Weight Loss Challenge

Since my boyfriend, Jim, and I started dating 10 months ago, we both have put on a few extra pounds. Admittedly, I love sweets, especially sugary sour candies like strawberry belts made by the makers of Jelly Belly and Harmony brand sour gummy bears - yum. However, I DO have the will to resist these temptations... Unfortunatley, though, Jim is not the best influence when it comes to eating right - he refuses to eat vegetables of any kind and has a major sweet tooth for chocolate. Further, since Jim joined my gym about 4 months ago, we have worked out together exactly 1 time and he has yet to workout by himself. Starting tomorrow, though, Jim has promised that he will work out with (and without) me more often and be more supportive in healthier food choices. We have decided on a challenge where he will lose 1.5 times the amount of weight I lose. I'm very excited and I'm hoping that this challenge will be the push that I need to get back to a healthier weight. Now I need to figure out my reward when I win...

At the gym without my phone...

Since I started leaving my cell phone behind when I go to the gym, I’ve had a lot more time to observe my fellow gym goers. Thus, I have recently discovered that I work out with a few highly entertaining personalities.

Mr. Clean

Mr. Clean brings a bright pink spray bottle to the gym which contains some presumed cleaning agent. As far as I can tell, there are no labels of any kind. Now, as you might have guessed, Mr. Clean uses the spray bottle and one clean paper towel (from the gym-supplied dispenser) to clean each piece of equipment before he works out. Certainly, I can partially understand his desire to workout on clean equipment. However, the interesting twist is that Mr. Clean apparently does some type of speed cleaning/circuit training and does only one set at each piece of equipment and then moves on to the next machine. I think he should apply for a maintenance job with the gym.

Buffy the Weight Trainer

Buffy is obviously a hard-core weight trainer. She is very, well, buffed, and obviously wants to be a man. I suspect that she is dating her workout partner, Porn Star (see below). The two are inseparable. Along with the steroids that Buffy is obviously taking, I suspect that she’s using some other illegal hallucinogenic drugs. After every set, Buffy either jabs a few punches or karate moves in the air then stands guard while Porn Star does her set… Maybe she’s battling some imaginary vampires – maybe she’s scaring away any competition for Porn Star’s affection. Either way, it’s certainly entertaining.

Porn Star

Porn Star is Buffy’s gym partner (see above). I’m fairly certain the two are dating. I’m not certain, however, why Porn Star would date someone that looks like Buffy because, well, Porn Star is hot and Buffy is not. I don’t believe she’s actually at the gym to work out, though, but is there to provide moral support to Buffy and to practice moaning for her next movie. While most people grunt when they workout, Porn Star moans – and very seductively I might add. If I didn’t work out in San Francisco, I would wonder how the men could actually work out while Porn Star is moaning. Instead I wonder if Buffy makes her moan like that…

Moving Month

One day I will be able to afford to hire movers - the type of movers that pack up your things at your old place AND set them up in your new place. For now, though, I will spend the next month attempting to unpack and organize after my move this past weekend. Each day I'll play another game of Memory - searching through the unpacked boxes attempting to find the elusive item of the day.

This is not easy! I was on my cell phone at least 15 times yesterday afternoon before I got home and caught myself saying each time, "I'm not supposed to be on the phone, but..." How in the world did people fill their "idle" time or get anything done before the cell phone? I'm not going to give up, though. I'll figure out how to make this work!

While I was walking back to the office after my lunch time workout - which consists of me riding the cycle for 40 minutes while I talk on my cell phone - I thought to myself, "I wonder if I could survive without my cell phone for a month..." If I don't talk on the phone while I ride the cycle, will I actually lose weight? If I don't talk on the phone while I am at work, will I actually get some work done? If I don't talk on the phone all day, will I actually experience life?

So, I have decided to "hang up" my cell phone for a month and created these rules to keep me on track:

1. I can keep my cell phone with me at all times for emergencies - actual life-threatening emergencies.
2. I can check my voicemail periodically throughout the day, I just can't return a call unless it is VERY urgent.
3. Other than emergencies, I can only use the cell phone when I am at home (since I don't have a home phone).
4. I can make calls from my work phone, but ONLY during my 2 15-minute breaks each day.
5. I can answer calls from my 2 boys any time they call.
6. I can send/receive text messages from my cell phone.

Let the month begin...