Easy like Sunda...er Monday morning..and a trip to the gym perhaps?

This weekend provided me with a chance to move forward onto the next stepping stone in my weight loss/better health process and with a light push from Wify I went ahead and joined a local gym. I have been thinking about doing this for some time now because I want to start lifting weights again to hopefully gain back some of my lost muscle from the last year and a half and on Saturday we just happened to have a free hour and were right next door to the gym. In we walked and the overly cheerful girl behind the counter said hi and gave us a "complimentary bottle of water" and off we went to look around, long story short I walked out with a passcard and I am now a member of a gym.

The plan is to go this afternoon after I drop my daughter off at school to have a looksie at some of the equipment and get my first gym workout in, I am a gym virgin so as dumb as it sounds I feel like I am going to be a fish out of water in there and slightly hesitant to go. The fat guy in me says "you don't belong in a gym, just keep going at home" and I know that is a silly way to look at it but when you are have been as big as me feeling as if all eyes are on gigantor is a hard feeling to shake. I will get over the feeling but I would be a liar if I said that it wasn't there, I mean I have been to the YMCA years ago but somehow that feels I don't know safer? as far as that all eyes on feeling goes and I was not 500 pounds back then either, I know I know You say "but you are not 500 pounds now so whats the problem man?" though I may not be 500 pounds currently I am still a big guy and I do think there will be a getting comfortable learning curve that I will have to get through.

I did pretty well this weekend with my intake even though Saturday night I went out to a wine tasting benefit with Wify. Saturday I ate very light all day in preparation for the buffet at the benefit but I will admit that I just ate and drank what I wanted to while there because from the beginning I have said that events will not be compromised because I want to live healthier. I know that some of you will agree with that last statement and say "You gotta live man, go out and enjoy!" and that is a great way to look at it as long as the other times are strict and regulated, then there will be those that say "You compromised your health by eating not so good and drinking a couple beers and some wine, for shame Mister Meatball" and you could be right too BUT the way that I choose to do this lifestyle change is simple. I believe that the human body is a machine and we are animals at our most basic, our bodies need certain vitamins and nutrients to perform daily and there is room for variations from time to time because we need that for survival. My body is not a pie chart, I will not cannot live in a way that disallows me to have a beer or a night out without packing up my Salter scale and calorie counting book.

Sunday I came in low for calories finishing up at 1450, I don't know how that happened because I did not plan on it but when I realized that it was so low it was 9:00 pm and I decided that I would not eat just to get more calories in. I made a really light dinner and that may have contributed to the low calorie number, I made baked Tilapia fillets with a tomato sauce, chopped red onions and thinly sliced green peppers straight out of the garden along with some rice that I seasoned with 2 kinds of peppers and some chopped sauteed onions. Over all the weekend went good and I can positively say that I am back on the wagon, I will go one step further and say that I am driving the wagon and feel like my new old self again and have my drive to get below 300 back.

Joining the gym was a big step for me because the only reason for the hesitation was anticipating that awkward fat guy in a gym feeling but now that actual cash has changed hands I will have to get over that feeling and get to working out. I am looking forward to heading out in a couple hours to join in and be a part of "that gym crowd" and all at the same time it sort of feels like the first day at a new school and I am dreading it, funny how something so fickle can bring all of that up eh? In a way I am hoping that by me posting my plans to go this afternoon it helps me to not chicken out of my first trip.

I looked up and noticed that this post is getting rather lengthy so I will call it done and let you kind people that care enough to read get back to your day. Thanks for reading along and Thank you for all of the support that you give me, if anyone has some ideas for getting past the first day of school feeling I am all ears! and with that, this post has run its course.

As Ever
Me