Harry Potter Holiday and Gym Safety

   Well, it is official I have hit the 20 pound mark! That’s right I have lost 20 pounds since we started last Thanksgiving. I’m very happy and quite satisfied right now. I know that we’ve had our ups and downs throughout our years but I feel really good right now about this one. I just went back and read some of my first blogs and its rough. I have to be honest and real with my readers we’ve been on several different diets throughout this journey and I do not apologize for it because that’s how everyone is. Like I said in the last entry, you have to find out what works for you and sometimes that will take you awhile. I have noticed that my blog is a direct reflection of my weight loss journey and I’ve found that I tend to blog more when I’m being successful because I feel guilty when I fail. I think its safe to say most people feel guilty when they gain it all back or they didn’t quite make the weigh in. I know I’ve said I just want to be healthy but stepping on the scale and seeing the numbers go down are something I can use to say “yes I’ve done this, or I’m successful”. Its a tangible thing that directly reflects the progress I’m making especially when you don’t see it immediately. I wish it was more obvious when you lost a pound but its not its subtle just like gaining it is subtle. However, I shouldn’t let that discourage me and neither should you. 

   We are heading to Harry Potter World tomorrow and I am so excited. You don’t even understand, no I mean it you have no idea how excited I am about this! I freaking walked down the aisle to Harry Potter music in our wedding people! Our animals are all named after Harry Potter characters, and when Natalia Tena came to Dragon Con I freaking met TONKS!!!!!!!! Anyway, one of the things that I find very difficult to do on vacation is to stay on track with eating. It’s hard to go out and be perfect when there are so many new things to try especially when its a specialty item in a place like Harry Potter World, butterbeer for example. I am fully expecting to come back from the vacation a few pounds heavier but I am ok with that. I firmly believe that you shouldn’t sacrifice those cool things you wouldn’t get anywhere else for the sake of staying on your diet. Now, don’t take that as an ok to go out and eat whatever you want while on vacation but if you’re going to something that will definitely have food that you know you can’t get back home but it won’t be the healthiest, make sure you control what you have. Savor the flavor. We’re not going to spend every meal in the theme park so those times when we eat outside the park we can be healthy. Another thing we’re going to do is split stuff so we can have a taste of it but not eat the entire thing, that way we enjoy it but not completely ruin our diet. Just remember, you’re not on vacation forever; I mean “holiday” as the british say. At some point you have to come back from “holiday” and get back to regular life and you don’t want to go back and do it all over again because you let yourself get carried away.

   When we do come back from our “holiday”. You know I kind of like that term better than vacation. Not that vacation isn’t a positive thing, oh no we all get excited about a vacation but think about it for a second; when you say holiday what comes to mind? Christmas? Thanksgiving? Halloween? St. Patrick’s day? All of those are great holidays and there are many more, the word holiday gives me a much better sense of excitement than just vacation, I might just start using that term instead. Back on topic. When we do get back from our holiday we are going to start up a DietBet game. We’re doing the 4% in 4 weeks and we’re just doing $10 buy ins. It will be open to everyone so please join us! It really is a great way to encourage each other and help motivate you, I mean you can possibly win a little money! If you hit your goal weight you’ll at least get your money back. We will continue doing 4 weeks at a time instead of the 6 month version because we want to be able to take a break after 4 weeks to not get bored. I think it’ll be too easy to get bored on the 6 month version, at least that’s for myself. So I do hope you will join us on that adventure!

   So one last thing I’d like to talk about is an article that came across my newsfeed on Facebook today. I saw an article about a woman who was working out in her apartment complex fitness center and died. I’m going to quote the article here which is from the AJC: 

“The police report said, ‘While hanging from the bar, Ms. Anthony began doing leg lifts and began flipping around on the bar. The bar broke free, and she fell straight back to the floor. It appeared that Ms. Anthony's head and upper body struck an elliptical machine and her lower body and legs struck the treadmill.’”

   I have several things to say about this accident, which is exactly what it is but first I have to send my thoughts and prayers to her family and loved ones. This is an absolute tragedy and I’m so sorry something like this happened. Unfortunately, there are some lessons to be learned from this accident. First and foremost I am not disputing this is simply a freak thing that happened, it really is rare. I also don’t want anyone to think I’m saying that she didn’t have any idea what she was doing because I don’t know her routine. She clearly has a routine and thought she would have had no problems with it, so please do not take my words as anything negative. I simply want to remind everyone including myself that we can learn from her tragedy to keep ourselves safe in the future. 

   The first thing I thought of from this was, I am never going to use my apartment fitness center again. You can have the greatest apartment in the world but something falls short in apartments because they deal with a lot of people. Make sure that your apartment complex maintains its fitness center properly, meaning keeping the equipment up and running and not placing too much inside of a cramped space. In my experience the places I have lived that boasted a fitness center didn’t have anything worth using. When we first moved in to the place we’re at now, it was ok but the treadmills would break every so often. Over the years we’ve noticed that most of the equipment stays broken now and its not because the complex is a bad complex its because a fitness center is not on their priority list. There are 500 units in this complex so that is truly a lot of people to maintain and they obviously don’t have anyone devoted to keeping up with the fitness center. So if you’re complex boasts a fitness center ask them how often it’s maintained, do your research before you go in because it could be something that they simply try to use as a selling point. Which leads me to the second point, if you have a decent fitness center make sure that the equipment can hold you.

   I don’t know how big or small the young lady was that died but sometimes equipment is only for a certain weight limit so you have to make sure that it will hold you up, especially if you’re on the bigger side. Even if you are smaller and generally more fit if you’re using something that is required to be bolted into the wall make sure its bolted properly. Always examine your equipment before you use it. A lot of complexes hire people with no real experience to be maintenance because they are cheap labor therefore they don’t know to find a stud to bolt things to or use a proper size anchor. You have to make sure equipment is properly installed, its essential. No its not your responsibility as a tenant to install it but because apartments are concerned about profit safety is usually a second priority. We all know apartments can be awful so just be cautious. Also, make sure you know how to use the equipment. If you don’t know ask someone, if no one is around don’t use it until you’re able to find out. Most equipment has a diagram but if it doesn’t go look it up on the internet before you use it there are plenty of good videos on various exercises.

   And finally, always always always have a partner especially if you usually do more complex stuff. If you’re just jogging on a treadmill you’re generally ok but if you’re lifting weights or doing something that would risk you straining anything you should always have a spotter. Even if its just the guy next to you that you don’t know, ask her if she’ll spot you really quick while you do your set. Safety at the gym is essential for you to have a safe and fun workout so please don’t let yourself get overconfident and think you can handle something. I will again say that I am in no way saying the young lady did any of these things wrong I just think that her terrible accident is a reminder that we have to be careful in our work out routine.

   I hope you all have a great week and please let me know in the comments below if you have some good tips on what to do while we’re in Orlando! WOOO HARRY POTTER WORLD!!!!!