I used to walk my dog. That was quite helpful.
My job involves a lot of running around. I also walk my two huskies. However, I’ve got a couple of medical issues which have raised their ugly heads within the past few months so I’ve had to curtail a lot of activity. I’m not happy about this.
We started 2015 attempting to eat “cleaner”. My husband doesn’t do well with a lot of carbs so we experimented with lower-carb for a bit. We both crashed and burned when our work schedules went nuts and neither of us had the wherewithal to prep/cook anything. I rallied when my work schedule became a bit more on an even keel only to crash-and-burn again.
Our local restaurants know us by name now 
Seriously, though, I’d like to get back on that cleaner eating track. My husband does lower carb better than I, though, and I need to find some way to mentally accept meals which have little to no carb. I also need a fire lit under me to prep stuff for the week.
My brother in law did really really well on a low carb diet. My sister does all the cooking and she helped him. 
After losing 40 pounds last year, I put back seven of them over the holidays. No big deal, as I enjoyed myself. But now it’s back to the program of sensible eating and moderate exercise (walking), and those few pounds should come off in a couple of weeks. I really need to get into a gym and recover some muscle tone. Have to see if I can dredge up the ambition for it.
yes, try to catch it before it gets away from you again
An article I recently wrote about getting moving…
By now, you may have overlooked, or ignored, any New Year’s plans on getting into shape. Maybe you found more important things to do, the cookies at home were too good, or worse yet, you felt out of place at the gym, or even more worse, you decided that exercise simply wasn’t for you. As a fat girl, I’ve been there, believe me.
In the early spring of 2015, I ignored some foot problems that could have easily been resolved had I readily addressed them, but instead they became big foot problems, which then became big knee problems. By the middle of summer, I found myself putting off walking, and not even the type of walking one does through a mall, but the type of walking one does to get to the bathroom. Yeah, it was pretty bad.
That was the summer of knee braces, shoe inserts, pills and physical therapy–none of which did much good for very long. I also realized my balance and flexibility were horrible, and because of this, it was harder for me to live pain free (or at least not as painful). I didn’t want to live my life having to sleep on the sofa because I couldn’t make it upstairs to my bed. I needed to physically move, but doing so was painful, which of course, made me not want to. It was then that I decided to start swimming to get my flexibility and balance back as much as I could. Along the way, I learned a few things.
[ol]
[li]**Stop caring what you think other people think about you. **So you think you’re the fattest, oldest, worst dressed, etc. person at the gym. Trust me, you’re likely not. It’s also likely that everyone is so wrapped in what they think everyone thinks of THEM, that no one is actually forming an opinion about you. I first started swimming in an old swimsuit that was faded and sagging, and I probably looked like I was wearing a sofa cover. I didn’t care–I was in the water, moving, increasing my balance and flexibility. When I bought a new suit, it was initially very tight and I probably looked like a stuffed sausage, but I still didn’t care–I was in the water, moving, increasing my balance and flexibility.[/li][li]Have a specific goal other than to lose weight. Weight loss can be a long, slow process, and it’s easy to get discouraged when you don’t see pounds drip off. My goal was to gain flexibility and balance, and it wasn’t until one day I put on my pants while standing (one leg in the pants while balancing on the other) that I realized I’d made progress. Do my clothes fit differently the more swimming I do? Sure they do, and I’m probably losing weight, but that’s not my goal.[/li][li]Give yourself permission to start small. When I first started swimming, my goals was 10 minutes or two laps. I told myself that’s all I had to do and for the first couple of times, that’s all I did. Soon I raised my minimum. On the days when I don’t feel like going, I tell myself that all I have to do is my minimum, then I can leave, even though I find myself doing more than my minimum once I’m there and in the groove.[/li][li]Find something that works for you and don’t be afraid to adapt it. Due to a bum shoulder, the traditional swimming strokes weren’t possible for me in the beginning, so I created a weird side stroke I did on my back. However, it kept me moving and got my heart pumping. As my flexibility and endurance increased, I was able to adapt different strokes into my routine, including one that allows for full movement of my bum shoulder. I now work with my physical therapist to adapt some of the exercises for my knees so I can do them in the pool.[/li][li]Get fun toys. Spending a ton of money isn’t necessary to get into shape, but if there’s something that will keep you engaged longer, get it. For me, it was swimming fins. Although I don’t use them all the time, when I do swim with fins on, I feel like a superhero, zipping through the water. It keeps me active in the water longer and I use different muscles when I wear my fins.[/li][li]Find someone to share in your progress. For me, I have a friend I text the number of laps I’ve done each time I’ve finished swimming. If she doesn’t hear from me on my swim days, she always asks about it. Her support is in no way a competition (who exercised longer? It doesn’t matter), and having someone cheer me on (without making me feel guilty on the days I don’t go) makes my progress more real.[/li][/ol]
Nice article! I bet that gets a lot of people motivated to start exercising.
Don’t think it won’t. It really does require vigilance or the next thing you know you’re back to 250 pounds and a 46 inch waist. I’ve accomplished weight loss in the past, and always gained it back. But this time around, I’m highly motivated. I’m 68 years old. I take meds for BP, diabetes and cholesterol. My mother died at age 79 (cancer), as did my sister (leukemia and infection) and brother (infections after amputations brought on by diabetes). I’m determined to make it to at least 80 without being an invalid (barring catastrophic illness), and I can’t do that if I’m still behaving like an irresponsible teenager. I’ve already been able to cut my BP med by half. Baby steps.
I love the gym in the early hours, it gives me a high that carries into work. But I tore my medial something-or-another in my knee in August, and the gym was kind of out for a while. Yeah, I could’ve done arm work, but even core work was stressing the knee so I got out of the habit. But a new gym, the 24 hr. kind, has opened not 2 miles from the house, and I’m jazzed. AND I now have Silver Sneakers, which I guess pays for all or part of it. The knee is great after wearing a brace all this time, I have my knee strengthening exercises all printed out and I’m ready to get back. My old gym didn’t open until 5a, and with a 6:30 start time @ work, it pushed me for time, so getting in early will be great!!!
Wow, good luck to you…
Yes, I like the gym at 3AM. I’m the only one there.
Putting in my usual plug for Sparkpeople.com.
Free website (so a bit ad-heavy, but it’s FREE) to track your food and fitness. Lots of helpful articles, links up with most wearable devices, robust message board. I joined in April 2008, lost 40 pounds, and have kept it off every since.
My fitness goal this year is partially a continuation of last year.
My goals for several years have been running related; some I hit, some I didn’t. Last year I was thinking about trying to slim down to gain some speed and distance, I accepted the fact that I’ll always be a graph
Well, a new year and a new set of goals. I’m really curious how far I’ll get this time. I posted last year in the “how much weight will you lose by thanksgiving” thread, and never returned to it. Honestly, I had forgotten about it until almost Christmas, but when I weighed myself in December I learned there had been almost no change. I’m quite ashamed of that.
My problem has always been portion control. I eat a lot of processed foods but rarely eat bread, potatoes, or fatty junk like ice cream and candy. What I do eat, and far too much of, is cheap college-student food: ramen, canned Chef Boyardee crap, TV dinners, and the like. I have no car and thus walk or use public transportation, but only when I need to: I don’t walk for exercise or use a gym. I want this to change.
This morning I sat down and made a list of my daily nutrition goals. I used Alton Brown’s “lists” approach as a base, with a few minor tweaks. I’m committed to cutting out red meat (not a huge burden as I’m not a big red meat eater) and starchy foods, especially potatoes and white rice. I’ll be eating sweet potatoes here and there, as well brown rice and black beans.
After I had this list made, I used a Word template to write up a weekly menu, making sure that each of my nutrition goals is met. Some of it is repetitive: To get a decent day’s helping of grains and green vegetables, I’ll be eating a lot of salads and raw veggies—which is fine, I love a good salad although I worry that might change if I eat a salad every single day of the week. I’m also going to attempt to change my overall eating habits: Forcing myself to slow down when I eat, eating with chopsticks when I can, and spreading the meal out a bit instead of scarfing it all at once.
I downloaded an app called “MapMyWalk,” which uses GPS to—get this—map my walk. It’ll produce a fairly detailed route map, as well as time a walk and give the user stats like elevation gain and compare it to other workouts. I’m not sure if I’ll keep using it long-term, but it’s a good way to give me a baseline as I begin to explore different routes around me neighborhood and compare them to each other. My goal is to walk at least a mile a day in one uninterrupted route. By this time next month I want to double that, then add more as my endurance builds. If I can put in 1000 miles by the end of the year I’ll be overjoyed.
I’m going to get a new scale (a physician’s beam scale) and a decent pedometer. I have some resistance bands in the closet, I’m going to get them out and learn how to use them.
I’m going to try to chart all my progress, old-school style, in one notebook. I want to be able to see if I’ve met my goals each day, week, and month. I want to see on a graph what my weight is doing. I have a feeling seeing my progress (or lack thereof) on paper will help motivate me.
I have no idea if I’ll be successful. I’ve been overweight for 20 years, morbidly obese for 6 or 7. I want to be able to fit into a nice suit again, not feel like I’m stuffing myself into an envelope when I drive a car, or get winded when walking three blocks. Last year I met up with a childhood friend that I hadn’t seen in probably 15 years. We met at her house; her mother, who knew I was coming by, was outside with my friends kids when I arrived. When she came in from the yard and saw me for the first time in 20 years she stopped dead in her tracks and stared. Not a particularly pleasant encounter from my perspective.
So we’ll see. Healthy eating and a slow increase in exercise is my goal.
First I need to let myself really heal from the nasty bronchitis and asthma attack I had ten days ago. No, I’m not going to just bounce back in a week like when I was 18. I’m not 18.
I need to get back to my little home workout (stretching, mostly, and some hand weights). It with walking was enough. I swam in the summer, and may start doing the exercise bike. If I can read or watch tv while on it, we’re good.
I’m going to continue to cook more of my own food, and eating more real food. The 5-fruit-and-veg-a-day thing, and if I don’t want to eat all the different veg, that’s fine. My body hates peppers, onions, and a lot of veggies, so I eat the ones it doesn’t hate (cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, carrots, peas). I love sweets, so I’ll be making healthier treats. I make good, fruit-filled smoothies, and they are as good as ice cream.
If I lose weight, fine, but I’m not going to obsess about it.
Swimming is great fun but it’s almost impossible to get a lane by yourself, and I really don’t like sharing lanes. But last July I successfully started going to the gym four days a week, every single week. I stopped in December because we moved my dad to a new place, went to Atlanta for a week, and then moved to a new place ourselves, so I was getting a workout (sweat dripping and everything) jut moving shit. I am starting back up tonight though.
What everyone else says, basically. Don’t just go there and try to do something you’re not into. You won’t do it. I tried classes - hated them. I love yoga but yoga is really the domain of hot young white girls around here and no matter what I feel selfconscious being the only one who is…not any of those.
I started just using the elliptical, and weight machines on my own, and doing crunches. I find I actually look forward to it and miss it when I go.
Crap…sorry for the doublepost but I lost most of it my first try:
My fitness goal this year is partially a continuation of last year.
My goals for several years have been running related; some I hit, some I didn’t. Last year I was thinking about trying to slim down to gain some speed and distance, when I accepted the fact that I’ll always be a crappy runner.
So my goal was to gain muscle instead. I’ve always been skinny and certainly not what you’d call muscular, though I’ve been fit enough on and off. My goal last year was fairly simple: I wanted to fill out the arms of some particular polo shirts. Mission accomplished.
I gained a little extra weight on my stomach because I cut back on cardio, so I want to judiciously add more cardio and burn that off in the meanwhile. Pool weather is coming…eventually. I’ve put together a good enough home gym with an Olympic barbell, pull up bar, and sets of dumbbells I found on Craigslist.
I also picked up a used spin bike which is really helping keep my admittedly sub- standard running performance in what I consider an acceptable range. I can still run (road) 10 miles in under 2 hours and 6 in right around 1 and a couple minutes.
thanks Ivy
I don’t do yoga, I haven’t got the hang of it yet. I’m thinking I might sign up for a few private lessons, and if that goes well, start taking classes.
I mostly take classes at the gym; a mix of barre, weight training, bootcamp, core training and Pilates. I do at least one class every day that I get to the gym. I try to get in 15-30 minutes of stretching and foam rolling per gym session. I also try to run 3 miles three days per week on the indoor track, but had been slacking on this in December. I did 1.5 miles today to ease myself back into it.
sounds like you like to mix it up. that prevents it from getting boring.
I’ve found that extreme diets just don’t work. Cutting out foods completely usually leads to craving and binges. Portion control and discipline are what work. You can eat anything you want, just not an entire plateful of it. And it does take discipline to do that. But once you get used to knowing proper portion size, you realize that a smaller amount of food actually does satisfy both your craving and your hunger.
From time-to-time, the wife and I get hungry for a bacon cheeseburger, and the place we like to go makes the best in town. But instead of getting their normal double patty version each, we buy one “girly size” and cut it in half. Same flavor, same satisfaction, but without the bloating and excessive fat/carb intake. We make a lot of soups and stews, which are healthy, filling, and usually low in calories (points, in Weight Watcher lingo). We walk nearly every day, and have worked up to an hour or more on each walk. In the summer, we take much longer hikes on beaches and more strenuous hikes in the mountains. It took persistence to make ourselves get off our asses and do it, but it takes remarkably little time for your body to say “Hey, this ain’t so hard!”