Thursday, October 15, 2009

I've Joined A Gym

I will try to keep this as brief as possible. A while back I had posted my weight and desire to lose what is to me a lot of weight - 30-35lbs.

So, this past Saturday I joined a gym primarily because I have been angry at my husband and still sort of am. It's private and I won't post it here but suffice it to say that our issues have caused me to refocus on my weight.

I signed up at an all women's gym for a really good deal and attended a Zumba class. It was fun but I was not prepared for all the moves. I felt like I was part of a really disfunctional dance troop with me being the worst. The instructor was very good and really knew how to shake her thing to the music. I skipped Sunday but worked out M-W, had to skip today because of my schedule and will work out again tomorrow and Saturday.

I got weighed on Monday which is always nice and was told that I was in the "overweight" category and that my body fat was 35%. I really was not prepared for that. Then, she measured me. So the dietician told me to target getting down 15 pounds while building muscle at the same time. She told me to do 4 to 5 days of cardio which I hate and 2 of those days to include weight training. I was thrilled for some odd reason to learn that I measured a whole quarter inch taller than what I thought. I am 5'6 and a 1/4". I always thought I was just plain 5'6". That additional 1/4 inch probably kept me out of the "obese" category.

What I found really facinating was a poster on the wall in the dietician's office of a female body without skin. It was a mass of muscle and sinew and bones. For some reason this image comforts me. Too often I think women forget that we are flesh and bone and not just an image. So now when I work out I imagine muscles stretching and slightly tearing in order to build up stronger and leaner. I don't like to look in the mirrored walls but I force myself to in order to remind myself why I am there.

On Wednesday I attended an aerobic weight training class. If I go to hell, this will be the place. I should also mention that I woke up at 4:50 am to attend the 5:30am class. I could not find my keys (under my purse) and arrived just as the class was starting. I was jolted into bright lights, hard wooden floors and really loud pulsating music. To make matters worse, I discovered that I had to grab one of the "steps" for stepping and I did not know how to assemble the base. I won't bore you with the routines- just know that it was hard as hell. I did sweat a lot and felt good afterward but man... I need to build up my endurance before I attempt that again.

They only weigh once a month which is kind of good. I also have been eating 4 times a day- all relatively small meals or snacks. It' s hard to remember to eat that often but it's helping me to not have those ravenous moments, especially when I get home from work. What has been toughest is not having any wine. I LOVE wine. It totally relaxes me but I know I need to lay off for a while to minimize my calories.

I will keep you posted.

C.

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