Reinventing My Mornings

I started the morning off yesterday at the local YMCA.  I was planning on joining (and really excited about it), but then my work scheduled another two-week trip for January yesterday afternoon.  That means that for the next two months, I’ll only be here in town for a total of three out of eight weeks.  I’ve been going back and forth on it, but it just seems kind of crazy for me to pay for a membership when I’ll barely even be here to use it.  Maybe that’ll change, but for now, I guess I’m foregoing it.

Yesterday’s 5am workout went really well though, and I’d like to attribute it again to being in a real gym.  I did this leg workout, plus leg presses and calf raises on the leg press machine, four sets of hanging knee lifts, and 20 minutes of incline walking on the treadmill.  My stems were burning by the end!

It was kind of strange getting up at 5am and heading outside to go to the gym, but I also sort of loved it.  It’s hard to get up and work out in my apartment at that hour when my bed is calling to me from the other room, but having to go outside really wakes you up – especially when this is the temperature you’re greeted with!

Aside from the cold though, I loved being up and active at that hour.  I thought there would be a lot of people there, what with New Year’s resolutions and all, but I basically had the place to myself.  And getting back to my apartment before 7am having already completed the hardest part of my day was an awesome feeling.  I’d love to be able to make that a habit and have my evenings totally free, and that’s one of the biggest reasons pushing me toward joining.  Even though it can sometimes be difficult to get up and out of bed, mornings are my favorite part of the day… just look at the snowy sunrise I came home to!

Another reason I like to work out in the morning is because it makes me hungry for breakfast.  When I don’t do anything in the morning, it’s sometimes hard to force myself to eat, and I know that’s not a good habit to get into.  But when I’ve already expended so much energy so early on in the day, I’m ready to fuel back up with a good meal!

One of the big takeaways I got from Balanced Bites was about breaking another bad breakfast habit: loading up on sugar first thing in the morning.  I’m definitely one of those people who falls into the trap of thinking there is such a thing as “breakfast foods,” when in reality, food is food.  You can eat chicken or steak in the morning just as easily as you can eat eggs at night.  And the thing is, typical “breakfast foods,” like cereal, yogurt, pastries, and even fruit, are usually loaded with sugar.  I clearly have a monstrous sweet tooth, so I know it’s going to be hard for me to let go of my sweet breakfasts, but I gave it a try yesterday with an egg scramble. 

I used four small eggs, 1/2 of a green pepper, and a big handful of chopped fresh spinach.  It kept me full until well past lunchtime, and there was no sugar crash at all.  I’d call that a success!

Questions:

Do you ever eat “non-breakfast foods” for breakfast?

Do you belong to a gym? How much is your monthly membership?

Do you think there are the benefits of joining a “real” gym?