I'm so proud of myself (spin story) !

Yesterday I went to TWO spin classes:  my regular Monday morning class at Total Woman ("TW"), my gym, then I trained with Flaminia ("Fla"), my trainer, in the afternoon (we worked on arms), and in the evening Fla subbed at a hoity-toity gym in downtown Los Angeles and she invited me to attend her spin class.  I can't believe I said, "Sure." 

The class started at 7 p.m. and, man, the gym (coed, of course) was crowded, full of young, fit, ritzy people.  At my biggest size, I would never in a million years have felt comfortable walking by such a place, let alone going inside to exercise!  When I was sitting outside waiting for Fla, my old insecurities came out.  I started feeling really out of place, like I didn't belong there.  I had to remind myself that I was no longer the old me, and that the new me was active.  As proof of the new me, I thought, "Hey, I have a BLOG!"  ha ha    I was smiling to myself just as Fla arrived.

Fla teaches a spin class at the same hoity-toity gym near my house on Wednesdays and for the last few weeks, she's had me attending that class.  She gets me in as a guest.  I told her I was going to call the gym to report myself as a non-member so I wouldn't have to go anymore.  She said if I did that, then I had to attend the Wednesday spin class at TW.  Sigh…she truly is my blue-haired tormentor!  She doesn't let me get away with anything.  It's quite annoying!

Fla went out of town for more than a week recently and I thought I would be on vacation, too, but she instructed me to attend spin three times that week at TW, do my weekly machine circuit twice that week, and the treadmill the rest of the time.  I was thinking, "THREE spin classes in ONE WEEK???   Good Lord!"   But I did exactly what she wanted me to do and since then, I've been attending spin two or three times a week.  In fact, I actually get up early on Saturdays so I can attend the morning spin class at TW.

Anyway, Fla arrived minutes before class was to start so we rushed in and I didn't have time to worry about it.  Here's the real reason I'm proud of myself:  I stayed up with the class the ENTIRE time!   I stood up every time we were supposed to stand up, even when it was for 3 minutes straight.  Two months ago I couldn't stand up at all, but I started trying in each class.  Initially, I could only stand up for 30 seconds, then a little more, and with each class a little more still.  I just kept trying.  Last night was the first time I could do it with the rest of the class.  I didn't crank up the resistance with everybody else though because my goal was to work on the standing up.  Now that I know I can do it, I can start working on the resistance, too.

This hoity-toity gym is really nice, but it's also $150 a month and I rather pay TW $45 a month and use the "savings" to hire Fla for training sessions.  Fla was showing me how great the gym is, including how they provide members with wet towels (great when you're sweating in spin class), but I told her, "I can take my own towel and run it under the faucet and save the $105 a month!"

When I was working on my blog, Fla asked me several times when she could read it.  I told her not until I finished it.  She kept telling me, "You do realize that a blog never ends, right?  You'll have to post stuff regularly."  I told her I had no idea what I could possibly want to post after completing the core of my blog.  Driving home, however, I was so proud of myself that I couldn't wait to get on my computer and add it to my blog!  So here I am tooting my own horn.  I hate to say it, but I think I'm beginning to enjoy spin class!   Don't tell Fla though or she'll have me going every day.

One of the interesting things that I've noticed about myself during this weight-loss journey is that I always gave up before, assuming I even tried something new and difficult.  But this time around, I keep surprising myself because I actually want to do more and I'm actually going out and trying it.  This truly is a "new" me!