My road to the gym..

.. with the help of some of mahhhh ladies.

This lazy, food lovin', couch potato is officially a member at the YMCA.

That's right, I've acquired my very first gym membership. <<pats on back>>

You may remember back in January when I actually thought I was going to follow through with a 2 month challenge using the couch to 5k app. Hah, that was a fun 4 days.

Typically, I pick up a new "hobby" for a week & you won't hear me talk about it again. Now that I've been gym'in it for 2 weeks, I think we've passed the safe zone where talking about it won't jinx my productivity. After all, it has been longer than I or anyone else expected.

My new normal:
Luckily, the gym is a mere 5 minutes from my apartment. My new routine includes waking up at 5:30, arriving at the gym by 5:40 & getting home by 6:45 to make myself presentable for work. My time management skills are quite impressive, I know. If I can't make it in the morning, I'll just go after work, although I definitely prefer the peacefulness a morning workout offers.
Come 6 o'clock, the Y be jammed packed, yo.

What brought on this sudden rush of motivation, you ask? Well, that's a combination of a few things. For one, bathing suit season is fast approaching here & I'm not bikini ready by any means.

Now, I know I'm not fat and I'll never be the girl that pretends I am, especially when I know the weight struggles that some women go through.. but I'm bigger than ever before and I don't feel good about it. Growing up, I was fortunate to be blessed with a fast mestabolism, but that slows down as you age. Homegirl ain't gettin' any younger. Ya heard?

What's that saying "If you're not happy, change it?" Well, that's exactly what I did. 

My thoughts exactly, Brandi.

Over the last 2 weeks, I have only skipped the gym one time. I know that I'll eventually slow down & I'm okay with that. In fact, I welcome it. But I wanted to wake my body up from this long coma (26 years to be exact) for the first few weeks.


I've also become pretty good friends with MyFitnessPal... because there is no point in doing all of that work if I'm still going to live off fried foods & Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Am I right or amiright?

Again, I'm not saying that I'm going to continue counting calories for the rest of my life or not have chicken minis every weekend (that would obviously be a lie), I'm simply testing this out to see how I feel and giving my body a break from junk. Food is & always will be the first love of my life, so I don't ever plan on completely cutting out the things that make me happy.
Everything in moderation, right? :)


On to what I've learned works for me and what doesn't...

Cardio:

My biggest downfall is that I can't seem to master how to breathe & run at the same time. And since breathing is essential, running was out. A friend suggested that I try walking on an incline instead of continuing to get frustrated trying to run.
I'm sure your reaction is the same as mine was..

I can walk at home.. or better yet, around the mall. I'm not going to the gym to burn a whopping 20 calories on a treadmill. Much to my surprise, in just 20 minutes I burned almost 200 calories by simply walking on a incline. This has now been added to my daily workout routine. I also do a quick 2 miles on the bike and throw in some time on the elliptical for good measure. I run into the same issues on the elliptical as I do with running. After 10 minutes, I'm spent.

Strength Training:
My goal wasn't only to lose a couple lb's, I also wanted to tighten my bum bum. To do this, I added these machines to the mix: Leg Curl, Leg Press, Hip Abduction. I use both of the Hip Abduction machines (pulling in & pushing out) because they work out two separate areas.

My Target Areas:
Honestly, I don't know my way around the gym to save my life. While I'm on the treadmill, I'm constantly eyeing different machines to see what they do and the correct way to use them. I have yet to find an ab station.
For that, I turned to Pinterest. What else? When I get home from the gym, I do both this ab (green) & butt (yellow) workout. They claim to tone your stomach and bum in just 30 days. That's all the convincing I needed.

I've also learned what a Blurpee is and how much I hate them. Let's just hope it's worth it...

& that, my friends, is how I've been up in the gym workin' on my fitness..