"Lazy Lady" Needs Accountability

So it's been a while since I last posted, and my intent was to post Part 2 of my travels to Texas first, but since this is "fresh" on my mind, it gets first billing for today!

When I moved from Utah to Pennsylvania nearly three years ago, I weighed the most I've ever weighed before, but lost a little bit after the move. Then the stress of "life" put me on an "I can't eat a bite" diet for a couple of weeks, where I ended up losing about 20 pounds. Yippee for the weight loss, stink on the "how"! I finally rejoined the gym about 15 months ago, only to be advised shortly after by my chiropractor not to go for a while due to some injuries he was trying to "fix." So, being the non-athletic person that I am by nature (I prefer exercising my eyes with the TV and computer, my ears with the radio, my mouth by talking, my hands by way of cooking, sewing, or otherwise "creating", and my elbows by lifting food or drink to my lips to anything that involvs sweating), I immediately quit going! Whoo hooo!

And then, after a few months of therapy, I was "released" to go back to the gym. Did I mention that exercise is not really my thing? Well, I didn't do a very good job following Dr.'s orders, even though I maintained my membership. (In my own defense, I was up to my eyeballs in alligators of the volunteer and volunteer and work and work and work varieties, which must mean I'm not really that lazy, after all! Not to mention it gave me a good "excuse" for not going to the gym!) I did listen to his advice on eating, for a week or so, then loosened up on his restrictions and now can honestly say that I am more cautious about what I eat now than I was a year ago—still eat stuff that's "bad" for me on occasion, but no more reckless abandon where chocolate, ice cream, and donuts are concerned.....

I realize that it's the end of September, 3/4 of the way through the year. But I've finally made a couple of "resolutions" for the year—to trim the fluff and train the finances—and finally put the fluff trimming into action, which is the topic of this post. Even though my Taste-Tour of North Texas only resulted in a 2 pound gain, for which I'm very grateful, it is past time to get back on the treadmill, and eventually, return to the weights and aerobics, and maybe even find that body that I lost somewhere around the time that Ryan was born....

For months I've been looking at the class schedule at the gym, trying to engrave on my brain the times (morning and evening) for the Total Body Sculpt and Water Aerobics classes, and planning on going either before work or after, only to either a) decide I like the coziness of my bed much better than sweating, or b) discover more ways to talk myself out of sweating or swimming after work. Creativity at its finest, let me tell you!

So this weekend, after doing my best to be somewhat productive with laundry, cleaning, sewing, etc., I determined, yet again, to go to the gym....Saturday, no, maybe Sunday, ok, no, Monday (of this week), unless I change my mind, yet again. (This is the mental battle I engage in when the subject of exercise comes to mind.) I left my gym bag at home yesterday morning, intentionally, as I'd worn "nice gym clothes" to work (not really appropriate for the meeting I didn't know was taking place in the morning! OOOPS!). Regardless of the oops, I was "dressed" for the treadmill. I was thinking maybe 30-60 minutes of walking would be a great re-start of the gym routine. Mind you, I still could talk myself out of going, especially since I had several errands to run after work. Then along came my dear friend, Wendy! Wendy and I talked after a several week lapse, and we were trying to find some time to get together. She proposed last night, and I told her of my need to run errands (you know, going to the store for things you can't put off any longer) and the planned overdue trip to the gym. So, now I'd committed to the gym—I "had" to go, right?

After work I went to the bank and then stopped at JoAnn's (one of my favorite "errands" to run) for fabric for another quilt and a cheerleading outfit for Miss Heather (Did you know they don't make pink poplin? And that cheerleading patterns now only have yardage for 60" fabric and not 45"?). The fabric is purchased, now it's decision time. To gym or not to gym? It's about 6:30 p.m. by now, I've not eaten dinner, and I still need to go at least to Wal Mart, if not to Sam's, too, and it would be nice to spend 8 minutes in the tanning bed.... The mental calculator is hard at work, it will take x minutes to get there, x minutes to "work out", x minutes to get to and through Wal Mart, etc. And I remember my conversation with Wendy telling her my goal was M-W-F to the gym, and we made plans for tonight, and I was going to Wal Mart anyway (just across the street and down a bit)....and I charted my course for the gym. All the reasons why I shouldn't go kept coming to mind, but I reminded myself of all the "fluff" that needs to be trimmed, and that shopping and sewing don't really do much for that.

Do you ever wonder if there are forces beyond your control keeping you from doing something? One of my hangups about going to the gym had to do with "what to do with my keys?" while I was "exercising." I'd decided that my jacket, keys, and watch could hang out in a locker in the locker room while my feet reconnected with the belt on the treadmill—not having a gym bag to deal with, the use of a locker was difficult to grasp, but I finally did, only to encounter numerous difficulties once entering the locker room. I went to the locker I "always use" and placed my valuables inside, closed the door, and proceeded to "lock" the lock—not. For the life of me, I couldn't get it to work. Nor did the two next to it, or a couple on the other wall. After who knows how many previously un-calculated minutes and half a dozen or so lockers, I finally found one that would lock and stay locked when one pulled on the handle. (I think I should get several brownie points for perseverance in this time of trial!) Valuables safely locked away, now to battle the iPod. Another few minutes ticked away before I conquered the little-used technological gadget and headed out to the treadmill.

Gee, in the several months since I was last treading the mill, many have left and been replaced by newer models—models that have built-in fans for user comfort and totally different controls and options. Still being a creature of habit, I went to the one in the location I "always use" and hopped on, eyes glazed over as I tried to figure out how the heck you were supposed to make this silly thing work. I pushed a number of buttons and the belt started moving, but I wasn't set up with any sort of "program" or variation like many treadmills offer, so I turned it off and tried again to set a program, rather than walking in manual mode. No dice....couldn't figure it out, and I'd fooled around there long enough—I don't like to be seen doing stupid things—back to manual mode I went, and the "exercising" began. One mile and sixteen minutes later (plus some cool down time/steps), my "workout" was nearly complete. I wiped down the treadmill, retrieved my valuables from the locker room, and headed to Wal Mart for the shopping excursion. Thankfully I kept the Wal Mart loop in mind while I was on the treadmill, as my list took me around the whole store! (Does that mean I put an extra mile on the podometer?)

Alas, the long lines have diminished and I found my favorite cashier working lane 13. It is now 8:30 ish and I still have not eaten dinner, but I DID go to the gym! :) I exercised some self-control and didn't even browse the junk food that they have next to the register to give you something to latch onto while you wait to check out. Groceries are in the car, I "avoid" the HOT LIGHT beckoning to me from Krispy Kreme (Did ya know that this is God's way of saying, "Thou shalt have Krispy Kremes"? It is, really!), and thought to grab a fish sandwich from McD's...only to find it blocked off for parking lot resurfacing...so dinner was a piece of fish, 3 shrimp, and 2 hush puppies from Long John Silver's....so much for the time on the treadmill....

Wendy, thanks for holding me accountable, even though you didn't know you were at the time! So tomorrow and Friday I'm aiming for another mile or more each evening, and hopefully, by next week, we can get to 45-60 minutes on the treadmill at a time! And, perhaps sometime in my lifetime, the secret runner hiding deep down in of me will show her face????

And for those of you who have dogs, did you know they make doggie treadmills?????