PSA: Free 8-Week Bally's Total Fitness Membership

I know from painful personal experience that monetary considerations are a large reason that people are not able to lose weight. Healthy foods can be more expensive than their less-healthy counterparts (to wit: hubby and I shared an Eggbeaters omlette today and the 6 eggwhites ran $3.19 versus the $2.79 we would have paid for 12 whole eggs) and gym memberships are something of a luxury for many people. Well, as part of the National Body Challenge , Bally Total Fitness is offering free 8-week gym memberships, just for signing up at the Body Challenge website. The memberships start January 5 and are a great way to jump start an exercise program.

Exercise: Day 3 of 30, 20 minutes of cardio

Back to the gym, back to the evil, sadistic crosstrainer. I was amazed at how difficult this felt. I thought I was getting 'into a groove' but my groovy ass got kicked. My legs burned, my lungs burned, I sweated like a horse and even though my husband, who kindly accompanied me to the gym, called me his 'gazelle' and claimed that I looked really graceful working out, on that machine I felt more like a piece of dough being kneaded, pounded and punched by a particularly malignant baker. I have to admit that hours later my thighs still have a slight buzz.


Today I made it a point to cover the electronic console of the crosstrainer because I felt so overwhelmed by my workout so I can't report any hard stats. Still, I sweated a lot, felt like I kept pace and finished my 20 minutes really strong.

Exercise: Day 2 of 30, 20 minutes of cardio

Today my beloved/hated Precor CrossTrainer was taken so I ended up on the Precor CrossRamp. This machine doesn't work the upper body but does allow you up to 20 degrees of incline. In addition, it gives you much more feedback: the number of strides you have taken (my total for today: 2668), the percentage of your workout completed, a minutes-to-go countdown, and indicator lights that tell you which muscle groups you are working, depending on your incline. I felt pretty awesome during this workout. I didn't at any time struggle the way I did on day 1 and I'm not sure if that's due to this machine being easier or my muscle memory just kicking in. By minute 20, I was ready to 'jog' onwards. I mostly kept my incline between 3-7% but I did have a few head-jarring minutes at 15%.

Triumph over Coke Addiction

It's been a little over 60 days since I swore off of caloried Coca Cola and I am happy to report that I am no longer drinking caloric soda with any regularity. When I decided to kick my forty-ounce-a-day Coke habit, I promised not to drink any for 60 days. Things didn't quite evolve that way, but I am nonetheless proud. I have had a soda, on average, twice a month for the past two months. I definitely feel better, with fewer peaks and valleys with regards to blood sugar and I've obviously avoided a lot of calories I would have mindlessly imbibed. My husband has been supportive and excited about getting calorie-laden soda out of our home so now we keep a wide-ranging stock of calorie-free drinks. My current favorites are diet A&W Root Beer --which tastes SO much like regular Root Beer -- and Diet 7-Up, which I find is less saccharine and cleaner tasting than Sprite Zero. More than anything, the key for us has been variety so that we don't grow resentful that there's no delicious high fructose corn syrup chilling in the fridge. When I simply can't take aspartame, I do indulge in Fizzy Lizzy fruit spritzer or the infinitely less natural Snapple but generally I have tried to make beverages a low- or no-calorie part of my diet.

Exercise: Day 1 of 30, 20 minutes of cardio

And so it begins. Going back to the gym was hard. Inertia is *so* strong, the temptation to just keep on, keepin' on being fat, getting fatter. Yeah, I went back. But with a chip on my shoulder. Avoiding everyone's eyes, generally mildly annoyed with the whole world, starting with myself. I got on the elliptical crosstrainer and it wasn't too bad at first. I hit a real sense of stride around the 8 minute mark, actually, my posture strong, my number of per-minute reps around 65, pumping my arms with a fair amount of fury, eyes focused on the CNN loop about Benazir Bhutto's assassination. But by minute 12 I was a mess, holding on barely with 30-something reps per minute. I only managed to pull it truly together by minute 19, finishing strong at 20 minutes.

I didn't calculate any calories burned but apparently covered a distance of 1.65, whatever that means in Precor world. Not a bad start and I'm proud of myself.

Exercise: I'm ready.

It's strange, coming to the point where I am ready to go back to the gym. A couple of days ago I decided to go through old clothes that I can't fit anymore, sizes from 8 to 12. It made me sad, frustrated, startled. In talking to my husband as I decided what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to throw away, we spoke about my previous weight loss and how I got the pounds off. As I described the slow process of attaining fitness for the first time in my life, I felt all of the tedium it took but I also recalled how it felt attainable. Not easy, certainly, but very possible. So the plan now is essentially the same as the plan then:

1. 20 minutes of cardio per day for 30 days
   
2. 21 minutes of cardio per day for 1 day
3. 22 minutes of cardio per day for 2 days
4. 23 minutes of cardio per day for 3 days
5. 24 minutes of cardio per day for 4 days
6. 25 minutes of cardio per day for 5 days
7. 26 minutes of cardio per day for 6 days
8. 27 minutes of cardio per day for 7 days
9. 28 minutes of cardio per day for 8 days
10. 29 minutes of cardio per day for 9 days
11. 30 minutes of cardio per day for 10 days
12. 32 minutes of cardio per day for 10 days
13. 35 minutes of cardio per day for 10 days

The results will be slow in coming, I know.