Back to the gym

Last spring I decided I wanted to lose some weight. So back in May I joined a gym and began going quite religiously. I’m not athletic by any means, but it actually started becoming fun. And although the weight was coming off extremely slow, I definitely felt the difference. My confidence increased while the pounds decreased, and while I still had a ways to go until I hit my goal, I really was feeling great!

Sometime in the last three or four weeks, however, I stopped going to the gym. Until then I had a routine. I’m a night person, so I would come home from my day, rest for awhile, then hit the gym around 8 or 9pm. I would be there for an hour or so, come home, take a shower, and then go to bed feeling really good.

But as I said, I simply stopped going. I cannot even remember why. With the weather changing, it's just been easier to come home and stay home. But the weight is starting to creep back up. And the more I focus on it, the heavier the pounds are starting to feel. Ughhh. I’ve lost good amounts of weight a couple of times before, only to have gained more back than I’ve lost. So, I remember the frustration as I wondered the purpose of doing all that work for seemingly no reason. But I am not that person who thinks that way anymore. I choose to be empowered and now prefer to be responsible for creating what I want for myself!

So how can I stop this self-sabotage? How do I get myself back on track to looking and feeling good? Well, I started thinking about the time of year it is. Why go back to the gym now? After all, it’s the holidays. People often stop working out during this time, then restart their workout routines in the New Year. So maybe I’ll just wait until then? Nooo. I need to go back to the gym sooner than that.

So for the last week or so, I have said to myself that I'll go back tomorrow. Every day, the same thing. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.

This morning I thought, TODAY. I am going back today. I didn’t have any big plans for the day, so I’d take it easy, work on my coaching stuff, and then go to the gym this evening. It was all planned out. Finally!

Around 5pm my friend called and asked if I’d like to go out for a drink tonight. Yes, of course I would! It was on. I now had plans for the night and was very excited. As I got back into my work though, it suddenly hit me that my first plan was to go to the gym tonight. Ahhh man, now I'll have to wait until tomorrow to go. No, I CANNOT wait another day!

So I immediately got myself up off the couch, changed into my gym clothes and went to the gym. I couldn’t think about it anymore. I just had to go. Now I am so proud of myself. Although I only stayed about 45 minutes, (I guess the lack of working out lately made those 45 minutes quite tiring) I am still very happy I went, especially because I should be more motivated to go back tomorrow.

Now, I’m off to get ready for my night out. Although I’ll probably drink more calories than I worked off this evening, at least I feel hopeful that I'll soon be back on track. Yeah! Have a great evening. I sure will!