Hit the gym: check

Last week I made it to the gym a total of 2x. Monday and Tuesday. I was good, too. I did cardio for about 40 minutes on Monday, and then anything I could possibly remember from Pilates class for another 40 minutes on Tuesday. Wednesday I didn't go, because I wanted to rest & I had a crap-ton of school work to do. Thursday I didn't go because I forgot my stinkin' bag at home, and it would have taken an extra twenty to thirty minutes to run home & get it and THEN go to the gym, so I just went home instead. Friday I took my brother & his girlfriend to see Jim Gaffigan at Clemson. FUNNY!! Saturday was yoga in the a.m., followed by Sunday with yoga in the p.m. All of that to say, that today I hit the gym again. Second Monday in a row. I'm feeling pumped, and I will feel free to celebrate the small victory of two consecutive weeks of gym attendance. I plan on going to Pilates tomorrow night, following a luscious "brinner" dinner of whole wheat pancakes & scrambled egg product. Wednesday will be the big day- the THIRD day in a row. The deciding factor: will this be a week of promise or a week of failed dreams?? I'm gonna do it- it's gonna happen!!!!
There's all sorts of different information out there about exercise & nutrition & BMI and what not. I'm just gonna shoot for a goal of 30 -40 minutes of "working out" a week. They may be cardio, it may be Pilates, it may be walking/running intervals. Who knows? I have to change it up though, or else I'll go bored out of my skull. Then I won't come back until an additional 7 pounds has crept up. And if I don't have my MP3 player? Forget it. I'll just go home & take a short walk after dinner. I don't know about anyone else, but I've got to have my music. It keeps me motivated, and I'm just OCD enough to try to match my walk/run/ breathing pattern with the rhythm of the music.
But there is something I have discovered: I have endurance. What kind of endurance, I don't know. I was on the dreaded elliptical (I hate it because it never fails to make my feet feel hot & cramped) and was really going. Maybe 67 rotations per minute. Really hoppin'. And I was watching news channel 4 and concentrating on reading the closed captioning and keeping my breathing pattern the same......and it hit me. I had been doing this for almost fifteen minutes, and it didn't feel like it. I felt like I could have kept going at that pace forever. I had found a rhythm and a "zone", for lack of a better word. And I just kept going. Then, my goal turned into "keep this rhythm up until it's time to go". And I did! Well, for the most part. I did wimp out at the last 6 minutes, but really it was because my feet were hot, and my chest was hurting (never mind I was convinced I was on the verge of a heart attack. That's an anxiety-disorder, for you!) But I did it, and it made me feel good in the discovery that I could make my body do something while my brain checks out. Not completely, of course, since a large part of what I'm doing is for my mental wellbeing. I hope to not only lose weight, but also find a way to replace my anxiety medication w/ regular exercise, as much as possible. But I could give my body a job, find a rhythm it could work with and concentrate on, and then......fly off anywhere in my mind. It was enlightening, to say the least!
So, for any gym rats out there, keep it up. I'm sweating along with you, and hating it as much. Just pony up on that treadmill, look those step machines in the eye, and think..... "Semper Fi"
Oooh - Ra!! (as they say in the Marines)