Sunday, December 06, 2009
I'M GOING TO THE GYM
"I'm going to the gym." Five words that I never, ever thought would fall from my lips.
They not only fell from my lips - I'm really going to the gym. I can't believe I wrote that. "I'm going to the gym." But today was the second day that I went. What a way to begin the week.
I don't actually understand women who say - happily -"I go to the gym every day." - "I feel so good when I go to the gym." - "Going to the gym is an important part of my routine." Are they crazy?
But - not only am I going to the gym - and plan to do so on a regular basis.... I've signed up for a whole year. Am I crazy?
I'll tell you what's happening. I always write to you about the wonderful dinners I cook at home for my friends. I always tell you about all the restaurants I eat at - the new ones that have to be tried out and the old stand-bys that I love to re-visit. I tell you about the delicious recipes I've experimented with. I tell you about the friends I visit and the affairs I go to. Do you notice a common theme here? Everything has to do with eating. And eating puts weight on you. Duh!
So - the time has come. It's not that I'm fat - but I'm no longer slim either. My clothes still fit me - but only just. And so I've decided that the time has come to get back in shape. Of course, as my partner-in-crime, Marallyn, says - "Round is a shape, too."
Recently my friend, Riva, began going to "our" gym - notice how I'm already a partner? - and she looks marvelous. She hasn't lost any actual pounds but she's looking firm and terrific. (She's also one of my good eating and cooking buddies.) And she's also a good enough friend that she brought me an introductory discount coupon to the gym - a nice way of saying, without actually saying it, that I need to do something serious.
Then my friend, Joey, went to a dietician, lost heaps of weight (he's also one of my serious eating and cooking buddies) - and looks great.
Last week I began with the gym. Tomorrow morning I'm going to Joey's dietician! But - I'm not doing all of this all alone. My partner-in-crime is going along with me. We eat together - we diet together. That's only fair. Once a year Marallyn and I go on a diet - which is our only saving grace in the weight department. That keeps us from actually getting fat. But the truth is that we've lost - and gained - the same fifteen pounds year after year. Enough already. Her son, Joe College, said to her "Why do you go on that diet each year? It doesn't work." It works - we don't. Slowly, slowly we go back to our old eating habits.
Wish us luck. I'll keep you up to date from time to time. By this time next year I expect us to be svelte and gorgeous. Well - we're already gorgeous - it's svelte we want to be.
Lest you think that I've lost my mind entirely --- I just cut an article out of the weekend paper about a new restaurant that opened here in Jerusalem - I'll have to try it. I'll tell you about that, too.
Yalla, Bye.
They not only fell from my lips - I'm really going to the gym. I can't believe I wrote that. "I'm going to the gym." But today was the second day that I went. What a way to begin the week.
I don't actually understand women who say - happily -"I go to the gym every day." - "I feel so good when I go to the gym." - "Going to the gym is an important part of my routine." Are they crazy?
But - not only am I going to the gym - and plan to do so on a regular basis.... I've signed up for a whole year. Am I crazy?
I'll tell you what's happening. I always write to you about the wonderful dinners I cook at home for my friends. I always tell you about all the restaurants I eat at - the new ones that have to be tried out and the old stand-bys that I love to re-visit. I tell you about the delicious recipes I've experimented with. I tell you about the friends I visit and the affairs I go to. Do you notice a common theme here? Everything has to do with eating. And eating puts weight on you. Duh!
So - the time has come. It's not that I'm fat - but I'm no longer slim either. My clothes still fit me - but only just. And so I've decided that the time has come to get back in shape. Of course, as my partner-in-crime, Marallyn, says - "Round is a shape, too."
Recently my friend, Riva, began going to "our" gym - notice how I'm already a partner? - and she looks marvelous. She hasn't lost any actual pounds but she's looking firm and terrific. (She's also one of my good eating and cooking buddies.) And she's also a good enough friend that she brought me an introductory discount coupon to the gym - a nice way of saying, without actually saying it, that I need to do something serious.
Then my friend, Joey, went to a dietician, lost heaps of weight (he's also one of my serious eating and cooking buddies) - and looks great.
Last week I began with the gym. Tomorrow morning I'm going to Joey's dietician! But - I'm not doing all of this all alone. My partner-in-crime is going along with me. We eat together - we diet together. That's only fair. Once a year Marallyn and I go on a diet - which is our only saving grace in the weight department. That keeps us from actually getting fat. But the truth is that we've lost - and gained - the same fifteen pounds year after year. Enough already. Her son, Joe College, said to her "Why do you go on that diet each year? It doesn't work." It works - we don't. Slowly, slowly we go back to our old eating habits.
Wish us luck. I'll keep you up to date from time to time. By this time next year I expect us to be svelte and gorgeous. Well - we're already gorgeous - it's svelte we want to be.
Lest you think that I've lost my mind entirely --- I just cut an article out of the weekend paper about a new restaurant that opened here in Jerusalem - I'll have to try it. I'll tell you about that, too.
Yalla, Bye.
