The gym experience bordered on aggravating this morning. The exernazi had her class packed into the tiny weight-room and kitten-herded them through the stations pachinko-style. It was a weird-assed frenzy of getting in one another's way until I relented and walked out. I did get thirty minutes in at my core exercises and no one got hurt- so it's all good. I guess I was becoming a little spoiled by the solitude I've enjoyed at the gym for so long. Here's my "relevant" tip:

#23 - Be My Own Coach/Trainer

A hired professional trainer will stay for as long as I'm willing to pay them; my carcass is around for a mortal eternity. Paying some pro to kick my carcass around forever just isn't appealing.

#24 - Motivation Is An Internal Organ

Inspiration can come from anywhere but lasting motivation comes from within. The cool thing is that the "motivation organ" can be conditioned to function in the absence of inspiration.

#25 - Why Ask Why?

When I first started this journey almost a year ago, I considered myself child-like in knowledge and ability. I really didn't know how I was going to "fix" myself, I only knew that I had to do something. I had plenty of reasons why I had to make a change and that was enough to get me off my can and do something. Now that I'm a toddler (knowledge-wise) and have some positive experience behind me I realize that the reasons why I do what I do are a heck of a lot more powerful than the way I am doing what I'm doing. Also, when I first started out, a lot of what I did to drop weight I really didn't fully understand and had to just do it because my resources said it was the right thing to do.

I now understand a little more about what works for me and what doesn't. You might say that I've matured a little, or you might say I'm full of crap. Either way, I very close to my goal both in time and achievement and am looking forward to maturing into a know-it-all teenager.