Wedding Blog

No, this isn’t another “Secret Lives of Bees” post, but I do have another secret.

Have you ever kept anything from your fiance? Lately, I’ve been guilty, but I’m glad that I finally came clean with him. (I still haven’t shared this with family or friends, so this post is sort of my confession.)

No, the secret isn’t anything bad. It’s actually a good thing!

For a little over a month I’ve been sneaking out of bed at 5:30 or 6:00 AM (that’s at least an hour earlier than normal), getting dressed, and packing a bag with my work clothes. I jump in my car and head on my way to downtown Pittsburgh. Sure, I work downtown, but at this early hour, my destination isn’t my office. I’ve been having a morning date with this:

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And these:

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Some days, it’s with this:

The Treadclimber

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And other mornings are spent with this:

Expresso Upright Exercise Bike

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Yep, I joined a gym!

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I’ve been hitting the weight-lifting machines, running on the treadmill, trying out some new-to-me and interesting fitness machines, using exercise balls and working with some free weights. I’ve been doing all of this before I start work in the morning and looking good in my wedding dress has served as a great motivator.

So, why keep it a secret? Simple. I was afraid of failure (still am) and didn’t want to tell anyone because the pressure to succeed could ultimately derail my efforts. I wanted my new fitness routine to become a habit and I didn’t want to be judged for trying and being unsuccessful. To me, there isn’t too much worse than saying I’m going to do something, telling everyone about it, failing, and then having all of those people know I came up short.

Working out isn’t new to me. Last summer, my sisters and I did the Couch to 5K program and I’ve had some success with the now famous 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels. But becoming a member and going to a gym by myself is relatively uncharted territory. Making this kind of commitment, both of my time and my money, is a big step for me.

I was going to tell Mr. Deviled Egg about it by his birthday, which is in a few weeks, but I ended up telling him earlier because something happened.

He started to notice the results!

My morning workouts have not yet resulted in any weight loss, but I have noticed that my clothes are fitting better and some are a little loose. I don’t think it’s that big of a change, as I feel I have a ways to go, but I was thrilled when he noticed!

I guess I didn’t keep it a complete secret. I slipped and mentioned once that my abs were sore and he jokingly asked if it was from my “super stealth secret workouts”. Little did he know, eh?

Keeping it a secret was tough. I don’t like to keep anything from him and when I told him, I was partly in tears out of guilt. I just didn’t want him to see me as a failure or a quitter if it didn’t work out. Mr. DE loves to workout. He’s at the gym at least 4 or 5 days a week and takes it very seriously. I’ve gone to the gym with him a couple of times in the past and have always felt out of place. His wealth of exercise knowledge and experience would always make me feel insecure and clueless. (How do you work this machine? What muscle is this supposed to tone?)

It was such a relief to tell him though, and I’m glad I can talk to him about it. (He can be very encouraging!) I truly feel that I’ve developed a habit of working out in the A.M. and that was a huge goal of mine.

The funny thing is, I actually enjoy the morning workouts. They help wake up my body and my brain so I am alert by the time I get to work. I also like that I can fit in 30 - 45 minutes everyday with little changes to my everyday life. I guess the biggest issue is that I need to go to bed a little earlier. (I thought for sure my earlier-than-normal tiredness would be the first thing to tip off Mr. DE. Lately, we’ve had a lot of nighttime phone conversations that ended early because I was falling asleep.)

Getting the workout out of the way in the morning has changed my perspective on exercising. It’s much easier for me to get it in early since something would always come up in the evenings and cause me to blow off exercising. And, instead of feeling like exercise in the evening is punishment for all of my bad food choices throughout the day, doing it in the morning causes me to feel like I’ve accomplished something by getting out of bed and fitting in a workout. Plus, I make better food choices because I don’t want to reverse the effects of my hard work.

Sure, the gym has been intimidating. I do my best to look like I know what I’m doing with different machines. Once I lost my footing and almost flew off the tread climber when I turned the speed up too fast. I tried to play it off as gracefully as I could, but I did catch another girl laughing at me. Oh well.

I’m really feeling confident that I will be able to stick with this new habit. I know Mr. DE would love it if I joined him at the gym once we are a married couple and I would love to oblige. I think it will be a good thing for us to do as a couple because it will keep us looking and feeling better as we grow old together.

Are any of you A.M. exercisers? And, have any of you kept a secret from your Mr.?