Hi there, I have finally joined a gym, which is big for me because I really do not like to be out in public while doing anything strenuous. I had a false start for about a month I did pretty good getting myself up to 40 minutes on the elliptical before another 40 to 50 minutes on the machines three days a week. Then I panicked, around a stressful time of finals for my summer semester at school and started compulsively binge eating and feeling awful and stopped going to the gym. Anyway now I am trying to get up the nerve to start going back into the gym, but am (irrationally) afraid of people there seeing me fatter than when I started. Yes it is an idiotic way to think and I know it is irrational, but none-the-less it is my current excuse for not leaving the house, so I am just wondering if anyone else gets like this or am I alone in my psychosis? Also if there is anyone else out there living in traverse with a GTAC membership who has a 100 or so pounds to lose and would like a workout partner who will make you look good, I am available

Sheski, I know about the gym phobia, had it myself in the beginning. All I can say is, you have to find a reason to be there for yourself. If you want to change your life, you have to pick something to change today. If you want that change to be exercise, then you either have to face the gym, or just start walking room to room in your house, buy yourself an elliptical, or whatever, but just pick one habit to work on and build from there.

What helped me at the start of this was to write down one goal at a time, in each of these 3 areas: food, water, exercise. For me, just one step at a time worked best, so I'd say, "okay, for September, I'll be giving up just cheese, I'll be drinking 3 bottles of water a day, and I'm going to walk for 10 minutes every morning." So, something like that, and I would just commit to those goals for as long as it took. So, it's not a lot of pressure, but it's an improvement over what I'd done before.

After a little while, when I felt like giving up cheese was no longer a struggle, and drinking 3 bottles of water was a habit easy to keep, and every day I just got up and did my 10 minute walk room to room in the house with my stereo cranked, well, I'd set another little goal to reach for, maybe I cut my usual mayo in half, I add another half bottle of water, and I walk 10 minutes and jog for 30 seconds at the end.

Whatever works for you, whatever you can do today, and take control of some small thing, do that. You don't have to go from out of control to super diet and exercise girl overnight, really, to be successful. I am the proof of that.

Jamsk8r, Thanks for the advice, when I first joined the gym that was my sole goal, because I figured I could not handle a diet and a bunch of supplements and stuff all at once. So I do get it, but it helps to hear that I am not the only one to develop a fear of going to the gym. When I was going, I liked going (even though it made me hungry) and I had no issues with any of the hard bodies there, so this thing is just in my head. I will get over and form that one single good habit soon. I heard once that it takes 30 days to form a psychological habit, so my goal has been to just get myself to do something good for 30 days straight, then it will no longer be hard to do. Unfortunately 30 days is a long time when you have the attention span of a ferret.

I might have to steal that line..

I get hungry after working out, too. Right now, I'm headed straight home after, so it's NBD, but when the weather cools, I'll be running my dogs afterward, so when I do that, I take something for eating after the workout. I used to do the protein shake thing, since it was easy, and kept me feeling full for several hours afterward (I could get through running dogs and shopping for grocs if needed). I haven't been doing the shakes for a while, so I'm not sure if I'll pick up that habit again, or just pack some food. Probably will mix it up. I think my protein shakes, the way I made them, were a little TOO high cal, so I might stick with real food. Can't stand the protein powder unless I drown it in a LOT of fruit.