Health and Fitness Cult!

I might work out a lot, but everything's a struggle. I've improved, but I'm still not in good shape. It's annoying, but oh well.

Since I hurt my knee I have put on a lot of wieght. I want to go aquajogging regularly. I'm eating little amounts often at the moment, just to keep the nausea away. Losing weight isn't going to be a priority right now, but I do want to be more healthy and active. I need to stop procrastinating and get a bit more motivated. Warmer weather will help, I think.

hahahaha well we are better than you
lmfao(f=fat)

I've dropped 65lbs since April. I'm still a fat guy but I'm getting less fat. Most of that is from making changes to my diet to not just eat like total shit each meal.

I'm now at the point where 80% of my meals or so are vegetarian, which is something I would have never expected. What really helped is I joined a local CSA and started getting all these vegetables I had no idea how to cook. So I have also been learnign how to cook good stuff.

I also tossed a calorie counter app on my phone and used it for every meal, every day for like 2 months and that really helped me get a better understanding of what was in the stuff I was eating.

My next step is to start working out a lot more. But so far, the changes I've made to my diet alone have made me feel a lot better. I get far fewer headaches, I have a lot more energy, I sleep better. So it's been great.

That's great Kirk. Keep at it.

Kirk, that's awesome!

Yeah Kirk, good on ya!

Nice job Kirk!

I've said it before, but all that food you keep posting on facebook looks amazing.

When you decide to add exercise into your plan, don't make the mistake of overdoing it. A lot of people who haven't exercised in a while make that mistake and get discouraged.

What's a CSA?

Make the mistake or don't make the mistake of over doing it? I was hoping to go to the gym today...we'll see.

oops! Fixed.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.

Basically, you buy a share in a local farm and then each week you get food. It is good for the farmer because they get a large sum of money at the beginning of the season and if the season has an accident they don't miss out on any income.

My CSA runs $500 for a full share (family size amount of food) or $300 for a half share (1-2 people). When you consider it is 20 weeks of food, it is a great way to spend your money. During this time, in a typical week, I spend $30 at the grocery store and that covers all of my meals for the week.

So you technically share risk with the farmer but it's a cool way to get your food and it is all local and seasonal. So, for instance, in the beginning of the season you're getting a lot of greens, come summer a lot of squash and such. Tomatoes show up in August... Etc.

It was also cool to meet my farmers, they are really cool people and really into farming.

If you want to find a CSA near you, check here http://www.localharvest.org/

Oh that is awesome! I might just have to do something like that next year.

I only checked one farm that does that around here. It was a bit more money for a full share ($100). But the half (which is all I would need) was $330. That's really not too bad either. And you're supporting your local farmers.

That is brilliant. I think I'm going to look into those thingy's in my area too.

It's a really cool way to get your food. And it really teaches you how to cook because I would get all this stuff I have never bought from a supermarket before. So it's like, okay, what do I do with a bunch of rainbow chard and beets?

Also, depending on where you live, some will also have dairy options and even meat options in some places.

I wish I lived somewhere with a more moderate climate so I could belong to it all year. Sadly, in Chicago, we basically have a 20 week growing season

It looks like there are dairy options in my area.

There is also a reveiw section, so I already have a good idea which farms I won't be buying from.

I am pretty excited about this idea. I've been wanting to figure out how I can go for more local and organic products for a while, while still being able to actually afford it all.

Thanks so much for posting about this Kirk!

I swam 55 laps this evening. Boyah!

Dang girl! I swim one lap and I'm tired hahaha

I usually only do 30 but I want to start taking it a bit more seriously (well, lose the flab at least).

Anyway, if I had your figure I wouldn't bother

If I had her figure, I'd be all bothered, if you know what I mean.

If I had her chaussure, I'd not have to worry about getting a blister.

(I ran two miles this morning but I skipped breakfast because I wasn't hungry... later ended up eating an enormous cheeseburger. This eating small meals thing is fucking hard. When you're not in the habit of doing it, anyway.)

Also, that's a fuckload of laps, Hattie.

And I'd never heard of the whole CSA thing before. Cool link, Kirk.

Yeah, it is weird getting used to it. I tend to want to skip meals a lot too. Don't skip breakfast though! Haven't you heard? That's the most important!

It's not like you ever start feeling hungry. If you feel hungry, it's too late. Sort of like drinking water - if you feel thirsty you're already dehydrated.

I never really eat until I'm full. And I'm never starving.

Glad I was able to help! Hopefully you enjoy it.

Yesterday was the first day I upped my reps and weight on certain workouts. I also started doing push ups which for some reason haven't been able to do recently.(No upper body strength) I used to be one of the few girls that knew/could do an actual push up without looking like I was humping the floor. Now I'm struggling to get 10 push ups in. On the other hand I'm able to do more ab workouts/sit-ups which I used to hate. I average at least 100 sit-up/ab related reps when I go to the gym now. I've been trying to finish up my workouts with 50 of these straight through

Before I was only able to do 25

That Ab Solo Station is pretty sweet.

I've never seen one of those. Interesting.

I've never seen one either. But I've only ever been to school gyms and they've really only had the basic stuff. It looks kinda fun... for an exercise machine...

Yeah it looks fun Haha

I think it looks stupid. Well, I would feel like an idiot doing that.

PS I'm frightened of gym machines.

Think it looks stupid too. But I would be all over that. For a minute or two at least. And if it worked on a scoring system and it lit up when you passed the high score... well I might accidentally become super buff.

I think more gyms should be like arcades. Or more arcades should have gym type stuff maybe.

That's why I think that all of the game consoles becoming movement based is awesome. Except for when you have people that buy the wii for the fitness aspect and then only get games like Wheel of Fortune and Monopoly. And, yes, people do this - my brother's girlfriend is a perfect example.

Oh also the ab solo is a great alternative to having your friend drop a ten pound medicine ball on your face.

I did the wii fit for like fifteen minutes yesterday!

I would have done it longer but I can't stand video games.

That ab thing looks pretty cool though.

So this is the time of year when I stop thinking about "abs" or the "cut look" and start thinking more about adding a little muscle. I never want to "bulk up" but I do try to add some lean muscle in the winter. In the summer months it's less about adding muscle and more about losing fat.

It's also important to cycle your workouts regardless because you can't always go at it with the same intensity and goals. Your body will just stop responding. Or even worse than that, you will end up overtraining.

Do you guys keep goals in mind when you go to the gym? Or is it pretty much always the same goals and the same routine?

Even though I know it's wrong--I have the same goals and do the same routines. I'm a creature of habit and am afraid, if I change up the routine, I may take nights off. Also, I had hoped that, by vastly diversifying my training, my body wouldn't get used to it. But I helped my parents move this past weekend and felt sore. I think I need to change it up.

Definitely not in a very good shape. Went from 60 to 70 kg since I left my first job in Germany (transporting palettes of Wii and WiiFit for Nintendo, which did me a lot of good) almost 3 years ago. I have half-arsedly restarted aikido a year ago (2h30 once a week) but it's not good enough.

It's amazing the difference that changing the rep range, the rest periods, the movements, or even the split can make. You definitely sound like you need to change something.

Is it ironic that moving wii fit was keeping you in shape?

I'm actually planning on changing my routine this coming week. I haven't tried any of the classes they provide at the gym yet and I want to try a couple. They have an aquatics class and a yoga class that I want to check out.

So today I changed it up after warming up on the bike for 40min I did:
pushups
v-ups
mtn. climbers
jumping jacks
squats
lunges
sprints
laterals
knee highs
curls with the 20lb bar
and i'm not sure what you call them but i stand on one of those step things and pick up the 20 lb. bar something bend lifts. Needless to say I was sweating and then I coached my mother to do something similar but not as rigorous. I ended up doing some of the workouts with her too so I doubled up. Most of all I was happy I was able to do push ups again.

40 min is not a warm up, that's cardio. I was always told to do a five min warm up, but never do cardio before your work out.

Well I wasn't going hard and Yeah I guess it was cardio but since I didn't break a sweat I'm pretty sure I just warmed up so I could workout.

I'm no fitness guru, so I can't tell you if that's good or bad. I can't remember what the trainer told me, maybe that you end up burning muscle that way? I have no idea. Maybe Pete knows.

40 minutes is cardio. Lol

I warm up with 5 minutes of jump roping and probably 5-10 minutes of dynamic stretching.

You don't warm up that long because it burns energy that you would want to focus toward your workout.

But Jaz, good job on that workout! I bet you were sweating at the end of that one.

Jaz's workout makes me feel sort of pathetic.

I've been devoting a half an hour a day to working out, making myself do it every day, prety much just light cardio. Once I am in a good habit where I don't have to remind myself and I just do it without thinking I am going lengthen it and add all the strength stuff. It isn't that I never worked out before, just not in any regular consistant fashion.

I've also been keeping track of my calorie and protien and fat intake. Trying to keep the calories at 1600 a day and make sure I get plenty of protien and good fats.

I've lost almost 4lb in the past week and a half. So I'm feeling great. I know I can keep going because I've done this before, after I had my youngest son I just stuck to it and lost about 30lbs, but then I never seemed to have the emotional energy to do it again after my daughter was born. But when my youngest kid is six years old, having four kids is no longer an excuse.

Yeah I know 40min is cardio I'm just used to doing my 7min warm-up on the bike so that's probably why I posted it as warm-up since I didn't break a sweat during those 40 min. I sat there going easy barely getting my heart rate up, if at all, reading warmed and bound as I waited for my mom to get there. So personally, knowing my body, I didn't feel like I used much energy sitting back pedaling at lax speed. I did work up quite a sweat with those circuit training things.
And pepper, the only reason I can do such a crazy workout is because each day I workout I push myself to do either more reps, more weight, or add more time to my routines. So each day in a sense gets easier to do. It definitely was not easy in the beginning.

How long have you been working out like this? Also, where does the motivation come from....you know how do you get yourself going? I have been telling myself for months now that I am going to start walking everyday and have yet to do it.
I had always been thin my whole life and ate what I wanted and never had to work out. I always played sports in school, after I graduated I never really did any type of exercise or sports. So now I have put on some weight over the years, and would love to get in shape, but just cant motivate. What motivates you?

It's only been a month and that was the first day I did that intense of a workout. What motivates me is that I don't want to let myself go. I always played sports in school to the point where I wore myself out. So for the past 5-6 years I would workout off and on but never had a consistent routine. I like being able to go to the gym with someone even if I'm not working out with them but going by myself was very hard to do when I had a membership. I guess my motivation is that I don't want to take my metabolism forgranted because I know once I put on "fat" weight it's going to be that much harder to get motivated to workout. It was hard as it was to get back in the groove and since I had a few injuries towards the end of high school I've been scared to do certain workouts, physical activities. I went to a sports doctor for a really bad case of shin splints and he told me that I could've fractured my leg just from running. It really freaked me out but I tried my best to be active once in a while. So I would go play volleyball on Friday nights which would kick my butt. I got into going to the park to shoot hoops and one of the times I was running to do a layup my knee popped and yeah it didn't feel good. My legs are jacked up so I have to be careful but I know I can't let that be an excuse to keep me from keeping in shape. So my suggestion would be to start with something simple and doable. Taking a 30-40 minute walk is usually a good place to start, if you have a bike go for a ride, do something active but also enjoyable. Running around with my little cousins keeps me on my toes and swimming. Occasionally I would do silly workouts at home. I would try to see how many push ups I could do. We have weights at home and I would do a few reps out of the blue. You could probably do stuff around the house and turn it into a workout as silly as it may be but it could lead to actually getting motivated to do a real workout. If you like sports I suggest you look into your city's sports programs or if your community has other physical activities they offer like a dance class or yoga. Usually the city colleges offer these classes and they can be fun since you don't have to stress planning a workout for yourself, and there are other people there to enjoy working out with.

Sorry this post is so long.

Didnt mind the long post, very informative. Sad to say I have had a Membership at the YMCA for about 3 years now, and its only 10 minutes from me. The boys use it the most for basketball, especially in the winter when it is to cold for them to play their game oustide on our goal. In the 3 years I have went there for one week straight with my husband and we did biking, treadmill and some of the machines. Then he left town for work and I stopped. You have inspired me to go to the Y tomorrow and check out what classes they have to offer, which from what I remember are quite a few. I have let myself go for sure and I am not happy with myself for this. I am the only one who can change that and that is just what I will have to do. I think you are totally right about starting out with a walk or some classes to help get me started. Thank you Jaz for the inspiration! Sometimes you just need that little push.

I'm glad I could help.