that amount of weight proved challenging Friday morning.

To be honest, the 鈥渟low burn鈥� strengthening workout I completed under the direction of Darnelle Moore at on Fraser Street Friday morning was a killer despite the fact no aerobic exercises were involved. And I thought I hated running.

Darnelle described the class as 鈥渒icking it up a notch.鈥� I describe it as heave inducing. I find slow, isolated exercises the toughest, so almost gave up on the reverse push-ups we were instructed to do. But I鈥檓 determined to make this work so I gave the reverse push-ups a try. While I鈥檓 sure it wasn鈥檛 pretty, I managed to complete a handful鈥攂ut only to my knees. The toe version will (hopefully) come later.

I鈥檓 trying to change my attitude about my weekly workouts and exercise from completely dread to anticipation. I have to admit I鈥檓 not there yet.

I鈥檓 now attending 7 a.m. boot camp classes Mondays and Fridays at Eastside Fitness, walking three times a week, incorporating a fairly steep hill into two of those walks, and completing push-ups three times a week.

I lost another two pounds last week and one more this past week, but more importantly I鈥檓 wearing jeans I haven鈥檛 had on for a while. As a matter of fact I surpassed one of my 鈥渓ong-term鈥� goals I set with registered holistic nutritionist by fitting into my favourite jeans this week. That was a goal I was hoping to reach two or three weeks from now, so that was inspiring.

Of course my partner, who鈥檚 been great about supporting my efforts and who鈥檚 taken on the role of head healthy cook at our place, is on the last notch on his belt and his jeans are hanging so low he looks like a rapper. No one can tell me men don鈥檛 lose weight faster than women. And it鈥檚 not fair. He鈥檚 not even going to boot camp.

But he is making the most delicious meals from my program recipe book. For a guy best known for his chili and barbecue prowess, I鈥檝e been blown away by his chicken with red lentils, pork and veggies skewers with home-made peanut sauce and squash lasagna.

During my consultation with Susan this week, we talked about making calories count. Counting calories is not a big part of the WOW! Program, instead the focus is on healthy choices and portion control. Susan gave me a handout with photographs making the link between food and what it takes to burn calories off. For example, a 115-gram bran muffin might seem like a good choice, but not so much when you consider it has 410 calories on average, which would take one hour and 45 minutes of strength training to burn off. That鈥檚 exactly what I had for breakfast after my boot camp class last Friday, but now I鈥檓 going to have to plan better for those days and make sure I鈥檝e got the appropriate food, such as oatmeal and yogurt, ready to eat just as soon as I鈥檓 done exercising.

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Twitter: @sthomas10