Life

Back at the Gym

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Last Updated on October 25, 2018

I took a brief hiatus from the gym, not because of any unusual additional work hours or home improvement projects. It was mostly just laziness. (And a little curiosity: I wanted to see how eating “normally” might affect my weight over a period of two weeks. My little experiment resulted in a gain of about four pounds, which tells me that if I’m not focused on it, I’ll quickly revert to old ways.)

Last weekend, while I was back home for the christening of my best friends’ newest family addition, I had a chance to visit with my best friend’s best friend from high school. This guy walked in looking like he’d stepped off the cover of some kind of fitness magazine. I talked to him about his workout, and he gave me the usual suggestions like drinking a gallon of water a day, a feat I still doubt is physically possible. But he also added that I should do my workouts in the morning, not after work (which for me means around midnight or later). He said doing cardio in the morning gives you more energy for the whole day and helps your body burn more calories even when you’re doing less physical work.

I’m all for that.

So today, I went to the gym and watched The Price is Right from a monitor hanging over the elliptical cross-trainer. As I was leaving, having completed 20 minutes of cardio on that monster of a machine, I spotted the physical trainer who had given me the initial consultation. He asked how I was feeling and asked how the exercise was going. I told him that as of today, I’d lost about 12 pounds, and added that it should be more than that, to which he promised, “No judgments. Twelve is great. And you look incredible.”

If there are any adjectives that describe how I look, “incredible” is most assuredly not on that list, unless one looks at it from the standpoint that it’s “incredible” that I haven’t keeled over from a heart attack by now.

But it’s his job to motivate, and this guy seems just sincere enough to believe that he believes that everyone who even tries should be regarded as some kind of hero, so I took his complement at face value.

As I was leaving the gym, I stopped by the neighboring Starbucks, and was reminded of an episode of “Scrubs” that aired earlier this week, in which Dr. Cox, a nearly-psychotic physician began one of his famous rants with this:

“If someone’s standing in front of me in line at the coffee shop and they can’t decide what they want in the half an hour it took to get to the register, I should be allowed to kill them.”

Before you jump on me about Starbucks, I had them use lowfat milk and I used Splenda instead of sugar, so that’s better than normal.

As I was leaving the parking lot, I got behind a woman in a mini-Mercedes who seemed infintely more interested in getting her lip gloss just right than paying any attention at all to the traffic sharing the road with her. I’m sure when she ends up wrapping her car around a tree because she wasn’t paying attention where she was going, the first thing the paramedics will note is how nice and shiny her lips are.

Anyway, I’m going to try this morning routine thing, even though I despise getting up earlier than I have to. If I’m lucky, I might be able to get the weight loss back on track. I’d like to be under 230 pounds by my birthday in November.

We shall see.

the authorPatrick
Patrick is a Christian with more than 30 years experience in professional writing, producing and marketing. His professional background also includes social media, reporting for broadcast television and the web, directing, videography and photography. He enjoys getting to know people over coffee and spending time with his dog.

1 Comment

  • Cliff and I are doing great at our weight loss, although it’s slow. We walk briskly in our pasture for a half-hour each day. I’m a morning person, he is not. So I try my best to busy myself and not act anxious to go walking, while he dozes in his chair between sips of coffee. The dog does NOT try to busy herself. She isn’t patient, and if it were up to her, life would be one constant walk. She whines and barks at Cliff until we finally walk. Some days I actually take one walk with the dog alone, in the pasture, and another with Cliff and the dog together. You can see my latest Wednesday diet report here: http://journals.aol.com/mosie1944/MYCOUNTRYLIFE/entries/1495

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