Part 10

I remember going into work, my muscles felt a bit tight, but all together it was a good feeling. In the past I had been an avid basketball player, so I was no stranger to a bit of tightness in my muscles and a bit of soreness in the joints. I talked to Pablo about the Gym. He said that he went almost every day after work, to get in a good work out. About an hour or two. Everyday? I don’t know about all that. I decided I would start off slow, just 3 days a week. With a day in between to give myself a rest. I would work out for as long as I thought was good, which I thought would be what I did the first time at the gym, an hour and a half. Pablo gave me some pointers on how to properly lift weights and that type of thing. While talking to him about it, a girl that I had worked with overheard me asking questions. Her name was Jessica. She was a cool girl, we had become friends since I had moved into the department. She asked me if I was going to the gym up the street, and I told yes that I had joined. See we got a discount for working at the company. We only had to pay $15 bucks a month. The Gym wasn’t all that, it was actually pretty small and quaint. But I liked it because for some reason it never got packed with people. She told me that she had joined also and that maybe I would we could work out together sometime. I said sure, and maybe we would see each other sometime there. She asked me how much weight I was trying to lose and I told “as much as I can.” She said she wanted to drop about 5 pounds. 5? That’s it?? That seemed so easy to me. I told her I was thinking I wanted to lose about 20, just for starters. She said I was crazy. Yeah I was, 20 pounds? That was a high number when you’re first starting out. We talked a bit more and decided to make a friendly wager. Whoever loses the most weight over a 2 period would be the winner. And what would we win? What else? Food! The loser had to buy the other one lunch, a nice lunch, no fast food. So with this new wager, and the motivation that Gaby provided by her just being her, I was ready. Ready to get skinny.

That PAIN was unreal. The AGONY I was in. The soreness I felt, was like nothing else. I was sore in places that I didn’t even know I had. I could hardly walk, I couldn’t bend over, I couldn’t move my arms! I felt as if I was wrapped in some body cast of pure agony. Oh yeah, it usually takes about 42 hours for the soreness to kick in Pablo explained to me. Thanks Pablo! Thanks for telling me this AFTER I had worked out. I was so freely lifting weights, running on the treadmill, doing crunches. Never aware of this PAIN and AGONY that was just waiting, scheming to attack me. I had never felt this before. Even in basketball, I had been sore and tired, but never this. Never this feeling of having your muscles wrapped around you like a straight jacket. But I thought about it, and I figured it was a good thing. When your working out, pain and soreness usually means you did something right. Muscles were sore because they were exercised. All those years of lying there dormant were over, I had suddenly awoken them. I had ran in and dropped kicked them while they were sleeping, and they never saw it coming.

So I started to be more and more regular at the gym, learning more and more about the proper way to exercise. I was watching what I ate, but I wasn't taking it very serious. I had talked to a trainer at the gym and he had mentioned that if I don’t at least watch what I eat most of the week, then there was no point in working out. So that's when I truly started the diet I spoke of earlier. A hardcore one at that. If I was going to do this, I was going to go all the way. No compromising on this. I cut the candies, I cut the cakes, the chips, all the snacks, I cut every sort of junk food possible. I didn’t eat bread, I didn’t drink soda, not even the diet ones. I ate only salads, fruit, and lean meat. I would eat a bit of rice now and then, but mostly I dined on salad and grilled chicken. I drank only water, and occasionally pineapple and apple juice. It was hard at first, because I was so used to drinking Pepsi, Mexican Coke, and all types of snacks and sandwiches. And Mexican food! It’s practically impossible to eat Mexican Food while you’re on a diet. No refried beans, no spanish rice, no tortillas! No enchiladas smothered with cheese and sauce, no fried flautas and sour cream. I did eat chicken fajita, but without the tortilla. I didn’t eat much cheese either. I figured that was somehow fattening. I disciplined myself to only eat foods that I thought were healthy and natural. And I didn’t eat after 6 PM. That was the hard part. The group would still go out to the movies and all that, and usually get something to eat after. Chili’s, Outback, TGI Fridays, all those places that serve such good food. If it were after 6 you would find me there, with just my glass of water. I would sit and watch the other’s eat their dinners. They would try and tempt me with a bite, but I didn’t crack. Not me. I was determined. I was going to be thinner; I had made up my mind. Gaby was going to get a thinner me, and that was all there was too it. She was more important then these people, and I would not compromise that. I was so focused now, and I wasn’t going to give up.

In speaking with a trainer, he recommended some supplements. No, not energy pills. They were dietary supplements that most take when they are working out. I was a bit weary at first. I didn’t know all the facts about this stuff, whether it was a cheap excuse for steroids. I did some research and found out that it was actually a pretty safe thing. So I bought some, and started taking them, one in the morning and one in the afternoon right before my workout. I didn’t feel much of a difference, but it did seem to curb my appetite a bit, and helped with the soreness. It was going well, I was keeping a regular at the gym and started feeling a bit different. Was I seeing results already? I had gotten on the scale everyday I went, just to see how much weight I had loss if any. I would stare in the mirror at myself, “my stomach looks flatter right?” “Yeah I swear it does!” I looked for any indication I was actually progressing. I hoped for it. It better be there! I noticed a slight difference. I got on the scale, and yes I wasn’t fooling myself! I had lost two pounds! TWO POUNDS! I was so happy, and that just gave me more motivation to continue. It was actually working, I was doing it! Soon I would be the thin stud that I knew I could be, and Gaby would be so surprised! I imagined her seeing me for the last time as the chunky, chubby me. But soon he would be no more! I would be the thin, fitter, stronger, happier, newly improved me. She would be speechless! Her motivation stuck with me, and I kept her in mind the entire time. We emailed, but I didn’t tell her about my miraculous weight loss. No it was too early, I was going to see how much more I would drop. So I kept to it, three times a week. It was hard, but I was happy, I was excited. I was ready for anything that was thrown my way.