Looking at yourself honestly can be a difficult thing to do. Most often if we look to close it can be a bit on the

painful side.  This is especially true when it comes to weight.

For me, weight has not been an issue most of my life, I have been fortunate to be fit for most of it, but that has not been the case over the past five years.  Life changes, one day leads to another and slowly your body changes and not in a good way.  Finally, you reach a point where you have to do something or just give up forever.  I reached that point in October, it was time to act.

Losing weight is a tricky proposition. It is going to involve a lot of work and the reward will come down the line. Mentally for me I started with the image of a table covered by a pile of dimes. Each dime was placed there over the past five years, one for each day I didn’t exercise, or ate too much or both. When I did a

workout I mentally was able to take a dime off that table. Much like losing weight, one dime makes little difference in the appearance of the pile but consistently take a dime off day after day and the difference will be seen.

60 Days

I challenged myself to exercise every day for 60 days to see what happened. The rules were that it had to be cardio based fitness and it had to be between 30 and 60 minutes. I have always felt that level of exercise would get me moving toward any fitness goal I had.  So I started by sucking it up and joining a gym. It is true that you don’t need a gym to be successful in weight loss, but it certainly helped me. I had some issues with my foot that made it impossible to train or exercise well simply by running. The gym I go to has great low to no impact equipment that allows me to work hard and not injure myself, forcing me to miss a day and remain an out of shape person.

Intimidating at First

Going to the gym for the first time is intimidating, there is no denying that. It is hard not to compare

yourself to others and see that you are so out of shape.  Once you get over that initial fear, the gym has become a haven for me. I am supported by the staff, and have nothing but positive experiences with the other patrons as well.

For the first week I was just learning what I could do. What exactly an Arc Trainer was and if it would kill me or not. For those who don’t know an arc trainer is a combination of an elliptical machine and a stair machine that really provides a good workout.  I would do 35 minutes total and then go “stretch” before I went home. This was really a time where I tried not to pass out or roll myself into the fetal position and cry. However this didn’t last long, after the second week, I really started to feel better and the times of my workouts have gone up. Most days I use two different machines for 30 minutes each.  Every day I mentally remove a dime from that table.

In terms of actual weight lost, I am not sure yet because I am currently on day 56 and I promised myself not to weigh myself until after my workout on day 60 which is next Monday.  I am keeping my fingers crossed. There are some things I am sure of. I can see the difference in my face in the mirror and on my legs when I am stretching after workouts so there is that, and people have noticed who know nothing about my imaginary table of dimes.

Unfortunately I was not able to workout each of the past 60 days in a row because of work. One day I was unexpectedly called in early on Sunday November 30th, so didn’t get to work out that day. So Monday will really be day 61 but I will take it.  Now to set the goals for the next 60 days.  I am not sure what they will be but I will keep taking a dime off the table each and every day.