A Promise To Myself

It’s been a couple of weeks, and it occurred to me that I have been neglecting this blog a bit. Most of the time people post things that are going on in their lives and what has happened in the time since the last posting. This will be done in a similar vein.

Last month, I joined the YMCA. I don’t really know why but I have wanted to lose some weight for some time now. It seems to me that the majority of people who do this do so because they either have self-esteem issues or lack an ability to look beyond the flaws. I don’t think that I fall into either category. I have always been comfortable with myself and who I am. I suppose that you could say that if I am happy with myself who cares what ANYONE else thinks, and for the most part, that is true.

However

I am somewhat self-conscious about my weight simply because I think people make assumptions about those who are in my situation, whether intentional or not. People assume that if you are overweight you must lack ambition, are lazy, spend your days sitting around watching television or on a computer doing busy work and not out living life. Again, I don’t believe everyone thinks this, but I think some people do, even if they don’t realize it.

And normally, I could care less about this sort of thing, but when you are sitting across from someone at a job interview, that person is looking for any reason as to why you would not be a good fit for the position. Why give them one?

At any rate, I decided earlier this year that I wanted to lose weight. Up until this week, I have put in a poor performance toward this goal. I started out going out about three times in the past month, and while it was fine, I just didn’t commit. In the last week, that changed.

I have made a promise to myself to at least go out to work out each morning in the week. Considering I work afternoons and evenings, my mornings are perfect for this sort of thing. (At least till this fall) I figure I’ll begin spending ½ hour to 45 minutes each day doing a variety of different things till I condition myself to the point where I can go longer.

I try something different each time, but basically I do a couple of laps on the elliptical machines and then do a variety of the different weight lifting machines spending most of the time working on the upper body and arms. I conclude with one of the bikes and run for about ten minutes or so. It’s not much, and compared to some, it’s very little but for me, it’s a start.

Some use a personal trainer and frankly, someone there telling you what to do is not for me. I’ve always been one to do things my own way, whether right or wrong, because ultimately, I am only responsible for myself. Some people also use journals to track their progress and, again, that is OK for some, but I am not the type to tie things to numbers simply because I don’t really care that much about it. I just do what I think will work best. (Frankly, my main motivation to continue is simply because I am paying for it. If you pay for it, you need to use it; otherwise you’re simply wasting money, and who can afford to do that these days?)

So we’ll see what happens. I don’t know if this will work, but I am going to try to make a commitment to it.