Jack and Jill Found a Beach Body of Water

Fitness centers, no matter how decrepit, leave me with nostalgia. Even the creepily empty Salus Center facility at Saint Louis U filled with cardio machines circa 1999, depressing lighting, and poor ventiliation-actually it’s more like working out in a sauna or steam room when I’m done with it-is still filled with fond memories of 6:00am workouts. 

I suppose it’s the association between endorphins/self confidence that creates that link between nostaligia and the facility. It’s the escape on that stationary bike before my hectic day. It’s the memory of a side by side elliptical conversation about pursing dietetics after high school. It’s the hilarious weight lifting routines with a friend who has since moved away. It’s feeling energized, happy, & healthy. 

It’s also a good thing. 
Considering the time of year. This kind of craving is much healthier.

I crave my home gym. My first gym membership. During my “winter vacations” (this may be my last…) I can’t wait to get at my father’s guest passes…at least after the holiday food bonanza and before the crazy New Year resolution crowd. During this break I stepped on the machine and the movie Knocked Up was staring back at me. 

Machines these days with their personal TVs. God, what I really need is a personal fan. And not like the cheerleaders-although that wouldn’t hurt either at this time of year. 

Of course the iPod was dead. It was feeling as holiday sluggish as the rest of us. So I had to plug my new Christmas present headphones into that personal machine TV. 

The Scene Went Like This:

Jack: ...there's gonna be some things that you are going to be able to get, that other people in the office don't get... one of them: Gym membership.
Alison Scott: You want me to lose weight?
Jack: [laughing] No, I don't want you to lose weight!
Jill: No, uh, we can't legally ask you to do that.
Jack: We didn't say lose weight... I might say tighten.
Alison Scott: Tight?
Jack: Tighter.
Jill: Just liked toned and smaller.
Jack: Don't make everything smaller, I don't wanna generalize that way... tighter.
Jill: We don't want you to lose weight, we just want you to be healthy. Y'know, by eating less.
Alison Scott: OK.
Jill: We would just like it if you go home and step on the scale, and write down how much you weigh, and subtract it by like, 20.
Alison Scott: 20.
Jill: And then weigh that much. 

 

It made me laugh aloud. Like one of those crazy “I can’t tell how hard I’m laughing because I’m wearing headphones in my own world” kind of laughs. The “Jill” character was spot on, hilarious.

A someone decided to book a trip to the Bahamas in January. It was between January 5^th and January 20^th. The thought of “baring all” by January 5th gave me a Jill in my head[phones]. Ok, more like a Jack. Tighter. And “tighter” wasn’t going to be possible by the 5^th…who am I kidding. Did you read my leggings blog? They finally got washed after like 14 days of wearing.

Game plan?  More protein and less starch to shed some of that water before I hit the water. I’m thinking more yogurt, cottage cheese, beans, turkey, veggies & hummus and less foods like I’ve been eating. And more of those nostalgic gym moments.  Which don’t always seem AS nostalgic at the moment. But I think I’ll reflect fondly on them while lying on a beach in January with a drink in my hand and a someone’s hand in my other hand and a song in my headphones. And hopefully no Jacks or Jills in my head[phones] because of meeting all of my healthy behavior goals. 

And maybe I can make the running in the sand and swimming in the water my new nostalgia.