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These “lifestyle changes” do take time, you know. HA! But seriously, the good news is I do not eat like I used to and overall am making much better choices. And while I still am guilty of burying a sorrow every now and then with the help of a Reese cup, cheeseburger or bowl of ice cream… I try to keep it to a minimum.
What I have done is consistently exercised – and by exercise, I mean that which involves sweating. And on that note, I feel compelled to provide an “update” to a previous post I did last year about my gym not being so “family friendly”. Early this year, my gym got a new manager… and it is SO much better. They also have retained the same childcare worker since that time (an actual adult who is just lovely), which is very helpful. So while they were off to a rough start, they are finally living up to bringing “family friendly fitness to the neighborhood.”
In fact, we have quite the relationship with our gym friends. Mr. Vince “high-five’s” the kids upon their arrival. Ms. Rose turns on Tessa’s favorite movie and pulls out the trucks Tanner likes in the playroom. And whoever is at the desk almost always turns the big overhead fan on for me (it gets hot) without my even asking. Even after a year of regular attendance, I still can’t say I always like it… but it’s doable, and I admit I feel better when I’m getting it done.
When not absorbed in my IPOD, I am a very avid “people watcher” (and I’m sure people perhaps watch me, but I can’t imagine that they wouldn’t be terribly bored after like three minutes). And so while at the gym I have noticed there are essentially three kinds of “gym people groups” who come to work out. First of all, there are what I call the “in and outs”. This group is predominately male, and traditionally composed of people who appear to be very fit and “in shape” already, with an occasional senior citizen here and there. They arrive, jump on a machine, put in 15 or 20 minutes and are right back out the door. They might hit a few of the weight machines on their way out… maybe… and they rarely seem to break a sweat. They are, again, already very “fit”.
The second group is what I call the “walk arounds”. This group is the biggest and has the most diversity within it. This group often comes in pairs and is most abundantly present evenings and weekends. They arrive at the gym and spend at least 10 minutes wandering around checking things out, debating about which cardio machine they want to use. If they’re alone, they’ll often make random comments as they mosey about, you know, things like, “Oh, you’re working hard,” or “Hey, look at you,” or they may ask for some directions on a cardio machine, or if you know which machine burns the most calories, etc., etc….
Finally, upon making a machine selection, they very casually approach the machine and start their workout, nice and slowly. After about 15 minutes on one machine, they switch to another, sometimes wandering around aimlessly through the weight area for a bit, trying out a machine here and there in between. They don’t have any real plan for their workout and are usually either naturally thin people who have decided to “try some exercise” or overweight/normal people who are testing the workout waters, but aren’t sure what to do or how to do it. The latter may at some point transition into the last group.
And the last group is the “focused” group. This is my group. We are people who are either fat, have been fat, or live in fear of being fat. We’re not working out because we enjoy it, or because we just want to feel better. NO! We are here because regardless of what eat or don’t eat, if we do not show up practically every freakin day, we will probably gain weight! We are serious and focused. We have painstakingly carved this HOUR out of our schedule to come and sweat so that we can have dinner tonight and our clothes still fit tomorrow! We don’t mean to be rude, but we cannot chat with you about the weather or give advice on how many calories each machine might burn, because our heart rate has to stay over 145 bpm or we’re just wasting our time! We have sweating to do!
On a random side note: A few weeks back while at the gym doing my thing, bopping along to my IPOD and occasionally glancing at the TV, I noticed the CNN headline change to this: “World’s Heaviest Man Marries.” Then flashes a picture of a very large and bedridden man who had just married – married a woman!! The photo showed a perfectly normal sized, normal looking woman sitting on the bed cuddled up with him.
This man, who held the Guinness Book Record for “heaviest man,” clearly weighed over 500 pounds now, and apparently once tipped the scales at over 1,200, has not left his bed in six years. In fact, a flat bed truck hauled the man’s bed (decorated in white) to the wedding venue where after the ceremony the couple “swayed” to a romantic ballad, and the groom reportedly skipped the wedding cake.
Unbelievable… beyond morbidly obese, six years of being bedridden, and he’s getting married! Call me crazy, but as I sweated and gasped for air atop the elliptical, I couldn’t help but curse the injustice… I mean, I don’t know where the world’s heaviest woman is hanging out these days… but I’m guessing her love life probably isn’t seeing the same kind of luck!
Even with the freebie tickets we had, between parking and limiting my girls to ONE prize for the evening (they chose a snow cone in a cup that you got to keep), I still spent close to $50 bucks. As we settled in our seats, a lady sat down next to us who had two girls as well. She had bought three tickets (and these were not the cheap seats - $35 a pop), and then before the show had even started, each of her children had been treated to a snow cone, a cotton candy with a Pooh hat, a new plush Pooh Bear, a Tigger flashlight that twirled, and a program with color pages.
Now, we had just visited the souvenir stand, and so as I surveyed their loot, I couldn’t help but add it all up. She had spent $215 dollars on her girls… plus the cost of her ticket, and the concession stand drink she was sipping. And it didn’t stop there. The people on the other side of us had a little boy who was barely a year old, and didn’t even care about the show at all. In addition to their tickets, he was also treated to a flashlight, a program, and a bear, plus his grandma had bought them all dinner at the concession stand.
Tessa steadily admired her neighbor’s bear and twirling Tigger flashlight throughout the show. She asked for one twice, but I reminded her of the snow cone cup, and thankfully (and shockingly) she moved on. Grace was another story.
She thoroughly enjoyed her snow cone during the first act of the show, but she was lamenting her choice at intermission when the vendors came around with the cotton candy attached to the Pooh hats. Again, reminding her of the snow cone cup, I said no. Well... it just went downhill from there, and after an impressive fit that resulted in my having to temporarily remove her from our seats for a private “discussion”… she decided she would behave and enjoy the rest of the show – even without cotton candy.
Now, I’m not bitter towards those big spending parents… I mean, if you have $215 bucks to drop at the Pooh show… more power to you…. but I admit I was a little annoyed. I wasn’t sure why exactly… I mean, I didn’t think my girls were being deprived of anything. The show and a snow cone was plenty to be happy about and grateful for, and I’m sure there have been many times my kids had things when others didn’t.
But… something in me really wanted to look over at this woman and ask, “Seriously, toys, two treats, and a program? Give me a break! We’re in a recession for crying out loud and you just dropped my car payment on a bunch of crap that two days from now those kids probably won’t even be playing with.”
But... then again, I suppose it is easy for me to say “that’s too much” because I didn’t have an extra $215 bucks… and while part of me hopes that even if I did, I would opt to stick to my guns with my girls about being grateful and satisfied… I guess the truth is they might have walked out with a couple of Tigger flashlights and plush Pooh Bears as well.
As frustrated as I was with Gracie… well, I felt bad for her. I mean, I don’t know at what point it is in life that you begin to have a true understanding that you can’t always have everything, but the years between 3 and 6 are probably not it. She felt bad on the way home and apologized repeatedly for her “fit” saying she would work harder on having a more “grateful heart”. I told her, “That would be great. In fact, we could both work on it together.”
There were good friends to hang out with.
And fun things to do... like take our first ride on a horse! A white "princess pony" as Tessa called it. Here she is giving her best princess wave...
