May 27, 2008 (When to go to the Gym)

The last entry I sent you guys informed you that I joined a gym and and was frightened to death by the tread mill. I've gotten better at the tread mill. I haven't fallen off of it yet, though I did drop my towel and almost tried to pick it up when I was reminded that the floor was moving as it shot off the back of the tread mill. My lovely trainer, Marcella, thinks I should be walking at 4 miles an hour. I started out at 3.5 and have worked my way up to 3.8. I can last all day at 3.6, but can manage only 20-30 minutes at 3.8. I've decided that 4 miles an hour is jogging, not walking and I'm not ready to be jogging on non-moving ground much less moving ground.

The gym is a trip. If you go at normal workout hours it's filled with younger pretty athletic people who, through no fault of their own, make me feel old and pathetic. I finally got so intimidated that I went into the ladies only part of the gym. There were more normal looking women there, it was kind of nice, but it doesn't have all the equipment that you need to use. It's a good place to hide though, so I'm going to use it during peek hours. I have found that working out at 9pm has the older and more out of shape people, but I have a really tough time waking up when I work out that late. Working out at 6 or 7 in the morning has the people who are about my age but most of them have been working out a while, so they are just maintaining. I will look like I belong to that group in about 2 years or so. Ugh.

This is taking so long. I don't feel like I'm making a lot of progress. This week, I have been terrible about my diet. Since I last emailed you I have eaten 1 bratworst, 2 Jumbo hot dogs, and 1 85% fat free hot dog (I don't know why I bothered eating that). I also drank 2 cokes and 2 shakes. (Not all on the same day.) I have been working out like crazy so maybe I won't actually gain weight. I still haven't lost enough to get into jeans that are one size smaller than the ones that I was wearing when I started. I am feeling better and stronger than I felt a month ago. But, I must look a little different or I am carrying myself a little differently because my mom asked if I lost weight this weekend and a professor asked if I was on a diet, to which I responded that I was on something similar to the "half a_ _" diet that she had claimed to be on earlier this year. She got a chuckle out of that. (I think you all know that story,so I won't explain. If not, read Half Hearted Diet.) Any ways, I guess I'm making some progress if people I haven't seen in a couple of weeks are noticing a difference. Feeling healthier is almost worth all this effort, but quite frankly if it wasn't going to cause me to lose some weight and inches, I wouldn't be going through all this. Until next week......