It's been eight months since my last post...I would call that severe neglect! So much has happened in those eight months, it's difficult to know where to start, so I'm just going to ramble!
I'm in year three of being a gym member and, I am proud to admit, a regular gym bunny. I love going to gym - for various reasons. I think the biggest plus for me is the de-stressing factor. I can pour out all the day's frustrations in sweat and I can pound that stepper or shake my booty unashamedly in the zumba class, and the world just seems like a better place afterwards. Of course that's not the case at all...I'm just a better me afterwards! The most wonderful spin-off of being a regular at the gym is the friends I have made who have added a wonderful spice to my life. I think they add to the de-stressing factor hugely. We laugh - a LOT! I can't leave out the fact that being fit or fitter at least, adds a quality to ones life that is absolutely awesome. Everything is brighter and better. Unfortunately my appetite too! They... you know who I am talking about, those people that know... they say that your results come from 80% diet and 20% exercise. Well, I have to admit that they seem to be right! Ok, so I am not 20kg overweight anymore, I have only 9kg to lose now and my body fat has dropped a bit, but given that I have been working at this for three years, my progress is a tad slow. I admit freely, I'm not quite getting that 80/20 thing right! I can attest to the fact that by dropping a large percentage of carbs, ensuring you get enough protein and keeping a positive frame of mind, the results do appear. I know what I need to do - it's implementing it that gets a little tricky! I am a Gemini and it really does seem as if there are two of me who have constant arguments about food consumption. I walk past the snack shelf in the local Kwikspar, unfortunately located directly next to the healthy fresh veg, and those Doritos Late Night Chilli Ribs call my name... I swear! My inner gym bunny says "blegh, walk on by, you know you don't eat those disgusting high GI carbs" and my inner couch potato says "oh come on now, you work so hard, life is short, you can have a few delicious, crunchy, awesome Doritos". I casually look around to see if anyone else has noticed the argument going on, but everyone seems oblivious. Sometimes gym bunny wins, and sometimes couch potato wins. Now if I can get gym bunny strong enough to challenge couch potato to a burpee competition, it would shut that slouch up once and for all!
A month and a half ago I had the most amazing experience. I went overseas for the first time in my life! Not only that, I went to a place I have been longing to see for years - Thailand. What an awesome, mind expanding, wonderful experience. It's as if you brain has been wired to deal with work and domestic issues, work and domestic issues and more work and domestic issues for the last 25 years. Suddenly those centres of your brain get to shut down and this whole new department of your brain sparks. You suddenly have new smells, new tastes, new climate, new sights, a new language, rain that is warm, sea water that feels like bath water, people who are non-aggressive, food that is absolutely divine and many other awesome experiences. There is nothing quite like walking through warm tropical rain, the steamy climate, the temperature in the thirties, then stopping at a roadside pub and having an ice-cold Chang beer. It's crazy to swim in crystal clear, warm sea water. The nature of the Thai people is just beautiful. The whole experience has given me a whole new take on life. I need to go back and experience more of that! On the fitness and fatness front, in general, although the Thai people have a staple diet of rice and or noodles, there are few overweight people. My theory is that Thai food is quite spicy so you tend to eat small amounts. This points back to Granny's advice of "everything in moderation"!
Anyway, before I turn this into a travel blog, let me sign off with the promise that I have the best intentions of keeping this blog up to date with at least a weekly post. I have plans to enter 2014 4kg lighter than I am now. Let's hope I can beat that couch potato into submission!
Showing posts with label overweight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overweight. Show all posts
Monday, 25 November 2013
Thursday, 4 August 2011
A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first stepper
Ok, so here's where I'm at right now... a few days ago I joined the gym. Why I hear you ask. Well, it becomes apparent when one's clothing starts shrinking that there is a problem somewhere... either with the clothes washing process or the body that fits, sorry used to fit in them quite comfortably. Now a quick look in the mirror reflects a person that does look vaguely familiar, although there is a lot more to them than there used to be. A quick glance down in the shower and yes, right down there I do see some pretty pink painted toes sticking out of a mound of belly that I swear has appeared out of nowhere! Yikes! This is bad. Ok, breathe, and again, breathe. Try to keep the panic under control. Come on now, you're a left brained, logical girl. All your male friends adore you for that, so let's not spoil it and have a melt down now! Plan of action - join the gym, follow a healthy diet and tackle this problem in small steps. That boep and various love handles really didn't appear overnight and they're not going to disappear overnight. This is going to take a lot of hard work, discipline and patience. Oh, and honesty.
So off I go to the local gym. I am wearing my ancient trail running shoes, an old pair of running pants which I dug out of the bottom of the cupboard, an XXX large T-shirt (you know to cover that spare tyre muffining out over the top of said running pants) that I purchased 18 years ago when I was pregnant with my first child, and a faded hoodie. After all, this is where I've come to get hot and sweaty. Well, the gym is all modern and everything and filled with barbies in the latest fashion exercise gear, with perfect make up and fake nails. I get a few horrified looks but I let them run off me like water off a ducks back... hey I'm 43 for Pete's sake, I'm not here to parade, I'm hear to start my long journey back to health.
A sweet boy who doesn't look old enough to be legally employed takes me through the start up process. Firstly he introduces me to this big machine thing. It's a very clever machine. It measures your weight, body fat, blood pressure and then after adding a few more personal details, it spits out the bad news. Well, it did give me one piece of good news - my blood pressure is fantastically low. The rest was not so pretty though. I'm 20kgs overweight and I have a body fat of 37%. Oh that is so gross. I mean think about it - take away the skeleton and the water, then the body fat..... ag shame, where are my muscles. Oh crap, maybe I don't have any! I feel the panic creeping up on me again. No, no, no, the boy assures me I must have a little muscle under there somewhere. And he also assures me that I will drop this fat and build beautiful muscle on the program that said machine will next spit out for me. Yay! There is hope!
Firstly, the boy takes me over to the cardio section of the gym where he proceeds to show me the first machine. Ah, yes it's a treadmill. Oh my hat, the treadmill has it's very own TV screen!! You simply bring along your earphones, plug them in, pick a channel and happily watch TV while you're walking your arse off, literally. Wow, things sure have changed since I was in a gym 13 years ago! So I walk a bit, the boy shows me how everything works and then we move onto the next piece of equipment. Slowly but surely we went through the stepper, the ski machine, the rower, the elliptical trainer, the seated cycle, the normal cycle, the spinning cycle, the hand cycler thingy, and the stretching machine. Why anyone in their right mind would want to use that contraption is beyond me! Right, so now that I am familiar with and have performed a bit using each piece of cardio equipment, we go to the other side of the gym - the weights section.
We start off with the leg press, followed by various other muscle developing machines. We then move over to the mat where the boy tells me I'm going to do push up now. I burst out laughing and inform him that I have no muscles and can't do a push up. He looks a little concerned, but then tells me not to worry as he will modify it for me so that I can develop those muscles. Ok, so I end up kneeling at a bench, while there I send a quick prayer up, and then perform these modified push ups. We end off with some floor work for the abs. Ok, so they're designed for people who actually have abs. Again the sweet boy tells me not to worry, if I work hard, I will be gaining muscle in no time. The boytjie should go into politics - he's good! And thus ended my introduction to the gym. Woohooo! I am amped baby!!
So off I go to the local gym. I am wearing my ancient trail running shoes, an old pair of running pants which I dug out of the bottom of the cupboard, an XXX large T-shirt (you know to cover that spare tyre muffining out over the top of said running pants) that I purchased 18 years ago when I was pregnant with my first child, and a faded hoodie. After all, this is where I've come to get hot and sweaty. Well, the gym is all modern and everything and filled with barbies in the latest fashion exercise gear, with perfect make up and fake nails. I get a few horrified looks but I let them run off me like water off a ducks back... hey I'm 43 for Pete's sake, I'm not here to parade, I'm hear to start my long journey back to health.
A sweet boy who doesn't look old enough to be legally employed takes me through the start up process. Firstly he introduces me to this big machine thing. It's a very clever machine. It measures your weight, body fat, blood pressure and then after adding a few more personal details, it spits out the bad news. Well, it did give me one piece of good news - my blood pressure is fantastically low. The rest was not so pretty though. I'm 20kgs overweight and I have a body fat of 37%. Oh that is so gross. I mean think about it - take away the skeleton and the water, then the body fat..... ag shame, where are my muscles. Oh crap, maybe I don't have any! I feel the panic creeping up on me again. No, no, no, the boy assures me I must have a little muscle under there somewhere. And he also assures me that I will drop this fat and build beautiful muscle on the program that said machine will next spit out for me. Yay! There is hope!
Firstly, the boy takes me over to the cardio section of the gym where he proceeds to show me the first machine. Ah, yes it's a treadmill. Oh my hat, the treadmill has it's very own TV screen!! You simply bring along your earphones, plug them in, pick a channel and happily watch TV while you're walking your arse off, literally. Wow, things sure have changed since I was in a gym 13 years ago! So I walk a bit, the boy shows me how everything works and then we move onto the next piece of equipment. Slowly but surely we went through the stepper, the ski machine, the rower, the elliptical trainer, the seated cycle, the normal cycle, the spinning cycle, the hand cycler thingy, and the stretching machine. Why anyone in their right mind would want to use that contraption is beyond me! Right, so now that I am familiar with and have performed a bit using each piece of cardio equipment, we go to the other side of the gym - the weights section.
We start off with the leg press, followed by various other muscle developing machines. We then move over to the mat where the boy tells me I'm going to do push up now. I burst out laughing and inform him that I have no muscles and can't do a push up. He looks a little concerned, but then tells me not to worry as he will modify it for me so that I can develop those muscles. Ok, so I end up kneeling at a bench, while there I send a quick prayer up, and then perform these modified push ups. We end off with some floor work for the abs. Ok, so they're designed for people who actually have abs. Again the sweet boy tells me not to worry, if I work hard, I will be gaining muscle in no time. The boytjie should go into politics - he's good! And thus ended my introduction to the gym. Woohooo! I am amped baby!!
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