Trying Gold's Gym, Rethinking cooking for the family, and GIFTS!

I tried my local Gold's Gym for the first time today and truthfully, I am not sure if I am going to stick with them for my holiday break because I have LA Fitness and my local community center gym on the back burner. I realized that I am spoiled by my gym in NYC, which has TV's on each individual machine. At the gym I went to today, the tv's were posted on the wall, which is fine... except that I kept looking off to them  to my left and right, and I could feel myself veering off to the side. No good. I am fine, but I ended up focusing on my music and declined reading my magazine because I really wanted to read it carefully, not look through it shallowly. In conclusion, I spent about half the time I regularly do at the gym on the elliptical and the treadmill because I noticed how much harder it is to run/ jog/ move without the distraction of a television with a show that you really like. Keep in mind that my entire Freshman year of college, the only time I watched tv was when I went to the gym, so not having a tv is weird for me- again, I am spoiled. However, my local community center's gym is a 15-25 minute drive away and they have machines with tv's. The only problem is that I need a membership for just the month and I really want to like where I am going to commit to. I am going to finish my trial at Gold's and see if my mind changes- I didn't explore half of the gym because I wasn't feeling adventurous and decided I would do so tomorrow.

In terms of food, I realized that I am going to have to make more of a effort to make my own food and likely make food for my family. Yesterday and today, I have been eating leftovers from my mom's cooking, which is healthy and all that jazz, but to control what I am eating, I am going to have to prepare the food myself. My mom is the type of person who gets offended when you don't eat EVERY SINGLE THING that she makes, so you MUST eat it. Yet, she is open to other people cooking, so I think I will be doing that- another lifestyle change for me. This way, I can really stick to my food/ nutrition goals. In terms of goals, I should also add that I need to drink more water. This summer, I drank a ton of water and I am not being as consistent with that habit right now.

Also, I finished unpacking today, which was exhausting. I have acquired so many things from friends and roommates, while I also still had many things in my old room that needed to go. In addition to moving in my things that I live with in NYC, I separated and went through/ trashed my old things that I don't use or need anymore. For example, I am donating t-shirts and jeans that no longer fit me and are not appropriate to my lifestyle as I have owned them since my freshman year of high school (like a bright pink cut off shrug with a matching sparkly tank- terrible). Getting rid of the clutter was very cleansing, like I was removing dirt from my living space. Also, moving large boxes should count as a workout because I was exhausted after- it took about 5 hours of my day. Yikes. At least it is done. Now, I am focusing on preparing things for my trip to Italy... like figuring out what I am going to do with my cell phone :-/

Finally, in case you are like me and get gifts last minute, here is a fab list of 10 gifts under $100 for your health-conscious family and friends from Pooja: http://poojasway.com/article-tips/december-21st-2011-poojas-top-10-last-minute-healthy-living-gifts-under-100/

Photo courtesy of poojasway.com