Bizarrely, just after my last post I was contacted by the gym I’d decided was to be my partner in crime here in my new hometown. I mentioned in that ‘losing my exercise mojo‘ post that I’d done some research and the gym in question had some Zumba and Pump classes (my faves!) – and I loved that they were super active on Facebook. (Social media savvy will win me over any time!)

One of the membership officers asked me to come in and I assumed I’d be shown around and given the hard sell, so we made the appointment for the very next day.

Phew! I was relieved. My lack-of-exercise-mojo was to be a thing of the past. The layer – it feels like I’ve developed over the past two months – would soon melt away and (like I said in the last post) all would be well in the world.

But… (bloody buts!). The gym person in question was quite late for our appointment. It gave me time to sit in the busy gym and contemplate life. And stuff. Well… to look around and study the timetable in detail.

I liked that the gym was HUGE! Huger than huge. And it was busy. Shockingly so, given the size and busy-ness of my previous gym. I liked that the members were ALL shapes and sizes. And ages.

My new hometown is renowned for its aging population. A lot of people retire here. (In fact I have never seen so many electric buggy things in my entire life!) The classes at the gym obviously cater for their clients. Some older, larger ladies arrived while I waited, foam noodles in hand, obviously heading to the pool for some exercise.

But… as I studied the timetable I noticed something I’d previously overlooked. Perhaps I’d looked at an old one, I don’t know but… the gym only had ONE Zumba class each week. On a Saturday. ONE!!! It had a million ‘Pump’ classes and it had several aqua Zumba classes and all of the other usual Les Mills suspects. But ONE Zumba class.

I was feeling a bit bored and emotional* by that stage so apologised to the person on the desk and left. The time alloted to my entire appointment had come and gone. I wasn’t (however) too worried about that (given that I’m not working and have nothing BUT free time), I just explained that I’d had a chance to study the timetable and realise they didn’t have the classes I was after. I did get some follow-up contact from the membership officer and he was very apologetic for my wait. I explained it was fine, but I was going to shop around a bit.

I’ve contacted another gym (twice!!!) and am waiting to hear back – they are WAY less responsive than my first choice and have a crappy website. The gym itself I assume to be much smaller with fewer classes. But they offer 3 Zumba classes and 3 or 4 Pump classes each week.

I’d like to attend a Zumba class there tomorrow (Monday here in Oz) so am thinking I’ll just rock up at the start time and ask if I can try it… rather than wait for them to respond to my queries (cos apathy may well overtake guilt and I’ll put it off again)!

It’s making me wonder if social-media savvy should / shouldn’t be a priority when searching out a gym.  Your thoughts?

In other news I received some samples of chippies from Slim Secrets during the week. Fortunately their arrival coincided with my mother’s visit so I wasn’t forced to scoff  taste them ALL by myself. Slim Secrets chips are labelled guilt-free as they’re 97% fat free and – of course – gluten-free which is why they suited me to a T. The person sending the chips to me must have known something cos I received MOSTLY Cheese & Onion flavour. Oh. My. God! Forever ago when I could eat normal chips I loved cheese and onion chips. They were my absolute favourite.

There are more and more gluten-free goods on the market mimicking the ‘real’ thing. I’ve talked about faux twisties and cheezels. But never have I seen cheese and onion chips.

We also  scoffed sampled sea salt flavoured and the ubiquitous salt and vinegar flavour. I have to admit I’m not a fan of the latter (and never have been – although I LOVE vinegar!). I did have a couple so I could comment on their taste, but kindly allocated them to my mother (justifying not sharing the last packet of cheese and onion chips).

The chips are hard and crunchy. The hardness felt strange at first, but… I like crunchy things. I’ve talked before about preferring ‘crunch’ over ‘smooth’ things when I’m snacking (popcorn, corn chips, rice cakes and so forth), so the chips were perfect for me.

I really can’t offer much of an opinion on the salt and vinegar, but the sea salt were nice and the cheese and onion ones were tasty. All were very flavoursome. And my mother – who isn’t coeliac and can eat normal chips – agreed they were packed with flavour. I’ll definitely buy the cheese and onion ones again.

Of course I’m not suggesting you snack on Slim Secrets chippies all day every day. You should definitely stick with your fruit, yoghurt and nuts for snacks, but when it comes time to buy some chips for a ‘treat’ or to (ahem) accompany a wine or two, these are the perfect choice. But having said that, Slim Secrets make a range of products – snack bars under 100 calories, protein bars, low carb fit balls (not the rubber kind – obviously) and protein shots. I salivated when I saw that the latter (at under 65 calories) come in honeycomb flavour! And – because it’s always all about me – many of the other products are also gluten-free!

Slim Secrets products are available in Oz, as well as the UK, US, Canada etc via supermarkets or online.

 

* I will explain source of emotion on my Facebook page. (Too complicated to add to this post!)