I've joined a gym.

I'm always really, really cynical about joining gyms - you get sucked into paying for a yearly contract, the novelty wears off quickly, I never seem to get the results I want.. but I think that joining this time around was the right thing for me.

The gym we've chosen is a Virgin Active gym, and is a 5 minute walk from our place. There's really no excuse of it being too far away now, because I can visit on my way home. Secondly, well, the Summer is coming. I don't get school holidays now that I'm working in Recruitment, but our hours will be reduced from 9-6:30 to 9-4. It's the perfect time to get moving, since I'll have a little extra time to myself.

As for goals? Well, obviously I'm there to lose weight. I never got around to mentioning, but I got myself through all 30 days of Jillian's Shred, and while I definitely felt stronger (hello, biceps!) I didn't notice any particular drops in my weight. That being said, I had an initial weigh-in at the gym, and I am less than what I thought I was (though still drastically NOT healthy), so maybe it did jolt me into action.

I'm also there to avoid laziness. Some people are extroverts, always out socialising, out exploring, out hanging around with friends. Over here, as much as I love the city, I'm just as likely to head straight to the comfort of home, chill out with Jason, or head for the internet. Now that I have this gym membership, I can still do all those things - but just not as much. I think that's a good thing.

My biggest worry is burning myself out or losing interest, so I'm not under any false pretenses with expecting myself to work out every day. I'm aiming for every other day, but if I miss a day here and there, so be it. The gym itself is pretty nice - it's in an old, converted school building and has a really nice feel to it. When you sign up, you have an induction with a personal trainer who sets up a program for you - my trainer was lovely and made me feel much better about being there, surrounded by fit people.

(Honestly... fit people in gyms freak me out.)

So for the next five weeks, I'm going to stick with my programme a few days a week and see how I get on. We'll re-assess it then, and see if it needs changing. If only it weren't so hot... 30o in London over the last few days has meant that I'm hot and sweaty even before I start working out. I'm also planning on being brave, and going to one of the Aqua Aerobics classes on offer at the pool this weekend, if I don't chicken out about being in swimmers in front of people. We'll see how that goes...