Gym Bunny

Last Monday marked a landmark occasion for me - I only went and joined a gym! The gym isn't for everyone, but when I was going for a while a few years ago I loved it, and was genuinely disappointed when I fell pregnant and my midwife recommended that as a pregnant asthmatic with a high BMI I should stop going. The one I have joined is called GP Fitness Solutions and is a small, independent gym about 5 minutes from my house. It's got a couple of treadmills, a few cross trainers, a few bikes, weights and a class room up stairs for Zumba and the likes. It's not massive but I like it. The bigger council run gyms can feel very soulless, but I didn't feel that with this one and can't wait to go back on Monday!

We have been doing some exercise already so it's not like I've been doing nothing. Richy and I both started dieting in January, we both weigh on almost every night on the Wii and for many months used that as our exercise, picking the sports we enjoyed the most. I tended to do the step aerobics, hula hoop and my favourite was the boxing. Richy would hula, maybe a bit of step, then jog. It's this indoor jogging which has ultimately led to him running outside too, and he is enjoying it so much that he is undertaking his first 10k a week today!

Exercising on the wii fit was fine. The sports we both did we would be competing against each other for top ranking, and in the others we would be competing against ourselves. The time came to shake it up though, and for my birthday in April I got Zumba 2 for the Wii. Since then we Zumb (as we call it) for 2 half hour sessions a week. The first night was a mixture of giggles, bumping into each other and sweating as neither of us knew what we were doing. Nonetheless it got easier and we have continued to enjoy it. We will still do the Zumba once a week and that will be enough. With me at the gym and Richy out running at lunchtimes we are both more active than we have ever been. And that's no bad thing!

Just before I sign off, coming very soon we will have a guest post from Richy as he celebrates getting to his target weight. He has lost 3.5st this year and I couldn't be more proud of him. The challenge of maintaining is now his to master, particularly since I will still be dieting for the foreseeable future (I hope to get to my target for April ish next year).

Well done, Richy, you've done amazingly. X