It seems as though it should be the simplest thing to do in any given day, but I must admit I have to remind myself repeatedly to drink more water. My nutritionist Leslie Roehrig e-mails me to check on my progress and that’s the first thing she asks: “Lisa, how are you doing with the water?” I explained to her early on about my water issues. When I look at my belly it certainly seems to me like I have been consuming water regularly, but that is not the case. In fact, I am learning that drinking more water-not less, can alleviate this condition. Truthfully, this does not make the idea of drinking more of it, any more alluring to me. I just know-like so many other things in life-it’s just something I have to do.

Now, I keep a bottle of water at my desk at all times, but even though it is sitting right there, I think about other beverages first when I get thirsty. (Funny, since nothing quenches a thirst like water does). My employers even do an excellent job at providing fresh spring water for us in bottles and in a cooler. So, I have no excuse.

According to the American Beverage Association, proper hydration is essential for maintaining body temperature and for transporting oxygen and other important nutrients to our cells. It seems we lose water easily as we perspire, take bathroom breaks, and even just by breathing throughout the day.

If you are taking a posture and core-defining class with John Bolesta, you will often hear him asking this question: Yes, no, maybe? (The “darling” is optional, however). He wants to know if you are feeling “it.” “It,” meaning all the right sensations and tensions in all the right places.

Thankfully, I have been able to say “yes” to his questions more often now that I am in week 3 of my training with him. I am learning to define and isolate the parts of my body that are affecting my posture: Parts like shoulder blades, the rib cage, and my lower abdominals. Most of the ladies I work out with at the Saucon Valley Country Club are better at saying “yes” than I am at this point. They have been with John for some time and usually enjoy every minute of their class with him (except for the 3 minutes of hell, which I will need to get back to explaining later).

What I have learned in these three weeks is that I need to constantly remind myself to create what John calls, “lift and separation.” It seems I have been walking around in a rather blob-like state for many years with my shoulders hunched over and my hips pushed forward which only succeeds in pushing out the lower abdominal region. Yuk! This is one of the reasons why so many people are walking around with belly bulge.

It seems as though I am in a tough battle with my mind about where my body should be as I am only totally coordinating all the right movements about half of the time three weeks into this program. I am getting there-always being mindful that patience is a fitness virtue.

Last night my trainer John Bolesta brought me up to the second floor of the tennis center at Saucon Valley Country Club. The club recently renovated the center to include two first-class floors for fitness: one for classes and free-weight exercise, and the other for circuit training.

I must admit this is where my threshold for exercise is tested. Just looking at this impressive display of equipment-12 state-of-the-art Nautilus machines-for circuit training, I feel incredibly overwhelmed and little bit intimidated. Thank goodness I am working with a trainer, as I have no idea how to even sit on most of these properly.

The Circuit Training Center at SVCC

As we make our way to the first machine, he signals for me to sit down. I signal back in wacky hand gestures that I have no idea how. He laughs. I find I really like working with a trainer. He keeps me focused and allows me to be silly. If I were on my own, by now I would have sat down and tried to pull weight that was way too much for me and I would have been using all the wrong body positions and muscles in the process.

I have now been at this training for one week and have so many ideas and thoughts about this experience running around my brain, I thought I should put them on paper. Here’s my version of paper and of Late Night’s Top 10 List.

10. I constantly have to re-adjust my posture while working.

9. The produce department at Wegmans actually made me salivate the other day. (They also have a kickin’ selection of gluten-free foods.)

8. You don’t have to feel totally debilitated the next day to have had a good workout.

7. I stopped craving sweets 3 days ago.

6. I am extremely uncoordinated so I am having trouble getting the moves down when I am in class. The one-on-one sessions are helping me catch up and my trainer, John Bolesta assures me that I will become better coordinated as I progress.

5. The women in my 8 a.m. class at Saucon Valley Country Club have been very welcoming and supportive. Thanks, Ladies. I appreciate it!

4. I forgot how much I enjoy fresh-cooked beets.

3. My current flexibility is extremely poor. When stretching I can only bend to touch my mid-calf. The goal, of course, will be to touch my toes by the end of 10 weeks.

2. This “program” I am on now never ends. I will need to accept this as a lifestyle change in order to maintain my results.

And my Number One Revelation for the Week of August 9, 2010 is………………

1. At one point last week I thought that I might have to miss a workout and it totally rattled me. Imagine that.

Looking Ahead to Week 2: This week we’ll continue to refine my diet. Lots of healthy whole foods and I hope to get recipes to share. To be continued…

Okay, so I have decided I will make a commitment to work on myself and I am at ground zero. My trainer John Bolesta has spent the first few days of this week accessing my fitness and diet issues, and explaining how core training is most efficient and effective when posture is optimized. (To say John is passionate about posture is like saying Paris Hilton enjoys shopping at Harry Winston.)

My inspiration...

Once I got the 4-1-1 on how he helped transform my friend Jamie, I had many questions for John. He was very careful to explain that while he did help her identify the kinks in her posture and addressed them with a specific set of exercises to help strengthen and straighten her spine, it was up to her to continuously address the posture issues in her daily life and routine. From this she would build a strong core and be better able to maintain her weight as she ages. She has also made many diet modifications to look this great, but nothing good is ever easy.

My trainer...

My assessment yielded that I actually have a slight curve in my spine that is causing me to look like I shift to one side. Ugh! I always knew that my shoulders came forward and I always hated that. I explained that I already do considerable cardio 4-5 times a week and wear weights when I run. While doing those two things correctly can definitely help one achieve a better body, doing them the wrong way, can be counterproductive to your quest for fitness. I have been doing them the wrong way. For someone like me with rounded shoulders and compromised posture, wearing weighs while treadmilling was only serving to “hunch me in” all the more and reinforcing the bad posture issues I have.

John works as a personal trainer at both Saucon Valley and Lehigh Country Clubs, and has spent years perfecting his method of training. Men and women golfers often come to John to improve their game by addressing their posture. (The best pro golfers in the world are noted for their great posture.) I took my first two sessions with him at Saucon Valley this week: one in a class setting and another one-on-one.

John also asked if he could come to my office to evaluate my workstation for posture no-no’s. It seems that all the work I am doing to re-align myself will go for naught if I continue to slump over my computer to work. (As I write this, I have had to correct my seated position four times, but at least I am aware of what I am doing to my body and correcting it. I can see there will come a day where this will just be automatic for me, but right now I really have to concentrate on it.) I needed to address some things at my workstation and add a footrest so that my knees are at the correct height in relation to my hips.

As the week continues, we will further address my diet with a nutritionist. For now, I am weeding out gluten. Wish me luck…