go to the gym on a regular basis

My Gym membership expired a few days ago and I did not re-up. They did give me a bunch of free passes to come back and visit, though. That was nice of them. :)

I really HAVE done it – several times in the past six years. I have gone in and out of getting to the gym regularly and I do weigh less now than when I first went in 2002.

I will leave this on my list for another couple months – until my membership expires in late November – and see if I can add a few more entries to this by then.

This goal seems like drugery now. I have a lot of other ways to exercise these days, so specifically GOING to the overcrowded, weird-smelling, uncomfortable gym around the corner is just not all that attractive to me anymore.

My goal for the next 2 months is to just go anyway once a week. Maybe on Wednesdays. That would mean I have to go today. OK. I was going to go out and walk a mile in a few minutes anyway—I guess I can do that on the treadmill instead.

When my gym membership expires, I will call this done and put up some kind of new fitness goal. I’ll have to think about how to word it so that it can include all the different ways I have found to work up a sustainable sweat. =]

It’s too hot.

Plus, the gym smells weird and they don’t have any of the classes that I would totally take if they had them AND I have to climb a flight of stairs just to get to the treadmills. . . AND I have a whole list of reasons not to go.

Maybe they’re excuses. It really doesn’t matter—I do get plenty of exercise elsewhere. I would take this “goal” off my list, simply for lack of interest at this point, but I’d like to go enough so as not to waste my membership fees.

So, every day would count, right?!

I have been getting up at 6:20 and going to the gym every day before work. It’s working out great!

Oh, that was a pun. Ha!

My energy level is way up, and my skin is not as dry, but I’m not getting on the scale until some clothing feels loose.

... that I already spent the money so I could get in better shape, this goal laughs at me from the screen, but I am outsmarting it now.

I figure I spent the money on myself. I wanted to give myself the gift of fitness. So does it matter where I get the fitness? NO. It makes no difference whether I walk around the Zoo or the mall or my neighborhood; or if I ride horses; or do T’ai Chi or dance Hip Hop! If I’m moving, I’m exercising.

Plus, my skin has this special way of telling me when I’m creating enough heat to induce fitness. It cools itself down by pushing water to its surface, causing evaporation. Uh, yeah – sweat. So if I work up a sweat and I keep going for at least 20 minutes, I’m doing fine. I don’t want to share the gym with all the resolutioners right now, anyway!

Two months since I’ve been to the gym. Hmmm.

Well, I went today and I’m going to try to go back every day for a half hour walk on the treadmill. Sometimes it seems silly to use the gym only for walking when I have perfectly good sidewalks right here in my neighborhood, but there are a lot of dogs in this neighborhood that sit in their front yards waiting for someone to run by so they can give chase. I have no interest in being mauled, and the gym is right around the corner.

After a while, I will get back on those other machines, maybe join one or two of the classes, and make more use of the pool, but for right now I feel comfortable just walking.

Anyway, I need to get my climbing legs ready for hiking the mountains on Hawaii’s Big Island. That is in 19 days!!!! I’m so excited!

That stands for One Darn Thing After Another. It’s a reminder I was actually taught in Sunday School about 24 years ago.

ODTAA reminds me that there will always be stumbling blocks in the way of any goal, and it is my job to find ways to make them into stepping stones. (maybe I should take up parkour for this one!)

It’s my other foot now. Yesterday, I went out my back door barefoot, and stepped onto a twig of bougainvillea which had blown over from a nearby shrub. Now the arch of my left foot has a huge knot and the pain is making me sick. I’m trying to get things done anyway, but I can hardly move around.

What the Freakin’ Heck is wrong with me!? (See, I would type WTFH, but you would think I was swearing.) It almost seems like I’m sabotaging myself from working out or losing weight. I am not doing it deliberately, I know that for sure, so what am I gaining by spending money on a gym membership I don’t use and staying 40 pounds overweight?

Hmmm. Well, the exercise itself almost always causes pain, whether it’s a temporary lactic acid buildup or a sprain or tear of some sort. While working out, I have pulled both hamstrings, twisted both ankles, torn both rotator cuffs, sprained my right trapezius, aggravated the misaligned S-I joint, and twisted my hip.

And NO, I don’t work out too hard. I always take it easy and crap just seems to find me whenever I step foot in the gym. Now neither one of my FEET want to be anywhere near that place.

So that’s one psychological problem, I guess. Fear of injury.

And I am pretty afraid that if I actually lose 40 pounds I’ll get all wrinkly and then I’ll look older than I am. I have seen this happen to people who have had significant weight loss, even while working out. I am not a naturally vain person, but this one thought of looking ancient before my time mainlines fear right through me!

So—fear of looking old is definitely another block.

OH, BLOCK SCHMOCK!!! To Heck with all this FEAR crap! If I want to stay young and strong and healthy, like I always SAY I am, I need to workout and lose this stupid extra weight. My husband is not going to care if his sexy wife has a few wrinkles. He already thinks I’m FINE despite the extra weight, so I really just need to be more careful and stop injuring myself!

OK, I can recommit to a few things here and now:

• 1. I can get to the gym at least twice a week (building up to more) and get on that treadmill for increasing lengths of time until the lactic acid stops cramping up my muscles. This could take months, and I just have to be patient.

• 2. Once I am strong enough to endure some strength training again, I can move on to toning my muscles. This can be extremely dangerous to me. I cannot let myself compare my progress to anyone else’s standards. To do so would lead to further injuries. (Danged trainers think they know everything. They just want my money and really don’t give a crap if I get hurt repeatedly!)

There’s exercise. Now, on to diet. I really don’t ingest enough calories to maintain at the weight I am, so I’m not sure why I am not thinner, but I have noticed a few things about food lately:

• 1. Starch makes me sleepy. I can use this to my benefit at night, I suppose, but mostly I just know that eating bread and pasta is going to slow me down, whatever I’m trying to accomplish.

• 2. Sugar gives me a headache. I have had blood tests and I am not diabetic. Not even borderline. This sugar/headache relationship has already helped me dramatically decrease my sugar intake.

• 3. I don’t get hungry in the evening anymore. I have discovered if I wait until between 6 and 7 to eat dinner, I can eat like a quarter of a normal portion and be fine till morning.

• 4. Protein in the morning jumpstarts my brain. A couple eggs or some peanut butter on celery really boosts my daily energy levels and helps me think more clearly.

See, now isn’t that better! Injuries are stumbling blocks, but mine just guided me to two new commitments and 4 new discoveries, and those are definitely stepping stones! =D

I had a nice little stroll on the treadmill, but not before a rather abrasive encounter with their hard-core training scheduler, who accosted me as I entered the building. Why do they have to be so obnoxious?!

Except for dealing with him, I was thinking it would be fun to go over there as part of my morning routine now, even if only for a half an hour.

Sunday after church, I tried to catch 5 sheets of leaning plywood, which I had touched just enough to make them move. They were teetering on a step and 3 of them crushed my right foot. Great.

Just as I was really ready to put going to the gym back on my schedule, despite the daily pain in my right HEEL, now I can barely walk and certainly cannot get on a treadmill. Maybe an elliptical….? Hmmm. That might work. I could keep my feet relatively still.

Yes. I’ll give myself the rest of this week to heal, but then I’m going back and will do whatever I can do and not worry about what I cannot do. The best thing I can possibly do to get back in shape is to stop eating starch and sugar, anyway. The workouts will be a bonus!

I’ve had gym memberships for about 5 years. Lost some weight, kept it off for a year. Things happened and I forgot about paying attention to what I eat. Gained some of the weight back. Probably wouldn’t have if I had kept going to the gym.

I renewed in July, but haven’t even stepped foot inside the gym since the day I paid for yet another 14 month membership.
{[Long sigh]}.

So! I finally decided to add this to my list. At least then I will have it blaring in my face whenever I log on to 43T. Hopefully, it will spur me to action and I can get fit again!