Me and the Older Friends - Day 3

I am now on day 3 of 40 Pounds of Purpose. I weighed in today and was 236! 2 pounds of water weight down, 38 lbs to go! So far, I have been eating well, only snacking on healthy stuff (apples, fiber one cereal, etc.), drinking tons of water and tons of green tea = plenty of trips to the bathroom / backyard.

This morning I spoke to the Elders at Christ Church about helping me walk through this time of redemption with accountability and encouragement. They were of course glad to help and asked how they could. Great guys, blessing to serve with. I also enlisted 3 other guys so far to struggle forward with me, so that was very encouraging.

Then I went to the gym. Now, when we lived in the Sugar Land (SL) area, we were at 24 Hour Fitness™ and then YMCA™. Those were both nice, but then they started building LifeTime Fitness™ and LA Fitness™ all over our area, which were the hot-spots. We never could justify spending that much on our budget, so we slummed it at the former places. However, once we got to Brenham our options have changed a bit... The place I go resembles a 2A High School's field house, more than an actual fitness club. There is a pretty sweet quote above the mirror though (and perhaps repeated in the men's room above the urinal, but I digress), "Pain is just weakness leaving the body!" OH YEAH, BABY!!! Not sure what that really means, but I feel a lot of weakness leaving my body these days! That's a good thing, right?

Anyways, the demographics of the 'club' are different as well. Back in SL, you had these beefcakes who were always at the gym, no matter what time of day that I went (even though they didn't work there). If I were there in my current weight state™ (<-- MINE! - rhyme!) I would be embarrassed, because I didn't look in shape enough to be there in the first place. However, there was always the token lady on the treadmill talking loudly on her cell phone, but what's a gym with out one of those? I go to the gym this morning and the parking lot is slammed. There is a preculiar thing about this gym. It's not that large, but even when there are a lot of cars, it doesn't seem that busy. Anyways, I get there this morning and there are a lot of people there, but the are 30 YEARS my elder, at least! I mean, guys in there wearing slacks and a button down with those special walking shoes for older friends and all! I didn't feel all that inferior in this context and I had some of the nicest skin in the place! BUT, I was on the leg extension machine and this nice older lady got on the squat machine next to me. She had to be like in her 70s... I realized that she was doing almost the same amount of weight as I was!!! Immediately I wanted to justify why I was being a pansy (hernia surgeries, don't want to pull a groin, just getting back into the gym, etc.), but I just allowed myself to be humbled (and added 10 more lbs to the machine!).

So, I had a good work out today at the gym with my older friends. They all talk amongst themselves and pretend that I'm not there, which is cool by me. I worked out my legs and then did 20 minutes of cardio. I was one of the fastest guys on the elliptical today!...

I've also received some helpful tips and business opportunities from friends/readers. Just a FYI - I'm good on supplements (I've been a distributor for Advocare for several years), I know that no carb diets are not sustainable in the long-run, and I have the basics of working out/eating down (thanks to Coach L.). If you would like to join me in actively pursuing a healthier life in order to better serve God, our family, and the Church, then let me know! You can e-mail me here (if you're a new friend) or hit me up on my regular e-mail addresses if you already have them.

ORIGINAL WEIGHT: 238 lbs
WEIGH IN: 236 lbs
TOTAL LOST: 2 lbs