Love Games (Slow Updates)

Hard Work

I'm not thick, I'm fat! That's what I have realised these last couple of months. I mean I wasn't drastically obese but I was unhealthily overweight and quite frankly if I wanted to at least live past the age of 50 I need to get my act together now.

Ok, I have time because I'm only 24 but to get a head start on reshaping not only my body but my life, I might as well start now. Doesn't that sound good? Well, I think it does because, for someone like me that has paid time after time, for expensive gym memberships that I didn't ever use and continuously telling myself each evening I would attend, this was a massive step.I have been going for a couple of months now, using help from some of the gym trainers there to help me form a routine and regime of exercises to shed weight and tone at the same time. But I'm quite proud of myself as I have lost 3 stone so far due to the training and healthy eating plan I made at home. I was serious about this. Plus sometimes my friends would come with me and train but to be honest I prefer to go by myself so there is no distraction or having to compromise routes around the gym.

I had made a couple of friends at the gym, specific day friends which I saw every now and then on the same day which I guess gave me an incentive to keep coming as it was forming a memorable routine. However I never met anyone that was anything but a gym bunny, never someone who was interested in the after workout chat over coffee or quick nibble on a no-workout day. This wasn't that important but with the stigma behind a young lady going to a predominantly male gym, in fact, the only gym in her radius that she was willing to travel, meant that I expected more from my experience than a sweaty body and empty water bottle to end my excruciating 2 hours.

All in all, I continued to go and shed the pounds as quickly as possible and continue this predictable start and finish to my day. However this time, this random Thursday afternoon, everything changed making the gym a little more than a torture house.That day, I finished work early at the architecture firm in which I work as a full-time PA to the head architects and other designers. I was let off at exactly 2:00 pm, which left me enough time so I could get home early plus squeeze in an extra hour at the gym.I was now on the bike, on my last couple minutes, however, my legs were giving up and the intensity on the bike seemed to be increasing making it incredibly hard to pedal. Gripping the handlebar tightly in my hand and continuing to press my feet down and around, I finished my few last minutes, leaving me completely dead, my face sticking adhesively to the display screen. I pray for the person that uses this next and doesn't realise that the last of my dignity is now on their face and water bottle from touching the screen.

I managed to drag my mangled body, off the machine and trotted heavily to the semi-covered area with mirrors and low lighting. It was where all the leg strengthening machines were, and today was my leg day and so far it was going .....well. I was in so much pain that I just collapsed onto the closest bench I saw and slumped my body into the most dreadful and un-ladylike position I could muster.

I gave myself a second to breath before getting up slowly so the blood didn't rush to my head, and walked towards the press thing, know to everyone else as the leg press. Out of all leg machine things, this was my favourite as it involved the whole body and I felt great after using it. Luckily for me, there was no one currently using it which was unusual as normally, even though there are 4 of them here, they are all occupied. And with that, my dragged attempt at a walk turned into a painful jog, just because I didn't trust this strange one-off circumstance.I stepped up slowly and laid my back against the backrest and hoisted myself up so my feet were placed vertically on the plastic blackboard in front of me. I decided to start off slowly and then increase my intensity and speed. I held onto the handlebars attached to the side of this contraption and took and big breath and pushed off, raising my upper half and straightening my legs. My last rep ended with my legs fully extended against the black board, giving me, if I may say so myself, a fantastic overlook at all the action at the gym today. It sort of replicated the way someone would climb to the top of a mountain and look at the city below however in my case, my legs were holding me up on a gym machine and looking to see how much sweat had dripped off the woman's forehead who was doing intense cardio in the clearing area in the middle of the gym. Sometimes I wish I had the confidence to do that, expose myself in front of the whole gym, I mean it's kinda embarrassing to even think about... me, working up a sweat in the middle of this gym and putting myself on show like that. What if I did the moves wrong and someone noticed and even worse! What if I fell!