I passed!!!
After 13 months of on-again-off-again studying, $522 for materials, $149 to reschedule my exam, and plenty of stressing I finally took my ACE CPT exam on Monday and was successful on my first try. Thank goodness because I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to fork over the $199 to retake it if I failed. The test was tough but not crazy hard like I was expecting. It definitely helped that I already have AFAA and AEA certifications and a nutrition degree. The process has definitely made me smarter but I have still a lot to learn. I’m looking for a good book or two to expand my new knowledge. I’ve already inspired a fellow fitness instructor and loaned her my materials. But I will probably have to purchase another ACE manual because now I don’t have a reference book.
What’s next? Not sure yet. There are definitely opportunities with the city where I currently teach classes but I am not going to do anything that takes any more time away from work so for now I plan on enlisting Bro and Sis as guinea pigs 🙂 One of the reasons I pursued certification with ACE was so I could apply for a ZES position with Zumba but now that I have it I am definitely chickening out.
In other news…
My weight continues to fluctuate and has not stabilized yet. My diet has been crazy; I have been eating 2500-3500 calories a day, YIKES! I am improving emotionally (baby steps…) and that will help but I have called in reinforcements. I ordered Shaun T.’s new workout Focus T25 and I started taking a new weight loss supplement called XAT-7 (green coffee bean and caffeine based product). I start Focus T25 on Monday. I plan on doing the workouts in the mornings most days and since the workouts are only 25 minutes that should work just fine. The program calls for 2 workouts on Friday so I might split those up and do one in the morning and one in the evening. I ordered some new cross trainers (Asics Gel Intensity 2, the original Intensity is my all-time favorite workout shoe) and I plan on doing the low impact modifications because my right hip and right knee are giving me trouble and I have starting seeing a chiropractor. I suppose the smart thing to do would be not to start the workout right now but seeing as I spent over $200 (I went ahead and got the gamma dvds, too), I am not willing to let it sit around and collect dust.
I hope to start running 2-3 days a week. Actual running outside that is and not on my treadmill. A friend of mine is trying to get a team together for Run or Dye, a 5k race next spring. I haven’t done a 5k in years, 2001 to be exact. I’m probably not too far out of 5k shape, I know I can run two miles at a 9-10 minute/mile pace now. There is a 15k race in February in Nashville, Hot Chocolate 15k. Am I feeling that ambitious? Hmm….It will be good for me to get in some different activities. I know my body is tired of doing the same thing, which is lots of Zumba these days.
My Diet Journey 