So I got myself into the gym this morning (yay!) The place was PACKED! I know there's always a surge of people around the beginning of the year but my gym is enormous and I couldn't believe how many people were there at 9 am. Don't they work! haha. Maybe they all work second shift like me.

Anyhoo that wasn't the grumbling/whiny part, that part comes now. I haven't been to the gym or worked out in any form in four and a half months. That is the longest hiatus I've ever taken and I'm so angry at myself. Any semblance of fitness I used to have is totally gone. All I could do is walk on the treadmill with a slight incline at 3.5 mph for 45 minutes. So discouraging, I used to be able to jog some and do a 12 minute mile and now I'm up to 17.5 min per mile?! Sheesh.

I'm trying to stay positive and tell myself that at least I'm went and at least I'm starting again and all that but it's really hard. I'm so down about everything right now. I've gained 20 lbs. in the past 4 months and although I'm still down from my all time high it seems so insignificant!

To end the post on a good note I did have a healthy breakfast of 2 eggs covered in pico de gallo, nutritional yeast, a slice of fat free cheese all piled up on a slice of whole grain toast.

Honey, you're definitely not alone! I stopped working out 8 months ago and just got back on track 1/4/2010. The first day I went to the gym and got onto the elliptical, I honestly thought I wouldn't last 10 mins. But I did. Sure, I was moving like a turtle, but I didn't give up. Now, I'm 2 weeks into it and I'm moving faster and feeling so much better. We'll get back there. One day at a time.

Tell me about the gym... I've been forced to start working out at 6.30am (when they open). Fortunately most people don't seem to wanna get up at that time!

All you have to do is keep working on it, and your stamina will def come back. I know that crappy feeling about having to start over - but then there's also a good chance that you've got muscle memory working for ya making it a lot easier

Today is MLK Day, so a lot of people are off of work, which is probably why there were more people than usual there this morning. I am going to the gym shortly and I usually don't go until after work.

J

I totaly know where you are coming from, I was working out but not as hard as I had been and not watching my eating for pretty much all of last year, I managed to gain back 20 & I am just now starting to get back into the saddle again.

I was doing side squats and I could feel my belly jiggling and I was so mad at myself I just kept thinking, "how did I let myself get back here again?!" I still don't understand, I mean why did I think that bad food was more important than being healthy?

Best of luck to us all!

Focus on the now. You went to the gym. You worked out. You ate healthy!

Learn from the past, but don't dwell on it. What's important is what you're doing NOW. And your NOW is looking pretty good!

Keep it up and before you know it you're fitness level will be improving.

Thankfully we have several gyms on our military base but the thing that I hate is it has so many guys there all the time. I hate running if there are guys behind me. they always give me that look like "hey baby". I wish there was a all female gym on post. I love when the 1st of the year comes because then it tends to be a good amount of females at the gym. I always go to the gym at night since there is no parking in the day time.

I find that after little breaks my stamina comes back quickly, much more quickly that it took to build it up initially. I reckon that within a week or two you will be back where you left off.

If I let myself slack off a bit from working out for a while, when I get back to it I have to do a lot of positive self-talk to get me inspired again. I try to focus on the sweating, the elevated heartbeat, the heavy breathing, as all signs that I am working towards getting stronger, and getting control over myself again, instead of the "I am so out of shape" thoughts that want to creep in. Congratulate yourself for getting back in the saddle, don't look backwards, and just charge onward!

I went 9 months. Stopped last february and didn't really start up until december, just got more regulary with exercise the last couple of weeks. I definitely notice the lack of fitness. BUT, if we don't start somewhere, we go nowhere. I am resolved to stop with the excuses. Buck up, you muscles are still there and will show themselves again. I too regained weight, haven't lost any yet, but fell better with the activity. GO for it.

I also was pretty depressed stepping into the gym for the first time after putting on 60ish lbs. I used to be able to lift a lot of weight, jog 5 consecutive miles, etc...

After the 60lbs and no gym in 18 months I felt like I looked like the biggest loser contestants their first day. I went into the basketball court, seriously felt like a 3 year old in terms of coordination.

6 weeks later I am still not back to my previous level of fitness, but it was pretty impressive how quickly at least some semblance of being able to go full out at the gym came back.

I'm now looking forward to not only matching my previous levels of fitness, but exceeding them.

thank you all for the words of encouragement. You're right, I know you're right! I already have my alarm set and my workout clothes folded at the foot of the bed for tomorrow!

I couldn't help slacking off. I had a sprained hip. Then when I went to cancel the gym membership because I was told it would be a couple of months before I'd be safe to work out again, I didn't at all approve of the way they started pressuring me to keep it open, and continue paying them money, of course.... And we had to get a new debit card to keep them from doing another automatic withdrawl out of the bank. I decided when I bought another membership, it would be someplace else.

I just got a piece of mail a couple of days ago. It was marked "needs your immediate attention" and had no return address. I thought maybe it was a collection agency, though I couldn't imagine what bill had gone unpaid. When I opened the envelope, I found a note from the gym saying they had received my request to cancel, but I'm eligible for some special discount if I decide to renew. I found it dishonest of them to send me such a letter in such an envelope. And I am definitely not rejoining that gym, for their shady business practices.

But my bag is packed for the Y tomorrow. Even though I know I'm not going to be exercising at the same level as I was before.

I gained 8lbs since the beginning of November. Not a huge amount, but I have probably lost 50% of my strength and stamina due to my gym hiatus. That makes me more mad than the weight gain, to be honest. So I feel your pain and frustration.

I'm working on it, though. There's nothing else you can really do other than get back to work.

So I went yesterday and today and believe it or not I'm really disappointed that I can't go tomorrow! I have class all morning and then work second shift so it's not doable though. I do have an hour between class and work, maybe if it's not freezing I can go for a walk...