Image credit: citynews.ca
When I began Weight Watchers, I was 24, and euphoric with my new pre-work morning workouts.
It was ideal for my lifestyle back then: I got it out of the way, had my nights free, only needed one shower a day, and had energy to boot. All before the sun came up!
Plus, though I wasn’t single, my then-boyfriend-now-husband lived in another country — so there wasn’t a warm body hugging me close when the alarm rang at 5:15. I sprang out of bed like a machine (and did it for several years).
And while I had a lot of friends, they’re like me — they aren’t partiers; we’d do coffee or dinner, go shopping, go for walk: all things that could take place after work but not too late. This meant I’d be home by a reasonable hour and therefore could easily wake at that ungodly pre-dawn hour.
Day after day. Year after year.
I kept this routine up even after I moved from D.C. to Michigan and got married, telling myself I “had” to get it out of the way, fearing if I didn’t go first-thing in the morning, I wouldn’t do it. (My poor husband …)
I can’t tell you how many times I had to remove his strong, warm arms from around my torso just so I could get up and exercise.
It pained me every time to leave his embrace, or to think of him waking and looking sadly at the empty side of the bed, seeing I’d left yet again … even after he’d say, “Stay just a little bit …”
But I was obsessed, and so I did it, time and time again. My fixation, my unhealthy relationship with the gym nearly ruined me; the gym always seemed to out-win savoring a morning of sleep and peace with my hubby and waking up with the light of the sun — rather than the red numbers of my alarm clock.
Until one day recently (while his mom and sister were visiting), when I said, “No more.”
It hit me: I don’t want to do this anymore. Life’s meant to be lived.
And I know myself: I’ve never been the kind of girl who willingly shrugs off a workout for something better. Unless I’m really, really sick … I’ll find a way to squeeze it in. One day off does not lead to two in my book.
Logically, I live two minutes from my gym, and it’s open from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays. I will make it at some point within that time frame. And there’s a running/bike path behind my house so … no excuses!
With my husband in business school now and studying or in class all the time, I’m making my workout schedule fit me and our new life with him as a working student.
Plus, because of the election, I’m staying up til midnight every night watching Larry King, Anderson Cooper, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, I don’t have the desire to leave my warm bed for the Michigan bitterness at 5:15 a.m. And so I don’t.
All of which brings me to the place I’m at now, where I hit the gym after work on nights my husband doesn’t have class (so I can be home in time for us to have dinner together and chill) and then on nights when he does have class, I play it by ear. Sometimes I eat and then go, sometimes I go and then eat. I still go.
And if I have plans at night, I work around them. Maybe I wake early that day, or I bike with my husband, go for a walk at lunch, or hit the gym after the plans, or use it as a day of rest.
I don’t notice a change in my energy levels; probably because I still exercise every day for the most part, even moving a little (biking, walking with my husband or a friend) on my day of rest.
And you know what? I’m much saner now, sleeping from 12-6:45. My workouts at night are better, faster. I can do intervals. I am more alert. I think for the fall/winter, this will suit me well. (Especially because driving in early-morning Michigan snow was not exactly the smartest thing I’ve ever done …)
I enjoy “sleeping in” now. I think it makes me a better wife, friend, and employee. I’m calmer and less-anxious because exercise is a part of my life now, but not the only part.
More importantly, this change of pace is helping me develop a healthier, non-disordered relationship with my fitness regimen. It’s actually making me less obsessive, less anxious.
I’d say that’s a victory in and of itself.
How about you? Do you prefer morning or afternoon workouts? Does it matter to you?
Image credit: citynews.ca
It was ideal for my lifestyle back then: I got it out of the way, had my nights free, only needed one shower a day, and had energy to boot. All before the sun came up!
Plus, though I wasn’t single, my then-boyfriend-now-husband lived in another country — so there wasn’t a warm body hugging me close when the alarm rang at 5:15. I sprang out of bed like a machine (and did it for several years).
And while I had a lot of friends, they’re like me — they aren’t partiers; we’d do coffee or dinner, go shopping, go for walk: all things that could take place after work but not too late. This meant I’d be home by a reasonable hour and therefore could easily wake at that ungodly pre-dawn hour.
Day after day. Year after year.
I kept this routine up even after I moved from D.C. to Michigan and got married, telling myself I “had” to get it out of the way, fearing if I didn’t go first-thing in the morning, I wouldn’t do it. (My poor husband …)
I can’t tell you how many times I had to remove his strong, warm arms from around my torso just so I could get up and exercise.
It pained me every time to leave his embrace, or to think of him waking and looking sadly at the empty side of the bed, seeing I’d left yet again … even after he’d say, “Stay just a little bit …”
But I was obsessed, and so I did it, time and time again. My fixation, my unhealthy relationship with the gym nearly ruined me; the gym always seemed to out-win savoring a morning of sleep and peace with my hubby and waking up with the light of the sun — rather than the red numbers of my alarm clock.
Until one day recently (while his mom and sister were visiting), when I said, “No more.”
It hit me: I don’t want to do this anymore. Life’s meant to be lived.
And I know myself: I’ve never been the kind of girl who willingly shrugs off a workout for something better. Unless I’m really, really sick … I’ll find a way to squeeze it in. One day off does not lead to two in my book.
Logically, I live two minutes from my gym, and it’s open from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays. I will make it at some point within that time frame. And there’s a running/bike path behind my house so … no excuses!
With my husband in business school now and studying or in class all the time, I’m making my workout schedule fit me and our new life with him as a working student.
Plus, because of the election, I’m staying up til midnight every night watching Larry King, Anderson Cooper, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, I don’t have the desire to leave my warm bed for the Michigan bitterness at 5:15 a.m. And so I don’t.
All of which brings me to the place I’m at now, where I hit the gym after work on nights my husband doesn’t have class (so I can be home in time for us to have dinner together and chill) and then on nights when he does have class, I play it by ear. Sometimes I eat and then go, sometimes I go and then eat. I still go.
And if I have plans at night, I work around them. Maybe I wake early that day, or I bike with my husband, go for a walk at lunch, or hit the gym after the plans, or use it as a day of rest.
I don’t notice a change in my energy levels; probably because I still exercise every day for the most part, even moving a little (biking, walking with my husband or a friend) on my day of rest.
And you know what? I’m much saner now, sleeping from 12-6:45. My workouts at night are better, faster. I can do intervals. I am more alert. I think for the fall/winter, this will suit me well. (Especially because driving in early-morning Michigan snow was not exactly the smartest thing I’ve ever done …)
I enjoy “sleeping in” now. I think it makes me a better wife, friend, and employee. I’m calmer and less-anxious because exercise is a part of my life now, but not the only part.
More importantly, this change of pace is helping me develop a healthier, non-disordered relationship with my fitness regimen. It’s actually making me less obsessive, less anxious.
I’d say that’s a victory in and of itself.
How about you? Do you prefer morning or afternoon workouts? Does it matter to you?