Have You Met Gym?

Okay, so I can check off one of my SIYC goals!

Tonight I contacted my insurance company's Weight Management program. Turns out I DID sign up a couple years ago but I never actually got started with the program. The guy I talked to said that he didn't think this would disqualify for me for the program now. (They have a stipulation that states "if you begin the program and then quit/stop, you don't get another chance" basically.) He seemed to think I should be fine getting qualified for the program!

So what does that mean? For the first three months I'll pay $45 a month for services. This includes not only membership at a gym of my choosing (from their list), but regular visits with a registered dietitian, a physical workup and regular checkups of my progress, and a personal trainer! What's more, if I stick with it, the six months after those first initial months -- only $14 a month! SCORE!!

So, since I will have to make a decision as to where I want to work out -- I could use a bigger gym near work in the city, there are at least 5 within a 20 mile radius of my office - one within walking distance in the hospital across the street, or I could just use the gym by my house. There are advantages to both. -- I decided to visit the gym by my house first to see if they even had the equipment I would need to work out. (Hey, I'm a big girl! If they don't have the good stuff, I'll be over the weight capacity limit of the machines - like that chick who got kicked off the machines at her gym.) I was SOOOO nervous to go in there. I haven't been in a gym since I was like 15 or so. (I *loved* going to the gym back then and have missed even the sweat smell of it! *lol*)

I walk in even more nervous when I pulled up, as a truck pulls up with me and two hot young studs get out and head in, running into a really buff young stud coming out fully sweaty. "UGH!" I thought. "It's one of THOSE gyms!" I went in anyways.

I go up to the girl at the front and before I can say anything, this tall sweaty, well built guy looks at the two girls up front and says, "I think I'm pregnant." *lol* Anyhow, then I said to the girl, "Yeah, I just wanted to see, first of all, if you have the right equipment for a person like me." She started doing this nodding/shaking her head thing...I couldn't tell if she was saying yes or no, so I asked. "I just don't know what you mean," she said. "Well," I said, "I weigh 390 pounds right now and..." She interrupted, "So? None of us is perfect here." That's when I knew that I could totally find myself at this gym! *love* that!

She then encouraged me to tour the gym all I wanted. She said I could even try out some of the aerobic class that was going on (too bad I wasn't wearing the right clothes! *lol*). It's not an incredibly large gym, but they do have a racquetball court, a sauna, locker rooms, tons of weight lifting equipment (we have a huge HS sports program in this area so that wasn't surprising) and a few treadmills downstairs. Then upstairs they have a TON of elliptical machines and treadmills (and maybe some bikes, I didn't see them but I'm sure they're there) and some stair-step machines...and surrounding it all is an indoor track. And then there is a room where they do classes -- line dancing, low and high impact aerobics, zumba, yoga (EEP!!), bellydancing, all sorts of stuff! It was much more than I expected.

So the point to all this --- keep your fingers crossed that I pass eligibility screening and get to participate in this program. They keep it open to me as long as I use it. (And, little secret...even if they don't let me in the program, I might still join the gym...it's only 38 bucks a month! Not too shabby!!) But, still, the extra support would be friggin' awesome!