Joined a Gym

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Funny I was going to ask how you two were doing! Sounds like you are enjoying yourselves and are motivated. I'm very glad that the trainer is also focusing on diet and it is very difficult to change life habits.

We are all different but what I have found works for me is a lot of protein with the salad. It takes much longer to digest and therefore keeps you feeling full longer. I hope your salads are in the chef, cobb vein. Keep an eye on the salad dressings you use (some of them are killer in calories and carbs).

Glad you are feeling good so far and much luck going forward.

When I go to Salad Creations, I usually get the Florida Sunshine Cobb. It has chicken, carrots, an egg, bleu cheese, bacon bits, tomatoes, olives. And, I usually get a balsamic vinegrette. This last time, I got a create your own salad and got the low fat, low carb garlic vinegrette. I really liked that salad and I think it is healthier. I may switch to that one.

Costco has a killer spinach salad that I love to get. That is what I had last night. After I ate it, I was still hungry, so I ate some leftover chicken wings from my son's birthday party. I resisted having the cake. But, I am sure the wings put me over my calorie budget.

My trainer gave me a program to log my calories. I haven't used it yet. Too lazy to do that yet.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

When I go to Salad Creations, I usually get the Florida Sunshine Cobb. It has chicken, carrots, an egg, bleu cheese, bacon bits, tomatoes, olives. And, I usually get a balsamic vinegrette. This last time, I got a create your own salad and got the low fat, low carb garlic vinegrette. I really liked that salad and I think it is healthier. I may switch to that one.

Costco has a killer spinach salad that I love to get. That is what I had last night. After I ate it, I was still hungry, so I ate some leftover chicken wings from my son's birthday party. I resisted having the cake. But, I am sure the wings put me over my calorie budget.

My trainer gave me a program to log my calories. I haven't used it yet. Too lazy to do that yet.

The spinach salad is the ONLY thing about my closed Costco membership I miss. BJs is just much closer to a normal route for me. Gotta watch spinach. mucho carbs. Buffalo wings are very low carb. A slice of bread though and you are done for the day! I pretty much eat like a pig on modified Atkins. Between that and exercise I lost 30 pounds and have maintained that loss for nearly 2 years now. It's the drinking that gets me.

Again you have to find what works for you, Jim.

Remember that muscle weighs more than fat so sometimes you seem to stall but still lose inches. Take measurements if you haven't already.

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

Well my excersize on this May version of Labor Day (every 3 day holiday is labor day, always laboring on one project or another) was to remove a winter kill yew, dig out about 500 -700 pounds of rock (felt like a million pounds) haul that to the yard waste site, dig out some of the sand and poor soil, put in some compost. I put in a small round evergreen. Wife calls it a mushroom. I put in wood mulch. I spend several hours doing this change over, lifting hundreds of pounds, drinking a half gallon of gatoraid and getting a good workout and making my yard look much better.

I have a lot more rock to move. If I am able to continue that project this summer, I should be either be very good shape, or will have my first heart attack.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Finishing up my 3rd week of working out at the gym and it is finally getting pretty exciting. We've been going consistently 6 days per week. Every other day with the trainer and off days on cardio. I am really enjoying it. I feel a lot better with more energy than I've had in over 10 years.

Also, changed the diet. Biggest change was flipping the bigger meals to earlier in the day. I used to skip breakfast and eat a big lunch and a bigger dinner. Now, I wake up early, eat some fruit. Later in the morning, I eat trail mix, sunflower seeds and fiber one bar or two. We work out and then go to lunch. Usually a salad. More trail mix and fruit in the afternoon and I try to eat a very light dinner.

The trainer changes up the work out regimine every two weeks. What I really like about it is that it is challenging, but there isn't much pain. I just feel like I had a good work out every day. Today, I had so much energy, I went a did a couple miles on the treadmill this morning.

We take measurements every two weeks. Sadly, I'm not losing any weight. I am losing fat. I lost 1.7% body fat in the first two weeks. Gained it all back in muscle. Evidently, my body needs to get back the muscle tone I lost from 10 years of inactivity before I can start losing weight.

When I first started on this journey, my goal was just to lose 15 pounds. Now that I've been doing it pretty consistently over 3 weeks, I've updated my goals. Now, I want to get fit. That means 20-25 pounds. I want to play tennis again with my sons. And, I want to start golfing and diving again. What seemed impossible just a few weeks ago seems possible again. I am so glad I am doing this.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Oh, I forgot to mention. Yesterday, I got onto one of those spinning cycles as part of my workout. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I did fine sitting down. But, standing up peddling was intense. I could only do a minute or two before having to sit down. I can't even imagine doing 50 minutes of that in a class. My guess is an hour of spinning is worth about 500 calories. I'd like to try that someday when I get quite a bit more fit.

[cathyv Member Find all posts View Profile Close cathyv]

Jim,
I have had a trainer for 18 months. If I didn't know he was going to be mad, I probably would not show up. It has been a great experience and I think this year, I might wear a swimsuit. Good luck.
cathyv

[cbcjs Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cbcjs]

exercising!

I finally get a topic where I'm not taking but can contribute something.

New to TS but not to strength/weight training.

A few web sites for info and resources.

John Stone Fitness - Welcome!

Build Muscle & Lose Fat through Strength Training | StrongLifts.com

ExRx (Exercise Prescription) on the Net

Bodybuilding.com - The Future Of Bodybuilding! Huge Bodybuilding Site.
Bodybuilding.com - 2008 Bodybuilding.com Transformation Guide!

Resistance training/Weight lifting + cardio is much better than cardio alone.
(70% weight lifting and 30% cardio)

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is better than steady treadmill work.

Compound exercises (bench, squat, dead lift) over isolation exercises (preacher curls, etc).

Full body workouts evenly working on upper and lower body parts.

Save $$$ by replacing the personal trainer by reading and researching online and training yourself. (Just like TS)

A few tips to stay motivated for the long haul.

- Take measurements and a picture front/profile without a shirt.
See and chart your progress. Body weight is not a
good barometer of health/fitness.
- Set goals.
- Buy an ipod and listen to fav. music while working out.
- Don't live in the gym. (40 min-50 min max per workout) (2-3 x a week)
- Enjoy the process!

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I haven't done an update in a while, so I thought it was time. Guess what? I stuck with it. I work out 4-6 days per week and I've change my diet enough to be healthy again. I am back to the weight I was at before I went on this crusade, but I am much healthier and I feel much better.

I lost 5.2% body fat and gained about 6 pounds of muscle. Overall I lost 12 pounds of fat. I've never been a gym rat. But, I've learned that the gym is my friend. My trainer did a great job at keeping the workouts interesting.

I have learned a LOT about exercise. Here's what I learned:

1) Diet is way more important than exercise in losing weight. Exercising helps make you feel better. But, I think losing weight is 2/3 diet and 1/3 exercise. I thought it was the opposite.

2) You MUST eat enough before workouts or you will get dizzy and want to faint. That happened to me a few times. So, I now eat a lot for breakfast when in the past, I didn't eat until lunch. In addition, this gets your metabolism going earlier in the day and you burn more calories.

3) Stretching is vitally important. If you don't stretch out, you can knock yourself out for 3 or more days by being tight.

4) Spinning was the hardest thing to do when I started. Now I regularly go about 20 minutes with 4 sprints.

5) I now run about 3 miles on my off days on the treadmill. I have bad knees, so I must stretch to keep my muscles loose so that minimize the pain.

6) There are a lot of exercises you can do at home, on the road and in the gym. The gym is good when you need the weights and machines for cardio.

7) I did take 7 weeks off of the training regimine when I drove around the country. I didn't make time for exercise. I was surprised that I still lost weight. that is because the muscle atrophied. It took me two weeks to get back to where I was at before leaving.

8) A trainer is good, but if you aren't motivated, then nothing will work. My father and Grand mother have Diabetes. When I hit 200 pounds, I thought I was going to get it. Now, I want to train for another 3-6 months and become "FIT". I need to lose about another 10-12 pounds of fat and gain about 4 more pounds of muscle. I may be able to do it by Christmas.

9) Getting heathly is a long process that is a commitment to a new way of living. It's worth it if you can make the change. I feel 10 years younger. I hope to pick up tennis again later in the year.

[4ARedOctober Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close 4ARedOctober]

Great job sticking with it. Did you cut out the mac salad and portugese sausage? And stay away from the loco moco......it is easy to get fat in Hawaii.

My wife keeps trying to talk me into doing pilates....so far nope.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

Jim,

That's great, good for you! I'm impressed. Nothing harder than sticking with a diet/exercise program, IMO.


John,

Pilates are great, so is yoga. I know they don't sound very macho, but they'll get you into shape, and keep that way. They can also help improve any sport that you might play.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Great job sticking with it. Did you cut out the mac salad and portugese sausage? And stay away from the loco moco......it is easy to get fat in Hawaii.

My wife keeps trying to talk me into doing pilates....so far nope.

My middle son loves loco moco. Both the fast food place and the dish. He's 11 and over 5 ft tall. I think he'll end up being 6'2" tall. He eats like a horse.

I never ate much mac salad or portugese sausage except maybe for breakfast.

Fortunately, we have Salad Creations and Panda Express.

[Chap7 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Chap7]

So how's the workout coming along?

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

So how's the workout coming along?

It's going quite well. As you saw in the thread on the Aloha Run, I have been training for the last 3 months for the 8.2 mile Aloha Run. Today, I finished it with a time of 1:37 which is a bit over 5 mph or a bit less than a pace of 12 minute miles.

My last measurements, which I don't totally believe, said that my body fat is 22% and my weight is 193. I started off at 200 pounds with 30% fat. I have lost a lot of the fat on my neck, arms, legs and belly. It is very noticeable. I am very happy about that. I think my starting body fat was a bit lower and my last readiing was a bit higher. My readings say I lost 17.5 pounds of fat and gained 10 pounds of muscle. I think it's probably more like 6-7 pounds of muscle and 13.5-14.5 pounds of fat.

My fitness level is very good. So much so that I play tennis most every Saturday and Sunday. We joined the Oahu Club and the whole family is now playing tennis. My boys are in the tennis program there. My wife plans to work out with a trainer there. I also hit the gym on Tues and Thursday. And, I usually do a 3-4 mile run 3 days per week.

My goal was to lose 15 pounds. I am still 8 pounds away from that objective. Other than that, I have surpassed all of my other fitness goals. I think if I keep up the running, the weight will come off. I haven't changed my diet much except for eating much more in the mornings. Bryan and I are working on a training plan to run a half marathon. I think when I do that, I will meet my last goal which is the weight. My real reason for running is that I don't want to change my diet and I still want to lose the weight. So, I'll just keep increasing my running until I make my goal. In today's run, I estimate that I burned 800-900 calories. That is very gratifying.

If anyone out there wants and needs to make a change, if I can do it, you can too. I was an athlete in my youth, so I always need a goal like a run to keep me on track. But, once I set my mind to it, I found it quite easy to do. You just have to get your butt out of that chair and into the gym. Once you do that, it's all down hill from there.

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

I'm getting stonger!!

Boy, am I impressed with you Jim. I have bbeen working out for 6 mos and I haven't lost any weight, but my body is shifting. I think my big tummy is going to my butt. I am so much stronger now and both my arms are the same length. Everytime I get mad at myself for not loosing weight and going on a diet I forget why I started in the first place. I went from not being able to pick up a condiment basket in my left hand to being able to pick up 5lbs!! Doesn't sound like much, but trust me it's a milestone. I tried 8 lbs but my left arm just was shaking. I'm also able to pull down on the machines now and adding more weight. I know I'm making great strides in getting stronger. That's what the Dr. gets for telling me I'm going to be bedridden. I am a master of the wobble limp!!

Hooray for you!! and hooray for me for getting stronger!! (Just thought I'd pat myself on the back)== with my left arm !! shaggy

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Boy, am I impressed with you Jim. I have bbeen working out for 6 mos and I haven't lost any weight, but my body is shifting. I think my big tummy is going to my butt. I am so much stronger now and both my arms are the same length. Everytime I get mad at myself for not loosing weight and going on a diet I forget why I started in the first place. I went from not being able to pick up a condiment basket in my left hand to being able to pick up 5lbs!! Doesn't sound like much, but trust me it's a milestone. I tried 8 lbs but my left arm just was shaking. I'm also able to pull down on the machines now and adding more weight. I know I'm making great strides in getting stronger. That's what the Dr. gets for telling me I'm going to be bedridden. I am a master of the wobble limp!!

Hooray for you!! and hooray for me for getting stronger!! (Just thought I'd pat myself on the back)== with my left arm !! shaggy

As I always tell my boys, it's not the result, but the effort you put in that matters. If you are making progress and you are sticking to it, then you are doing well. Congrats, Shaggy. Keep it up.