Stephanie Gayle

I did something recently I've never done before. No, not that. Get your minds out of the gutters, y'all. Honestly. I joined a gym. It's not that I'd never considered it in the past but usually two things stopped me: 1. The idea of working out around other people and 2. The whole paying money thing. But my wallet and my lone-wolf ways have taken the hit and I have learned several valuable things since joining my gym.

The bicycle program will not start until you pedal. Oops. I assumed you programmed it before pedaling. I was wrong. Working out in the afternoon doesn't give you more energy. At all. In fact, since my new workout routine began I return to the office looking wet and exhausted. It's not so much post-workout hair that I mind (though someone pointed this out to me) but the exhaustion. After my workout and lunch I just want to sleep for several hours. And I can't because I have work to do. However my new routine does insure that when I get home I have more time than I used to have to do things like writing and watching The Wire (I finished Season Three) and reading and eating ten times the amount of calories I burned at the gym.

And please someone tell me that the calorie counter on that bicycle was broken today because I pedaled fast and hard and my calves hurt and according to that machine I burned as many calories as are in half my Kashi bar. And I never eat just half. Wouldn't be polite.