Why I Traded My Netflix Subscription For A Gym Membership

black-woman-working-out-healthy

Long story short, I was getting fat.

I jokingly call myself “chubby” but really, it was fat. I had (have?) a bad case of “blogger body,” the result of being focused and prolific at the keyboard, with little regard to breaking a sweat.

I’m barely five feet tall, so what sounds like a normal weight (140 pounds — 145 during this insanely cold winter) translates to a lot of belly and jiggly thighs and enough back fat to make me sad whenever I went to try on clothes.

I don’t like feeling bad about myself. It sucks, really.

I’m writing my next book about not letting motherhood get in the way of what you want to do. I was not practicing what I preached because I wanted to get in shape but I used my kids (and the energy it takes to raise them properly) as a crutch. I would tell myself that I am busy. I’m trying to build a legacy for my kids and that requires sacrifice. I would spend my days at my laptop and on the phone and driving to meetings. I’d spend my evenings the same way, crashing late at night and waking up early the next morning to do it all over again.

But I’m fortunate enough to be a work-at-home mom with two school-aged children—why couldn’t I work out at least 30 minutes during the school day?

Even though I had an elliptical at home and access to all types of home workouts thanks to YouTube, I just couldn’t manage to work out. Like, ever. I used to take a daily walk around the block (one mile) but with a polar vortex sweeping through every other week, it didn’t make sense.

So I took small steps. First, I let my Netflix subscription lapse and took the time I used to spend zoned out watching Scrubs re-runs to instead read more books, for free, from the library.

Then, I took that $10 a month I used to spend on movies and put it into a membership at Planet Fitness. (This is not a sponsored post, by the way.) I liked it because it was simple: Come in, get your sweat on and get out! Some may not like it because it doesn’t offer exercise classes or personal trainers but it works for me because I need simple. Each week day, I work out for an hour.

I just started, but I feel better already. I’m still not in love with exercising or sweating (ew!) but it’s something I have to do in order to get healthier. The end.

 

Comments

  1. Working out does so much more for us than creating sweat drops. It boosts my mood and makes me feel like I’m doing something good for my whole self. I’m excited for you!

  2. don’t let how you feel at the beginning deter you; instead think about how you’ll feel better once you’re done. you will definitely feel accomplished. and since you work from home take a scheduled half an hour break for exercise and use that elliptical. stick with it.

    • See, that’s the thing – I’ll say I’ll take a scheduled break, but I know I won’t. To avoid all that headache, I just get up and go to the gym first thing in the morning. It’s done and it’s out of the way and I’m happy. Easy-peasy. :)

  3. This post was for me. Thanks!! Canceling Netflix is not my option – I’m about to cancel the cable for Netflix! lol but seriously…I need to get moving again. Baby weight is 50 plus AFTER the baby and the baby will be 4 next month!

    Thanks again…much success to you.

  4. Congrats on your new commitment. Being over 60 days into the #100DaysofFitness challenge I can tell you it is still hard to make myself work out. But I have reached a point where it actually produces some stress relief. That hour a day may do the same for you and then help you do everything else better.

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