ExcerciseFollow

I usually walk a mile over lunch but the winter's cold has put a crimp in that. Today's supposed to be in the low 40's though so maybe I'll head back out.

The only regular exercise I get is walking. Like Joph the winter puts a bit of damper on things, but we really do try and get out four times a week. This means two evening walks during the work week. We have no street lights so a walk requires flashlights, reflector vests and of course warm clothes. It's an effort that takes both of us guilting one another. Once we're out though, I keep the hubby moving along at a nice clip.

I've been out snow-shoeing twice this winter and have done lots of snow shoveling. Beyond that I do some bit of core strengthening and stretching almost nightly. It's nothing terribly strenuous but enough to crack out my back and shoulders. Also crunches are a necessity as I have an irrational fear of acquiring a bot belly.

I have to 'keep active' for work, which means 30 minutes of some kind of sustained activity roughly 2-3 times a week. That gets me the discounted insurance rates. Usually it involves taking the kids to the park or the zoo and chasing them around for a while. Also if I miss my bus I'll walk down the line for a while and catch the next one at a later stop.

I cycle to work which is a 7 mile trip. good enough to keep me reasonably fit.

Now, if it keeps freezing here I'll be able to do some proper skating, I've been looking forward to that for months.

I sometimes lift my beer with my left hand to keep my body symmetrical.

I've been taking the dog for a walk every day. She's totally in a routine now, so she guilts me into it when I don't feel like going. I think it's about a two-mile walk.

I've been cycling through the Insanity workouts. Finished up the full program earlier this month and now I'm just cycling through the more difficult ones until I decide what I want to do next. I don't really want to buy weights or a gym membership if I can help it.

Monday - circuit training
Tuesday - Karate
Wednesday - climbing
Thursday - rest
Friday - circuit training
Saturday - Taekwon do and climbing
Sunday rest

Should be adding climbing on Tuesday and Thursday morning and I'm going to see if I can manage to do Taekwon do on Mondays after circuit training as well. Hopefully when it starts to get warmer I'll be able to get out of bed earlier and maybe add some cardio classes or jogging in the morning.

I was never really an exercise person growing up, but it's amazing how much of a difference finding activities you enjoy doing makes.

I'm terrible when it comes to exercise. I've been meaning to start swimming again, though current health issues preclude that possibility. Sigh.

How do your legs hurt after walking 5k?

That's not race walking. That's just walking.

I have short legs, okay?

Looks stupid so I joined. PunkFloyd

Probably better for your physique than diddling sheep.

I've been doing P90X since early December and thinking of switching to Insanity. Tues, Thurs, and Sat I also go up to the gym with the boyfriend and do light weight training and more cardio plus 30-45min worth of laps in the pool. I would not step foot in a gym but because he is a student, he goes for free and I only have to pay a nominal fee as a guest. I forgot how heavenly a heated pool can be when it is 30-40 degrees outside.

Currently I'm trying to lose weight, not bulk up With an ~1800 calorie diet, walking several miles a day, and doing a good 30 minutes of intense workouts, I expect to see the pounds drop fairly quickly.

I'm winning that biggest loser competition, dammit!

If you're trying to bulk up, you want more time to rest to give your muscles time to rebuild. If you're only interested in conditioning and/or maintenance then I'd say one day of rest is more than enough.

Hangover Sundays it is!

There used to be a younger woman at work who was very overweight (I'd estimate somewhere around 350 lbs). She'd also wear clothes probably two sizes too small for herself. Guys in the shop would constantly make fun of her (behind her back), etc. I'd feel kind of bad because I'd laugh at the jokes, and at Lunch you'd see her walking laps around the parking lot.

But then of course for the mid morning break, she'd have a frozen hamburger and two corn dogs from the frozen food vending machine, and would always have a non-diet soda two-liter sitting at her work station, so I stopped feeling bad.

So remember... Walking doesn't do sh*t if you still eat crap like that.

Yeah I never understood those people, I guess good intentions but that won't do sh*t for fat burning. My walks would burn on average 3 weight watcher points, my breakfast, snack and lunch would normally equate to 3 points which gets me to dinner and beer with a full days worth of points @ 6pm at night.



<3 @#%^


Edited, Jan 29th 2013 6:35am by Hallertau

Light Beer is 3 points, Regular are 5 points. According to Weight Watchers, beer is zero points without taking alcohol content into consideration. The higher the alc (like most craft beers) the higher the points but its a pain to calculate so I consider anything above light 5 points because my body burns alcohol like a furnace.

It think we need to sort out some things here:

To lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you take in. Simple as that. Your daily caloric sum* needs to be negative to lose weight. Doesn't matter if you eat fried chocolate bars and drink carbonated soda all day long, as long as your caloric sum stays negative.

Now, using the woman mentioned above as an example: Assuming her weight, prior to her exercising, was somewhat in balance (caloric sum is zero, or close to it), she might actually be losing weight, or at least no longer be gaining it, despite her continued intake of large and unhealthy meals. If her weight was in balance, the exercising would create the caloric deficit needed to start the weight loss.

Of course, eating unhealthy can lead to other issues, such as diabetes, gallstones and/or obstipation, but for the purpose of losing weight, the type of food you ingest doesn't matter**, as long as your caloric sum stays negative.

Just thought I'd bring it up since you guys think that eating junk food makes weight loss impossible. It doesn't, but it's not healthy. Also, counting points is silly. Just eat less than you used to. Boom, weight loss achieved.

* Caloric sum = calories in - calories out
** Healthy food usually enables you to reach satiety with less calories taken in, making it easier to reach the caloric deficit needed to lose weight.

Edited, Jan 31st 2013 2:28pm by Mazra

Which is why those crash diets where you go down to 500 a day are ridiculous.

Yes, you lose weight real snappylike, but the moment you start eating more than a grapefruit a day, you'll gain weight super duper fast. Patience is a virtue when it comes to losing weight.

An inefficient gut biome just speeds up the process, it's not a requirement for losing weight. A super efficient gut biome can't extract more calories from a meal than there are calories available. As long as your caloric intake is less than your caloric expenditure, you will lose weight.

Anyone claiming they can take in less calories than they spend and not lose weight are superhuman and need to phone Stan Lee, because they've gained the ability to create mass from nothing. Congratulations.

Edited, Jan 31st 2013 8:44pm by Mazra

Calories are a measurement of energy. More precisely, one calorie equals 4.184 joules, which is also the approximate amount of energy needed to heat up one gram of water by one degree Kelvin/Celsius. It's also the approximate amount of energy needed to lift four small apples one meter into the air.

Still doesn't change the fact that spending more energy than you take in equals loss of energy and therefore mass. Our body will try to slow down the process by lowering our metabolism, but as long as we receive less energy than we spend, our body has to convert mass into energy to balance out the deficit. It's science, baby. Can't argue with it.