Geezzz..

Hey All! This is about my third post on here. I had a couple of questions for you all! :)

I am sit most of the day on the computer, but recently becan doing a 15 minutes excersize in the morning. (Be easy, I just started working out for the first time in years!) With a considerably lower calorie diet, is this going to be effective?

I have designated Saturdays as my kinda "wild card" day.. I don't go out and eat everything in sight, but don't allow myself to feel guilty for what I do eat on this day. Anyone else practice this as well?

At lastly, I was looking for a buddy to keep in contact with through myspace/MSN/e-mail... I'm 20 years old. Probably around 200 lbs. (I choose not to weigh myself in pounds, but by the way I feel.)
And am just looking to lose some weight. No goal in mind exactly. But would LOVE love love to chat with new people and get to know some of you! :)

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. :o)

That's pretty much the same plan I followed when I first started eating well and exercising, 'cept I didn't really set aside a specific cheat day. I do allow myself some treats now though from time to time.

 

When I began exercising, I would only be active for 10 minutes, then eventually it went to 15 minutes, then 20; Now I exercise anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

Wow that makes sense... I mean, I have tried to diet in the past and it hasn't lasted much long than a couple weeks. I think it's due to the fact that I go from eating anything and everything (haha quite literally) to not much of anything. Thus setting myself up for failure, I'd imagine. I eventually got so sick of it and tagged it as a "Way to ridiculously hard to do" file and shoved it to the back of my priority list.

I take comfort in knowing that it can be done with a slow start in the excercise department. :)

being able to do things in moderation is what its all about , well what its all about for me anyway. when i first started losing weight i did a pretty intense detox for about two weeks to get all the addictive chemicals out of my system. i basically ate nothing but baked chicken and a billion salads water and fruit. no bread no crisps lol. i really think that coming from a diet like i had it was the only way for me. ( i would eat 3 or 4 hot pockets at 2 am then wake up at 6 and go get 2 mc griddles a coke and hash browns on my way to work... we wont talk about lunch or snacks lol) . after i felt i no longer NEEDED these foods, i started slowly integrating different things back into my diet. but after a couple weeks you will have lost a bit of weight and those saturday binges dont seem quite as important :oD.

other times i have attempted to lose weight i did do the treat day thing... it just didnt work for me <3 and the exercise thing? any thing you can do to get your ass moving is good ! <3 i hate exercise and mostly i just jump on my little trampoline before i eat breakfast in the morning for about 20 minutes! good luck!!

Hey Caitlin!  I have a "wild card" day, only I call it my eat yummy food day.  I usualy substitute a normal meal with something like a sub, or some pizza :-P  I have a 1800 cal/day mon-sat, and a 2100 cal on sunday :-D  I think it might be a bit diff for us to chat on msn since I on a different time zone then you prolly are, but I would love to help keep ya motivated, I need a little help myself!  I have the myspace (bobchikawowow)  or you could just send me a message on here, I am more likley to get it here.  Look forward to hearing from ya in the future, and good luck with the new lifestyle!  (Oh and I love the way you measure youself, I like that, I am going to start doin that too! )

Yeah. I literally could not do more than 10 minutes of activity. That's all my body could handle.

I was stuck at 10 minutes for at least a week.

Then, after that first week, I built enough endurance to kick it up to 15 minutes.

Then, after about a week at 15 minutes I was able to move on to 20 minutes.

Today I can probably go for as long as I wanted, but I normally stop after 30 minutes (sometime I do 45 minutes, sometimes an hour.)

Keep in mind that I do this 6 times a week.

I also want you to know that I don't deprive myself completely either. In other words, I don't think your designated cheat day is necessarily  a bad idea.  For instance,  this past weekend I had a  kickass  double chocolate cup cake and a slice of pizza. The  weekend before that I  had an amazing Danish.

It's good to satisfy your appetite from time to time, just do it in moderation.

Check out my gallery. You can see some pics for reference. All those pics are relatively recent. The oldest shot is from January.

That's awesome! I live on the top floor of an apartment building so I just try to run in place for 5 minutes just to get the blood moving, then I stretch, do leg work outs and abs.. I don't like push-ups so need to invest in some weights or something for my arms. Any other excersize tips would be great?! For an apartment building. I'm up nights as my boyfriend works graveyards, and I don't like to go out walking at night without someone else. So thats kinda out of the picture as well.

Yea.. I don't know how the Saturday "free" day is going to work out. I just started decided on that a few days ago. I'm hoping it will allow me to just kinda eat some of the foods I like as a "reward" for my hard work all week, and give me something to look forward to at the end of the week.

I don't know that I could do a detox thing, we didn't eat ALOT of fast food and stuff to begin with, just cooked some unhealthy meals, such as chicken alfredo with heavy creams and cheeses, cooked with butter and all that. Just making small changes in my eating/cooking habits has transformed our eating into a much healthier thing.

What sort of excercises do you guys do? I was thinking of purchasing... and I know this sounds ridiculous but *gasp* Richard Simmons. Lol. I know he's alittle outthere, but damn does he have energy! And my mom lost alot of weight years ago by doing tapes (or dvds, now) such as these.

I don't have access to any sort of equipment or anything, so what do you guys suggest?

Treadmill jogging and very light weight lifting. You can buy a curling bar or other free wights at a flea market; You can lift weights in your top floor apartment.

everyone should get a trampoline!! they are amazing! the bitty ones like 30 bucks! and you dont have to listen to crazy richard simmons@!!! <333

I would love to see hot women working out on trampolines.

 

 

I wouldnt go with a teadmill since your on the top floor of an apt, I would go with one of the elyptical machines, they are an amazing full body workout.  As for arm excersized, I am a big fan of pushups because I can do them during comercial breaks, so I don't really know what else, sorry! :-D  But keep up the hard work.

Alright thank you! I should invest in a treadmill, but the boyfriend would probably laugh if I asked. He's the kinda guy.. why would you pay for something to walk on if you can walk where ever you want if you step out the door.. lol It'll be tough convincing him! I'll look into it though! THanks for all the help you all!

I wouldn't dismiss Richard Simmons right off the bat!  I have been working out with my homegirl Leslie Sansone (Walk n Tone) for about 6 weeks and even though it's kind of cheesy, it really helps.  You are a lot like me because I don't really like walking outside by myself, so I do it in my living room.  It is a great DVD because it built up my endurance, so now I have incorporated step one of the Jillian Michael's 30 day shred DVD (I wouldn't suggest it for beginners).  Plus, it helps posture, gives you cardio and even has a mile with weights to give you strength training.  Plus, you don't have to buy a big bulky treadmill!  I really love a exercise video that I can have fun with, and if the instructor makes me laugh while I am working out, better!  Plus, I find with instructors like Leslie and Richard, they are motivating and encouraging, almost loving, compared to someone like Tony Litte (ugh) who just yells at you.  Find what's comfy for you and FUN!  You won't do it if it you dread it, no matter how fit you are.

PS I also LOVE Denise Austin.  Her voice is soothing on her Pilates and Yoga tapes!  :)

Original Post by caitlin1387:

 I don't like push-ups so need to invest in some weights or something for my arms.

 

Two words: Resistance Band!

Prevention magazine found that these bands were more effective than weights, and they are only about $15.  A lot of them come packaged with a DVD as well.  Plus, you can also use them for leg, ab and other exercises.

I can't believe no one else has suggested this yet, but you live on the top floor of an apartment building.... so there must be stairs that you can work out on. Start with walking one floor, then work your way up. Take it slow in the beginning, and before you know it, you will be running up the flights of stairs!! And, it doesn't cost you a penny. Put on some 'pump you up' tunes and start climbing!!

Original Post by mish_arsenau:

I can't believe no one else has suggested this yet, but you live on the top floor of an apartment building.... so there must be stairs that you can work out on. Start with walking one floor, then work your way up. Take it slow in the beginning, and before you know it, you will be running up the flights of stairs!! And, it doesn't cost you a penny. Put on some 'pump you up' tunes and start climbing!!

Trying to find ways to exercise at home is great. However, as a long-time apartment dweller, I would say that you might want to avoid this bit of exercise. It depends on how loud your staircase is. Generally, neighbors can hear people going up and down the stairs very well. If you want to play nice with your neighbors, go exercise somewhere else, like the track at your local high school. You can run up and down the bleachers or the steps that separate them.

You don't actually even have to run all the way up and down if you don't want to. One of the best aerobic exercises involves just two stairs. You can also buy a high step at a fitness store. I did this, because I kept breaking the crates and other things I used as a step in my home. I bought a very nice one for about $45 and I get an incredible workout using that and dumbbells. (But of course that means buying something when you can just use what is already out there for free. So if you don't want your boyfriend to poke fun at you, go to the high school. You can use their bleachers for free. But since you are up nights, you might want to make the investment in the step after all. It will bother your neighbors a lot less than your running in place, and it's a more-intense exercise, really.)

As far as the noise level for your neighbors goes, I'm been lifting serious weights and doing intense cardio in top-floor apartments for more than 15 years, and only once did anyone come up and ask me to stop. And THAT person had a stroke if you walked across the floor in your socks after 8:00 p.m. Other than that one incident, no one has ever even mentioned it to me. (But I will repeat that using your stairs is a bad idea. I know how loud that can be. And my friends complain about the noise often when I am over at their places and a neighbor comes home. And running up and down the stairs at night?!? That could lead to a serious confrontation. )

Thank you all very much for you advice! It all makes so much sense!!!

As for the tapes, I do love the encouragement of all the instructors on all of the tapes, and the convieniance of just popping it into the dvd player and getting a thorough start to finish kind of workout! It works well for the apartment dwelling person! :) My mom likes to use another guy that makes the Easy Toning video... he looks a bit like Chuck Norris, but is quite amusing. lol

As for stair climbing, it is quite noisy and I wouldn't want to risk my neighbors getting annoyed. It's never fun to deal with! lol. But greatly appreciate your input!! :) I think that I will look into investing in a step thing. That seems as though it would work well in my case. Running in place isn't too loud actually. I've just recently found that dancing to some of my favorite tunes has also helped out lots!!! :o)

I appreciate your advice so much! Thank you!

A yoga mat! For 15 dollars, it's a great investment and it rolls up really small, if space is an issue in your apartment. It's great strength training, and there are several free podcasts on itunes (and probably elsewhere) that can guide beginners through it (some have pictures too). There are several websites that can give you tips for modification of some of the poses if you feel you are too large or not strong enough to do the full versions (yet). Also, if you're in any decent sized city, there should be some yoga studios, and the classes are usually reasonably priced if you just want to go to a few to get started on the right track.

Hey there! I am completely with you on your "wild cal" day. Me and the boyfriend like to go out on the weekend, and that usually includes eating out...so i tend not to stick to my 1200 calorie as I do during the week....I have myspace...and aol/yahoo. So you should add me! The link is on my page...and I have added you here too :)   Exercising for me is tough...I just can't get movtivated, and I too have a lazy desk job...but on breaks, me and a co-worker go out and have a brisk half hour walk! And BTW--- i ♥ sweating to the oldies...lol.

A fun one though is any of the many hip-hop dance/ab workouts. They are like 9 bucks at Walmart!

Here's my opinion on "free days." (and remember that it is just an opinion, lol.) In my experience, free days became loop holes. I used to have free days. And if I slipped on my diet during the week, I'd say I would make up for it on the free days. And I never did. I would feel totally defeated and like a failure.

What I recently learned which has helped me tremendously in eating and exercising is...learning to forgive myself. Before, if I ate a candy bar, I'd feel miserable, thinking things like, "no wonder I'm fat!" Now, I think..."I ate a candy bar. At the next eating opportunity, I'm just going to make a better choice." (Notice I didn't say, "right choice," because it's not about right and wrong, it's about accepting the slips and moving on at the very next opportunity.)

The same holds true with exercise. I'm not always going to be dedicated, and I've learned to live with that. I do the best I can most times, but I am human and I will slip.

I've also learned that I absolutely cannot end a meal unless I have chocolate, lol. So I've acquired the taste for Dark Chocolate. One 1" square from Ghiradelli's is 55 calories. But I have that after I have my humongous salad and an orange, or my small dinner. I build my treats in to my eating plan now.

Like mortalmonkey (who, I assume was a fan of the Man Show, lol,) like he said, it's not about deprivation.

Eating right is a lifestyle change, and sometimes Life requires a little chocolate every now and then.