"Fitness Club" Thread

GWC Community GWC Fitness Club
#1261

Well, I started again. I had been doing pretty well last summer. My personal trainer quit and I used that as an excuse to slack off, which turned to just completely falling back into old habits. Partly for my own benefit (high blood pressure) and partly to inspire my mom to do the same, I’ve gotten back on track. Right now I’m just eating right and getting cardio on my home elliptical 3-4 times a week. In the last two weeks, I’ve dropped about 9 lbs. Whether that’s water or actual fat loss, my pants already fit better so it feels good. If my previous record is anything to go by, that will level off quickly to 1-2 lbs a week.

That old saying “success is its own reward” is especially true when it comes to fitness. Last week I started using MyFitnessPal to track what I’m eating and I’m oddly starting to enjoy that, too. It’s like a mini-game. If anyone else is using it, I’m “eljeffex” and feel free to friend me. I still have an assload of personal trainer sessions saved up at the gym, I just need to get in there and try out the available trainers. Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout out here and re-join the Wolverines.

#1262

That’s awesome. FWIW, I enjoy tracking my food, too. It feels good taking control, and it I love the way planning out my meals lets me eat without guilt. Great stuff. :slight_smile:

#1263

I’m downloading My Fitness Pal for Android. I wonder how bad my diet actually is…

#1264

Came across an article for all us Wolverines:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/05/health/drew-manning-fit2fat2fit-lessons/index.html

Although you can interpret this as a stunt some very real lessons are to be learned. Enjoy!

#1265

Strange question here…which is more effective…a 6.25 mile, 66 minute treadmill fast walk/mild job…or the 90 minute walk in the park which ends up about the same distance but I can’t keep the same speed without the treadmill helping me…my goals are stamina, leg strength (hockey skating most), and helping my cardio/asthma… any advice?

#1266

I have no idea Scott, but that seems a good question to send into the FitSmart podcast.

My own update, I weighed myself on Saturday and had to do a double-take. I had expected to only drop a pound or two, but had lost nearly 7 from my last weigh-in. I think part of that was the breakfast I had eaten and the clothes I might have been wearing, but even so it startled me enough that I stepped off the scale and set it to zero to make sure it wasn’t off. So it seems I’ve lost 19 lbs since I started this journey. More importantly to me, I’m down a couple of belt notches. I look forward to having to buy a new belt in a couple of months.

Wolverines!

#1267

Congratulations El Jefe! It’s always great when the scale can give you a good surprise, instead of the depressing ones I get from time to time. Wolverines!

#1268

awesome El Jefe!!!

#1269

Keep up the good work, El Jefe.

#1270

I’ve decided to get a BodyBugg. I’m excited because I’m going to be gathering more data on how many calories I’m burning and eating, my workouts, etc. I’ve been working out off and on but my diet hasn’t been consistent. I’ve lost some weight but it’s time to kick it up a notch, I’ve been on this plateau for too long. The biggest change now is that I’m going to be cooking more, and logging my food.

Speaking of food, I tried the almond milk! Blue Diamond Almond Breeze, specifically. I love it in my oatmeal and it’s okay in my cereal. Oatmeal made with almond milk, and fresh blueberries and strawberries is one of my favorite breakfasts now. Yum. Wolverines!

#1271

I’m going to have to try this almond milk.

So, I took the weekend off as a reward from having done well for two months straight. Even knowing that I was allowing myself to eat the things I craved, it was still difficult to look at those numbers in myfitnesspal when I entered them. Saturday, while I was over my calorie goal I still came in low enough that I was technically okay. Sunday was ugly, though, with flautas, queso and a slice of cheesecake. Still, it was just the weekend and I think I earned it.

As of Monday, I linked my myfitnesspal account to my facebook status. My family’s on Facebook quite a bit, so it will be a way for them to keep up with my progress (and a little added motivation for me.) If any of my “friends” don’t like it, they can always block it.

I’m starting to enjoy my morning cardio on the elliptical. And thanks for all the postive feedback above.

#1272

BAM!

Weighed for the first time in a few weeks and I’m down another 9 lbs. This makes 28 lbs overall from when I started.

Wolverines!

#1273

Woo hoo, El Jefe! Wolverines!

#1274

You’ll have to say how you like it! I’ve heard about it and considered but never took the plunge to get one to try.

I love almond milk. The blue diamond brand is my favorite. I feel that the Silk version has more texture than I like in my liquids.

#1275

Over the next month I’m going to be transitioning my workouts to emphasize strength training more. Right now it’s 3 days cardio, 2 days strength training, and I’m planning to extend the second strength workout and/or make one cardio day a half-and-half. Anyone have advice for the process? Especially now that I’m not working with a trainer, I have trouble challenging myself to the same extremity that Hanna could get out of me. I’m a little concerned about getting bored with my somewhat limited rotation of routines and circuits as well.

#1276

It sounds like you’ve got the right idea, at least as far as what I know. If you look back through all your trainer workouts, you’ll probably find a ton of different exercisest that you know (which to me means the trainer has demonstrated them and you’ve done them under the trainer’s watchful eye, so you can do them without hurting yourself and know how to get something out of them). You can then re-assemble those into lots of new workouts.

I’m not sure how many of these apply to you, but some of the things I do:

Keep some record of your workouts. If you’re at all an obsessive type (heh – we all are), you’ll automatically push yourself a bit. You can’t help but want to see things change on paper/computer/whatever.

Try swapping the order of exercises in the workout to make an old workout feel new. Doing assisted pullups might be easy at the beginning of a back workout, but try 'em at the end instead. (Or whatever. You get the idea.)

My favorite, which I picked up from Mitch: Do whatever you want to do the least at the moment. Make a challenge out of it. Mitch and I were having fun with this the other day, and decided that it’s like the end of Ghostbusters – you know you’re going to have to do whatever pops in your head, so you try to keep your mind clear. (“What did you do, Ray?”) For the record, we ended up doing decline crunches w/twists with a 30-lb dumbbell. (I was “Ray” that time.) It sucked. It was also fun. :slight_smile:

You can always change up circuits by making them longer or shorter, or by swapping in slight variations of the exercises. (I hate circuits. Shit. Now I have to do some. :stuck_out_tongue: )

Cardio is always more fun with company, or with video or at least audio. When you’re just looking for calorie burn, there’s nothing better than shooting the crap on an elliptical/bike/whateverfeelsgood. Wish I was nearby. I’d love to shoot the crap with you over cardio. Free calories! :slight_smile:

#1277

I’ve been lurking here a lot because I don’t want to jinx myself on my current attempt at getting in shape, but I just wanted to announce that I have just dropped under 220 pounds (consistent), which means my mass is officially in the double digits in kilograms!

I’ve still got at least 30 pounds to go, but I’m pretty happy with that :slight_smile:

#1278

Congratulations 5thHorseman! And don’t jinx yourself, I’ll throw some salt over my shoulder for you. And probably a handfull for myself.

#1279

I’m struggling here guys. It’s not working out that’s the problem. That’s the easy part. It’s nutrition that’s been screwing my whole thing up. Breakfast and lunch are fine, but when I get home, and I’m tired, I’m much more likely to eat poorly.

Anyone have some super easy, decently tasty meals that cut down on my needing to handle raw meat?

#1280

Let me throw two options at you that I find awesome…

  1. Buffalo Burgers (kinda hard to find, out here the best place to go is Kings)
  2. Hebrew National has a 40 calorie hot dog (yes …really…and since it’s gotta be Kosher you know they can’t mess with it too)

For other options, just read some labels too

I also found turkey meatballs to be pretty awesome too, it takes a little work, but the options are out there :slight_smile:
Turkey Bacon too…once you try it a few times you don’t go back…

(I can vouch for this too since I’m down to 215 for the first time since I was…like …a teenager :eek: )