Thoughts about working out

I'm going to share something that demonstrates just how lazy I really am. When I was in college, I used the IMA gym probably a total of 15 times throughout the whole 3-1/2 years I was in school (I graduated early). The reason I worked out so little is because the trip to the gym was, in and of itself, a workout. When I lived in the sorority, it was already pretty darned far away, and then when I moved out to an apartment with roommates, it was really far away. Not to mention that you had to pay for parking. So, I guess I must have worked off calories from all of the dancing I was doing at frat parties...or something...like not really being able to afford food all the time, or something. Not really sure.

Anyway, when I lived 45-ish minutes away from work and my gym, I was lucky to work out once a week. After a long day at the office, the last thing I wanted to do was go to the gym and then spend forever in traffic getting home. At least Kati and I walked several times a week. Now, why I can spend forever in traffic getting over to Seattle to walk with Kati, I'm not sure...except that I think I have more fun when I'm walking with someone because I can talk and it doesn't feel so much like a workout.

Now that I live within 5 minutes of work and my gym, I work out on average 3 times a week. I'd like to kick that up to 4 times a week, but I'm cool with 3 for the moment. For one, I can come home and relax a little bit after work before heading to the gym. Then I can change and go workout, and then come home and shower in the comfort of my own home. I should add that I belong to a REALLY nice gym, courtesy of my employer who pays a lot for employees to go to this gym. So, it's not like the locker room is bad or anything. On the contrary, there's tanning, whirlpools, saunas, and every toiletry that you'd ever want at this place. But, I like my own bathroom - call me crazy.

So, I guess that my health somehow depends on how close I live to my gym and whether I can drive there and back in a relatively short amount of time. I'm lucky that I don't have to hunt and gather my own food, or I'd probably starve to death. On the good side of things, I'm seeing results from my workouts, which is always fun. It doesn't show up on the scale because muscle always weighs more than fat, so the weight training I'm doing right now evens things out, but I can tell that things are fitting differently and feel better. I'd like to be nice and toned by the time I go to Hawaii with L. in September and on my family ski trip in December. That's plenty of time to get in shape and be much healthier :) Good times...