EDITOR’S NOTE: Jeanette Balmut has been selected to participate in the Year of You, a fitness challenge hosted by The Manteca Bulletin, CalFit Manteca and CORE Athletic Performance. Balmut is keeping a weekly journal, highlighting the strides and struggles of her fitness journey.

Day 253

This week is going to be a good one.  I have four days of working out hard and then four days of VEGAS BABY!  Our first trip to Vegas and we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary and our daughters 21st birthday.  Excited! I meet up with Javi for our first workout of the week.  Like usual, he kicks my butt.  We do legs, and lots of them.  Many of you saw the video we posted on the CalFit FB page.  I have to admit, I made it look easy on the video — ot was anything but!  It was so hard.  But it did it and that is all that matters!  By the time the work out is over, I’m shaking.  I finish strong with a good one hour of cardio.

Day 254

Just cardio today.  I decide before going it’s going to be a seven mile day.  I end up pushing myself and get just over the seven mile mark.  I leave feeling proud. We make grilled chicken, Brussel sprouts and a big salad for dinner.

Day 255

My last day of cardio with Javi for the next five days.  He tells me its circuit day and you know what that means…hard!  He sets me up with five stations and we do them all three times.  Run, deadlifts, weights with arm workout, squats with weights and then finish with the medicine ball throws and burpees.  I get my cardio in like a good girl and then go home to a good dinner cooked by Mike.  

Day 256

I have all my packing, the last few errands to run and then hit the gym late for a final workout before leaving in the morning for Vegas.  I stick to my cardio and complete five miles.  It’s a fend-for-yourself kind of night and I just make a salad with chicken.  I am gearing up for the weekend and know that I will be struggling to eat right.  Steven, the owner of CalFit, has encouraged me to relax and enjoy my time away from the gym: “Don’t freak out about missing the workouts and not being good.”  He said my body needs a rest and it will work that much harder when I am home.  Let my body actually miss it. Ok, I will do that!  I was originally planning on doing the whole gym thing at the hotel, but after hearing that I decided to do what I am told and just enjoy four days off! 

Day 257-260

This is our much anticipated trip to Vegas; we are gone from Friday morning till Monday night.  We have a great time, we eat, drink, splurge, dance, enjoy and I finally get my BRUNCH BUFFET on Sunday morning.  I am a happy woman!  We arrive home and the first thing I do is head for the scale.  OMG, how can I gain SEVEN POUNDS in four days?  How is that possible?  I am so upset.  I get ready for my workout with Javi and head to the gym for my Monday afternoon session.  He tells me I am extremely dehydrated…of course….the bottles of water in Vegas were $8.00 each, I only had two all weekend!  I can barely do any lifts and I struggle on everything else.  He assures me this is normal and that I have muscle memory that will kick in and I will snap right back….I am counting on it!  I complete my training with Javi and head to the treadmill where I finish with 2.5 miles.  I get home and grab Mike and we head to the grocery store to stock up for the week.   We finish our night with chicken stir-fry and crash early.  LONG WEEKEND!