I'm trying to get fit, healthy, sleep p...

I'm trying to get fit, healthy, sleep properly and feel like a human being again.But it's tough. I decided three weeks ago to get back in to an exercise regime. This is obviously coupled with trying to maintain a healthier diet.The Gym and activity I don't have a problem with, 4 days of gym a week and at least 1 day of another activity (mostly Golf) makes up my 5 days of training.I haven't stopped smoking yet. I'm working on that as we speak (by resisting the urge to go for a smoke right now).The most challenging part of getting fit and healthy again is definitely the food. I love food. I'm Greek and it's in our nature to be extreme. We love oil, sugars, fats, rich food, meats and anything that makes you feel like sleeping after eating it. This is a problem.So I am trying to cut our or cut down on oils, sugars, fats and carbs after 6pm.I'll see how things go.

Discovery Health Vitality and Planet Fitness Rivonia SUCK

I have just had my Discovery Health and Planet Fitness gym contract revoked. Why? Because according to them I did not attend gym the required number of times in 2008. That number currently sits at 24 times per year or twice a month. Not impossible by any means.Because I am on Discovery and make use of their Vitality benefit (which I pay a monthly fee for) I qualify for a great deal at the gym. For about R800 I can sign up to either Virgin Active or Planet Fitness forever. Yes, R800 is a once off fee with no monthly cost if you stick to one gym. Forever. The condition is that you attend gym the required 24 timer per year.Planet Fitness in Rivonia has a bit of a problem on their hands and have had this as a recurring problem for the whole of 2008. They do not have a sign-in system that consistently works. Which means that for much of 2008 members at Planet Fitness in Rivonia had to sign in manually. This relies on a Planet Fitness employee to enter the CORRECT membership number in to their system and to provide you with a slip (which you now need to carry around with you for the extent of your training session). It is your responsibility to make sure that the employee signs you in correctly, provides you with a slip, doesn't lie to you that they've done it, remember to do or insist that they have done it.Forgive me for being lazy but this, in fact, is not my job. I pay Discovery every month so that all I have to do is attend gym. And I am not the only one. I know of at least 5 other members of Planet Fitness Rivonia who have all received letters of notification that they have not attended gym enough and their contracts have been suspended.Last year I attended well over 24 sessions at Planet Fitness Rivonia. But there is no way for me to prove every single one of the times I was there. I can, however, prove one instance. To gain points on Vitality and up your status you can do various tasks set out by Discovery Health. One is a fitness assessment. I did my Fitness assessment at Planet Fitness in Rivonia, which means that I was actually in the gym on the 21st of October but that date does not register on my Planet Fitness Workout dates (I Worked out after my assessment).Here's the proof from my Discovery Vitality profile online:This basically means that in spite of signing in to gym, on their computer system, according to their database I wasn't present to attend gym, but attended gym that day to do a fitness assessment. Therefore I was one short in spite of not being one short and lost my gym contract.In a nutshell, thanks to Planet Fitness Rivonia I have lost my gym contract. Oh the irony. I am blogging about this because I have been waiting for 4 days for Discovery to call me back with a response.

must. do. exercise.

Started going to Gym this morning after a long, extended absence of ± 7months.I think that I might keep track of the way I feel here occasionally. The next step is to phase out the heavy smoking, excessive coffee drinking and lack of proper food intake!The reason that I've started doing my cardio workouts is simple: I am exhausted. All of the time. I don't sleep because I am not actually tired. Mentally I'm always tired I think. I'm always thinking, plotting, planning, organising and the like. Physically I sit on my bum most of the day at work, drive while sitting on my bum to meetings, sit on my bum in meetings, drive home and sit on my bum while i watch TV at night. Then press repeat.It's time that changes. I need to get in to bed and pass out, not let my mind wander and keep the thoughts rolling. I am hoping that exercise puts me back on the mental straight and narrow.Image: A Malchik!

My muscles forgot how to run

How do I know this? Because they are telling me right now, every muscle in a my body is screaming at me asking me to remind them how to run. But I can't because I have also forgotten how to run.You see I went to gym tonight for the first time in approximately 10 months (give or take a month). I usually can spend up to 25 minutes on the track, 25 on the bike and 20 on the rowing machine. Tonight, ten or less on each. Shocker. But it's a start and a positive start.

Cooling off period

No, not the time it takes someone to stop hating you or for you to calm down after a fight. I am talking about purchasing cooling off periods.I am young and in many ways still very naive. I recently claimed (read purchased) my gym contract at Planet Fitness through my Discovery medical aid. It's incredibly cheap if you are the principal member, which I am. But I was taken for a bit of sale.On top of the simple contract there is this nifty little gadget that is provided to you at R99 a month. It's a key that your personal trainer plugs your training program in to. Then you can use it to track your progress. Sounded like a great idea at the time. Then buyers remorse hit me. Big time. I came to terms with it but was then told by my wise mother that every purchase in life has a cooling off period.We then checked through the contracts terms and conditions and guess what? There is a cooling off period of 5 days. This basically means that I am able to cancel my contract (the key thing) within five days of signing the contract. So I went back to gym today and applied to get my cash back.A lesson learned. Cooling off periods exist and they are great.