I’m on a health kick right now! I’m going to attempt to lose a few pounds and exercise more frequently. Jon and I joined a gym a while back, but I’ve been sick twice since Christmas so we hadn’t been going while I recuperated and re-recuperated. It felt so good to go back yesterday after a couple of weeks away!

The part I always struggle with when I attempt to improve my health is my diet. I have a serious sweet tooth, and thus far I’ve been a chronic yo-yo dieter. I’m having an ‘up’ moment right now, but I’ve had my share of ‘downs’ as well. The main problem with this is that I’ve grown to loathe it when people comment on my weight loss. I know the likelihood that I’ll keep the weight off is slim, so when people make congratulatory comments I end up feeling like a huge fraud.

Last time a lost a sizable chunk of weight, a couple of years ago, I had a coworker who kept telling me how much she noticed my weight loss and how much confidence I seemed to have acquired due to said loss. It was really annoying. The ‘confidence’ I was displaying was NOT from the weight loss, it was pure joy and an improved posture from learning to belly dance! (I need to start dancing again – I’ve been slouching a lot!) But, it’s really hard to figure out how to get someone to stop complimenting you without it seeming like you’re fishing for more.

So, I guess, if you’re reading this and know me in person, just let me do my thing and don’t make a big deal out of it. I don’t plan to make a big deal out of it either, but I do plan to get things done. If in a few months I’m looking smaller and you ask me about my weight loss, there’s a good chance I’ll try to shrug it off and ignore the question, so it’d be better if you just don’t ask. *nod*

Tonight, Jon and I scheduled our trip to the gym around the airing of Mythbusters! It’s been a while since we had cable, so we’ve been stuck watching reruns via Netflix for a while now. But not tonight! We headed over to Snap at about 7:45 so we’d be there and ready to watch the new episode at 8!

It was a good one, with lots of marvelously large explosions. I think the best part was seeing Buster survive as a hot water heater rocketed up through the floor, a mere foot in front of where he was sitting. It was amazing. I also appreciate that if for some reason my Dad’s water heater launched itself toward the heavens, my Dad would probably be just fine, especially since Dad’s couch and computer chair are both farther away from his water heater, heh.

Beyond the novelty of having satellite TV access at the gym, Jon and I both walked for a solid hour during the show! I kept over 3mph for all but 5 minutes or so, but I’ve always been a fast walker. Yesterday’s feat was more impressive – 30 minutes on the elliptical! I still find that rather difficult, but my quads are starting to get used to it. In the week we’ve been going to the gym, I’ve already noticed that I have more energy. I’m hoping the ‘better sleep’ thing will kick in soon as well! *grin*

I got my first pair of glasses when I was just 5 years old. I inherited my bad eyesight from my father, who got it from both of his parents. I’ve gone through many pairs of glasses in my life thus far. Some of them were not so attractive… particularly the frames I wore during the late 80’s. Yikes!

In either 8th or 9th grade I got my first pair of contacts. I thought they were going to change my life! No longer would I be the nerdy kid with the braces and four-eyes! I’d suddenly look more normal, cool even! Well, that didn’t quite happen, but contacts did make it a lot easier to do things I loved, like cheerleading. Any kind of sport, dance, or exercise was better in contacts.

Last February I accidently washed my contacts down the drain in a freak moment of stupidity, so I’ve been wearing my glasses for the past 9 months or so. I like them now. They suit me. I almost feel more like ‘me’ when I look in the mirror.

Recently I went in for an eye doctor appointment, and today my new contacts arrived. I feel kind of weird wearing them after such a length of time in only glasses, and I’m not at all used to my new appearance, but I know they are better for my eyes in some ways.  They produce much clearer images than my glasses. Looking through photos on my computer was strange after I put the contacts in, it’s almost like viewing them in HD!

Once I feel more comfortable with my new reflection, I’ll take a self portrait so you can see my lovely green, contact covered, eyes!

We did it! We joined the gym yesterday! Of course, now I’m eating Ben & Jerry’s pumpkin cheesecake ice cream, but you have to start somewhere, right? I’ll work on the diet later, after the exercise thing is a habit.

Yesterday was basically a ‘learn how the equipment works’ workout, but this afternoon I went in and started making some progress. It’ll be fun to see how long it takes me to be able to do 30min straight on the elliptical. I only managed about 12min today before I had to get off and stretch to keep from cramping up. I got on for a few more minutes after the stretching, but didn’t stay long due to my hip flexors being all crabby. They haven’t done this much work for a while! After that, I did a bit of upper body strength training. My shoulders are gonna hurt tomorrow! But man, I can’t wait to have my bicep muscles back!  I think I did about 35-40 minutes worth of exercise total, which isn’t too bad for my second day.

While I was there, I was the only female in the place. I kinda liked it. For some reason, I don’t care what the guys think of me. I’m way more intimidated by the buff women. Maybe it has to do with being married. Or maybe it’s my competitive streak. I don’t know.

Anyway, it felt really good working out today. Hopefully I’m not too sore tomorrow!