Who knew so many people got up at 5am?

Yesterday I made a decision. Instead of going to the gym after work and spending an entire hour working out on the cardio machines (snore), I would break it up into 2 half hour sessions. One before work, and one after work. The gym is just around the corner from my house, so this is no big deal.

I got up at dark-oh-thirty this morning and threw on my gym clothes, (hubby was initially going to come with me, but backed out when I shoved him awake this morning and he realized I was serious). I jumped in the car, BEFORE coffee, and raced around the corner. I thought it was strange that there were so many cars in the parking lot, after all, the mall wouldn't be open for another 4 hours, but figured there was some kind of night inventory crew or something. I opened the doors and my jaw dropped. All of those people in the parking lot were IN THE GYM. So much for my quiet peaceful workout. Doesn't anyone have anything better to do at 5:30 in the morning? The only elliptical machine left was the squeaky one with the broken cardio-theatre hook-up... so my workout was silent. I tried not to be too miserable, after all, I hadn't had coffee yet so the quiet was probably better anyway. Except for the fact that I couldn't drown out the annoying squeaky noise with some Great Big Sea. Stupid squeaky noise. How much can a can of W-D40 possibly cost anyway? Damn, I'd even put some canola oil on it if that noise would stop. I couldn't believe the lady at the desk was peacefully reading her novel throughout my squeak-filled workout. Maybe she's deaf. I wrote a note in the suggestion box to fix the squeaky elliptical, which will probably go ignored... the box is really just there for decoration I think.

Tomorrow I shall try 5:15 and see if I can sneak in before the crowd. Don't people sleep in anymore?

Oh well. If this is the worst thing that happens in my day, all is good.

Do you drink as much water as you should be?

So. By now I am completely obsessed with reaching my healthy goals, but as a requirement of losing the equivalent of an entire extra person that seems to have grown onto my ass, I have to drink more water. MORE water. I thought... you know, the whole 8 glasses of day thing was enough. They don't tell you how BIG those glasses should be. My trainer tells me I should be drinking 2000ML or 2L per day. Which doesn't sound that bad until you realize that 2L per day computers to 4 bottles of water. Even then.. 4 bottles of water... how can it be that bad? Well I'm here to tell you that it's really, really challenging. I was probably drinking about 2 bottles before... and that was forced down at meal times. I'm not a big water drinker... yes, yes, I know the benefits... healthy skin, weight loss, less water retention... but I just don't think about it until I'm so thirsty, I chug an entire bottle in one breath. So my challenge this week is to drink my entire daily portion of water everyday. By the way... coffee doesn't count! So I have this water bottle on my desk... It's staring at me ominously... I pick it up... drink... and immediately the urge to pee hits me AGAIN for the 6th time today. I can't stop really. I think I've spent more time in the loo today than anywhere else. People are going to start thinking I'm having a problem. But really, how often does the average person go to the bathroom anyway? I have no idea, however, I believe that 6 times in eight hours is WAY too many!

Returning to the world of normalcy... is that a word?

Where have I been all this time you ask? Easy answer. I've joined a gym! I've joined a gym and it is consuming nearly every waking minute I have that I am not working. They say you only have to work out 20min a day to lose weight. HA! Really what they should be saying is that if you want to MAINTAIN your current weight, you should work out for 20 minutes a day. If you want to LOSE weight, you should be doing 3 grueling hours of cardio, plus at least two 30 minute sessions of weights... perferrably three. And when you're not doing that you should be planning your meals so that you're eating less than 1300 calories in a day. 1300! Ghandi ate more than that! But I digress.

So I'm actually having fun and feeling very proud of myself. I haven't lost very many actual pounds, but my clothes are too big and I have loads of energy. Hubby is doing great as well. I feel motivated for the first time in AGES. Unfortunately, almost everything else in life is kind of at a stand-still. Until we actually move, the gym is a half hour drive... plus 15 min to change... and hour to work out.. half an hour to change and shower... half an hour to drive home.. that's almost 3 hours gone and I haven't even made supper yet! Whoa. Once we move, the gym will be around the corner though. Much faster.

Coming around to catch up on my reading now!

Cheers.