Need to find time to Work it out!

Right now, the life of this 20-something with Lupus consists of school, work, and sleep. Oh, and eating.

By no stretch of the imagination am I overweight, but I’m definitely not where I should be. I’ve been so engourged with school and work that I haven’t found time for anything else. Whenever I gain weight, it never goes to my hips, my behind, etc. All of my weight is gained in my middle area. My stomach has definitely gotten bigger and I can tell when I put on certain articles of clothing. The same goes for my chest. I think it’s about time, as difficult as it will be at first, to start hitting the gym.

Today after hours of review in math class, myself and 2 of my classmates decided to go and check out the school’s gym. I had never been there before and actually had no idea how to get there so I’m glad that both of my classmates came with me.

The gym was pretty standard. There were weights, a couple of elipse machines, and a couple of bikes. The gym was large as well. I signed the appropriate information at the front desk and the person behind the counter put a sticker on my student card to signify the fact that I am now allowed to go to the gym.

Just a few days ago I was checking out which gyms I am able to get a staff discount on while I was at work. I used to be a member of fitness one which is a women’s gym right beside my office. The convenience of it was nice, but at the same time, I didn’t feel that I was treated very well by them a few years ago.

I joined Fitness one not long after I started working where I’m at right now. It was all good…except when I got very ill. I was paying on a monthly basis and continued to pay while I was in the hospital. When I was discharged, I obtained my doctor’s note as I knew I would need it in order to cancel my membership. I was definitely in no position to do any working out. I called the gym and asked what I needed to do to cancel. They told me that I’d need to fill out a form as well as bring a doctor’s note and that would be all. I asked if I could come to the gym now and do it. They said I could.

My father took me to the gym and he waited in the car while I went inside. Can you believe that when I got there, they told me that they didn’t have anymore of those forms, so I’d need to go to ANOTHER fitness one location to obtain the form and bring it back there? What a joke. I stood there, shocked and wobbly on my feet due to a lack of energy and being in the midst of a flare. I refused to go anywhere as I told them that I even went as far as calling before coming. I was told that there was nothing that could be done.

A manager came along and saw that I looked like I was about to fall over so she quickly pulled up a chair and let me sit down. The manager seemed to give me the impression that she was going to take care of this cancellation for me.

I went back to my dad’s waiting car, unconvinced. My father was also not convinced. He told me to sit down and relax in the car and he would go in for me. Oh, did I mention that he was in uniform?

My dad went into the mall where the gym was. He came back about 15 minutes later. Everything was done. The reason I wasn’t convinced is because I’ve seen and heard the horror stories of people cancelling their membership with gyms and they keep charging and charging and charging them. It’s awful. I know that I’ve learned that if I join a gym, I’m going to pay for an entire year cash or pay monthly cash or cheque, not allowing the gym any access to direct withdrawal or my credit card. I need no headaches.

There is another gym not too far from my house called Adrenaline. It is a 24 hour gym which also has a separate women’s section. I might check that out as well. I’ve been checking it out at work for a while actually as the price is right. I get a discount of over 50% which is awesome.

Well, I admit that this will be difficult with school and work and everything else. I’ll see if I can make this happen as I of all people know that we cannot do all the other things that supposedly take up all of our time if we are not healthy.