Back in the gym

A warning regarding this post: it rambles on and on in an unusually unintelligible fashion. Reading it in its entirety may cause brain cramping.

January at the gym is hilarious. The Resolution Crowd is there in full force, and while I do certainly cheer them on and hope that they stick with their plan for a healthier lifestyle, it is priceless to watch the crowd dwindle over the next few weeks. I confess that my catty little self occasionally chuckles when people attempt to use the equipment in a manner that requires as little effort as possible. Usually they're lifting only a couple of pounds or using the cardio machines as slowly as they can. I know I shouldn't laugh, but it is rather funny. There is no benefit in working out that way - it doesn't stress the muscles or the heart, it will hardly enable weight loss much less toning and defining one's physique. They're the less like explorers and more like annoying tourists.

I know I shouldn't laugh at the tourists. Usually I just want them to get off the machines so I can carry on with my own workout as efficiently as possible. Sometimes, though, you come across one who is really interested and really wants to put in the effort. I met one like that the other day; she was interested in the weight machine I was using, and wanted to learn how to use it. Spending some time to show her how to use it, and describing how to figure out how much effort she needed to put in to get the benefits of the exercise was actually really fun. I like chatting with the other people in the gym, newbies and old hats alike. The resultant conversations and exchange-of-tips can be quite interesting.

Generally, I don't use gyms. I don't like paying access fees and commuting to my workout when I can go through great strength routines on my own at home. Plus, I generally feel that freeweight and body resistance exercises are more beneficial overall, as they make use of all the stabilizing muscles as well as the primary powerhorse muscles. When I was in my first couple of years of university, however, I went to the campus gym several times a week. Membership to the gym was automatically paid through student union fees, so I figured I may as well use it. It was enjoyable, too.

Now that I work for that same university, I again get unlimited access to the campus gym. While I now mostly enroll in group classes (part of my staff benefit plan includes funds to pay for on-campus fitness classes), I've been getting a little tired of my regular at-home strength routines. Being on campus and having complimentary access to the gym has removed my two primary objections to using gyms. Hence, I've started going again. Maybe that makes me a bit of a tourist, but so be it. Some of the old hats are undoubtedly watching me work and giggling themselves.

At any rate, this academic term (I always think of the year in four-month academic cycles, a byproduct of being entirely too obsessed with advanced education) sees me engaging in a toning and flexibility group class, a step aerobic class, and weekly or bi-weekly lunchtime gym workouts. Ideally, using my lunch hours for my strengthening and conditioning workouts will leave more time at home in the evening for personal dance practice. That isn't to say that I won't do at-home strength training as well, just that I might be able to make more of my spare time by trying this type of routine.

If that sounds like a new year's resolution, it isn't meant to be! It's just that this was a convenient time to re-jig my dance and fitness schedules, what with the new school term and all.






If you read to the end of this ramble, congratulations. I have had entirely too much caffeine tonight to write coherent blog posts!

No more skinny wraith!

I have been incommunicado for a while, and the resultant guilt is quite strong. I may only beg forgiveness and offer the following excuse: my husband and I took possession of our first condo at the beginning of December. Since that date, every spare minute was being spent painting every inch of the 1100 square foot space. The walls needed primer and two coats as the previous owners were clearly colour blind, and the ceiling also needed a thorough going-over. As neither of us took time off work to complete this project, it took a few weeks. Then came the moving-of-the-crap part, and while the vast majority of our stuff is out of the boxes and put away, the condo is still a dreadful mess. Happily, however, we are now officially living/sleeping there full time. I’m planning on spending all of Saturday cleaning, tidying, putting away, and organizing.

During this hectic December period, an interesting body change occurred: I lost approximately eight pounds of weight in about one month. Normally, people expect this sort of change to be heralded; in this instance it isn’t exactly welcome. I was nice and lean before, with 137 pounds on my 5'8.5" frame. I dropped as low as 128 lbs and am now at 129.5 lbs, and look skinny and emaciated. Glen challenged me to put on 5 lbs by the end of Christmas holidays – a feat he knew would be next to impossible but would be a good smack-up-the-head to get me to eat more. My mother has been fretting about my weight, and during a class warm-up one of my very dear dance friends blurted out "what happened to your arms?" when she noticed how twiggy they currently appear.

My mother in law took a picture of my on my 27th birthday in late December. I was dressed up for the theatre and had a big smile on, but the feature that struck me most was how grimly drawn I appeared. My grin seemed strained, and my skin looked like it was stretched tight over my neck and cheeks. It was weird. While my western-body-image-issues, thin-is-better trained irrational brain cheers the low numbers on the scale, my rational brain knows that this ain’t good. My fitness loving, powerhouse brain wants to put back on some poundage, and my goal is to get back up to my high-school weight average of 135 lbs.

Now dear reader, don't go thinking "good lord, she’s developed disordered eating habits!" This weight loss has been unintentional and (when my rational brain is in gear, which is most of the time), unwanted. I believe that this is a result of my thyroid management. My current dose of thyroid hormone supplement has returned my physical and mental energy levels back to normal, which feels fantastic - I remember when my brain used to chat to itself like this, and I’m ecstatic that it’s back to it’s old self. I remember when my body wanted to be randomly active, flailing about for the sheer joy of movement and I worked out because I loved feeling my muscles flex and burn. I’ve always been clumsy, but for a while I was clumsy due to fatigue and slowed reflexes. Now I’m clumsy because my body just wants to move but doesn’t always think about how. This is how I remember being before the hypothyroidism, and this is how I feel now.

What isn't quite back to normal is my overall metabolism. It’s back to high-school level, when I had to work at putting on weight (unless I completely ditched physical activity), or even very slightly higher. This does not mean that I don’t have to watch my diet and my calories. Actually, it means I have to watch them more closely than I was before. Now, I need to watch them to make sure that I’m getting enough. My body is now burning calories faster than it was, so feeding it enough has become very important. For someone who is both inclined to be a moderate-to-light eater, this could be a challenge. Huge portions aren’t my style; I get really uncomfortable and kind of nauseous if I eat too much. If I ignore the “man, I’m hungry” stomach growling phase and let myself get too hungry…I get nauseous, lose my appetite, and my energy levels crash quite alarmingly. But I don’t want to eat because I don’t feel good, which doesn’t help the situation.

I’ve decided that I will take advantage of one of the more interesting employee benefits my workplace offers: up to two hours free access to a nutritionist. I need to get more calories, but I want to know how many calories a day are right for me, and how to get the most nutritional benefit from those calories. I could just start slugging back twelve packs of cola, but empty calories don’t do a body good. I’ve got a pretty good handle on nutrition, but a trained professional will be able to give me more focused direction. This can only benefit Glen, who has the metabolism of a blast furnace and at 6'2" weighs 150 lbs soaking wet. When his lung collapsed, he actually dropped down to 140 lbs. Now that was alarming!

I want to optimize my diet so that I can put on five to eight pounds primarily of muscle as well as a little fat. I know what’s sexy: jutting hips and poky spines are not! Time to get back those toned biceps and shoulders, time to fill out that bra!*

My current weight-related goal does not mean that any further diet, nurtition, or weight related posts will focus solely on weight gain. This topic is of interest on all levels, and I've worked with it at all levels. I plan on continuing to address all aspects of dealing with our weight in a healthy way, and that includes weight loss, weight gain, and weight maintenance. There will be info suitable for all, so stay tuned!


*One of the unfortunate side effects of the weight loss is that my boobs have also shrunk. According to the measuring tape, I’ve lost at least an inch, and my girls aren’t that big to begin with!