The Eleven

Yesterday I did something that I had been putting off all weekend:  I went to the gym.

All weekend, I wanted to go to the gym – at least that little part of me that enjoys the endorphins and feeling good afterward did.  But the rest of me thought, It’s my last weekend of vacation.  I went 7 times already over my break, one more than my goal.  I’m tired.  I should hang out with Drew while he’s home.

Not to mention, it’s New Year’s weekend (is that a thing?) and all the well-meaning New Year’s gym resolution makers will be flooding my little corner of 24 Hour Fitness.  Do I really want to get bumped to a treadmill because all the ellipticals are taken?

So I waited until Monday and then went around noon, when I figured everyone would be at work already.  I was still a little anxious about getting in there, but it wasn’t bad at all.  I don’t look forward to trying to go after work, but if I can just stick it out for now, everything will probably be back to normal in a month or so, right?

This is the first time ever that I’ve been able to start the new year with such a sense of superiority and satisfaction.  I’m not trying to create any new impossible habits or anything.  I’m just trying to keep up the habits I’ve been enforcing lately.  I like this feeling.  I lost twenty pounds over the last year, and that was all in about 6 months of actually trying.  So I’m upping the ante a little this year, and shooting for another thirty.  (That’s my resolution #4.)

On that note, Drew pulled out a coat he hasn’t worn since New York, and found a receipt in his pocket.  It’s from April 2009, deep in our Atkins phase.  Disclaimer: the Atkins website does not say that when you do Atkins you can just eat butter and bacon.  The official program promotes limiting carbs, and eating lean proteins and vegetables.  If you eat the way they say you should, it’s super healthy and nice.

The problem is, no one can live like that forever.  Which Drew and I discovered quickly, as you can see, since we started Atkins in March, and by April we had already figured out all the ways to eat Atkins-friendly junk food.

Two packs of salami, garden vegetable cream cheese, Diet Coke, Coke Zero Cherry, and sugar-free chocolate pudding.  Yum.  This is what I like about weight watchers – not to sound like their commercial or anything, but it is a way of life.  I just keep thinking, “Stop dieting, start living.”  Good slogan.

I still shudder when I pass the sugar-free candy in Rite-Aid.  Ugh.