It all started with a bank statement online...

...when I saw to my chagrin that our local family center/gym had yet AGAIN taken out their monthly $25 membership fee from our bank via auto deduct.

Rrrrrr......

Our membership expired as of August 31st and since we barely used it I was GLAD to be done with that particular charge.

And there it was, again! Aaaagh! So I left a nice, polite message on the account services' machine letting them know the situation and that I wanted the fee to be reversed immediately, as we do.not.have.the.money for it this month.

She called me back fairly quickly and was really nice, but, I should have known. I remember this from a long time ago when we had some type of conflict with them - they simply do NOT refund money. They'll give extra months, etc, but no refund.

So.

She said that they won't cancel a membership unless we specifically request it, and that they continued our scholarship member price (full member price for our family is $100/mo) as a courtesy for a couple of months but then it'll switch over to normal prices. Yowza! Good thing I checked!

Nonetheless, the result is that we now have a gym membership through November 1st.

Hmmmmm.

My wheels started turning....

...and that's when it hit me. I'm not going to go down without a fight in this pregnancy. That's exactly what I've been struggling with - that ... that PERSON that I used to be, the one who said oh well, who cares, and ate ice cream and banana bread and didn't EVER exercise, and thus, of COURSE, gained 50 freakin' pounds during pregnancy.

And felt COMPLETELY miserable and depressed most of the time, even up to SIX MONTHS afterwards. Lots of aches, pains, heavy heavy feeling.

I swore to myself that I would never be that person again. Ever. And yet, here I find myself slipping all to soon down that slippery slope. I weighed in at 153 pounds this morning, which is a nice big fat TWENTY-SIX pound weight gain. And I still have 10 weeks to go! Which could EASILY turn into another 15 pounds the way I'm going.

I wrote yesterday (or was it this morning? Ha! Now I can't even remember) about how I miss the adrenalin rush and the endorphins that come with exercise.

Well, guess what. This whole gym membership thing, I've never really been into that scene, just cuz I'm pretty much a major homebody. To actually dress up the kids and myself, and venture out into the cold - it's just annoying to me, I'd way rather park them in front of a movie or playdough or a snack, and do my workout, shower, all while they're playing around me. But mostly it's getting them and myself out the door.

HOWEVER - wheels turning - NOW I have to go out the door THREE times per day anyways. Every single day, except weekdays. How COOL would it be, to get dressed in my workout clothes in the morning (to get my mindset working right), drive the 5 kids to their various schools, and then go straight to the gym and get in a nice fast walk while the 2 littles are in daycare? For some reason, that sounds just really appealing to me.

They haven't responded all THAT well to daycare in the past, but honestly, half of it was Marie (5) who always wanted to be with me and that kind of rubbed off on them, I think. So I am curious to see how they do, and besides, while WALKING, it's not like I'm doing sprints or something where I am into a hardcore workout and then get called to the daycare because someone is crying. I'll just have to have an open mind and know that if that does happen, that's my workout for the day.

I am hoping that this will really lift my spirits and get me back on track to fitness so that 1)I'm more in that mindset once the baby comes and ready to jump right back on the treadmill, and 2) SO THAT I EAT BETTER!!!!!!!!!

I love trying new things, it keeps me motivated and I'm thinking maybe this will do the trick, especially if I'm already dressed and ready to go in the morning.

I was ALSO thinking that maybe I will copy YOUR idea, Tereza, hee hee, and ask for a treadmill for my birthday (Nov 17, the membership is up the 1st but maybe I can finagle my way into an early bday present =). I looked some of them up on Craigslist and it looks like you can get a pretty decent one (that folds! Bonus!) for $100-$150.

I also found THIS article on what to look for when buying used, which you might be interested in Tereza, since after looking at all the listings for sale (and boy are there ALOT! I'll bet I could get closer to the $100 mark just by bargaining cuz the market seems to be flooded) my eyes were kind of crossed and it all seemed to kind of blur together. What brand? Do I really need the bells and whistles?

FIRST, though, I think I'll ask on facebook if anyone knows of one that is not being used that I can borrow - just to see if I really do in fact, use it. It would be super duper nice to have it after the baby comes, I'm thinking - since I can grab in a walk/run here or there as it fits while he is napping and the weather outside is CRAPPY.

Oh, that's another thing about the gym - it's now dark when I get up, at 6:30am. So there really is like, zero motivation for me to get up EARLIER than that just to go for a power walk --- although I might, some days, if I need to. Or go in the evenings.

Anyway, that's my little "hurrah" for today, my way of picking up my unmotivated self by my bootstraps, shaking her, and saying WHAT ARE YOU THINKING???? Don't give up now, for pete's sake!

=) =)