I'm being a bridesmaid for my aunt's wedding, and now we need to start looking out for dresses *gulp*

I really need to lose some weight and trim up for the wedding, so that I can look half decent in the dress, so now this is it. I've booked to go to the gym session for under 16s tomorrow, it's an hour long, and you're allowed to use the simple cardio machines. Mum is working, and my sisters are both busy, so I'm trekking down myself, and facing it alone I'm so scared arrrggghh, I bet it'll be full of fitness freaks, or really good looking men, and I'll be there sweating away. Hopefully there'll be some other fat kids (which sounds really bad of me, but what the hey.)The wedding is at the end of March, and we have to get the dresses in February half term, hopefully there will have been some change by then I've also got an art school trip in July, for a week, so hopefully I'll be able to wear shorts by then and look ok in them.

I'm such a wimp, I'm so scared of nothing. I bet I'll break a machine, or collapse in a sweaty heap while everyone gawps, then someone I know will walk past and I'll never live it down. Does anyone here go to gyms, or have any gym newbie experiences? What should I take? A gym bag, a towel, water, fruit for after, change of clothes? Is a tracksuit and t-shirt ok? Ohhh dearrrrrrr. What is is like?

First of all I must congratulate on deciding to go to the gym and making the move to lose some weight.

Once you get to the gym let me put your mind at rest that no-one will be looking at you, everyone is too busy doing their own workout. You need to take a bottle of water, most important, maybe some headphones (if they fit the machines) if not an MP3 or ipod. Usually you can watch TV if you have the correct headphones but if not you can listen to your own music, it isn't so boring then and the time goes quickly.

Tracksuit is fine, but if you have joggers that are not full length sometimes that is better as you can get very hot in the gym.

If it is your first time, make sure that you go and see a trainer when you get there and get shown how to use the machines and made aware of the importance of warming up and doing your stretches.

Measure yourself before you go, and then you can keep an eye on what you have lost.

Take a piece of fruit for when you have finished as you will probably be very hungry.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

What date is the wedding?

ET

Ok, thanks for the tips
I'm not of the exact date, all I know is that it's one of the last weekends of march.
I didn't know you could get TVs in gyms! That's exciting, I hope it has that, I doubt it though I've got an ipod, so I'm putting together a playlist of "upbeat" songs so that I can just plug in and it'll go on.. we always do stretches in PE, so I've got those sorted

My joggers are quite thin, so they should be ok. I'm just trying to find a t-shirt which the sweat patches won't show on too much I suppose everyone will be in the same boat, but still..

I'm kind of excited and nervous, I wonder if I'll stick to it, and if anything will be different in a few months. Hmmm.

While I was working abroad, I was swimming and in the gym most nights and really enjoyed it. Once you get into it it's actually quite fun. I just can't bring myself to join a gym here... Ugh, not sure why.

Noone else has put their rubbish out. Does that mean they know something that I don't?

That's reassuring I'm doing my best NOT to think of it as a place of torture but instead a happy place with people trying to be healthy . It's more of a club for teens the session I'm going to, and they have aerobics and spin classes too, which I'm going to try. I wonder if it'll be the chapter of something new in my life.. like joining the drama club, when I was about to open the door into the room I had no idea what to expect, or whether I'd stick to it, how long it would last, but it has made a pretty big impact on my life. The same applies to when I joined a swimming club all those years ago, tap dancing, and when I started/restarted flute and piano lessons! You never know where something might take you (this is what I'm desperately holding onto in order to make sure I don't chicken out..)

You sound a lot like I did a couple of years ago....but a lot younger!

Don't worry about what to wear sweat patches are normal if you are working hard. Don't go at it too hard, go at a pace that you'll be able to maintain. Talk to a trainer and get help putting together a programme that will help you meet your goals. Don't get fixated on weight, I put on weight whilst dropping a dress size. Include toning exercises as well as cardio as the toning really helps highlighting the change in shape.

Have fun. I've made friends, lost a few dress sizes and am much healthier for going to the gym. I have become addicted to Spinning classes and find them great for de-stressing. Sweat patches are pretty compulsary during Spinning and strangely no one cares!

This will be post number 800. And 8 is my lucky number (partly because my birthday is 8 August).

My sister has the same birthday, and consequently the same lucky number. She was just talking about it before I logged on! Coincidence.

Lucy - that's spooky

I didn't go to the gym it wasn't booked, so didn't really matter, but it's still annoying. My parents couldn't pick me up afterwards and they weren't happy with me walking in the dark. They always tell me these things at the last minute...

Hmmm... RE revision, English essay or art final piece?
Considering my RE teacher told us to do 4 hours a day over this holiday for the mock which is next friday, and I've only done 3 hours overall this holiday... I'm going forrrr theee....... art

OH brought the full bin back and put it away - even more worrying!

ps Flossie - they are probably still asleep - you're the one who'll laugh when your rubbish gets picked up!

I thought that yesterday when it should have been a recycling collection though the normal bins were still out and uncollected from last week. Imagine my surprise when 2 lots of bin men came along and both bins wre emptied. I think 3 of us managed to take advantage!

It did get picked up.

The bin is still out though, because I'd had enough problems dragging it uphill across a swathe of solid ice and I didn't fancy my chances of getting it back downhill safely without falling flat on my face.

Is there anyone here who finds the BBC comedy 'Big Top' even slightly funny?...

Probably not

It's the worst, unfunny, cliche ridden, most contrived programme on TV. I watched the first episode to the end as I couldn't believe how bad it was. Although Amanda looked pretty good in her outfit!

Ah, not just me then...

What is the Doom Bar? It keeps appearing in people's signatures...

This is the only Doom Bar I know (and VERY good it is too):
http://www.sharpsbrewery.co.uk/our-beers/doombar/

My friend's finishing her boyfriend. I'm spectacularly unsurprised. Bless her, she's never got through a holiday from uni with a boyfriend intact yet.

She's building her own? Weird Science anyone?

I see that the incredibly mature BeamishBoy has hit an amazingly mature 15 years of age today...

Happy New Year everyone

2010!!

That is indeed the Doom Bar in the signatures concerned (mine, Solari's, JoMook's). We very much like Doom Bar...

Packed bar, drunk people falling over + trumpet infront of mouth = trouble :-( I now have a loose tooth and a mouth like Leslie Ash!

Oh dear , I hope you and the trumpet both make a speedy recovery.

Thanks :-) Trumpet's fine, it's an oldie when they were made of stronger stuff ;-) I may have to lay of practise for a day or two and take some tentative steps back in to it then.

Ouch : hope the recovery is speedy Juniper...

You know when you're really cold and then you warm up and your skin goes all itchy?

Argh.

Oh look, that flautist in the Vienna Philharmonic has got a nice golden flute, a bit like James Galway's

I wonder how many people will start a diet today.... !!!

Oyster will be accepted on National Rail within Greater London from tomorrow! About time, too!

No start to diet here just continuing to try not to over indulge. I suspect the gym will be full of good intentions when it reopens tomorrow.

I need to leave the house in 6 hours time to go to the Leeds event and I need to sleep first, but I'm really wide awake.

OMG, put like that it sounds quite scary! At least you can sleep on the train

I'll end up at Kings Cross if I do that.

I can't seem to find return journey prices. If I went to Kingston from Vauxhall off peak how much would return be using oyster?

The information is not easy to obtan. However the idea is great.

You should be able to get that information on the National Rail Enquiries website. There is a price cap on pay-as-you-go Oyster equivalent to the price of a peak or off peak Travelcard depending on when you travel.

There are certain television programmes that should never have even got close to being broadcast, so appalling awful and banal they are.

'Take me Out' is one such programme...

I watched this at my sister's and I actually think it's educational.

"I don't like you because of the shoes you're wearing"
"Was that a burger you were eating?"

That confirms to me that some women are just bat**** crazy to be honest... Explains a lot

Well, I think next week I'll watch something with more gravitas and educational value on another channel.

I think Total Wipeout will still be running

The cat is in the conservatory at the moment.
This wouldn't be a problem, but we don't actually have a cat. (sounds like a bad joke, I know, but it's true! I'm a bit scared of cats, too...)

I've been looking at the Finzi Bagatelles accompaniments today (and singing-whilst-transposing-whilst-sight-reading the clari part ), as I found we had a copy in our music collection, even though none of us have ever studied clarinet!

We seem to have a few clari things which we must have acquired from the previous owners of the house, when they found out we were musical, they left some stuff for us! It is quite weird seeing what we've ended up with, from loads of people (including music which was inherited by people, and then their collections came to us), but really useful too.


I think the Finzi should probably not be sung by me!

That Finzi is covered in ink : you must be a very useful pianist, pcf!

It wasn't a particularly impressive rendition of them! (I stopped as soon as I saw visitors coming up the garden, as they didn't need to hear it! )

Sometimes I wonder why I bother

I reckon Barry-Clari watches too much TV. He should try learning an instrument!