I am definitely losing karma points over here, but the situation is so funny that I can’t bring myself to stop being amused by it which in turn is bringing those karma points down.
I am harness training my cat and he is not taking to it well at all! He’s never worn a collar or harness before but I didn’t think it’d be a big deal since I had cats years ago and they accepted their collars (and occasional harness) without even a twitch of their ears. However, Striker is constantly reminding me he is not like the cats I had before and this is one more situation where he is showing his personality.
As soon as I put the harness over his head he does that thing cats do so well, you know, where all of a sudden they become a bag of limpness, total dead weight, and they somehow magically make themselves weigh 100lbs so it’s super hard to maneuver them…how do they do that?? This reaction is better then the alternative which would be him fighting to get away, so far each time I’ve put the harness on him the end result is he is wearing the harness and I come away without any new wounds…which, if you knew him and his dexterity with his claws, you’d be impressed by. (I currently have a numb and yet also in pain pinky finger thanks to his claw slicing it from tip to first knuckle through the fleshy part, it feels so gross when I bend my finger and the cut re-splits open, ugh)
I try to put the harness on him everyday for at least two hours, so he can slowly get used to it and realize that wearing it isn’t going to kill him…today was his best day yet, he crawled on to my lap as soon as the harness was on and has stayed super close since, he’s more cuddly then normal (which, not gonna lie, I am enjoying) and I’m proud to say he actually slept while wearing it! Usually he works really hard to get it off then stays near me but in a panic-ready-to-run-at-a-moments-notice mode cause obviously wearing a harness is a sign of impending doom *rolls eyes*
On a weight loss note I am not following any type of recognizable eating plan nor am I following any type of recognizable exercise program, oops? *innocent face*
When I moved I moved far enough away from the gym I was at that it didn’t make sense to continue on there, luckily I had signed up for only a year and had lived there for only a year so the membership ended the same time I left the area. Where I moved to, there are 3 gyms (well, 2 gyms and 1 community fitness centre) all within a decent distance, two would require driving to get there, one I could walk to. There are also 4 weight loss clinics…I don’t know if that is the right term for those places, they are those places that you go in and sign up for their program and do everything they say (for a lot of money usually) and in a short-ish amount of time you’ve lost a fairly decent chunk of weight but you aren’t on a program that is meant to be followed for life and from what I heard once you finish the program odds are high you’ll gain the weight back cause you’re now eating real food again and your body is all “say whaaaaa? I get real food?? hurry up! store it in case this crazy wench starts starving us again and living off vitamin shots!” So, those places I am ignoring cause, well, I can’t afford them and they are kinda weird.
I have (as of a couple days ago) checked out both the gyms and the community centre and think I have decided which one to go with. The one that is within walking distance is the cheapest (which is a very important factor in my decision making process) but it is also the smallest and offers no fitness classes. However, I wouldn’t have an excuse to not go since it is so close and really, how often do I go to the classes offered at other gyms I have been a member at? Probably not enough to justify the extra cost per month. The only thing really holding me back is that to get the cheap rate I have to sign up for 2 years, that’s a long time to stay with one gym, especially considering how often I move and that each move takes me to a drastically different part of the city. I don’t want to be saddled with a gym membership for a place that becomes super inconvenient for me to get to if I end up moving in a year. Kinda funny really, I generally don’t look more then a couple weeks ahead, I don’t see the point in stressing or planning or trying to predict too far in to the future when who knows what will come along to upset the plans or ideas or visions you have in your head? Life will happen whether you want it to or not, I’d rather plan for perhaps a week in advance and leave room open so I can adjust when life throws something at me. And yet, here I am trying to decide if I should get a gym membership at this place and worrying about if I’ll be around to utilize it for the next two years. Oy! 😛
I’m pretty sure in the end I’m going to cave and get a membership at the close and cheap place, guess I’ll have to make a commitment to them for the next 2 years…it’s like I’m selling a little bit of my soul, well, I would be selling a little bit of my soul if I had any of it left lol 😉
As for food, *throws hands in air* I just don’t know what to do! I’d reached a point in weight watchers where I had seriously plateaued and I knew it was time for a change. So I switched to my low carb, high healthy fat high protein meal plan and did fairly well with that for a decent amount of time but when I went off it I went waaaaaaay off it and now, everytime I think about going back to it and the restrictions it has well, frankly, I just don’t want to. I want to think I can get the results I want with a less strict plan but reality is I most likely can’t. Soooooo, I am probably going to have to cave and just suck it up, stop whining (which, thankfully I am only really doing in my head lol) and get my butt back on the low carb high healthy fat high protein eating plan, sigh.
I suppose I could make it a challenge, I used to do that in my weight watchers days. If I knew something was coming up where I was going to want to veer from my eating plan drastically I’d give myself the goal of following my eating plan with no exceptions for a set amount of time leading up to the big event so I had earned it and could enjoy without feeling guilt. I have my birthday and Christmas coming up so those would be my goals…hmm…maybe that could work again, you just need the right mind set right?
The Amazing Shrinking Woman 
2 years is quite a long time.
Four years ago we decided to quit our gym and invest the money in some home gym equipment. We bought a decent treadmill and weight machine. Sometimes I miss not having the option of a rowing machine or bike but when I get bored of the treadmill I try to mix it up with fitness DVDs. Had we stuck with the gym memberships we’d be approx. 2000 euros worse off now.
If you have the space it’s perhaps something to think about. if not perhaps a few home fitness DVDs could make up for the lack of classes at the cheap gym.
I so don’t have the space, lol, I live in a super tiny basement suite. I do however have an exercise bike…which to be honest, doesn’t get used much, it didn’t survive being moved all that well so when I use it it’s an adventure lol I like that idea though of mixing in some exercise dvds to help make up for no classes at the gym…and that actually got me thinking the local community centre might offer classes, two neighbourhoods ago (I tend to move often lol) there was a community centre that had Zumba classes (as well as other offerings) and they weren’t that expensive, must go google!
2000 euros? Eesh! It’s so not fair that gyms cost so much, something that helps the population get and stay in shape should be subsidized by the government or something…