I am getting back on the horse so to speak. I am new to the site and have listed to a few podcasts though iTunes.
I actually started really working out again seriously about 6 weeks ago and have already lost 10lbs. I was given a very generous Christmas gift of 6 sessions with a personal trainer who is terrific. He understands that I can’t change everything at once and designed a weight lifting program that I did for the first six weeks (3-4 times/week + cardio on my off days and a day of rest). Even though the scale hasn’t moved as much as I would have liked it to, I have definitely noticed a change in the way my clothes fit. I am getting back into things that were in the back of my closet. I have been good about planning out when I’m going to do my workouts and really enjoyed my “Program 1”.
This past weekend I started “Program 2” where I have 2 different days of weights (front and back body). I was all keen to get started on the new program and met my trainer on Sunday (whom I am now paying for on my own) and worked though the new exercises he has included. Unfortunately I have been sidelined by a cold/flu and forced to take a today off. I didn’t want to admit I was sick and still worked out on Monday (but only cardio and abs), but really felt awful in the evening. I was double whammied! Not only was I sore from doing new exercises on Sunday but I was achy all over too. I still want to do a bit of yoga tonight, but may take another day before I hit the weights again.
Now that I have the exercise thing going, I have to get serious about my diet. Hopefully listening to some more casts will give some guidence there.
I have yet to look at other posts, but I hope this will help keep my motivation high in the long run. I have several life changes to make in the coming months (lifestyle and career and hopefully a move) and a support system would be much appreciated.
I am 34, 5’6” and at last weigh in was 237lbs. So I have a fair bit to lose. Eventually I’d like to lose about 100 lbs, but that is too much to think about now. I just have to take it as it comes and I’m happy with my progress so far.
I was generally fit as a kid and but started gaining during my ungergrad at university, so by the time I graduated I was 200 lbs and I have slowly put on a few more pounds each year since. I completed a second Degree last year (my B.Ed) and put on a bit more so I was really starting to feel low about my weight. Meanwhile my mother was for the first time in her life having real successes with her weight loss efforts and kept announcing proudly how much she had lost each week. I was happy for her, but I was annoyed/upset that I was now the biggest one in the family, and I had to ask her to quit telling me her successes.
I knew I had to try and start moving again and I came across an ad from a guy who was offering his services as a personal trainer for free. Of course I was skeptical, but thought I’d give him a try. I needed someone who would help keep me accountable and that would give me motivation. He seemed genuine in his willingness to help me (and he was meeting with me at the school where I teach so I felt safe). While I still believe he was honestly trying to make a difference and give unselfishly of himself, he lacked the background experience and knowledge to assess my fitness and understand what was appropriate for me (especially considering I have a low back issue). He went overboard and wanted me to be doing 2 hour workouts right from the get go, encouraged exercises I wasn’t ready for, and he was pushing veganism on me. Needless to say I had to fire him. I took a yoga class for the fall instead, which got me moving a bit better, and I enjoyed it, but did little for weight loss.
Then at Christmas I was given an awesome gift from one of my co-workers. She was a teacher of mine when I was in high-school and now work with. She is a very passionate phys-ed teacher and inspirational woman. She paid for 6 sessions with an experienced (and $$) personal trainer for me. I wrote about that in my first post. I am very grateful to her and she is my best cheerleader.
I am off my routine right now because I have developed a horrible chest cold. I hurt from hacking so much. I haven’t done any kind of exercise for the last two days. I did not do that yoga last night. I spent the time poking around on the MTM site and forums instead. But I’m not beating myself up over it. I will get back on track when I’m healthier. I sould be watching a bit more carefully what I eat though… right now I am just grabbing stuff that is easy and doesn’t require any real effort to make. Dinner was a grill cheese and soup.... lunch was ice cream and oatmeal cookies… nutritionally bad i know.
I have only worked 1/2 days yesterday and today, but I’m still getting worse. I was actually sent home today, so I would hopefully be in better form for tomorrow because it is the Championships for the Swim Team I coach, but the way I feel right now it is not looking promising. I may have to leave it up to the other coach to accompany them to the Olympium. But I still have to meet the team at school at 6am because I have some supplies they will need so I must try to get some sleep now.
Thanks again for reading… I tend to be verbose, but I’ll get more breif as I post workout logs. I won’t start counting days toward my 100 until I really start working out again, but for now I have some time to search the site!
this is a life long journey.....so each day will have its ups and downs....the secret to figure out what you want, why you want it and just take steps in that direction
It helps me to write down goals....small ones (you’ve heard Scott talk about ‘homework’)
I do it all the time....put them in places I’ll see......
Believe in yourself.....and head down the path to becoming the healthier person you know you would like to be
Get dramatic.....and take a trash can to your cupboard if you have to, to get rid of all the bad things for you (it really is a cool way to set things in motion!)....
When I was much heavier, i used to ask people that had lost weight how they did it , or how much they lost.... I celebrated in their success.....and knew I could do it too…
You have to start with asking some important questions…
The WHYS of losing weight, becoming a more healthier you
How do you want to feel?
the steps you take afater answering those questions will help you stay the course...not just when you are losing weight, but fror a lifetime (and after all, it’s not a ‘diet’ but a lifestyle)
So your a swim coach......tell me how I can become a better kicker (i truly SUCK)....I go so slow when using my kick board I can COUNT the tiles on the bottom of the pool!
I’m starting to feel a bit better since I took the day off. Still met my team at 6am to wish them luck, then stopped at a 24 hr pharmacy and purchased a cheep humidifier, came home and went back to bed and finally had several hours of good sleep. (Coaching in the pool was the only thing that seemed to calm my coughing because the humidity was soothing)
Tonight I did a really light workout just to get the blood flowing again. Not attempting to break any records here.
I did 1/2 hour on the treadmill then did floor exercise and stretching while I watched Survivor.
I recently purchased a HR Monitor and I am still learning how it works but here are the stats: opps didn’t do that right and just recorded over tonight’s workout - second time I’ve done that - but from what I remember Average HR was 124 (I was purposely keeping it low) and I burned 299 Cal.
Tom - most of the power for swimming comes from your arms anyway, but the legs are still important none the less. When I’m teaching beginners I tell them to kick from the hip and keep their knees straight. But that is an over-correction because most beginners kick from the knee and end up splashing more than anything. Without seeing exactly what you’re doing the best advice I can give is to get a pair of fins (short ones) and practice with them for a bit. Immediately you’ll be passing most everyone in the lane, but more importantly it will force you to correct your kick. Once you take them off you’ll feel like your going at a snails pace again, but I bet you’ll have to count a bit faster!
Hi, Catherine! Excellent start. What a great gift from your coworker, the personal trainer! What would be cool is when you get to your goal, you could plan to “pass that on” to another person if you would like.
I did set goals about a month or so into it, as I started to think, “I can do this.” I had a weight goal and a size goal. I wanted to get back down to 125 pounds, which was the lowest I weighed in my adult life, back in maybe 1990. I also wanted to be a size ten. Both seemed highly unlikely. I weighed 230 pounds and was an 18-20, or 2x. On my journey I notice that I weigh a bit more at various sizes than I used to… because I didn’t have muscle before, for one, and because I’m older, possibly. (I know more, so doesn’t my brain weigh more??) So I’ve adjusted my goal to 135 pounds, still shooting for a size 10. I’m still 22 pounds or so away from that goal, and I just bought some size 12 dresses. I think it helps to have an ultimate goal. You’ll be amazed when it starts to seem realistic. It has also helped me keep from going, “well, this is good enough” and get more interested in my long-term health. (I have a feeling I’m going to want to at least try for a single digit size once I hit the 10.)
It’s a wondeful thing to not only have the support of a trainer, but to learn proper techniques at the get-go. Hope you kick that cold for good. I recommend a little hot and sour soup from a Chinese restaurant… it really soothes and opens up your breathing!
You’re off to a great start. Go at your own pace. I always say that I didn’t get in this shape overnight so I can’t fix it overnight. Make healthy changes and start good habits and before you know it you’ll reach your goals. Congratulations on your 10 lb loss. That’s wonderful.
RJ and Carrie thanks for answering the question I posed on Carrie’s thread. It gives me something to think about and try when I do get back to the weights. I’ll talk more with my trainer when I see him next.
Ann - I started a bit above where you did. I have informally made some goals, but haven’t attached dates to them. Ultimately I’d like to drop 100lbs. My first gaol is 10% so about 25 lbs, my next is to get below 200 (= another 10%) . I have created a chart to track my progress and my projection at my current pace shows it is possible by the summer. But if it takes longer that is ok with me too… so long as I get there. One of my motivations is to be able to shop in regular stores and not plus size stores. (You can read what I wrote about that on Joanne’s thread). Thanks for the encouragement and inspiration. You deserve a big party when you do reach your goal and you’re so close!! Congrats.
Tom - so have you got your hands on a pair of fins? Also think about the rate at which you are kicking. You want to go fast so you have to kick fast. Don’t kick too deep - keep it fairly shallow - think streamlined - so only kick about a foot deep, but keep it right under the surface. Hope that helps. How’s the tile counting going?
I had an “ah ha” moment a few weeks ago when I was in the pool. I don’t get the chance to get in and swim myself very often so it had been a good month between swims. But man did I notice a big difference in my speed and stamina after working out in the gym for the past 6 weeks. Doing the weight training has definitely made me stronger and just the feel of my swimming was totally different! I have always been more of an endurance swimmer, but maybe if I keep this up I will be able to beat the some of kids I coach in a 50 metre free style event.
As far as working out - yesterday (day 2) was a washout. This cold still has me beat. At work I had some catching up to do and a fair bit of running around the school. The dry air really bothered my breathing again and by the afternoon I was back to hacking out my lungs. I don’t normally have any breathing issues so this is really bothering me. I had planned to get down to the weight room and try a workout, however there were some unexpected things that had to get done, and at the end of the day I was exhausted.
Today (day 3) I managed to get in 45 min on the treadmill. I still had to keep it slow. I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday and if my lungs are not clearing up by then I will add it to my list of things to discuss with her (althought it will probably be kinda obvious!).
I have attached the charts I created for my weight workouts if anyone cares to check them out and see what I was doing during Program 1 (1st 6 weeks) and what I will be doing in Program 2 (~ next 6 weeks). (If my attachment works in this program)
Catherine, you’re off to a great start, even with being sick! Way to go!
Would it be possible for you to have a travel mug of tea with you? When you feel the air get too dry, you can breath in some of the steam from the cup. Not sure how long it would work, but worth a try.
I’ve just started swimming laps, I’m sure I’ll be asking lots of questions soon. First I have to figure out how much I’m clueless on, I such a swim newbie.
My last attempt to attach my spreadsheets for my workouts failed. Apparently you can only attach pictures to the posts, not excel files. So I copied and pasted my Program 1 (completed 6 weeks) and Program 2 (next 6 weeks) into my previous post, so you can see what I am up to when I say I did “front body” or “back body” workouts. I haven’t included the actual weights used for each exercise, but you can get a good idea of what I do.
(Day 4) Yesterday ended up being another rest day. I think I still needed it. I think I am finally starting to get over the worst of this cold.
(Day 5) This morning I managed to get into the weight room and get through the Front Body workout. I took it a bit easy and only did 12 reps for most everything and lowered the weight a bit for exercises I had done in the previous program. For new exercises I still have to figure out what I should be lifting, but now I have a better idea.... lets see how sore I am tomorrow or Wednesday in the chest from the DB flys. I know I didn’t use heavy enough weights for front DB raises so I doubt I’ll feel it in the shoulders. And I am still being cautious with lunges - I don’t want to aggravate my knees.
I just received a call from my trainer checking up on me. Reminding me to get lots of sleep and to take my vitamins. He really is a good guy.
Bree - I am known for my tea mug in the morning… I should try that if I am having dry air issues, but hopefully it won’t come to that. I had an appointment with my Doctor today (for something totally unrelated) and she didn’t seem conserned when I had her listen to my lungs anyway. Also my coughing is not quite so violent now so I think I am on the mend.
And RJ thanks for the confirmation - I was really starting to get antsy about missing my workouts. Since I started in January I hadn’t taken more than 1 day a week completely off and I was averaging 3 weight sessions a week. I know my body is changing and I didn’t want to wait to continue on this journey!
Tomorrow is Back body and Wednesday is cardio day - then repeat.... hmmm haven’t I heard that somewhere before??
Just got home from doing my workout - back body - as planned. Same attack as yesterday - back off on the amounts I’m lifting and figuring out the new exercises (not as many of them in Day 2’s Back Body routine).
I’m actually sore in the butt and quads from lunges yesterday, more than I thought I would be. Only sightly sore from the flys and not at all from the front shoulder raises (as expected). But I call this good pain - I say the same thing to my Chiropractor when he works on my lower back.
For those of you listening in tonight - enjoy - I haven’t yet included myself in that privileged group.
