Misery Loves Company, otherwise known as, It's Nice to Work out with a Partner

Image by Anne Taintor

Yesterday my husband joined me at the gym. There's something comforting about having someone join you in your suffering. I don't know what it is but it presses me on.  Of course he was working at around level 10 and I was at level 4 or something (maybe not even that high) and I was on there for 35 minutes and he was on for a whole hour. He glanced over at me at some point, around halfway there, and I was huffing and puffing away like I was the one working out on level 10. He smiled in amusement.

Today my arms were sore and I told him, "Hey, if I'm sore I got a work out."

Misery loves company, or so the saying goes. Usually my husband works out at another gym across town but yesterday he had his workout clothes with him at work so he decided to go to my gym. It was a nice treat to have him there working out next to me, even though we were both lost in our own music.

I also made an interesting observation about myself. I set my iPod to play on "shuffle" and I was not as motivated to pick up the pace as I was when I set it on my "Workout" play list. Around halfway through my work out I set it to that play list and it made a huge difference. The music made me want to move faster and it put a pep in my step. (OK, I know that sounds goofy)

So dear friends, I bid you adieu for the night. It's late and I worked out Tuesday and Wednesday, twice in a row, and my body is feeling it today. I need to get some rest so that I can get up tomorrow and hopefully work out again tomorrow night.

My New Torture Device

Precor elliptical machine similar or just like the one used at 24 Hr Fitness gyms.

I've decided to bite the bullet and start using the elliptical machine. I've been avoiding it all along and I've been trying to run. I even called it the torture device. I've actually made a lot of progress on the running but the reality is, I’m still very over weight and the running is putting a lot of strain on my joints. Someone advised me about this and I know he's right. :)

I think the reason I was so afraid of the elliptical was because I felt that it was harder. I know that it was, because it gives you more of a total body work-out and that was harder before I started running. Now that I've been running for a while and that I went back to try the elliptical it didn't feel as "hard" as before. However, I totally feel like I worked out more! I used it this week and I can feel it in my arms and where my back fat lies.

I took my husband's advice and I'm going to incorporate the elliptical into my work-out. I think the point that convinced me was when he pointed out how well I would work out my arms. After seeing those pictures of my fat arms a couple of weeks ago that was an easy sell.

Once I lose more weight and lose some of this all-over body fat then I will start running again. My husband believes that I will lose more in less time on the elliptical. I hope so!

Back to High Heels

It's 11:41 Central time and I already have my gym bag packed and ready to go for tomorrow. A must do, despite the nagging pain on the back of my neck, ear and into my shoulder. Something is not right. I've been in pain since last Sunday when I felt something pull out of whack when I was putting my hair back into a pony tail before washing my face. Yeah, today makes a whole week since I've been in pain. It especially hurts when I wake up in the morning.

This weekend was really good. Yesterday I took the kids to Build a Bear as a reward for good report cards. And since we were at the Galleria Mama had to shop for some shoes. I was shocked when I couldn't find anything at Nordstrom. What?! That's unheard of. I always find beautiful shoes there and there were some beautiful shoes, but just not anything that was right for me. I ended up with a cute conservative pair at 9 West, but they are open toe. I was hoping to find a nice black closed toe wedge for work. Or not so high of a heel, if not a wedge. I didn't find that. I stopped in at Torrid and tried on a black skirt and I found these awesome faux snakeskin shoes. I loved them, but then I brought them home and they feel a tad too high.

There's a story behind these shoes. A few years ago I had some beautiful wedge open toed sandals with this same exact pattern. In fact, that purse matched my shoes. I went on a business trip to San Diego and spent the night with my sister. The next day when I left I forgot the shoes. Shortly thereafter my sister packed up and moved and my shoes were never to be seen again. I was so sad... So when I found these shoes yesterday I felt like I found a lost treasure.

The bad thing is that I stopped wearing such high heels a while back. It was a combination of gaining too much weight, being pregnant, and carrying kids. Now that the kids are past carrying age and I've lost weight I need to get back to wearing high heels again. I'm sure that as I lose more weight it will get easier. I've already started moving back up to higher heels, but these heels here are a little taller than my tallest pair. Will I be able to step up to the challenge?