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Old 07-30-2009, 07:21 PM   #1  
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Red face Signing up at the gym

Ok. When I moved to my current house, I cancelled my gym membership because I moved too far away from that gym for getting there to ever be practical.

Now, about a year and a half later, not going to the gym has undone all the good work So I'm going to sign up again at a gym closer to where I live, and I'm also going to invest in appointments with a personal trainer.

I'm terrified of this, because it means sharing with a complete stranger - who will be wonderfully slim and pretty and beautiful - how I've had enough of being unhealthy (physically and mentally) and that it's time to do something about it. It's one thing to confront myself with this but quite another to expose it to someone else! Though I suppose it's part of making it "real"?

Anyway...I just thought I'd throw that out there. Encouragement would be appreciated, I'm pretty nervous about filling in this online form to make an intro appointment <-- this is the person I need!
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Old 07-30-2009, 08:50 PM   #2  
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who will be wonderfully slim and pretty and beautiful
This is one of the reasons I tried out the PT that I hired. She has lost over 100 lbs herself and understand that when someone is at the 300 mark, what their goals are, are much different than someone that is < 50 lbs over weight. She is not slim though she is fit - she still has much of her extra skin from before her weight loss (over 10 yrs ago, and yes she has photos). If you can, try to find someone that has been there. You might not have many choices but can't hurt to look for one.
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Old 07-30-2009, 08:54 PM   #3  
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This is what they do, and I bet there's nothing you can tell them that they haven't heard before : ) You're hiring a person to do a job for you, so go in and interview them. They need to impress you, not the other way around!
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Old 07-30-2009, 09:42 PM   #4  
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Ummm this is their JOB??? Seriously. This is what they DO. All the time. They've probably heard it all before and they are compassionate, because they are in their job to HELP people get into great shape.

This might be about actually "coming clean" with respect to how you deep down feel about yourself, and sharing THAT with a stranger is really scary. But you are going to be sharing it with a pro that does this for a living, and they are there to HELP...

Go for it! I've generally found that life is 90% expectation and 10% realization -- you're really scared but after you do this, you'll find that it probably wasn't as bad as you thought it would be...



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Old 07-30-2009, 09:43 PM   #5  
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I work a the gym at my University. I haven't worked individually with a trainer there but I worked in a group with one through a "biggest loser" spin off competition. And get this, my group's trainer was a guy I went to high school with! Talk about terrified, but his group was the only one that fit my schedule. I ended up loving him as a trainer! One of my friends has worked out with him and several other trainers and has had a really positive experience with all of them.

All of our trainers are students, and they're pretty passionate about fitness. But none of them seem judgemental at all. As weightlosswanted said, this is what they do, they see it all.

Sometimes I feel like our trainers are less money hungry because we work at a student rec center instead of a commercial gym. But really, as they graduate these are the people who will be working in those commercial gyms. So really there's no logic behind thinking the other trainers out there won't be just as good as ours.

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Old 07-30-2009, 10:59 PM   #6  
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I was worried about this too when I used to go to Gold's. We were offered a chance to get our body fat percentage tested, so of course that involved being weighed, measured, etc. I told the girl that I was nervous and embarassed and she said matter-of-factly, "It's just a number so you know where you are starting from; that's all." That really helped me; she was a pretty, slim girl but that doesn't mean that she hasn't been heavy before or that she can't relate to our fear over being "inspected".

It'll be cool. And if you don't like this trainer, then interview another one. The trainer is YOUR employee in this situation, so you have the right to hire the one who best fits your needs.

Good luck! And btw, our beginning stats are nearly identical.
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Old 07-31-2009, 04:38 AM   #7  
Shrinkin' Salsa :P
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Thanks all for your comments I went ahead and signed up for an appt on the website, so I expect to get a call from them sometimes soon. I guess the next hurdle is to ring them if they don't contact me within a couple of days or so.

Windchime - oh, thanks for telling me that our beginning stats are almost the same! Makes me feel less alone and stuff
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Old 07-31-2009, 09:37 AM   #8  
Shrinkin' Salsa :P
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Oh excitement!

The gym just called. There's a special offer on this month: if you sign up before August begins you don't pay anything (!) until September - saving me something like $200. Plus, because of my health insurance thing, I get another discount each month apparently. Wow!

We had a little chat and I explained how I'm nervous about it, and the guy on the phone was really reassuring. I'm also going to meet with a personal trainer. We've set up an appt TODAY because if I sign up today I'll get that nice big discount!

Ok, now I'm nervous again - but a good kind of nervous. I'm looking forward to exercising regularly again!
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Old 07-31-2009, 10:19 AM   #9  
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Salsa - I'm so excited for you! Wonderful news that you're recieving such great discounts! And that you're meeting with a trainer today! Please let us know how it goes. Congratulations!!
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Old 07-31-2009, 10:51 AM   #10  
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Ya, update MANDATORY...

You'll be just fine...

Kira
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Old 07-31-2009, 12:26 PM   #11  
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congrats and have a good time! my trainer was heavier and lost weight too (if I remember right he said about 30 lbs). We have a woman trainer at my Y who is not super slim, in fact she's a little on the chunky side. I see her working with a fair number of people, so I'm thinking she's probably good at what she does.

hope you don't mind my adding that I actually kind of enjoyed the aspect of having the cutest guy trainer at the gym working with me, heh heh.
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Old 07-31-2009, 04:31 PM   #12  
Shrinkin' Salsa :P
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Ok! I signed up!

It was kind of bizarre really. The gym itself is very nice: clean and tidy, machines and equipment kept in good order (if I knew anything about them, I'd be able to tell you whether they're "modern" or not, but they certainly looked snazzy enough). The staff I talked to seemed a bit distant, really, but people here tend to be like that, so I wasn't expecting huge amounts of friendliness.

The first chap (who I'd spoken on the phone with) chatted to me about my goals and fears about joining a gym. At one point when I had spoken a bit about being a bit paranoid about working out when other people are around, even though I *know* they're likely not paying me any attention at all, he said "I can't say I know how that feels, but I can understand it," which I thought was rather nice.

The second chap showed me round and we talked about my program. Because I already run 3x a week, we sorted a program mainly with weights (x-trainer to warm up and rowing to finish off) and if I need more cardio there's a good classes timetable to pick from too.

Like I promised myself I also signed up for sessions with a personal trainer - I'm going to be called about that on Monday.

I shiver a bit at how much this will cost (even after the discounts). But it's worth it - it's got to be worth it.

The thought I'm using to keep me motivated (at the moment anyway!) is the memory of me and my 15kg rucksack going on holiday earlier this Summer. It killed my shoulders! The thought that I could in a few months be free of that kind of weight every single day... at the moment that's what's keeping me going.

ETA: I forgot - I stepped on that fat% machine thing. And because I need to "expose" it (else I'll ignore it), here are the numbers. But I think things like the BMI will be wrong because I guessed my height wrong:
BMI: 36.9
BMR: 1928kcal <- anyone actually know what a BMR is?
Fat %: 44.4%

I guess once I'm able to I'll shove all that info into my sig and confront myself with it every day....

Last edited by salsa chip; 07-31-2009 at 04:51 PM.
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Old 07-31-2009, 08:47 PM   #13  
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You are making excuses. Stop It.
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Old 07-31-2009, 09:08 PM   #14  
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bmr is the calories that you burn just by being alive. (breathing, digesting, etc)
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Old 07-31-2009, 09:09 PM   #15  
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Also, CONGRATS!
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