Observations of a Fitness Center

I've been going to Lifetime fitness now for about 3 weeks. I haven't done much more then cardio workouts, i.e. 60 minutes on an elliptical machine each time I go. The whole point of joining the gym was to add in new things to my fitness such as weight training. I haven't managed to do that yet, but hopefully something will come together in the next few weeks. Needless to say, here are some of my observations about my time at the gym:

1) Naked Men in the locker room - What is with the guys that feel they need to walk around nude in the locker room? And I'm not just talking to and from the shower, I'm talking standing around, having conversations. Walking up to the mirror / sink area, checking themselves out, etc. For the love of all things holy, put a damn towel on please. I've asked Andrea if women walk around the locker room totally nude and she assures me that they don't.

2) People on there cell phones and stairmaster at the same time - Seriously, we all know you are so important you have to talk to the whole world while you are working out. But you are annoying the rest of us. I know I should get some headphones, but I don't like sweaty ear pieces so I normally don't listen to music while working out. Speaking of music, right up there with annoying people on their cell phones, is women with headphones on who feel the need to sing along with their music... outloud.

3) Personal trainers don't really give a rats ass about you - Unless you are a single hot girl working out alone or paying them very well. In my 2 "free" sessions that I've had since I've joined, I've more or less decided that PT's aren't worth it. The second PT I spent time with for equipment orientation kept saying, "Here's some free advice..." Like his advice was a precious commodity with a huge dollar value.

I can see how PT's might be valuable to someone already in shape that is looking to do more. But for me, what I need to do is so simple, that they wouldn't be worth the cost. Maybe in a year or two when I want to start strengthening different body parts. For now, I'm going to do what has been working for me and just see where it takes me.

As for where it has taken me, well as a quick update, I'm down to 245. That's a solid loss of 55 pounds. That's like a whole 7 year old! I haven't been eating as good as I was before - being home all the time makes it easy to snack. Plus, we have had a lot of free dinners brought to us from various groups Andrea is a part of. These meals have usually consisted in high calorie meals but hey - they are free, good tasting, and so we eat them! I'm going to make a better effort in the next few weeks to get back on track there and continue figuring out what I can do at the gym to help me out. I will also probably be visiting the doctor to see if other things have improved such as my cholesterol levels and other stuff of that nature. I had a full blood work done up last November, so its time to see what a full year and all this exercise and healthy living has done to my insides as well as my outsides.