Rise and shine! As I wake my step-daughter up at 11:00. I feel like we both slept the day away. We had long days the day prior and she was up most of the night so I thought I would do her a favor and let her sleep a little longer than normal. “I really don’t feel like going to the gym right now, maybe later” she said to me peaking up from under her covers. Her room so bright (I probably shouldn’t have painted it bright yellow since her oversized window was on the east of the house letting in every ray of light) she almost hissed like a vampire as I told her that breakfast was waiting downstairs.
Before you knew it both kids were running down the stairs ready to devour the biscuits sausage and eggs. Both her and I piled up two fluffy butter biscuits with greasy sausage and too many eggs. After eating one biscuit a tiny whisper from the scale gods called to me. I stepped on the scale. I’m still .9 pounds away from my goal. That kept me from eating the other one. I asked her to do the same.
Instantly I saw the determination flood her face as if she was going to go to war. Passing on the second biscuit I could see that she also was a little farther from her goal than she expected. Instantly her shoes were on and we were on our way to the gym.
Have you ever people watched at the gym before? Oh please who am I kidding? Of course you have. I jumped on the treadmill that over looked the whole gym up on the second floor. 30 minutes set, I began to run. Nothing is more motivational than knowing your step-daughter is behind you watching every move you make and some hotties on the weight machines below. Digging deep (as if that was going to get one of them to approach me. Was I delirious? Who would come up to a woman completely drenched in sweat barely breathing and ask her to coffee? I know I wouldn’t but for some reason I thought that maybe just maybe it would happen.) Whoever placed those treadmills up on the second floor giving those you use them an eagle eye view of the gym needs a fruit basket or something. I saw a wonderful woman running not too far from me. Her hair bounced from shoulder to shoulder and I’m pretty sure that she piled on 4 pounds of make-up before coming down to the gym. Her hot pink top tied up so you can see her flat stomach and her cheeks pretty much falling out of her shorts. I was so upset. She made me feel so bad about myself, she had what I wanted. The confidence the body the determination. Screw her.
No, screw me. She worked for what she had. The days I choose to eat chocolate cake and have McDonalds for dinner are the days she ate a salad and took another lap on the track. That’s when I realized one more that I will have to make health choices for quite a while. Not just today or this next week but for months to come. I will have to pass on those drunken nights and sweet cheesecakes to achieve my final goals. It was almost a blessing in disguise. But please. Put on some clothes lady!
From watching the movement below it almost looked like a dance, you would see people move in a pattern, your weightlifters running routes from one machine to another, the woman piling into a Zumba class and others who just seemed lost wandering from one place to the next. The gym was alive.
Now I’m prepping to crawl into the bathtub. I’m as soar as I could ever be and I have a spin class in the morning that my step-daughter can’t wait to go to! I do love that she holds me accountable and I can’t say no when she really just wants to keep digging deep and going for it. I hope everyone gets a workout buddy once in their life because it so soon stopped being my goals and now it is hers. She instantly became more important. I would die a thousand spin classes to see her light up when all of this is over and she is at her goal weight!!
Few more days! Wish us luck!