First Days Are Never EasyThe title says it all. First day of school, first day on the job, first day of the rest of your life... none of that junk comes easy. First day at the gym is no different. I mean, I knew it was going to be work, but I had no idea what I was getting in to. As a matter of fact, let me skip to the end of the story for a second. I threw up today, from exhaustion.
It looked roughly like this. I pushed my body so far past any point it was prepared for, that it turned on me, with incredible ferocity. And the sad part about that? It didn't even take 30 minutes. Let's go back to the beginning. I'm not a breakfast guy. I get up too early, I don't have time, blah blah blah you know the excuses. Jenna (my trainer) told me that if I didn't start eating breakfast, A) it would throw off my meal plan, and B) I would pass out in the gym. Eggs and oatmeal she said, that's the way to go. So, I had 2 hardboiled eggs, and a bowl of oatmeal. That's it. I assumed it was enough, because it was more than nothing. When I told Jenna, she looked at me like I was sideways. Then, we did the body comp. I stood on a machine, and it told me all about what a mess I was. I officially weigh 297 pounds, and about a third of that is fat. Yeah, they have machines that can tell that. So clearly, we have some work to do. We went over the meal plan, which isn't so much about telling me exactly what I have to eat, and when, but rather a guideline. A handful of ideas for breakfasts, lunches and dinners, not to mention planned snack times. By the way, don't get between me and any pretzel isle in the city. Jenna asked me about a few different food items, and if I liked them, and most I answered with no. She then promptly told me too bad, and added them to the plan. She did explain why I should eat these things, but that didn't make me want to cry any less.
I don't want to eat a grapefruit every morning! Alright. We've scientifically proven I'm fat, we know that my current diet is crap, we've removed everything I love about food from my diet... time to hit the gym. Again, and I'm not making excuses here, just giving you the backstory, I haven't been in a proper gym, doing a proper workout, in at least 5-7 years. We got out there, and the first thing I had to do was run. Back and forth, across the floor. I did it, and I was tired at the end, but no big deal. Just need to catch my breath, then it's on to the next thing. Nope. The whole point is to get the heart working, and slowing down, or stopping, gives it a chance to do not that, so we move on. It wasn't so bad though, because we did some lifting with a weight, so I did catch my breath, mostly. I'm still hanging in there, feeling like maybe this won't be so bad. Then she brought out a skip rope. I don't know about you, but double dutch wasn't too big with the fellas at my school. Add in wobbly legs, and I'm flailing around like Bambi on ice. I power through it, but now I'm in trouble. I'm sucking air, and my legs feel like they would pour down a drain. More running next, and I'm not moving nearly as fast as last time. Jenna is good, she's pushing me, but knows when I need those few seconds to stay alive. Then, it's time for lunges. Long, deep strides, proper form, bending at the knees, of which both of mine don't work well, even when I'm not walking on two skyscrapers caught in a wind storm. I barely made it through this one. And I'll be honest with you, I almost quit. Not on the entire workout plan, but I thought about calling it a day. I had to stop a few times, just because I fell over. That's when I started feeling sick. Of course, the whole point of this is proving that we're better than our excuses, so I kept going. I finished the lunges, failed my way through some pushups, and really did poorly on some pull ups. We were just about to start doing squats, when I knew that my body had had enough. So right there, in the middle of the gym, I threw up. Into a garbage can, mind you. I'm not a savage. But that signified the end of the workout day. Jenna was very understanding, telling me that I wasn't the first, and certainly wouldn't be the last, but I did feel somewhat defeated. We talked for a bit, and then I collected my things to go. The walk to the car was one of the most excruciating walks I've ever done.
I don't remember parking all the way over there... I had to sit in the car for 20 minutes just waiting to get control over my legs again, and another 20 to get out of the car to go up the 14 lousy steps to my apartment, but as I sit here, I can't wait to do it again on Thursday. Tomorrow, I start eating based on the food plan we created, and on Thursday I'm going back in to that gym, and I'm ready to prove that I can do this. Jenna says it's 80% diet, and 20% workout, but I think that attitude has to make up at least 50% of getting in shape. I'm definitely sore enough that quitting sounds like a good idea, but then today was all for nothing. And I don't throw up for nothing. First days are never easy, but I'm excited for day number 2...
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