PianoWow

Having joined the gym, I have been exercising much more often. It hasn’t quite been a month, but I’m developing a habit of going for a couple of hours each day. I spend the first quarter of my time there normally lifting weights, using the new machines they added to the mix this year. They are really easy to use, and are much more convenient than free weights. Not only that, but machines can provide resistance to things that gravity can’t. There is a machine that allows you to grab onto something that looks like the back of a chair, and then rotate your upper body. I thought that was interesting, but I haven’t tried it yet.

The second quarter of my time I spend walking on the treadmill. Even if I haven’t already started sweating by the time I reach the treadmill, my shirt is soaked by the time I step off.

I finish my stay at the gym by spending the last half of my time in the pool. I have four basic things I like to do there: sit in the jacuzzi, swim laps, tread water, and dive for pennies. Occasionally, I’ll spend some time in the steam room, but not too often. Actually, they have a sauna and a steam room. I’ve never heard that distinction before, but the sauna is a dry heat, in a room that is all wood everywhere, with the hot rocks in the middle. The wood gives that room a very unique smell. Then there is the steam room, which is like bathroom tile everywhere (even the ceiling), and is filled with so much steam that you can’t see clearly at all. Breathing is much more difficult in a room with that much steam. I had never been in either of those types of rooms before joining the YMCA, but they’re growing on me. I may spend a few minutes in one of those rooms every other time I go.

The pool is huge, with three swimming lanes in the middle, and free swim areas on either side. One is for adults only, no splashing. And the other side is for kids, families. The depth ranges from 3 feet on one end of the swimming lanes, and 8.5 feet on the other. So each free swim area has comparable depths.

I really enjoy myself going there. I watch tv or listen to music while exercising, and just mess around and cool off in the pool afterwards.

Hopefully this new habit will improve my chances in beating my friend in our weight loss bet. We have bet number 4 (of 6) tomorrow night. My main concern now is the fact that when I’m simply dieting, I can do that just fine. But when I start exercising, I tend to eat more, and that simply defeats the purpose of exercising. I’ll address the diet issue in an upcoming post.

Well, the third month proved to be profitable. My friend nearly caught up to where I was last month, having a weight loss of 3.68%. I however, pulled far ahead, having lost 6.24% so far.

I have a long way to go if I want to reach my goal. I’m not exactly on schedule by any means. But I’ve taken steps to ensure that I will continue to lose weight and/or win the bet each month.

I took the $50 my friend gave me and joined the local YMCA. I was quite impressed by the facility. They have aerobics rooms, a weight room, racquetball courts, a basketball court, a huge swimming pool, a hottub, a sauna, and a steam room. I went swimming last night, and discovered they even have a swimsuit dryer. It was really cool. It spun the suit really fast until most of the water fell out. I’m impressed by the smallest of things.

My friend and I weighed ourselves again last night. The verdict? I won. But not by much. My total weight loss since the bet started is now 3.83% while his dropped from 5% to 2.24%. So I won this month. I’m now $50 richer.

yay

Three weeks after agreeing to do so, it was time my friend and I weigh ourselves and see who won the first month. We are going to weigh ourselves the first Friday night of every month until the end of the bet, in October.

The verdict: he won. I had to pay him $50. We both lost about the same amount of weight, but since he weighed less initially, percentage-wise, he had me beat. I lost 3.5% of my body weight and he lost about 5%.

I’m not going to let that happen next month. I need that $50 back! And revenge is so, so sweet.

I have decided to lose weight. I’ve made this decision in the past before, but I seem to forget that I need to keep up what I’m doing in order to keep the weight off. Exercising and eating right is not only a way to lose weight, but also how stay that way.

In the past, I have simply lost weight until I was happy, then went back to my lifestyle before I made the decision to lose weight. I would end up gaining the weight back over time.

This time, I hope to maintain my goal weight once it is reached. I’ve taken steps to ensure that my goal weight is reached.

First, I’m planning a trip to meet a girl I have been writing to overseas. I know she appreciates my efforts. So she is a motivation.

Second, I’ve made a wager with one of my friends. We will weigh ourselves every month for six months, and the one of us that has lost the greatest percentage will receive $50 from the other each month. So, there is a total of $300 on the line. It could be that we split the winnings evenly and end up $150 richer and poorer by the end of the six months, but that is unlikely.

The rules are simple. We have an intial weight recorded. We subtract our weight each month from this weight and get a difference. This difference is used to compute a percentage of the initial weight. So after the first month, if I lose 2% of my weight and he loses 1.5%, then I win. If in the next month I stay at a 2% loss, and he comes down to 1.75%, I still win, even though I have not lost anything that month.

His goal is 25.5%, mine is 28.5%. That is a lot of hard work, and really, almost unrealistic for a six month period. But with money on the line, and a general competitiveness between friends, it’s certainly possible.

This has resulted in some interesting twists. Before, I generally discouraged him from going to Wendy’s and ordering a frosty. Now, if he wants a frosty, let him have it! If he gains weight, I have a better chance of winning $50 this month!

I could go into a long discussion here as to the benefits and drawbacks of competition vs. cooperation. I’ll just mention that what we’re doing may not be the best way to go about it. With the addition of the bet, there’s no way I’m going to share any information with him. If I discover a fun exercise, I’m keeping it to myself. If I find a tasty fat free chocolate bar with lots of nutrients and stuff, I’m going to hide them in my closet so he doesn’t see them when he comes over to my place. If he and I were cooperating instead of competing, we could potentially lose more. He could invite me as a guest at his gym, or I would give him tips on eating more healthy.

So I have cooperation with a girl in Russia, and a competition with another guy here. I think the combination should prove to be perfect.