Treadmill tomorrow!
ABM has promised that he will be picking up a new treadmill tomorrow before he goes to work. I can't wait! Unlike most people who use their exercise equipment to hang clothes on, I use machines consistently when I have access to them. My earliest experience with an exercise machine was using my mother's stationary bike when I was a teenager. I loved being able to work out and watch TV at the same time! Weight training was the only PE class I passed in high school because I enjoyed using the machines.
Unfortunately, I can't seem to keep a machine in the house. ABM and I wasted money on whatever was the hot exercise tool of the moment -- stair climber, ski machine, some side-to-side sliding thing. None of them worked for us; the stair climber made me feel like I was having a heart attack! By the time we realized that we should have followed our initial instinct and bought a treadmill, we couldn't afford one.
Many years, babies, and pounds later, we held a treadmill in storage for a neighbor. I loved that thing. I was up to an hour a day and down 25 pounds when she finally came and got it. Several months later we bought our own. We still didn't have a lot of money so we bought the cheapest model we could find. All I can say about that is, "Pay attention to the weight requirement on the box." I was WAY over the weight limit and I broke the blasted thing within a few weeks. This time we are buying a good treadmill that has been tested for fat-bottomed girls like me!
Why does the treadmill work for me when other things don't? It is the most effortless exercise to start. I am not a morning person, but morning is the best time for me to exercise. Without a treadmill, it is a struggle to convince myself to get up at 6a and put clothes on to go outside. I have to get my workout clothes ready the night before and make sure that I have batteries and music loaded up on my mp3 player. With a treadmill, I just have to have my sneakers by my bed. On the days when I don't want to get up, I tell myself that I can walk in my pajamas. The stereo is right next to the treadmill so I don't have to use my mp3 player at all.
Having a treadmill in the house also encourages me to work out more. When I walk outside, I tend to cut my walk short because I am worried about hitting my fatigue limit when I am on the other side of the loop and far away from the house. Working out inside means that I can work right up to my limit because I am only two steps from my couch. Also, since the treadmill makes it easier to work out in the morning, I am more likely to sneak in a little exercise in the afternoon on the days that I have time.
I just wrote five paragraphs about treadmills! Can you tell how excited I am to be getting a new one? When I exercise regularly, I eat healthier because I don't want to mess up all the work I've done. It doesn't work the other way around for me. So I know that bringing in the treadmill will get me back on the right track!