Where everybody knows your name….and they’re very glad you came…..
Don’t know if you all remember this theme song from “Cheers”, but it is what comes to mind now every time I think about walking through the doors of the “Power Ten Fitness Club Gym”. Meg and I finally got the courage to walk through the doors with a coupon in our hands that offered a one week trial, to see if you might like the gym. (That was about 5 weeks ago as I write this today, Feb.10th)

That first day, we looked at the schedule of all the different classes, and asked if we could try them all week. Right away, the man at the desk, along with a man who was working behind him (at this point we had no idea it was the owner), gave us great information, told us about the different classes and what to expect, they didn’t even ask for the coupon, they just told us to try it out for however long we needed and enjoy the classes, and let them know if we needed help with anything. There wasn’t one bit of pressure, they didn’t make us start signing our lives away with tons of paperwork…they just smiled, encouraged and welcomed.

We started taking classes that day, (we signed up 2 days later), and I don’t think we have missed going to the gym Monday thru Friday, for the past 5 weeks. Each instructor has helped us through every “first” experience of their classes….from Zumba to circuit training to spinning…first welcoming us with incredible enthusiasm, helping us adjust to our own individual ability for each class or exercise, and encouraging us as they see our progress.

This was a post from the first week of going to the gym….it is amazing to remember how scared and hesitant we were walking to the front desk….and now, we can’t wait to walk in, say good morning to everyone…they always, including the owner, welcome us by name, they are always excited to see us and hear about our progress, conquering all of our “firsts”, see us surviving new tough stuff…and they keep up with my weight loss in the challenge each week after I weigh in at ww. It is now “our gym”, where “everybody knows our name, and they’re really glad we came”..what a great feeling!  In fact, read on and see what the owner did for me my very first week at his gym…it still brings me to tears….

January 13, 2012- An Amazing Week….VERY SORE….

It is Friday the 13th, and on a day filled with superstitions of fear and bad things happening, I am ending a week that has been extraordinary! The last post I put up was written on the past Tuesday of this week. This entire week became a week of many more “firsts” for me. On Tuesday night I launched the blog and sent it out. I actually just finished writing and posting my thank you note to all of you. It was a whirlwind of a week, reading all of the emails, trying new classes at the gym, making better choices with the food and tracking what I am eating. On Wed. We went to take another zumba class, we were really aching and sore from the week, wondering if we could make it through. When we came into the gym, I told the owner,Steve, about my blog, and believe it or not… by the time I came out of the class, he had posted it on the Power Ten Fitness Club gyms facebook page!! Really, me on the facebook page of a gym? He has no idea the impact that that had on me. I still get very overwhelmed when I tell that story to other people.

An overweight woman, who didn’t want to even walk in a gym, because it always seems like gyms are filled with “perfectly fit” people…is not only taking classes she has never taken before…..cardio/sculpt, zumba, spinning….but is now on the gym’s facebook page, because the owner of the gym believed in her, even at the size and shape she is in at this moment, in this gym. Wow!  He will never fully realize what they meant to me.

I went home to my husband and had him bring up the Power Ten Fitness Club facebook page, and showed him that the owner of the gym actually posted my story on his gym facebook page. I just truly still can’t believe it.

I hate to do things by myself, and I had been praying for a friend to come into my life who would be able to exercise with me, because I just know that it takes soo much more motivation for me to go by myself. It’s so much easier to go with someone, and more accountability to stick with it. Little did I know that answered prayer was right next door! My next door neighbor, Meg, was looking to do the same thing, and we have experienced this amazing week of firsts together. Having someone with you also gives you the courage to ask questions at the gym, or try out new “scary” areas or equipment at the gym.

By Thursday, we were soooo sore, we could barely walk up and down stairs. When we were both limping to the car to get to the gym, we knew we couldn’t get through a class, but we decided we had to keep moving, and we would ask someone to show us how to use a treadmill. We walked in the gym, and stopped at the desk, and let them know that we really didn’t know how to use a treadmill, but wanted to try to go 3-5 miles on it, as we were so sore and couldn’t get through a class.

One of the trainers walked us over and encouraged us, and told us to hang in there and said it would be great to do this and just sweat out all the toxins, etc., and assured us that it would still be a great work out. Of course, as usual, I looked at people running on the treadmill, and wished I could someday do that, (and I’ll work towards that), but we learned all the buttons we needed to use and did 5 miles, and we were sweating and burned over 700 calories! (according to my bodybugg). That was really amazing to realize, that walking does burn so many calories.

So…. very proud that we chose to go to the gym, even though we could barely walk. We are pushing through the pain, and we completed another “first”, first time doing 5 miles on a treadmill. While we were on it, we chose a few more machines we want to try out, and will make an appointment to learn how to do those another day.
Really looking forward to weighing in tomorrow morning.

January 14, 2012
Weighed in today after the tough week at the gym….lost 3.6 pounds!!!! Sooo excited. I brought in a copy of my journal entry for the woman, Jennifer, who challenged me with her words, “so what are you going to do about it”. I just wanted her to know how she inspired me that week. As I handed it to her, she told me that many of my emails had been read by the leaders and workers in ww, and that I was inspiring all of them…Wow!
Went into the meeting, Elyse was back, had great new info and recipes for all of us. Even told us how to make a 3 point devil dog with the smoothie powder and non fat cool whip. This opened up the room to add sooo many more ideas for recipes, etc. I took lots of notes. We all get so bored and tired with finding new good things to eat, so this was a great meeting to take the ideas. Looking forward to trying many of them this week.
I’m in a new number that I haven’t been in in years, 36.6 pounds lost total 26.6 counts for the challenge.