Well, we joined a gym again… after nearly a year of inactivity (mostly due to moving house, changing jobs, getting a puppy, and just being plain lazy!!) we decided to step up the pace thanks to Nath’s sister Melinda. She mentioned that she had been in some gyms in the area for work, and recommended AJ’s gym at Algester so we went to check it out last Thursday night. We were very impressed! They have squash courts, swimming pools, saunas, ladies only gym room, large layout for weights and cardio, and best of all – no large corporate mentality and no hard sell. Nath and I had been looking around for squash courts near Kuraby so it was win-win for us. The funniest thing is that we were going to do some research at a few gyms around us but we were so sold on this one that we joined up straight away and have been 4 times since. They have the Les Mills classes too so I tried to do Body Balance last night (right after a circuit workout) and I think I’ve done something to my knee so today might be a recovery day 
Another part of my motivation for joining the gym (apart from general fitness and well-being) is from seeing a photo of my back from Heidi’s wedding. I was wearing a strapless dress that really didn’t sit right after about 3 hours… Needless to say, I’m thinking about printing it out and sticking it on the wall for motivation. I’m also starting to count my daily calories thanks to an awesome website at the Calorie King. You can track all your foods through their online database, including takeaway foods (ie Subway). It has really helped me to stay on track since every time I update it (after a meal), I can see how many calories I can eat for the rest of the day, including carbs/protein/fats breakdown. If you add exercise to your daily info, it adjusts your allowable calories as well. Saves having me to work it out! Another useful website is Traineo. I love this site since it has ‘Wii’ as an option for exercise! You can add other people to your motivators list so that they can see how much (or how little) exercise you have done in a week. That part doesn’t really work for me but I do like the way it measures your workout.
With all these tools and knowledge and memberships, theoretically this time should be a time of results! I am feeling positive about this. I just have to remember this feeling, and this motivation… and to print out that photo!
