No More Trying, Just Doing

In September, Kyle and I joined The Gym. The Gym is a fancy pants gym with everything you could possibly ever want from a gym. For what you get, the membership fees are actually a good value, though still a little steep for my frugal self. We figured this would encourage us to go to The Gym and work our asses off. This was not the case. I think I went to The Gym a dozen times between September and last Saturday. Fail.

Last week, though, The Gym sent out a blast email for the 90 Day Weight Loss Challenge they would be running. It’s a biggest loser style even where the highest percentage lost is what you’re after. Club level winners (one male and one female) get free membership dues for a year and a trip to a spa in California. National level winners (one male and one female again) get the same of course, and $5,000. Winning $5,000 would suit me just fine. Heck, just the free membership dues and trip would be awesome. It was only $25 to sign up (for administrative costs) and came with tons of other extra benefits, not to mention the competitive piece, so we decided to join up. If I go by last year’s national female winner, I’m aiming to lose 27% of my weight by the first weekend in May.

We weighed in on Sunday and had our pictures taken (right there in the lobby!) with a little handwritten sign with our weight on it and everything. It was kind of awkward, but so is being fat. We sat down afterward for a consultation with Joanna who was very nice and kind and informed and helpful. I ended up buying a heart rate monitoring watch, signing up for a CardioPoint test to determine my anaerobic threshold, AND signing up for a TEAM Weight Loss class, the last 8 weeks of it at least. My CardioPoint test is this Sunday. I’m looking forward to it actually. Which is good, because when we left The Gym that day I told Kyle, “I could have just bought a spinning wheel instead!”

(I’ve decided to keep saving for my spinning wheel through the whole 90 day challenge and only buy it as a reward when I’ve completed the 90 days. Whether I’m declared an official prize winner or not, because I still would have won a lot by getting healthier to begin with.)

In any case, my TEAM Weight Loss classes started on Monday, at 6am. I was up at 5:15 and at The Gym by 5:55 (there was a ton of ice to be scraped off the car). The class is 1 hour and she talks to us and encourages us and goes over goals and nutrition and all sorts of things. All while we’re working our asses off on the treadmills and doing situps and pushups and lifting some weights. It’s kind of crazy, but I cannot tell you how amazing I feel after each session. Okay, I actually feel exhausted and sore, but you know, emotionally I’m charged up and confident. This is exactly what I needed to finally kick all this fat to the curb.

Next week (which is actually the mid-point of the 12-week session for most folks) we’ll be testing situps, pushups, planking, body fat and how long you can push yourself on the treadmill at your anaerobic threshold. This will be my baseline test, but I’m super looking forward to how much I progress in another six weeks at the end of the class.

I’ve gone back to Paleo (because I fell off the wagon HARD the weekend after I started for several reasons), and one of the things mentioned in the class is going gluten-free, so yay! I needed this sort of accountability for sure. Once I feel better about myself and am already in the routine of getting up at 5:15 to get to The Gym, I won’t need a class to get me there, but for now I do.

I’ve already lost 2.5% of my weight and we’re only 5 days into the challenge. If I keep at just 3/4ths of this rate, I’ll exceed my 27% goal easily.

And again, even if I only hit 25% and don’t win $5,000? I’ll still have lost a quarter of my body weight! Total win.