OMG

You Guys.

What have I been doing all my life? Apparently, being a total dummy, because today I went to the gym with my new membership. For the first time.

Now I've been to gyms before. In high school I even worked out at the city gym fairly regularly for a bit, but I just paid the entrance fee and didn't have a membership.

Ok, there's a backstory. On Sunday, my Elliptical machine broke. It's nothing special; I paid $400 for it and I never expected it would be perfect. I use it a lot and well, it's kind of shoddy, and some sodering came loose. We bought the extended warranty so someday soon I'll get Nordic Track in here to fix it, but in the meantime, I freaked. No workout? Not going to happen. So I got online right then and there and joined 24hr fitness.

It was sort of a rash decision. Today, I went for the first time. This morning I went and got my membership validated, then walked around to see the place. It's pretty big, with every machine you can think of, plus a gym, spa room and a lap pool. I went at 9 so it was a little packed; I still managed to get on an elliptical. It's one of those fancy Precor ones, you know, that work and don't wobble, LOL. I did 2 miles in 20 minutes, no problem.

Tuesdays are nice because I am not at the studio and work at home, so I generally get some pretty good workout time in. After the 2 miles this morning, David decided to take Hank to Pt Isabel for some walk training, and so we did two really fast miles there.

Tonight, I couldn't stop thinking about the gym. I was imagining all that shiny equipment; I wanted to run, to bike, to strength train. I finally succumbed around 9:00 pm, and by 9:30 I was walking in the door.

It was much less packed, and I think 9:30 will be a regular time for me to do nightly workouts. I jumped on the elliptical and plugged my headphones in to the machine; the machines allow you to listen to what's going on the big tvs on the wall. I watched The Biggest Loser (which I'd never seen before) and a part of a show called Parenthood. Before I knew it, 2 miles had gone by and I jumped off the machine to bike. Then I biked four miles. I figured I'd end the day with a cool down walk of a mile on a treadmill - a machine I've never used until tonight.

All and all, I was there for an hour and I burned around 550 calories. And now, I'm in love.

I need to find someone to help me get started on the weight and strength machines, because I'm totally dumb about them. But it will happen. I plan to swim. I plan to take one of the spin classes they have there.

I'm so excited. This amazing fitness day is just a reminder to me about how my life has really changed, finally. The way I felt about getting in there, to workout, to keep moving; that's nothing I've ever felt before. My priorities are changing and I'm getting healthier as my size goes down. This week has been really shitty so far and I really needed today. It came out of nowhere, and helped me to remember that I am in control of my life and I am making some amazing changes that have already started to pay off.

Finally, here's a look at my Gowear Fit activity monitor today. Looking at this makes me so proud.

• I burned 4331 calories today. My general target is 2000 and I usually burn between 2600 - 3000. This is an awesome milestone.
• I walked over 18,000 steps! This includes my time on the treadmill and elliptical. That is a huge, gigantic record. I have yet to wear the GoWear fit to a wedding when I'm working, and I'd bet that I might get close or break that on one of those days. But this is another awesome milestone and record for me.
• I had an elevated heart rate and was exercising for 2 hours and 38 minutes. Totally awesome.

GoWear Fit - A Life Changing Tool!

I was reading through some weight loss blogs a few weeks ago when I came across someone discussing their activity tracking device. I think this particular blogger used a Body Bugg, but nevertheless I started looking up these trackers with interest and found the one I inevitably purchased, the GoWear fit.
In this phase of my weight loss journey I felt like it was really important to track EVERYTHING. The Drummer sometimes laughs at me because on any walk we go on, I use CardioTrainer (a distance/pace/calorie tracking and motivating tool for my Droid Eris) and keep track of what we did. But, when I go home and track all of that information on DailyMile, it makes me feel great. Before I joined Weight Watchers, I carried a small notebook to chart all food I ate in the day. It's so easy to make up stuff in your head, I wanted to be accountable. That's a big step for me.

So, reading about the GoWear Fit was interesting because it was another way to get an accurate track of what my body was doing all day. The GoWear tracks these things:

• Caloric Output. The GoWear tracks how many calories I burn in a day based on a few key measurements: motion, steps, galvanic skin response, skin temperature and heat flux.
  
• Physical Activity. The device tracks how intense my physical activity is - and since it is on me all day, that includes even things like walking up a big flight of stairs, or a big hill.
  
• Steps. Just like a pedometer, the GoWear tracks how many steps I take in a day.
  
• Sleep Efficiency. This is the coolest feature. The device tracks my sleep: it knows how long I'm laying down and how long I'm sleeping. It's interesting to wake up in the morning and plug it in to see where I was awake and where I was sleeping. This has also been the most startling of the discoveries - the amount of sleep I'm getting is nowhere near what I should be getting.
  

All of this information is compiled on a profile chart for me, where I can see everything. Additionally, using their web interface, I can chart my calories, so the interface can calculate what my caloric deficit is. I've chosen to use Weight Watchers instead to track food, but knowing the amount of calories I'm burning, as well as the intensity and my sleep - I'm in much better control over what my body is doing.

The device is a little weird to wear. I don't FEEL it really on my arm, but It is noticeable and people ask questions. I don't mind talking about it, though, because I really believe in the benefits.