So Pure

I've been going to a gym called Pure for a few years now. I hope they don't mind that I've pinched their banner, but I just wanted to express my satisfaction with this gym as I've never done that here before. Their USP is based on interesting and innovative classes and they've positioned themselves as a health club that's all about vibrancy and fun. The feeling that I get when I go to this gym is like it's run by a family. Everyone is so friendly and warm and genuine that they make you feel completely comfortable. I think nothing of expressing my woes with the receptionist, the trainer, the owner, and everyone is just as excited and happy for you when you reach your fitness goals.

I met with my trainer yesterday for my health and fitness assessment and while I hadn't lost any weight, I had apparently reduced my body fat by 1 per cent and lost an overall 9.5 centimetres off my body, half of which was from my waist. I didn't have a typical excited reaction, in fact I was pretty reserved about the results. My trainer Liz kept saying "that's good!" and "that's great!" and I'd be like, "really? Isn't that all relative?" I didn't mean to be such a killjoy but I'm just not used to positive results at the gym. Liz made me tell one of the other ladies who works there about my results and she seemed happy for me too. When she asked me how I felt, I said, "Good?"

So they put it into perspective for me that yes, it is good and I should be happy. Okay. I am pleased. I was planning on rewarding myself by getting some clothes at Kookai which is having a sale today, but it's pouring like cats and dogs so I think I'll just stay inside today. I'll go shopping on the weekend instead. With my imaginary money of course.

Monday

I had a great day yesterday where it was one of those days that things just seemed to work out right. I had finished analysing my exploratory data some time ago and having some preliminary results have kept me in better spirits for the last few weeks. I was ready to progress to the next stage of data collection, which is individual interviews and have been trying to get participants, which is always quite a challenge. I managed to organise my first interview for yesterday morning at Toowong Village and it went really well.

I caught the City Cat back to the office and just as I reached my desk, my phone rang and it was a lady asking if I wanted to interview her. The Wellness program put in a bit about my research, requesting for participants and she'd seen it there. We organised to meet later that afternoon - two in one day! Just as I put down the phone, I received an email from another lady saying she'd be happy to participate. Another interview scheduled for Wednesday. How cool is that? The luck will probably dry up and I will have to painfully search for more participants after this, but am quite happy with having 3 so far. I'm meant to have 2 more, but I'm just waiting to hear back from them about their availability.




I hit the gym yesterday to do Morphosis and Ride, a combo I hadn't done in a while given I was fasting and then I was away. I felt like I needed to do some cardio as I've decided that I'm too fat (or at least big, you can't argue with big). Am annoyed that the longer I stay with the gym and the harder I work out, the heavier I get. It's just so unfair. I find my only comfort in the fact that I've significantly reduced my body fat percentage since I started at the gym a year and a half ago. During Morph, I really went for it. I was jumping like I'd never jumped before, swinging my arms like I had all the energy in the world. I was so pumped up, it was weird. I'm usually more lifeless than that. I was surprised at how much energy I seemed to have, or at least how hard I was working.

I also finished my marking for Consumer Behaviour yesterday, which felt like a great effort but I took less than 2 weeks to mark it all so that was quite surprising. I am back to marking again for Services Marketing but only have 45 to mark, which isn't so bad if I do 10 or so a day. Unfortunately, I am feeling incredibly uninspired and distracted so my marking progress is not really there yet. I'd rather be transcribing than marking. Ho hum...

Fat or Fit?

I am so tired, I feel like I could just collapse at my desk... and it's only 9.25am. I've been in the office for almost 2 hours now and feel ready to throw in the towel. Sadly, I can't because I still have some writing that I need to finish. Argh.

I suspect that one of the reasons I feel so wrecked is because I've tried to push myself at the gym this week. Potentially publicly shaming or embarrassing myself, I'm going to say that a year ago, over a third of my body weight was fat. That's more than 33% body fat. Today, that proportion is down to 25%. I think it's a pretty good effort to reduce my body fat from one-third to one-quarter. However, the irony is that I weighed 5 kilos lighter a year ago.

That does my head in. Does that mean I am heavier but fitter? It sounds like a contradiction.

I like this Coke Zero ad where the eyeball asks the tongues why they are drinking Coke Zero and they tell him it's Coke. When the eyeball disagrees, they call him a big fat liar. So the eyeball exclaims with a gasp, "I am not fat!"

I love it!

I stumbled across this website where the writer talks about her struggles with her weight since she was a teenager. Her story was about how her mother had taken a picture of her and when she saw the picture, she was so upset and distraught about how "fat" she looked. This started her on the weight-loss journey that saw her go through ups and downs. At one point, she weighed in at 310pounds (55kilos is about 120 pounds - about). One day, she looked at the picture again and couldn't see why she thought she was fat. She posted the picture up on the website and I can't see it either. It was just so sad.

It got me thinking that the only thing we waste from our deluded sense of self-image is time. We waste so much time worrying and fretting and dieting and agonising. Time that could have been spent enjoying life, not feeling so upset all the time. I don't want to be like that, but it's just hard sometimes.