the gym

I'm not skinny. Even as a kid, I felt I've always been a tad fleshier than my classmates but that didn't really bother me.

When I started working, I gained some weight, which wasn't surprising considering work required me to sit on my butt for hours. I vowed to at least jog once a week, of course that wasn't enough. I actually enjoyed running, especially when I lived in Singapore where there were lots of parks around.

Then I moved to the US. Some people were expecting me to gain weight. But that didn't really happen, and I apparently even lost some pounds because a) I don't and can't bike so I had to walk to class, about 30 mins from my apartment, and b) I lived in California - hello! One of the more proactive states at being fit and healthy it seemed like it. Case in point: mandatory acrylamide warning on your coffee. Lots of organic food markets. This was also when I started attending spin class and yoga - for the first time I realized that going to the gym didn't mean I have to torture myself to burn some calories.

I didn't really think I'd ever sign up in a gym til I went back home to the Philippines and I was just stuffing my face with food I've missed while away. Jogging was inconvenient, I had to wake up at 5 or 6am and go to La Mesa Ecopark. That didn't happen often since I couldn't really go alone. You see, before getting there I'd probably pass some 5 dogs barking at me or giving me a cold stare, and that's just too much. So I decided to just check out Fitness First, see if they have Bikram yoga or spin class. They had RPM (spin) at least, a class I can take "like m&m's" (reference to the movie Just Go With It). But I also learned that I shouldn't be doing just cardio, I also have to work on having an ideal body mass index (BMI) and increase my metabolism by doing some strength training. So now I understand why it was kind of futile to lose weight by just jogging once a week.

Glad that when we moved here to Brisbane, I can still go to FF and take classes. I regularly do RPM, body pump and yoga, all of which I actually look forward to (I guess like most people, treadmill makes me miserable). Best thing about it, I can eat whatever I want - which was what I used to do when I was in Singapore, I'd jog by the beach in ECP so I could have breakfast at McDonald's after! Though the food I eat now has changed a lot too. I've lost interest in some sugary/fatty foods (but I still eat chocolates which are really hard to quit!) - it's not that I'm depriving myself, I just don't enjoy eating them anymore because of all the junk that's in them. It makes a lot of difference to be aware, and I'm glad I learned these things from Stanford friends, informative books and joining a gym.

I'm leaving you now with my latest LSS - how can this song not be in my head when it's in both my RPM and body pump classes!