Over the last few years, I’ve unfortunately put on more weight than I’d like. For a while, I tried counting calories and getting some steps in on the treadmill. But after my fall vacation last year, I let it all slide again. Counting calories is unnecessarily complicated and therefore extremely annoying. And I didn’t want to use the treadmill during meetings. I thought it would look weird.
Thanks to my boss, who now does most of his meetings on the treadmill, I could now also walk on the treadmill during meetings. He’s made it socially acceptable. That’s the plan now, to start doing that regularly again. But counting calories is still a huge pain, and I have no desire to do it. The treadmill alone isn’t enough, though, which is why I need more exercise. As luck would have it, a new gym opened near me and was advertising an introductory offer. For 25 euros a month, you can use everything, including drinks, a massage bed, and classes. My girlfriend and I signed up, and the gym opened three weeks ago (six months behind schedule).
The delay was apparently due to late delivery of the equipment and setbacks in renovating the space. You could still tell at the beginning; not everything was set up properly yet. By now, though, apart from a leaky roof, it seems to be finished. The gym belongs to the Easy Fitness chain, whose color scheme I personally find a bit peculiar. There’s a lot of black in the gym, which is probably meant to look sophisticated. I wouldn’t have minded a brighter and friendlier color scheme, but oh well. In the end, I’m not there for the beautiful architecture, but to get fitter.
To be on the safe side, I signed up for an introductory session where a trainer worked out a training plan with me and explained the machines and how to use them. The next day, he had also uploaded the training plan to the gym’s smartphone app, so I could see the machines, the settings, and the plan there. Personally, I find this extremely impractical. I’ve been to the gym a few times since then and initially had trouble remembering the plan. But pulling out my smartphone every time was also annoying. I’ve since written myself a cheat sheet, but it’s already obsolete. I’ve memorized the machines and the settings.
And the training plan? As the trainer predicted, I quickly adapted it. I now train in a way that I can do at least ten reps for three sets. If I can’t manage that, I lower the difficulty. If I can do 15 reps without too much of a struggle, I go up a level. This way, I’ve already been able to increase the difficulty on many machines after just three weeks. On some, however, I had to go down first because I had overestimated myself during the introduction.
And what are the results so far? Nothing yet, I’d say. You can’t expect miracles after a little over three weeks. I notice that I’m getting stronger, but not lighter yet. Muscles weigh something too, and fat is burned off slowly. I think I just need to have some patience and perseverance. Weight-wise, I want to go from 88 kilograms down to 65 kilograms. And of course, steadily improve. On most machines, I’m currently at 18-23 kilograms, which I’m aware isn’t much. Getting somewhere in the range of 40-50 kilograms by the end of the year would be a cool achievement.
How do you stay slim and fit?