So, a man walks into a gym and says...

Yeah, given that you are all bright, semi-intelligent young readers, I'm sure you figured out the purpose of this post simply by the subject.
Yes, I have joined a gym, a professional gym this time instead of the local university gym which is free, but overused, understaffed and with (what felt like) chronically broken equipment. (To be fair, it wasn't always broken, but they weren't great about getting things fixed fast).

A little history...

I had gone to the local university gym.. about two years ago (a little more, I think I started in September of '02) and started working out. I started with half an hour of tough walking and a little bit of weight training and read and learned and ended up, near the end, with an hour of cardio (half an hour jogging on the treadmill, half an hour on the elliptical machines) and some sort of weight training every day (either low (Abdomen, Legs, Tush) or upper (Arms, back).
In the end, I probably had exercised for a good 9 months before I stopped.
Why did I stop? It's a good question and one I've asked myself alot..the biggest reason was the heat. There was no air conditioning in the gym, only a few fans. Needless to say, the gym got hot.. and very stuffy.. oppressively so, and that was very difficult to do.
The other thing was.. I think an hour of cardio got to be too much. I've talked to other people since then who agreed that doing an hour of cardio probably wasn't right. Why did I do an hour of cardio? The answer was.. it came down to "setpoints".. every so often, I'd hit a point where it seems like, a week later, I just wasn't losing any more weight..I hit two points.. one, if I recall, was around 275.. the other around 255. I exercised for six days out of seven and just never got past that weight, so my books said.. well, if this happens exercise more.. and I did.. I went from half an hour to fourty five minutes.. and at 255, I went to an hour.
And it DID work, I kept moving lower, but it was just too much for me.
The next time it happens (and it probably will), I may try exercising a little longer until I get over that hump, but maybe back off again to half an hour when I've gotten past it and see what happens.
Honestly, with all things being equal, I don't feel like I really HAVE the time to do cardio for an hour anymore. Not on a regular basis. Maybe occasionally on weekends, but...

So, anyways, I stopped going to the gym.. and I ballooned back up to almost my original weight (the scale this morning says 292.5 :p. It's not the average weight I'm used to using, but my original weight before the gym was 300. Bad me.)

Now, mind you, I may have gained some weight since coming to maryland (I certainly haven't lost it), but I haven't gained enough that my work clothes don't fit. A brown belt I bought back in April is still being worn on the farthest hole, so that'a plus, but I don't look as good as I could (and my family are harassing me about it). This suggests to me, that my lifestyle isn't unhealthy. That I'm not eating badly or whatever and that a little exercise should go a long way towards losing weight again.

So, I found a "real" gym, one I need to pay in to be part of.. I'm sure, given the location (Maryland) they have air conditioning (It's not optional down here, it's necessary. I've lived only one summer here and I know this.), and more machines (and better kept machines!) PBS&J has a deal with Gold's Gym, at least the one near work ($30 down (it actually turned out to be $75 - $30 + $15 processing fee + $30 last month), $30 a month for a one year contract) and I signed up.

I'm sure I'll have people cheering me on. At one point, ecwoodburn and I had considered being gym buddies, but we've talked about it (especially lately) and we have different goals. My BIGGEST goal is to lose that weight again... my secondary goals are to gain muscle mass and stamina (I intend to join the PBS&J Softball team again next year - even if I suck, one goal is to be able to run the bases without being totally choked up and out of breath). Her biggest goal seems to be toning her muscles (*looks to ecwoodburn for confirmation*). I think we'll most likely cheer each other on and force each other to be responsible to go, even though we probably won't go to the same gyms or even at the same times.

I do fully intend to utilize this journal to discuss my experiences back at the gym and my progress towards looking.. somewhat like this lj picture again (I do look damn sexy in the shades and jester's hat if I do say so!)
So, alright!
Back to work!

Hmm.. need that old Jogging icon again. Hope I saved it.