Swimming!

My schedule this summer has been kah-razy. No lie. Right after we got home from San Francisco, my work schedule changed to allow for my summer class, a 500-level Literature class. Holy cow. I haven't been in school in eight years, and boyyyy do I feel rusty.

Anyway, being a student at WMU means I have free access to the pool! Yay! I LOVE swimming, and it is THE best exercise since it doesn't hurt my joints, I don't get all hot and sweaty, and it works all of my muscles while boosting my cardio.

So, my schedule on Tuesday and Thursday has been: work from 7:00 - 3:00, class from 4:00 - 6:30, and then swimming from 7:00 - 8:00. I also swim on Friday evenings since I get out of work at 6:00. I would love to swim on Monday and Wednesday and make it a full five days, but my work schedule simply doesn't work with the lap swim schedule. Boo. :(

WMU's pool is set up kind of cool. They put that bulkhead about 2/3 of the way down the pool and set up the longer side with lap lanes and leave the shorter side open. The lap side varies day to day. Sometimes you swim laps in the shallow-ish end (the bulkhead is just past the drop to the deep end), and sometimes you swim laps in the deep end. I've noticed laps in the deep end are harder, most likely because more water = more resistance.

Sometimes, if the lap lanes are full and I'm too chicken to share, I swim in the shorter, open end. A lot of people use that area to water jog, use kickboards, and swim more leisurely. It's less crowded, and I don't feel as slow since it's not meant for timed laps. The lap swimmers are serious business, and while no one has given me a second glance, I still feel pretty silly sharing a lane with someone who's passing me like crazy (luckily, the lanes are wide enough that you can swim up and down without having to circle - you just have to be careful not to splash or hit the other person as you pass).

I'm really digging it so far. Swimming three times per week will help a lot when it comes to maintaining lean muscle mass.

Also, I might start going to Planet Fitness again on Monday and Wednesday, just to walk and/or use the elliptical. As much as I'd love to swim on Monday and Wednesday, they really do have to be pure cardio days since Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday are sort of like weight days, given how much I'm working in that water. It takes a LOT to move this body through water. My arms are red and sore by the time I get out of the pool. It feels like I've been lifting weights for an hour.

I've thought about canceling my membership with Planet Fitness since I can use the student rec center for free, but it's only $10/month, and I'm a bit intimidated about working out around a bunch of students. I've always felt really comfortable at Planet Fitness, but the student rec center always feels like junior high all over again. I suck it up for swimming since I REFUSE to avoid the pool, but if I could pay $10 to use another pool (like the one at the Y), I totally would. I can only handle so much social anxiety in one week. ;) The pool at the Y was always empty, except for maybe one or two other swimmers, and the locker room had much more privacy. The Y is $40/month, though, so screw that.

-=-

I've been kind of "stuck" around the same weight for a few months now, so I hope this will help kick-start me toward 290 (I've been hovering between 296 and 301 - I HATE seeing that "3" on the scale again!) When I think back to my successful, "easy" weight losses in the past, one thing is always true - I exercised at least five days per week, sometimes six, without fail. I have been way, way, WAY too lazy, and it's so stupid. I love exercising! That's why I'm so grateful I have pool access. I love swimming so much - it's one of my favorite things - that I actually get cranky on my non-swimming days. ;) I feel great having a workout plan and schedule again. It's only been a couple weeks, but I can already feel so many changes in my body.

-=-

Because my schedule is kind of up/down/crazy, I've been making a lot of things in the crock pot. It's amazing. I can't believe I haven't been doing this forever. I've made a lot of meals with chicken (we bought a couple family packs of thighs on sale) and one meal with thin-cut pork loin. Everything uses "cream of" soup, and I've found that Campbell's Healthy Request is still WAY too salty. I hate salt, so I taste even just the tiniest bit of it. Brent didn't notice it at all, but I was practically gagging. I'm going to see if Healthy Choice has the soup I need since they have a lot of no-sodium soups. /crosses fingers

I'll post recipes a bit later, as I want to make those separate entries. :)

Just Dance

I have an awesome new workout!

I bought "Just Dance 3" for the Wii because I was SICK to DEATH of "Turbo Jam" and "The Firm". It's been too crappy to walk outside for, oh, five months now (*grumble*), so I was seriously lacking in the exercise department. Planet Fitness was lots of fun until they extended their $10/month special. It's so unbelievably crowded now that I can't stand it. It really screws up my cardio burn and wastes my time when I have to wait for an elliptical, bike, or treadmill.

Anyway.

I've been playing this game for a few days, and it's super awesome. I LOVE dancing. Like, I cannot stress that enough. I. LOVE. DANCING. I was really into sport dancing during high school and college, and then I started dancing with the SCA and at clubs every weekend. Then, I moved here, and I have no SCA... no clubs... no dancing. Booooo.

This volume has some really great songs, including one by The Chemical Brothers called "Hey Boy, Hey Girl". I usually do that one a few times throughout my workout. I keep going back to it because I love the song and the trippy tribal dance done to it. (It's the one pictured at the top of the page.) Tonight, I played for about 45 minutes and burned close to 400 calories. Not bad. When I think about how often I danced back in the day, it's no wonder I lost 80 pounds in 2000-2001 without even trying.

I can probably increase that burn once I get my legs more involved. Right now, I'm concentrating on getting the arm movements precise since that's how the game scores you. I've noticed that once I get a song down-pat, I move my legs quite a bit more. On some songs, my heart rate goes up to 151-156, but on the songs I'm unfamiliar with, I hover closer to 130. Regardless, I'm moving, and that's all that's important. :)

The other nice thing about it is that you can either flip through the songs and pick ones you like (like I did), or you can set it to "Sweat Mode", and it'll cycle through songs for you. "Sweat Mode" is nice because there's only one brief pause between songs where it asks you to click "A" to move on. So you can just click it and keep going, or you can use that time to drink some water. With the regular mode, you have to click through the menu and select a song, so there's a bit more down time. I like it because I'm picky about music. ;) ("Sweat Mode" does give you the option of picking a different song, but it only gives you 2-3 to choose from, not the entire menu, probably because it only wants to use songs with bpms that match the one you just played.)

It's so much fun that I'm sitting here excited to play it again. I'm tired, but I really want to play a couple songs a few more times, even though I know I'll probably die if I do another 15-20 minutes. Now I know how runners feel when they get that high! :) Plus, Brent is home, and I'm always embarrassed to work out in front of him. Haha.

Have you done any new workouts lately? What is your favorite workout right now?

Belated Birthday

Every year, we go to this wonderful restaurant called Shifters on my birthday. It's been a tradition with our friends, Beth and Tony, for the past few years. It used to be called K.C. Dippers, and the "dip" part of the name is the exact reason we go.

You can order either one dip or the "sampler", which includes your choice of three dips. All of the dips are either cream cheese or sour cream based. You get tortilla chips and pita bread with your dip, giving you the means to shovel it into your mouth.

Usually, I order three dips, eat two, and then have one leftover for the next day (or power through it). Now that I'm watching calories and carbs, I thought it best to order one dip instead of three.

I got the sundried tomato dip, knowing most of the calories would come from the cream cheese instead of adding additional meats and cheeses to it. My dip came in around 300 calories, with another 200 for the pita bread.

I also had a Cosmo, though, not realizing how many calories are in those things. YIKES.

It's a good thing I went to the gym yesterday morning. Between Friday night's meal at Comensoli's and Saturday night's meal at Shifters, I knew I would need a metabolism and calorie bump. I tried a new routine of treadmill, elliptical, bike, back to elliptical, and then treadmill again. I normally don't do the second round of elliptical and treadmill. I thought I was going to die on the elliptical, and then the treadmill wasn't much of a cooldown since my knee and foot were kind of mad at that point and I had to quit after five minutes.

Also, my calorie burn wasn't much higher than it would have been after 45 minutes of my normal routine, and I was much more tired from all the switching.

My knee and foot are going crazy with pain today, so I really think I need to switch things up. Instead of trying to be the cardio queen, I'm going to stick with two machines - the bike to warm-up, the elliptical for the burn, and then the bike to cool-down again. Both machines are low impact and give me a higher calorie burn than the treadmill. This will prevent the pain in my foot and knee the next day

-=-

We're under a lake effect snow warning tonight and tomorrow. We're supposed to get 6-10 inches of snow. I'm pretty excited. Beth was teasing me because, every time we go to Shifters for my birthday, we get six inches of snow that night. Looks like we missed it by one day. :)

No Longer Stupid

Third anniversary bouquet and teddy bear

One year ago, I wrote this entry.

I was upset because Brent and I had gone to dinner for our 2nd anniversary, and it left me feeling fat and horrible.

Now, one year later, I don't weigh what I thought I would (260), but I feel infinitely better both mentally and physically. I've lost 45 pounds since last April; I never thought 45 pounds could make such a big difference.

Yes, April. Despite how upset I was in that blog entry, it still took me another three months to get going.

Here are the points I raised in that entry compared to how far I've come:

Worrying about finding a seat at the movie theatre with a moveable armrest and then doing the musical chair dance to ensure you end up in that seat, with nobody to your left (or right as the case may be), without being obvious about it because you don't want them to know you want it because you're too fat to fit between the armrests. Since movie chairs are designed for fatties, not fitting means you're superfat. Side note: if your boyfriend ends up next to the armrest you want to move, move it and make up something like, "I want to snuggle."

I no longer have issues with movie theatre seats. Brent and I have been to the movies twice in the past couple of months, and I fit without any issues. I even have room to move around. When I raise the armrest to "snuggle", it truly is to snuggle, not because I need more room.

Paying for two seats on an airplane. I don't think the policy is stupid. What's stupid is being the size of two people, hence needing two seats. This also means I can't travel anywhere without coughing up $600-700.

I still, technically, need two seats. The seatbelt fits, and I can put the armrests down, but it's a very tight fit and I'm really uncomfortable. I have to press my legs together to keep my thighs from pushing against the person next to me. I don't like feeling crammed in, and it's not fair to the other person, so I do still need two seats. This doesn't surprise or bother me, though, since the last time I flew comfortably, I weighed 250 pounds. I know I still have some work to do, and that's okay. Maybe I'll be able to hit this one by our fourth anniversary. :)

Going to Chicago with your boyfriend and crying because you don't fit in the seat at Wrigley Field, meaning you have to stand in the back through the entire game. Later, you won't fit into the seats at the planetarium. This results in a meltdown because you are too scared to go anywhere else for fear you won't fit. Also, huffing and puffing your way up the subway steps. Or better yet, having to sit down every half-hour while touring museums because your feet are tired of supporting your weight. The best? Not being able to fit in the patio seating at a restaurant, so you have to wait an hour for a booth (also tight).

We haven't been to Wrigley since I lost 15 pounds (last July), so I'm not sure how the seats are now. I weighed exactly what I weigh now the first time we went (312), and while I couldn't sit all the way back in the seats, they weren't uncomfortable. I could still scoot far enough back that my legs had room. The reason we had to stand when I weighed 357 was because I was practically squatting on the edge of the seat and my knees were dying from being bent like that. I'm excited to go this spring because I bet I can get under 300 by then. I can't wait to see if I can sit all the way back.

The planetarium seats are fine now.

I can walk up/down subway steps without any issues. I did it for an entire day in October, and by the time I got tired, Brent was tired too, so I didn't feel "fat".

I didn't have to sit down at the museum until we'd been on our feet for nearly four hours. Even Brent and Stacy were getting tired, so again, I didn't feel "fat". I felt like any other person sitting on the benches after a long day.

Booths aren't tight anymore, but I haven't had a chance to test patio seating yet. Again, that will have to wait for spring. I'm not concerned. I have a feeling I could probably sit in patio chairs right now, and I'll be even smaller by spring.

Not being able to pull yourself out of the pool because you got used to being weightless, and now your arms and legs can't shove you out of the water.

Ha! I forgot about this one. That was horrifying. I almost fell back into the pool because I could NOT pull myself up that ladder and almost lost my grip. I've been swimming many, many times since then, and I haven't had a single issue. I actually look forward to swimming again. We're going to Chicago in March, and I made sure the hotel has a pool. :)

Postponing getting out of the recliner for a drink or food or a bathroom break for as long as possible because you can't stand the pain in your knees when you get up. Then, you collapse back into the recliner immediately after you take care of whatever need you required, as if you just ran a marathon or something.

This is one of those things where I never thought it would happen to me, but it did, and now it's a distant memory again. I am constantly getting up to get a drink or talk to Brent or go to the bathroom or whatever without a second thought. My knee only bothers me if I worked it too hard the day before, and even then it's not that bad. I remember those days, though, and I'm so grateful I don't feel that way anymore, especially since our new place is three times the size of our old place. ;)

Doing laundry on the last possible day (i.e. running out of socks or underwear) because you can't stand going up and down three flights of stairs.

Ha! I do laundry every week now, sometimes twice if I need a couple things for the weekend. Also, in our old place, you had to go down three short flights of stairs. Our new place has four long flights, there are twice as many stairs (yes, I counted), and they're much steeper. I don't even think about it. It's work, yes, especially with a laundry bag full of clothes, but it's no big deal.

Driving two blocks to your favorite restaurant under the pretense, "It's too cold outside," instead of admitting to your boyfriend you're too embarrassed to walk with him. Why are you too embarrassed? Because even though he won't admit it, he has to slow his pace by 50% to allow you to waddle along next to him. This makes you feel like an invalid, which makes you feel ashamed. You're only 35, for crying out loud. 80-year olds can out-pace you. That's not right.

We walked to the restaurant last night, and I kept pace with him. At one point, I was walking faster. :) Also, I don't waddle anymore, and that's cured a lot of my previous foot issues. I used to over-pronate because I had to walk around my thighs. Now, my feet are straight and my stride is correct.

Eating to make myself feel better

I never do that anymore. Ever. I slipped for two days after Christmas because I was so overwhelmed with stress, but then I got right back to eating correctly and exercising and dropped all ten pounds of Christmas bloat. I'm back to the point where I respect food and I'm almost afraid of it (yes, I know that's a whole new issue) instead of loving it and using it to comfort me. I just cannot and will not be that big again, and I want to be under 300 pounds so badly it hurts.

On that note, Brent is still in bed, so I'm going to head to the gym. :)

Weigh-in

Down 0.8 to 312.4. I'll take it. I gained another couple pounds last week, got up to 314-ish, and realized I did NOT want to be stuck at 315 AGAIN. I'm still mad that I got all the way down to 310.4 and then gained a ton of weight over the holidays. Anyway, I tightened up my carbs, and I went to the gym for the first time since - wow - before Christmas. So, I've dropped a couple pounds, but I can't really count them since my last official weigh-in was 313.2. ;)

I've started to realize that I'm one of those people who can't do it through diet alone. Every time I've lost weight successfully, it was because I exercised. As I've said before, I've lost weight "accidentally" three times, and it was because I had increased my activity tenfold. My eating didn't change, but I was probably burning enough calories through dancing and walking and such to make up for it.

Every time I hit one of these stalls or gains, as soon as I start exercising again, the weight starts coming down. I really, really, really cannot afford to be lazy anymore. I need to keep exercising and stick with it. I'm not in a rush to get the weight off, but I AM tired of stalling and losing 1-2 pounds here and there. I want a nice, steady loss every week, even if it's half a pound.

Despite not going to the gym for 3-4 weeks, I was able to do six minutes on the elliptical without a problem. I don't know why I stopped at six. I probably could have gone longer. I was in a nice rhythm. I thought I'd have to start at four minutes all over again since it had been so long, so I was surprised. Maybe I'll try to stay on for ten minutes next time. I obviously have it in me. I just have to stop wussing out. ;)

So, I have two pounds left to get to my lowest of 310.4, and then I need to get to 309 (BMI under 50) and then 307 (50 pounds lost). I feel like I've been stuck in the 310s for-EV-er, and I have, but it's my own damn fault. I got to 318 in mid-October, and I've been waffling my way to 309 ever since.

I have a doctor appointment on Feb 4th. I'm pretty nervous, even though he kept telling me he won't get upset if I don't lose anything, he just doesn't want to see a gain, and he was the person who warned me weight loss with insulin resistance is really darn slow and super frustrating.

Still. He's my doctor, and he was SO excited about my big losses from July to September that now I feel like I'm going to disappoint him with my "measly" four pounds lost. I'm hoping to get another few pounds off by then, but even still, I have a feeling I'm going to blubber all over him. Thank goodness he lost over 100 pounds and understands how much work it is. I'm still paranoid he's going to think I cheated, even though he knows me better than that.

Progress

Diablo
Last night, I was able to stay on the elliptical for six minutes! I blew right by my goal of five minutes, mostly because it went into cool-down mode (which was set at exactly the same resistance I'd been working at), and I figured, "Eh, what the heck. See what you can do."

I've noticed my elliptical workout goes like this:

0:00 - 1:00 - My feet are flying! I'm made of feathers! I will run, run, run! Wheeeee!

1:00 - 2:00 - Ohmygod... kill me now... I hate this. I'm too fat.

2:00 - 3:00 - Okay, halfway there. I can do this. Just breathe.

3:00 - 4:00 - Hey, this is getting easier!

4:00 - 4:30 - Wheeeeee! My feet are flying! I can crank this last minute out no problem!

4:30 - 5:00 - Stare at the timer, focusing on the numbers because I can hardly manage to keep my feet moving, push push push

5:00 - die

The machine won't let you set the timer for 30-second increments, so I set it to 5:00 Sunday and simply stopped at 4:30. Last night, when it hit 5:00, it went into cool-down mode, as I said. It added 2:00 and started counting backward. I was dead but not all the way dead, so I did kind of take it easy, enough to keep the machine from pausing, and did another minute of long, slow movements. Then I said, "Screw this," and stopped at a total of 6:00. I was pretty proud of myself.

Tonight is a rest night. I worked my triceps, pecs, and lats again last night, and I want to give my body time to process the water retention in my sore muscles before I weigh in tomorrow. Who knows what will happen when I get home, though. I may decide to do some cardio and skip weights. I really do love how I feel when I leave the gym, like all of the stress of the day is simply gone. I never felt like that after walking or doing a DVD. There's something about working my butt off on the elliptical and really pushing myself that cleanses me, like the endorphins take over and make everything okay. Plus, I'm too tired and worn out at that point to feel stressed. ;)

-=-

Now that I've added in weights, I've been having the dumbest thoughts ever. While I know it's a very good thing to build lean muscle, I also know that it might "stall" my weight loss in several weeks when I start to gain lean muscle mass.

I know it will be because muscle is more dense than fat, and my measurements will show that, but there's this little psychological component to it: I want to keep watching the weight go down and not do anything to stop that, however temporarily or briefly.

Again, I know this is stupid, especially since having lean muscle mass will help with weight loss, so I hope I get over it soon. I have no intention of stopping weight training, so I have no choice but to get over it.

Owwww... My Arms...

My friend, Kae, just signed up at Planet Fitness, so we decided to go this afternoon. We started out with brunch and thrift store shopping as a warm-up.

Kae and I used to do The Firm workouts back when they were still on VHS tapes and everyone was 80s-tastic. Seriously. She and I started working out together in 1993, and the tapes were released in the late 80s.

That said, they remain one of my favorite workouts because they combine weights and aerobics. I was in the best shape of my life back then, and I used those tapes to lose 40 pounds in 1997. If you can get past the cheesy leotards and awful hair, I highly recommend looking for them on Amazon and eBay.

Anyway, because we have a history of working out together, we know what each other's limits are (my knees, her hands) and how to motivate each other. She's also really knowledgeable about weight machines, whereas I am most decidedly not, so I let her take the reins today.

She asked how I do my cardio so that we could do our own, separate things and then meet up by the weight machines. I always warm-up on the treadmill or recumbent bike and then move to the elliptical to flirt with certain death. She likes the bike, so I did that with her for ten minutes and then left to get on the elliptical. The bike is good for a warm-up, but it's kind of boring, and I don't feel like I'm getting a workout since I'm sitting down. I'm fairly sure it's psychological, since my heart rate gets up to 145, but still.

The last time I was there, I made a goal to stay on the elliptical for 4:00. I barely made it. I thought I was going to DIE. This time, I figured I'd go for 4:30, since my plan is to increase my time by thirty seconds every time I go to the gym. I want to work up to 45 minutes.

The first couple minutes were much easier this time. My knee didn't freak out, and when it did, I simply went backwards for a little while until my knee felt okay but my thighs were hollering. Then I went back forward. I hit a groove around 3:00 and thought, "Maybe I'll go for 5:00 today," but then the wheels fell off the bus around 4:00 and I had to focus to get through to 4:30. It's amazing how long thirty seconds can feel when you want to fall over and play dead.

That said, I LOVE the elliptical. I want one of these things in my house. It's definitely a torture machine, but I love it for that very reason. My heart rate gets up to 170, so I have to scale back a bit just to keep it in the correct zone. (It's almost always because I'm moving my arms too fast.) There's absolutely zero impact, it's a smooth motion, it isn't as awkward as it looks, and it makes my legs feel amazing. I also sweat a ton. So, yes, this is my favorite machine, and I can't wait for the day I can stay on it for a full 45 minutes like all the other cardio rock stars.

Once we finished our cardio, we decided to work on our shoulders and back. Kae likes to split her workouts into shoulders/back one day, then legs/butt, then arms/chest/abs - or something like that. Anyway, we found the right machines and set to work. She had me do ten reps at a weight that was comfortable but still challenging, rest while she did it, and then get back on for ten more reps. We did this with all of the machines and then did some free weight work.

I have to say, having that mirrored wall in the free weight area really helps. I always thought it was kind of funny that people would stare at their muscles, but today I realized its true purpose - I could see when I got lazy with my form. No wonder people watch themselves. I felt like an idiot for thinking it was there for vanity's sake. ;)

Once we finished that up, she had to go to Best Buy, and I decided to come home and shower. We would have showered there (and they have nice showers), but we didn't realize they don't provide towels. Oops! I did think it was really nice that they not only have shower curtains, but they also have a curtained dressing room where you can put on some basic underwear instead of having to walk back into the locker room wearing just a towel. It's also nice for those who are more modest/religious.

I'm pleasantly sore now. It feels great to be able to do a full workout again. 46 pounds ago, there's no way I would have been able to do any of this. I felt powerful and really proud, even though my reflection in the weight area was still a chunky girl. I simply didn't care, though, because I'm smaller than I used to be, and the more I go to the gym, the smaller I'll get. I can't wait to see what my reflection looks like next December. :)

Planet Fitness

logo from planetfitness.com
I went to Planet Fitness for the first time last night, and I absolutely LOVED IT!

I worked with one of their fitness instructors to come up with an aerobic workout that wouldn't put too much stress on my knees and feet. It was just enough to get my heart rate up where it needed to be without feeling any pain. It was perfect. :)

I started out by warming up on the treadmill. I walked at 3.5 mph with the incline set to 1% (to mimic walking outside) and then 3.0 mph with the incline set to 4%. I did intervals for ten minutes, using the manual setting so I could scale back if my foot started to hurt. It didn't hurt until near the very end, but it wasn't bad, so I kept walking. (Yes, I plan to make an appointment with a podiatrist. This has been going on for six months.)

After the treadmill, I moved to the recumbent bike. I was supposed to do 10 minutes on level 2 and then 10 minutes at level 3, with my RPM between 80-100. The balls of my feet started to hurt after 10 minutes, though. She checked my form, and it was fine. We have no idea why my feet hurt so much. It was like a burning pain more than a muscle pain. She had me stop since slowing down didn't help.

Then, we moved to the elliptical. I was supposed to start at 4:00 on level 1 and hang onto the middle bars. She wants me to add 30 seconds per day, which seems like a good pace. I told her hanging onto the middle bars would feel like cheating and that it isn't very comfortable. She agreed, saying using your arms gives you a better cardio burn and cautioned me to move back to the middle if my heart rate got too crazy or I started to feel dizzy.

So, I used my arms, and I really liked it! My knee started to bother me after one minute, so she told me to go backwards for thirty seconds and then go forward again. Going backward was easier on my knee but BOY did it kill my thighs! She said she often does intervals, forward and back, because it works more muscles.

I continued to do that for four minutes and burned through the last minute, pushing myself because it felt awesome and horrible and exhilirating all at once. I probably could have done another 30-60 seconds, but I was also a little glad to get off the machine. ;) Now I see why she wants me to add 30 seconds per day. It's easy enough for me to handle without dying but not TOO easy. It's perfect. Eventually, she wants me to get up to 30 minutes on level 1, and then I can start over again with level 2, then 3, and so on until I reach a comfortable point where I can spend 30-45 minutes on whichever level is most comfortable for my knee. Once I get to that point, she'll show me how to change the levels for really good interval training.

Everyone on the staff was really nice and inviting. They all smiled at me, welcomed me, asked how I was doing, said goodbye, etc. I got a really good vibe while there. It truly is a "no judgment zone", just like they advertise. There were people of all shapes and sizes, and everyone was focused on their workout.

Additionally, the shower and locker room is really nice. The shower stalls have curtains (yay!), and there are many lockers of assorted sizes. You can bring a padlock to secure your stuff.

I highly recommend Planet Fitness if you're looking for a gym. I'm paying $10/month with no commitment. The special runs through December 31. I'm so happy I joined!