The Kettlebell...

I have a very interesting job.  I work for a family business that makes high end mirrors and furniture, mainly for interior designers in London.  I love my job - it allows me to be creative, to get involved with the design process and to work with some seriously talented people.  Because it's a family business, I actually work in the owner's home - which carries with it all kinds of experiences!  The owners are now in their 60's, but living with them is my boss's 86 year old mother, my boss's sister and her husband (three days per week), two lodgers (one Dutch, one Bulgarian) and my boss's 30 year old daughter, who has recently qualified as a personal trainer (very handy!).

The daughter has just taken on a couple of clients and is slowly building her range of equipment.  One of the items that had all of us in the office intrigued yesterday was a large grey kettlebell.  I must admit I'm not overly familiar with kettlebells - my knowledge of them is pretty much limited to Katie at Runs for Cookies' review of The Swing book.  However I tried picking the various weights up and swinging them to see how it felt.  She had ordered four in total at different weights and in pretty pastel colours, but the beastie was the grey one - this is the one that I could just about pick up and carry to the next room.  It weighed 20kgs.

Then it hit me.  20kgs is the amount of weight I have lost!  It was completely amazing to me that the weight that I was struggling to lift and carry to the next room is precisely the amount of weight I had been carrying around on my body!  I seriously think that everyone who has lost a significant amount of weight should try this from time to time, just to remind them of how far they've come!

I'm on a bit of a high at the moment, as you maybe could tell.  Having a good weigh in will do that to you!  Ask me again when I've busted my ass and didn't lose an ounce and I'm sure my opinion will be different!  However, in addition to having a good weigh in, a number of people have commented on my weight loss recently and I'm obviously finding this very encouraging.  Even my son tonight told me that my tummy was "less flubby" than it used to be :-).  So, it got me thinking about progress.  I have put up a new photo showing me just before the start of my journey and then a photo that my son took of me tonight.  Clearly I still have a ways to go, but I'm pleased with the difference so far.

I was also thinking of how much of this progress, or elated feeling, is due to my exercise programme of the 30 Day Shred.  Every night, with the exception of a few days in Chester, I have shredded.  Next Tuesday is my last scheduled shredding day (watch this space for before and after measurements!), and I'm a little bit worried about what to do next!  I like the idea of having something that I know I have to do every night - it's a goal - I'm obviously not under contract to do it, but I only let myself down if I don't.  I've been looking at getting another Jillian Michael's workout, including one with a kettlebell (though I would not use the 20kg weight!!).  I haven't made a decision yet, but I know that I want to continue my daily exercise routine for sure.

So, some questions to my readers!  What is your daily exercise routine?  Is there a fitness DVD that you recommend?  Finally, how do you measure your own weight loss progress - is it purely personal, or do you not feel that you've 'progressed' until others start to notice?