Fitness Encouragement

[samurainoir]

This is the green smoothie I drink when I'm on the go and don't have time to make one in the blender.

[samurainoir]

what are you training for Samurai? running or cycling?

Only for crosstraining. It's been too many years since I've been able to "fake" my way through a half marathon or ran a full marathon (which you can't "fake"). Although coincidentally, an old training friend did drop me an email asking if I wanted to walk the 30K Around the Bay with him in a few weeks. This race used to be a breeze for me back in the day, but I couldn't even keep up with him last year at a light jogging pace (jiggling the entire way) while he was POWER WALKING!

This race was featured in the film Saint Ralph. If you want inspiration in a running movie, I'd heartily recommend this one (full disclosure, a couple of my friends from film school produced this one).

[jessica]

I will start walking again next week. I am now up to 110. If I can get down to 100 I'll be happy. I have been limiting my food intake, so that I eat a healthy portion and have been trying not to indulge. It's tough though because I love food.

[Duncan]

OK - I just got off of the treadmill, and did some bench press & curls. I'm happy to report that this is my 3rd or 4th time on the treadmill since last Friday, and I'm already starting to feel some improvement.

[samurainoir]

Last night I decided to wash my Jumbo Fat ******* Burrito and deep fried mars bar down with a mango juice instead of the mexican mango pop that I usually have. I managed to score the last deep fried mars bar they had left.

It's a recovery day, so I decided to do an hour on the recumbant bike at the easy gear to spin the lactic acid out of my legs. I'm a bit stiff, but fortunately not sore, so I'm probably listening to my body properly in terms of what I'm capably of handling. The great thing about the recumbant is that I don't have the sound of my thighs slapping against my belly like they normally do with each pedel stroke on the normal bike.

It actually went by pretty quick because I was so engrossed in my novel. My lovely spouse has been on me to read The Hunger Games for quite a while now. To my delight, it's actually not the Battle Royale ripoff that I assumed it would be. Ironically, much of these early chapters are focused on descriptions of food.

Surprisingly, even at an easy pace like this it still translates into 300 calories burned approx.

[samurainoir]

Just came back from weights at noon hour. Kept them light. The instructor's a friend of mine and she razzed me out in front of everyone for drinking canned juice. "Breakfast" I told her "you're just lucky it doesn't have vodka in it." I'll have to start remembering to get up slightly earlier to front-load my breakfast... or at least eat an apple or banana or smoothie before I work out.

Was pretty good this weekend. Taught my class on Friday, plus a half hour of light walking on the treadmill. An hour and a half on the bike on Wednesday. Ate at McDonald's twice this weekend to get Young Justice Happy Meal toys... but I gave the fries that came with the Happy Meal to the dog.

[Duncan]

Ate at McDonald's twice this weekend to get Young Justice Happy Meal toys... but I gave the fries that came with the Happy Meal to the dog.

Apple dippers. They're not bad.

[lepage]

This is something I constantly struggle with. I love burgers, fries, and pizza but they do not go well with my struggling metabolism. I have medical issues that cause me to gain wieght super fast if I am not careful.
Tuesday- Friday, I get up at 4 a.m. and walk my dog 2 1/2 miles before I go to work. During the week I eat the same things:

Breakfast: bowl of Multi grain cereal with some fruit.

Lunch: 1 can of campbell's select harvest soup (chicken with wild rice) with 1 or 2 diet mountain dews (they don't taste diet).

Dinner: 1 slap some sliced chicken, 1 slice of cheese, 1 tsp sweet baby rays bbq sauce on a piece of flatbread where it is toasted on the George Foreman grill. AWESOME!!!!!!

When I am not at work, I drink Lipton's diet Citrus Green tea.

I found that it is much easier to have a daily routine so that there is no choice to be made. Einstein in his early days used to wear the same suit every day. He had a closet full of the same outfit so that when he got up in the morning he didn't have to stand around deciding what to wear. I found this works great especially when it comes to deciding what to eat. When the stomach starts to rumble and your lunch isn't already there for you to grab, it is at those times it becomes easy to hit the fast food. Me personally given the choice, will gravitate towards what tastes good over what is good for me.

[Brue]

good thread Ed, And I know you are a runner and if you sign up for a half marathon a few months out, you will do it and be better for it.

a lot of good advice in this thread including:
make a plan, enjoy what you do, replace garbage (soda) with good stuff (lots of choices)

i would say- just start, just do something. walk, run. swim. bike. basketball. play with your kids just DO sometjing. later you can worry about doing more.
and --NO FAD DIETS - just eat 3 (or 4) meals a day and choose healthy food. snack reasonably. eliminate the one food nemesis.


my story:

in high school i was on the swim team, cross country team and track . in college i was in intramural and club sports,

at age 20 I wore size 28 pants and they were loose, I could exercise endlessly, I could run a 5k in under 17 mins.

at age 23 i suffered torn knee ligaments, and fractured a vertebra and rib (alcohol involved) - this marked the beginning of my downfall.

I was busting the buttons on 34 pants and walking like an old man at age 34 (170 at 5'8" 20% over weight). I felt my stomach bulge laying on my back one night and decided i HAD to change.

I went for a one mile run - it hurt.
I kept going for 1 to 3 mile runs a couple times a week- slow.
i signed up for a 5k and ran 4 minutes slower on pavement than I had on grass 15 years earlier. and i could barely recover.

i kept running. i started to ride for transportation again.

a year later i was 5 pounds lighter and could run a 5 k in just over 20 minutes.

then, with the base i had built i signed up for a marathon and a bench press competition. AND I spent 2 months without Doritos and Beer - I was consuming a 12 pack or more per week and a family sized bag of chips.

I emerged from the winter 20 pounds lighter - the 145 that I have maintained for 5 years. With the weight gone, better nutrition, proper sleep and exercise I now can bust a 18:03 5k.

now - i eat super healthy - draw a food pyramid - that is my diet. i do whole grain not enriched white, fresh foods not processed, total instead of cap'n crunch, 92%lean not fatty junk, i don't add stuff to my coffee, i snack on fruit and healthy items. etc etc

[Brue]

... the film Saint Ralph. If you want inspiration in a running movie, I'd heartily recommend this one (full disclosure, a couple of my friends from film school produced this one).

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515HGZ6YCPL._SL500_.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh6KlOW1J8Q

I can second that Saint Ralph is a great film.

[GSPUSA]

I'm 6' 210#, down from 220 about 3 months ago. I just cut back on my sweets and cola intake. I would like to lose another 5 and work on building some muscle. I usually get it when I work outdoors in the summer time.

[samurainoir]

I can second that Saint Ralph is a great film.

Glad you guys get exposed to Canuck cinema in the US!

I owe you some thanks as well Brue. Chatting with you at Mego Meet really helped fuel me towards training for my 24 hour race last summer. It wasn't easy squeezing into my Spiderman skin-suit again and facing my former team-mates on the track in Montreal.

My favourite bit is The Wall scene in Simon Pegg's Run Fatboy Fun. You haven't really felt alive until you've vanquished that moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pttqFUviWs

Today was a rest day for the most part... I woke up stiff but not sore this morning after doing weights yesterday. I hopped on the stationary bike for an hour and a half. Reading really makes the time go by quite quickly. I finished off the final issues of Cerebus during that time. In a few short weeks outdoor training begins and I'm really trying hard to build an endurance base to work with for the upcoming season.

I also took a long walk with the dog yesterday.

After just a couple of weeks, I already notice the positive effects physical activity has in combating stress and anxiety as well as the winter blues. I sleep much sounder and deeper having worked out and feel like I have much more energy and productivity than I have had in months.

Endorphins are powerful drugs.

[Bizarro Amy]

Well, after being knocked on my butt by a medical problem and missing about a week of workouts, I got back to the gym yesterday. It used to be that if I missed gym time and didn't record everything I ate, I would gain weight back almost right away. I didn't do the best at recording my nutrition totals while not feeling well, but I must have picked up some good habits, because I still managed to lose half a pound without exercise.
The workout yesterday kicked my butt, but I got through it and will be resuming my routine. Since I started this, I've lost 15 pounds. The weight loss has slowed and even stopped from time to time, but I've kept those 15 pounds off.
The biggest difference I can feel is in my legs. I used to wake up several times during the night, with either aching or cramps. I'd have to change positions to redistribute my weight several times. And as some of you know, I also started having trouble that turned out to be sleep apnea. So I'd either wake up because I was in pain, or Nate would wake me up to ask me to roll over because sometime that made the snoring less severe. My CPAP machine has made it easier to sleep through the night, which in turn gives me more energy to get through the day and exercise. In the long run, the weight loss should help the apnea that I might not need the machine forever.

[Duncan]

then, with the base i had built i signed up for a marathon and a bench press competition.

Are you referring to the Arnold Pump & Run? I read about it in the Dispatch (link attached). It sounds cool enough that I've now kind of got the idea in the back of my head.


Runners hit weights to get into race at Arnold 5K Pump and Run | The Columbus Dispatch

[samurainoir]

Taught my class this morning, and this afternoon the rain broke and the weather was really nice so the dog and I went to the park and played fetch.

Felt pretty good on the way home this evening, so I stopped by the gym and hopped on the bike for an hour. Forgot my gym clothes but my slacks and golf shirt were plenty comfortable enough. Read the latest issues of Iron Man on my ipad.

Got another Happy Meal for the Superboy toy. Opted for the apples (thanks for the heads up... they just give you fries if you don't ask for apples) and a milk, so four chicken nuggets are fairly moderate.

Hoping I didn't overdo it today since I'm subbing a class down at the Eaton Centre tomorrow.