No Pain, No Gain
Man am I really starting to hate that phrase, especially since the second week of July when Julie and I signed up for memberships at the local gym. It was something we talked about doing for quite some time and it has really been going well so far.
Aside from many family functions and other minor life obstacles, our schedules were pretty empty in the evenings and we found ourselves spending most nights watching T.V. We were eager to make a change in our lifestyles for the better so we took the plunge, and to tell the truth it was long overdue. I realized one day while weighing myself that the number on the scale was only three letters away from being the V.I.N. number on my old '88 Chevy Blazer. I was also tired of buying clothes "by the yard" so motivation was easy to find.
I used to hear people say all the time, "Oh my God I lost 10 pounds!" and I would think to myself........ "so?" 10 pounds doesn't sound like much but it came into perspective for me recently. Over an 18 day period I lost three pounds and wasn't all that excited about it. I think what got me really opening my eyes was remembering what I did over the last 18 days just to lose three measly pounds, and then realize how much farther I want to go before I consider myself in the "ideal weight" range. If my math is correct I should reach my desired weight roughly three weeks before my 97th Birthday, at which time I'll probably win the lottery and have a heart attack.
Four nights a week, and sometimes five, Julie and I are heading for the gym in the evenings. We've met with a personal trainer and he has us doing a whole bunch of strength training and then we finish off the night with a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio workout. We usually end up leaving the gym and arriving back home at around 10:00pm. I just find this whole concept a little ridiculous and the guy who was able to convince people to actually pay to go torture themselves on a daily basis has got to be the most clever man ever. As I'm on the treadmill at night I look all around me and all I see is people suffering. Painful expressions on their faces as they climb step after step, loud grunts and yelling as they try to do just one more repetition, or sweating with exhaustion and they limp their sorry asses out of the gym. The funny part is when you actually start to talk to them and their faces light up and say, "Yeah, I feel so much better since I started working out!!". I have to admit, I do feel better now that we've been doing this for over a month but damn, why does it have to feel like hell as well? When I get up in the mornings to turn off my alarm clock I can barely move at all. My feet ache, my hips are sore, my knees crack as I move and it sounds like I'm walking on packing peanuts. Then I get the joy of my lovely wife telling me that I "look like a duck" as I waddle around the room first thing in the morning. And all this for only $110 a month!
Oh well. Julie and I have been very supportive of each other and for the first time in my life I actually feel very confident that this time around the working out and watching what we eat is really going to work. Either that or it's going to kill us so we'll lose the weight one way or another.
Aside from many family functions and other minor life obstacles, our schedules were pretty empty in the evenings and we found ourselves spending most nights watching T.V. We were eager to make a change in our lifestyles for the better so we took the plunge, and to tell the truth it was long overdue. I realized one day while weighing myself that the number on the scale was only three letters away from being the V.I.N. number on my old '88 Chevy Blazer. I was also tired of buying clothes "by the yard" so motivation was easy to find.
I used to hear people say all the time, "Oh my God I lost 10 pounds!" and I would think to myself........ "so?" 10 pounds doesn't sound like much but it came into perspective for me recently. Over an 18 day period I lost three pounds and wasn't all that excited about it. I think what got me really opening my eyes was remembering what I did over the last 18 days just to lose three measly pounds, and then realize how much farther I want to go before I consider myself in the "ideal weight" range. If my math is correct I should reach my desired weight roughly three weeks before my 97th Birthday, at which time I'll probably win the lottery and have a heart attack.
Four nights a week, and sometimes five, Julie and I are heading for the gym in the evenings. We've met with a personal trainer and he has us doing a whole bunch of strength training and then we finish off the night with a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio workout. We usually end up leaving the gym and arriving back home at around 10:00pm. I just find this whole concept a little ridiculous and the guy who was able to convince people to actually pay to go torture themselves on a daily basis has got to be the most clever man ever. As I'm on the treadmill at night I look all around me and all I see is people suffering. Painful expressions on their faces as they climb step after step, loud grunts and yelling as they try to do just one more repetition, or sweating with exhaustion and they limp their sorry asses out of the gym. The funny part is when you actually start to talk to them and their faces light up and say, "Yeah, I feel so much better since I started working out!!". I have to admit, I do feel better now that we've been doing this for over a month but damn, why does it have to feel like hell as well? When I get up in the mornings to turn off my alarm clock I can barely move at all. My feet ache, my hips are sore, my knees crack as I move and it sounds like I'm walking on packing peanuts. Then I get the joy of my lovely wife telling me that I "look like a duck" as I waddle around the room first thing in the morning. And all this for only $110 a month!
Oh well. Julie and I have been very supportive of each other and for the first time in my life I actually feel very confident that this time around the working out and watching what we eat is really going to work. Either that or it's going to kill us so we'll lose the weight one way or another.
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