McDreamy Motivation

I have always had a hard time finding motivation to exercise. For a while, I was exercising on our ellyptical trainer 4 to 6 times per week, and my motivation was solely weight loss, and, after six months passed and I had lost all of 3 pounds...it was no longer motivating for me. It wasn't doing what I wanted it to, so, why bother?

Okay, so, I know, excercise that doesn't result in weight loss is still important for overall health, blood pressure, etc. That wasn't enough motivation and I was just depressed as hell that I had spent so much time working out and I was no thinner.

In January, we got a treadmill in addition to our ellyptical trainer. It's a good treadmill because Husband runs something like 8 miles a day. Fast. (Have I mentioned this before? The man runs. The man is addicted to running. He runs and runs and runs and runs. And for years he kept telling me that it felt GOOD to run, and, mostly, the only thing I have ever felt while running is PAIN. And, in my book, PAIN does not FEEL GOOD. (Well, unless you are into that kind of thing.) (But, I'm really not.) (NOT that there's anything wrong with it if you are.) (So long as you're, you know, consenting adults and all that..) (I digress.)

Anyway, I think I have finally found the motivation I need to work out on the treadmill, and the motivation has a name, and its name is...

McDreamy.

AKA Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd.

Yes, yes, I know that the REST OF THE NATION discovered Grey's Anatomy two years ago, but, I have MISSED A LOT OF TV in the past 7 years. (See, there are choices one has to make when one is parenting a child who doesn't sleep a lot. And when it comes to choosing between prime time TV and enough sleep, I am pretty much going to choose sleep every time. The show airs at 10:00 PM, and I just cannot stay up until 11:00. And I miss a lot of 9:00 shows because I am putting the kids to bed. The only shows I have really kept up with in real time are Desperate Housewives (because one of the writers is an old friend of mine in real life) and Gilmore Girls (and I had to drive to my friend M~'s house to watch, because we don't get the CW on our DISH package.)

Anyway, for the past three weeks, I have been walking/running on the treadmill for 40 minutes about 3 or 4 times a week. My goal is to get up to 5 times per week. And the carrot I'm using to get myself on that machine is the opportunity to watch Grey's Anatomy. I have banned the Grey's Anatomy netflixed DVDs from any other TVs in the house, except the one parked in front of the treadmill. And it seems to be working. I actually WANT to go and work out. And, I am working up to running for part of those minutes. At the moment, I am only running (not fast, not gazelle-like as is Husband, but, actual real running none the less) for 8 minutes of the 40. But, in the grand scheme of things, that's like 40 minutes per week of RUNNING, which is 40 minutes more of running per week than I have ever done before. Plus, you know, the other 32 minutes per day of walking. It has to be good for something. It has to be making me healthier even if it's not going to make me THINNER. And I least I get to watch...sigh...Dr. McDreamy.

Here's my problem. Very shortly, I will come to the end of the available episodes of Grey's Anatomy, and THEN where will I be??

SO, my challenge to you is - name addictive television shows available on Netflix WITH English subtitles! (I need the sub-titles because I have low decible hearing loss to begin with, and, even without hearing loss, it is hard to hear all the dialogue over the noise of the treadmill - so, shows such as Veronica Mars (which only had subtitles on the DVDs for Season 1, cheap bastards at the CW) have to be ruled out. (Well, plus I've already watched all the episodes of VM. Twice. Such a good show. Anyway...) I was thinking of trying Boston Legal next, but, it only has captions in Spanish. :-(.

So, please, indulge me. What TV shows on DVD will keep me coming back to the treadmill?


LM