Now The Pain Begins

I have mixed feelings today.

I finally bit the bullet, opened my wallet and joined the local YMCA. It's an expense I'd rather not have but it's also something that I don't think I can go without.

Having lost over 150 pounds so far I'm thrilled with my results but simply cutting back on my food intake and walking many kilometres will only do so much. I needed to take that next step towards shaping the new me.

With that knowledge I joined the gym today. I'm not a fan of winter and the cold so this will allow me an opportunity to workout and walk inside. The treadmill is foreign to me but in time I'm sure I'll get a grasp of how to use it.

I've never been a "gym guy" so to speak. This goes back to my late teens when I used to visit another local fitness club semi-regularly and always found it to be kinda snobby. I always felt like people were looking at me and wondering why I was infringing on their gym experience and social group. The truth of the matter is I rarely talked to anyone when I was there other than people I knew or worked out with. So maybe those snobby people thought I was a snob as well. But I certainly didn't come from money like they did. We didn't travel in the same social or economic circles

New Under Armour Workout Gear

But having visited the YMCA a couple of times to check it out before joining I don't think that will be much of a concern. The people I've seen for the most part are just average everyday folks like myself and I think I'll fit right in.

My other concern was something that has always been an issue for me and that's acceptance. By this I mean having people looking at my large body and talking about me or pointing at me. Eventually this stopped bothering me because I stopped caring what others thought. Again, I don't think this will be a problem here. For one thing, I'm not quite as big as I used to be and I think people today in general are more accepting of overweight individuals making an effort to get healthy. The snobs are in the minority now. Kind of like Caucasians in Canada.

Even though its been over 20 years since I last used free weights or did any kind of real weight lifting and exercise of that type, I still remember the pain associated with using muscles I haven't strained in some time. That pain is not something I'm looking forward to but I know that eventually it will pass as I work through it. The thought of not being able to get out of bed without Advil doesn't excite me but what lies beyond that pain threshold does. The results of toning and tightening my ever shrinking and sagging body is something I look forward to.

So what do I hope to achieve?

One thing I don't care about is having big muscles although losing some of the flab and seeing some of the results would be nice. What I really want is to gain strength and hopefully continue to lose body fat both inside around my organs and on the visible surface.

During my walk through the gym today I spotted a couple of fit guys running on the treadmills. I'm a long way from being able to do that but perhaps one day I'll be able to increase the speed of my walk to a jog.

The facility also has a couple of pools which were busy today with it being a Sunday. I'm not sporting much of a beach body but I might be willing to try my hand at a few lengths of the pool if there aren't too many people around to begin with. A few of the girls in bikini's there today seemed comfortable so I suppose eventually I'll get more comfortable at some point.

Now it's just a matter of making the time to get to the gym for an hour or two each day or as often as possible and to begin the next step of my weight loss journey. My hope is that it will eventually become a routine and a regular part of my day that I plan my schedule around. It would be nice to have a workout buddy to help motivate me and keep me honest but I don't know anyone yet. But who knows, maybe I'll meet someone and we'll help push each other to reach our goals. Either way, I'm going to get the job done.