Let's Get Fit and Healthy Together!

[Lorrs]

I'm soooo unfit, I need to start doing something. I've worked out a wee exercise routine but I was also considering going to a class but as the most uncoordinated person ever, it needs to be something where I'm not gonna fall over my own feet like aerobics. I was thinking about pilates, does anyone else do it? Did you find it helpful? Also if anyone knows of any other things I might be able to do that require minimum coordination, let me know.

[Yoggy]

I have some pilates DVDs, and use them sometimes. But I find that most of the exercise routines are kind of elaborate and complex, but really they're just the equivalent of doing a bunch of situps. So usually I just do situps for my upper abs and leg lifts for my lower abs. And the pilates DVDs when I'm feeling up to it.

[absentmindedfan]

After teaching all day went to the gym but a watermain had burst so they had no water! So I came home and went on a 3m run instead. I'm considering getting up at 6am tomorrow and doing a quick 2miler before I go to Canterbury.

[fiamma]

Wow, good on you AMF I'm useless at getting up in the morning.

[herbwormwood]

I'm soooo unfit, I need to start doing something. I've worked out a wee exercise routine but I was also considering going to a class but as the most uncoordinated person ever, it needs to be something where I'm not gonna fall over my own feet like aerobics. I was thinking about pilates, does anyone else do it? Did you find it helpful? Also if anyone knows of any other things I might be able to do that require minimum coordination, let me know.

If you go to a gym there are machines which support you, many of them are used from a sitting position. There are exercise bikes, cross trainers, weight machines etc. The gym instructors can even suggest machines to use safely which could improve your coordination.

[Lorrs]

If you go to a gym there are machines which support you, many of them are used from a sitting position. There are exercise bikes, cross trainers, weight machines etc. The gym instructors can even suggest machines to use safely which could improve your coordination.

Thanks but unfortunately I'm not rich enough to join the gym at the moment.

However, last night I came across this site http://www.netfit.co.uk/home_circuit...s_workouts.htm with lots of different home exercises in it. It's cheaper to do than the pilates class anyways and I can combine it with walking and I also have an exercise bike.

[scarlett]

I've been very good for the past fortnight - no naughty snacking and doing my weights every other day - and I do feel better, I just wish my back was strong enough so I could exercise properly, sure that'll happen though - I just have to be patient
1/2 stone lost - another 1 1/2 to go ! I'm a bit fed up of people telling me I don't need to lose it though - I feel I do, and my back is always much better when I'm not carrying around any extra weight at all.

[herbwormwood]

Thanks but unfortunately I'm not rich enough to join the gym at the moment.

However, last night I came across this site http://www.netfit.co.uk/home_circuit...s_workouts.htm with lots of different home exercises in it. It's cheaper to do than the pilates class anyways and I can combine it with walking and I also have an exercise bike.

Many gyms do sessional membership, where you just pay for each time you use it. Mine does discounts for people who have disabilities or low incomes, so I pay £1. 60 on special mornings and £3.00 other times. It would be about £4.50 per use without the discount. But I think it is still fairly good value.
Purplerose, I see you live near Glasgow so your local council will probably run something similar to mine. Most local councils run leisure centres with gyms in.
I just had a little look on the net and I see they do similar to what mine does.
Its all here...
http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residen...rtsFacilities/

[veganlibra]

I'm soooo unfit, I need to start doing something. I've worked out a wee exercise routine but I was also considering going to a class but as the most uncoordinated person ever, it needs to be something where I'm not gonna fall over my own feet like aerobics. I was thinking about pilates, does anyone else do it? Did you find it helpful? Also if anyone knows of any other things I might be able to do that require minimum coordination, let me know.

I used to do pilates. It's great for toning, once you get used to the routine. I would recommend doing an addtional cardio activity and not just relying on pilates if you want to loose some weight.

I took an hour long walk yesterday because it was so nice out. And I didn't have any alcohol or sweets So far so good!

[Yogini]

I'm soooo unfit, I need to start doing something. I've worked out a wee exercise routine but I was also considering going to a class but as the most uncoordinated person ever, it needs to be something where I'm not gonna fall over my own feet like aerobics. I was thinking about pilates, does anyone else do it? Did you find it helpful? Also if anyone knows of any other things I might be able to do that require minimum coordination, let me know.

I'm pretty uncoordinated and started exercising when I was quite overweight. Leslie Sansone's in-home walking videos were a godsend for me. They're an aerobic workout, which I think would be more of a jumpstart towards better fitness than just Pilates.* But the steps are very uncomplicated and easy to learn (marching, knee lifts, calf extensions, side steps, and the like.) Her website is www.lesliesansone.com, where you can learn about her, but I think you can get her videos cheaper at Amazon.

*I'm not knocking Pilates, I'm actually a big fan. But it's really more of a toning system. Cardiovascular exercise not just aids weight loss, but improves heart health and wards off low spirits.

[absentmindedfan]

3mile run today.

[Lorrs]

I'm pretty uncoordinated and started exercising when I was quite overweight. Leslie Sansone's in-home walking videos were a godsend for me. They're an aerobic workout, which I think would be more of a jumpstart towards better fitness than just Pilates.* But the steps are very uncomplicated and easy to learn (marching, knee lifts, calf extensions, side steps, and the like.) Her website is www.lesliesansone.com, where you can learn about her, but I think you can get her videos cheaper at Amazon.

thanks, I'll check that out just now

[veganlinda]

Tigerlily I am like you and always seem to put weight on my tummy and have been asked several times if I was pregnant which is not much fun!

I started running and joined a club as am not v good at going to the gym. The running club is v supportive but have not been for a couple of weeks so need to get back into things this week. Had got up to running 5m 2 weeks ago but need to do what AMF does and just start doing the odd 2-3m in the mornings.

Am not brave enough to do sit ups!

Am also trying to eat more raw food as I do feel better for it ...even though when it is cold like today I just want to eat soups n hot stuff!

[Corum]

Me and Hemlock have just had our inductions down at the local gym! Totally painless...
... Thursday we start for real!

[Tigerlily]

Tigerlily I am like you and always seem to put weight on my tummy and have been asked several times if I was pregnant which is not much fun!

Same! Someone asked me when the baby was due.

[Hemlock]

I made the gym instructor give me my measurements in cms - didn't want to know in inches.....there were a lot of noughts

[veganlinda]

I decided to just go by whether my clothes fit and whether I was wobbly ... measuring and weighing can be too demoralising!

Have gone down 2 clothes sizes in the last 2 years just from watching what I eat ... running is getting rid of the wobble

Getting there!

[veganlibra]

I was wretched this weekend. I went to the bar on Saturday and had two beers and after the bar, I had a bunch of fries.

On the up side, I did walk for about 2 hours on Friday night. And took a 45 minute walk yesterday afternoon.

I weighed myself yesterday and have lost 2 pounds so far. I have 13 more to go.

[Ara]

I have decided to shift this half stone that i collected over christmas once and for all!

Yesterday i went for a run, not sure how far though! My housemate and i just jogged to the park near us then ran around it (i hadn't realised just how unfit i was until i did that...).

Today i went swimming and did 30 lengths.

My housemate and I are just about to order a bollywood workout dvd too! Looks so much more fun than the normal workout ones. There's also a bollywood dance and tone on at work that we might go to (once we've mastered it a bit from the dvd lol)

[absentmindedfan]

3m run this morning, at a decent pace too, a little faster than usual. Then 30 mins of yoga. I impressed myself by holding the half and full headstand for 20 breaths - the longest I've ever held them

My gym is shutting soon so I'm going to have to up my running mileage and do more strength yoga to make up for it.

[Ara]

How do you find the time to do everything AMF? I'm impressed! How long did it take you to be able to run 3m easily (and how long does it take you to run it?).

I need to get myself motivated, my friend gave me a running plan that i am going to start next week, or i will spend all of the easter holidays sat in front of my computer getting stressed!

[absentmindedfan]

I've had a day off today so I ran and yoga'ed before breakfast. I've been running since last year on and off. It takes me about 35 mins to run 3m which is around 6mph, give or take.

The thing with running is to take it slow. Run at a comfortable pace and run every other day. Running every day will mean you are tired and more prone to injury. On non-running days swim or cycle, or even walk. Slowly build up your miles. Map My Run is a really useful site for planning runs and seeing how far you get.
Don't be discouraged if you can only run a tiny amount. I started off staggering round my block and five minutes exhausted me! Within a few months I was up to 2 miles and I try to keep building on that.

[veganlibra]

I'm upset because I was all set for my after work walk and then it stormed, so today if it stays nice I will add last night's 1/2 hour to tonight's 1/2 hour.

Yesterday I ate 1674 calories, 34g of fat, and 48g of protein. I think it's too many calories and too many fat grams (especially since I didn't get a chance to exercise), but I will try harder today.

I'm thinking of adding yoga to my routine for toning and stretching.

[Ara]

Thanks for the advice AMF! That site looks really good, i've just registered with them, finger crossed i'll be able to run for more than about a minute soon! lol

[Yogini]

Well, I took not just one day foff or my birthday, but three and managed to put on FOUR WHOLE POUNDS. I went to the fitness center last night to use the elliptical trainer and had to wait 20 minutes to get it, then the slob who was on it neglected to wipe it down because she's apparently too special to have to wipe up her own sweat. I was already cranky because it used to be no one else was ever in the fitness center but the last month the place has been like Bally's the first week of January - you can't ever get the equipment you want. So I made a big show of wiping down the elliptical while shooting her dirty looks. And then I got only 20 minutes on the thing before I had to go back to my apartment (hey, Criminal Intent was on - I wasn't going to miss that.) I thought about doing some Pilates in front of the TV, but it was still my birthday, so I didn't.

And I have a slightly too small suit I need to be able to wear comfortably before my job interviews start (please, please let them start soon - I need a job.) So I'm on a strict 1400-1500 calories per day until I get about ten pounds off. Plus, it will be nice to graduate from graduate school wearing the same dress size I did when I graduated college. Nine years ago.

[Frank]

Today I did my first bit of gym work for ages.

Physio got me to do about 7 minutes on the bike and 28 minutes on the cross-trainer.

I got in from work tonight and fell asleep for an hour

Still - i'm back on the ladder.

Got to do an hour on either Saturday or Sunday before my next physio visit on Monday.

[absentmindedfan]

I have achieved 2 personal bests today; a 4 mile run, the furthest I've ever run in my life, and it 45 mins which isn't a bad pace; and holding the full headstand without wall support for 30 breaths!

Well chuffed

[Smoothie]

Today I had a banana, two rice cakes with hommous and one glass of 1/2 juice 1/2 water for breakfast. about an hour later, i did 30 mins of yoga, and later I'm gonna bike about 20 kilometres (I do that every day..)

pretty good start of the day.

btw. congratulations AMF. that's very impressive!

[Yogini]

I did great yesterday: 35 minutes on the elliptical trainer, 25 minutes Pilates, ate about 1450 calories, of which 65% were carbs (almost all complex), 20% were fat, and 15% were protein. Perfect! And I had tons of fruits and veggies (2 apples, a banana, 1/2 cup peas, 1 carrot, 1 cup broccoli florets, 1 cup sliced mushrooms, 2 cups spring mix, and 1/2 cup chopped red cabbage.)

Today I'm not off to such a great start. I just snarfed down five muffins. Homemade, small muffins, not the ginormous kind at Starbuck's or what have you. Wheat-free and sweetened with mostly fresh squeezed orange juice and I used only 1/2 the oil the recipe called for. But I still ate five of them. Haven't exercised yet, but will try to get 55 - 80 minutes of yoga in this evening.

[Tigerlily]

I've been doing some ab exercises in the past two days. I think I'm doing them properly? After about 20-30 reps, I definitely "feel the burn" in my stomach. Once the weather gets nicer, I want to start walking daily.

[Frank]

Did 20 mins bike, 20 mins cross-trainer and 20 mins treadmill today in gym.

Felt great after - and did not fall asleep afterwards this time!

[Frank]

Weighed in at 13 stone 10lbs this morning.

Was 14 stone at start of March.

I will not get carried away though as I gave up chips and pasties for lent - and also no drinking beer at home!

[Tigerlily]

That's good Frank. How tall are you?

[Yoggy]

Congrats Frank!

I have to remind myself to start taking more long walks! I remember a long time ago, I used to walk my dog for hours, and I would come home so energized that I would rather do anything than crash in front of the TV. Often I would cook supper and dessert for the whole family for when they got home, just because I had so much energy LOL. I wanna feel that way again!

[Frank]

That's good Frank. How tall are you?

5' 8.5" - although I may have lost the .5 by now

[Frank]

Congrats Frank!

I have to remind myself to start taking more long walks! I remember a long time ago, I used to walk my dog for hours, and I would come home so energized that I would rather do anything than crash in front of the TV. Often I would cook supper and dessert for the whole family for when they got home, just because I had so much energy LOL. I wanna feel that way again!

Thanks.

The main thing i've found with a lot of people is getting started on something they are comfortable with.

Walking your dog if you have one is a great thing to do and it also gets you out into the fresh air.

[veganlibra]

I took a long walk after work yesterday because it was such a nice day and I was cooped up in the office for most of it.

I weighed myself on Sunday and I've lost another pound, so that's 3 pounds total with 12 more to go before I reach my goal

[Lorrs]

Since the weather has been getting so good the past week or so, I've started taking 45 min to 1 n a half hour brisk walks with my dog every evening by the river near where I stay. I can really feel the difference in my legs and just in my general fitness, the first night I was puffing and panting but by tonight I'm trying to think of where else to go for a longer walk lol. I also have the use of a treadmill now so I can use that when the nights aren't so nice.

[Frank]

Did 20 mins bike, 20 mins cross-trainer and 20 mins treadmill today in gym.

It's low impact at the mo but I worked up a good sweat. It helped the gym was packed no doubt!

[absentmindedfan]

3.75 mile run but it was a struggle. New running tights are too warm, the sun is getting stronger so that didn't help and I had to walk some of it. SO probably more like 3.5miles and a slower pace than usual too.

[Tigerlily]

I did a 10-15 minutes walk (up hill) this morning and later today I plan on doing another 15-30 minutes of exercise (either walking or dancing).

[foxytina_69]

good job everyone!! you all sound like youre doing great.

ive not been getting very much exercise. ive been very sick lately with nausea and vomiting but i feel a little bit better now.

still having heart problems and issues, but my tests are coming back normal so im not sure whats going on with that. the nausea is out of control as well. my appetite is pretty bad and ive been throwing up a lot, although its gotten better in the past week from some new medicine. my doctor is going to put me on diuretics for my bad water retention and is also putting me on a 24 hour heart moniter next week. im also going to see the specialist who was my moms specialist, in may. so thats good.

ive been eating really healthy. i found a new salad mix by earthbound organics. its the fresh herb salad. its SOOOOOO good. ive been eating about 3 bowls a day, i just cant get enough of it. i think im obsessed. ive gone through 3 big containers of it in a week lol. but thats good because its dark organic greens so im sure theyre doing wonders for my health right now. and instead of chips, ive been eating home popped popcorn. ive also been eating fruit and soy milk and lots of protein like legumes, tofu and trail mix.

2007 has been a lot healthier for me regarding eating habits. im eating a lot mroe whole foods than i used to. i still eat junk food sometimes, but wayyyyy less than i used to. i think i was addicted to it.

ive been maintaining the lower weight of 5 pounds less. so i guess thats good. but i sure would like to lose more.

anyhoo, its spring now so i hope everyones getting out in the sun and enjoying the weather!! youre all doing great. remember, any little bit of exercise or extra fruits/veggies or little bit less of junk food is success. it all counts and adds up in the end.

[Yogini]

anyhoo, its spring now

Speak for yourself. It snowed a little yesterday in my parts and was just as cold as it was last January.

[foxytina_69]

i wouldnt mind switching weather it was 20 degrees here today. phew i dislike the heat very much!

regarding health, i lost 2 pounds i love eating whole foods cause i can eat as much as i want and still lose weight lol.

[Yoggy]

Hi Tina! I've been wondering where you were. I'm so sorry to hear you've been having heart problems and bad nausea (((HUGS))). I really hope everything turns out ok. And congrats on losing some weight! Good luck reaching your goal weight! Keep at those whole foods

On the downside, I've gained 2 lbs recently . I couldn't get any decent shopping done for quite a while, so I ended up eating junk like lots of veggie burgers and fries at home, and chips and clifbars at school because it's the only vegan food for miles on most days. Today I did 30 crunches and 30 leg lifts, and I hope to get up to 100 by next week. I want to have a flat stomach before April 28, because that's when I'm moving to Ottawa, and I want to be in shape for when my bf sees me next .

[angelamc]

I know they look pretty lame but I have a thighmaster and I LOVE it! It gives me a really good workout on my inner thighs and I use it for my arms, too. I can also use it when I'm watching tv, which is a bonus. And it was only 10 bucks!

[absentmindedfan]

4 mile run today in 40 minutes, my fastest time yet

[Kevster]

Once you get into running you can often soon start flying around. Though i often found it much more difficult in warmer temperatures. That was always really hard work, so i used to run early morning/late evening times.

Been down the gym for the second time this week, seem to have plenty of energy at the moment, even after having a few ales last night.... just started back over a month ago, after about three months off, and just starting to get somewhere.

[Yogini]

OK, I'm not too happy right now because I just took my measurements and everything's a bit bigger than it was in February.

The good news is that today has been a pretty good day.

Exercise: 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer, 35 minute Pilates video.

Food: Breakfast was salad (spring mix, celery, carrots, broccoli, pine nuts, olive oil, lemon juice, nutritional yeast), an apple and tea. Lunch was homemade peanut sauce over baked tofu and wilted spinach. Snack will be strawberries with 2 tbs maple syrup. I'm not sure what dinner will be, but I can have about 300 calories. I've had about six cups water and just refilled my bottle. I'm way over my fat gram limit for the day, but still under my calorie limit.

Supplements: Calcium complex (calcium, D, magnesium, Zinc, C), probiotic, triphala, Mental Clarity.

My short term goal is lose nine pounds by graduation (5/24.)

[Tigerlily]

I "invented" this new exercise today. I think it's fun but maybe I'm just lame.

I was throwing a mini soccer ball up the stairs and catching it. And whenever it doesn't come down or goes down the hallway, I run up and get it. I was getting really sweaty and out of breath....more than any walk. I guess it's a pretty good work out.