Gym: Year One

12th of January 2018

I've been back in the gym for a year now, and it's been a rocky year. Yes, I made progress, but it wasn't easy. I'm down 50 pounds, but I need to lose more. I've gained muscle, but being sick may have caused me to lose some of it. I've looked over how much I went to the gym last year, and I know which months have been tough to get in. I fell into bouts of depression for whatever reason. It might have been not progressing like I had hoped I would. It might have been having to get a new furnace and air conditioner putting me on a tight financial budget. It could have been work, or it could have been work stressing me out to the point that I just want to rip my hair out.

January and February were good months. I was in the gym a lot, so I lost quite a bit. March was good, but I know I was losing confidence. Not only that, but I was going up to twice a day for 6 days a week. It started to take it's wear and tear on me. April was another depression time which I'm guessing was because of weather change. I also had done 2 runs in March and also in April. Neither of them should have stopped me from going in. I didn't run much of them because at some point, I developed a little pain in my shins.

May had 3 runs which were good, but I didn't run a lot of it still. June was an off month, and in July, there were 2. I slipped in the gym because many things happened at work that required my attention. August had one "run," and I put that in quotes because I will never run it again. August was my worst month out of the entire year. I had to be at the ISF for work, and that required being outside for much of the day. I was already sweating pretty good.

September, I tried to make a comeback, but once October came, I fell into another spell. I was going to do the Race for the Cure, but there was lack of communication on their part as to where the packet pick-up was. However at the end of October, I saw that my birthday was coming up. I wrote some things that I was going to give up for 6 months, and I joined group session classes at AF.

When November came, I decided I needed to change, and I was pissed with how much progress I could have made but didn't. I hit it hard. I made class at least once a day. I made it back on the Top 15 list with the most gym visits. December was my worst month not because of amount of gym visits. I was going strong, but then I got the sickest I've ever felt. I felt really bad. I missed 2 weeks of the gym because of it, but on Christmas Day, I got back in. I lost lots of energy, and I lost weight. I don't know if I lost fat or muscle. I lost a total of 12 pounds from being sick. It took me a week to get back in the swing of things, and now, I feel I can move forward and get better. My group sessions end around April, so that's some activity for me until it's warmer outside for me to bike.

Overall, I've grown more appreciation for the gym. I have seen progress, but I'm antsy. I wish I had the progress now. However, once I get there, I will not slip again. I would have worked too damn hard to let that happen. I'm working too damn hard right now to slip.