Topic: Gettin' In Shape! (Read 19143 times)

Thad · « **Reply #160 on:** April 02, 2013, 06:44:35 AM »

Nice thing about a 9AM call time (and 15-minute commute) is that I can get up at 6 AM and hit the elliptical and then I'm free in the afternoon to just kick back on the couch with a beer. (Or take my dad out for his birthday, in today's case.)

Don't know if I'll still have a 9AM call time after this week, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Plus it's nice to feel good enough to exercise again. I was sick for pretty much the entire month of March.

Thad · « **Reply #161 on:** April 02, 2013, 12:10:50 PM »

Downside is that by 10:30 I was very tired & couldn't stop coughing. (Possibly unrelated?) Albuterol to the rescue on both counts.

Thad · « **Reply #162 on:** April 03, 2013, 07:20:50 AM »

And then today I got up at 6, found my cold symptoms slowly returning, set the alarm to 7 and went back to sleep.

This thing just will not go away.

Brentai · « **Reply #163 on:** June 05, 2013, 05:37:05 AM »

One week of steady diet and exercise: Lost two pounds.
Two days of cleaning up an oil spill: Lost three pounds.

No wonder environmentalists are so wiry.

Classic · « **Reply #164 on:** June 05, 2013, 05:52:17 AM »

I don't mean to get down on your environmentalism, but part of that three pounds just could be dehydration or regular weight fluctuation, no?
I mean, 3+ hours of "light" aerobic work (cleaning oil) is probably at least as good as 45 minutes of intense exercise, but I'd be surprised if all of those 3 lbs of weight loss took.

Brentai · « **Reply #165 on:** June 05, 2013, 06:22:58 AM »

Since I only weigh myself in the morning (when you're the most dehydrated/emptiest), it should be a fairly reliable measure.

I am being facetious, though. Weight changes don't happen immediately, so those three pounds are actually the result of a couple of days ago, not the last couple days.

Classic · « **Reply #166 on:** June 05, 2013, 06:34:15 AM »

I did not know that the morning was usually when a person was lightest. My system basically uses intake as the signal to excrete, so unless I fast I'm always carrying around extra weight.

I should probably take meatspace photos and start doing a more regular exercise routine.
Good news: I'm no longer losing weight at a disturbing pace.

Malikial · « **Reply #167 on:** July 19, 2013, 01:03:35 PM »

Been on my workout/diet plan for five months this weekend. Down 75 lbs. doctor says everything is good. Still keeping at it everyday.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #168 on:** July 19, 2013, 01:22:00 PM »

Yeah, I've lost 40lbs since February. Keeping on.

Classic · « **Reply #169 on:** July 19, 2013, 01:29:53 PM »

I'm actually trying to build muscle, since I dipped down to below 170lbs, which is a weight I haven't had since before high school.

Back to 184, but I'm not sure how much of that is lean and how much of that is "well-marbled".

François · « **Reply #170 on:** August 19, 2013, 12:40:46 PM »

I have a theory. For as long as I can remember, I've always set my walking pace at "as fast as it'll go without going out of breath immediately, you fatty". Most of my life this meant that I was able to approximate some sort of normal-person walking pace, avoiding a tendency to chubwaddle and developing unexpectedly rad lower body musculature in the process. However, now that I'm much slimmer and generally fitter, this mental directive is still in effect. If I don't feel somewhat taxed by the speed at which I walk, I end up feeling extremely self-conscious and lazy.

Well, I may be full of crap on that, but I just realized I've been power walking everywhere I go for a long time and that's the only explanation I can think of.

Brentai · « **Reply #171 on:** August 19, 2013, 01:26:49 PM »

Try switching to the exact opposite - walking with as little whole-body effort as possible while retaining a more or less standard speed. It basically teaches your muscles to use things like gravity and inertia instead of just working against them. Once you get the loose-walking thing down you can start incorporating such streamlined movements into your other daily actions. You won't lose fat or gain muscle but you'll improve your general coordination, which is probably the next thing worth focusing on for good health.

François · « **Reply #172 on:** August 19, 2013, 01:59:49 PM »

Heh, that's sound advice, but I basically already do that for everything that's not walking*. I'm pretty dextrous in general, to the point where I've got compliments out of the blue from random people about... the way I move, I guess? They weren't very clear. Maybe I was just being hit on. Hmm.

*: Unless there's more stuff where I'm doing way too much effort on that I just haven't realized yet. Which is entirely possible, gonna keep an eye out.

Beat Bandit · « **Reply #173 on:** August 19, 2013, 02:13:40 PM »

Quote from: François on August 19, 2013, 01:59:49 PM

I'm pretty dextrous in general, to the point where I've got compliments out of the blue from random people about... the way I move, I guess? They weren't very clear. Maybe I was just being hit on. Hmm.

Outkast i like the way you move

Pacobird · « **Reply #174 on:** August 20, 2013, 05:11:33 AM »

Hey, so I know the whole atkins thing sounds like a dangerous goof but I just wanted to let you all know I'm down 20 lbs. in the last two months and I had a buffalo chicken salad with ranch dressing for lunch and I think this has to be relevant to somebody's interests

Also, buying an exercise bike for my basement to ride while I play XBox has been a great way to 1) pass the time while doing an incredibly dull cardio routine and 2) get my wife to not hassle me about playing XBox

Royal☭ · « **Reply #175 on:** October 02, 2013, 08:18:49 AM »

CrossFit's Dirty Little Secret

I don't exercise anywhere near the intensity of CrossFit, but just reading this article had me tenderly touching my still-sore-from-lifting arms and cringing.

Classic · « **Reply #176 on:** October 02, 2013, 09:32:13 AM »

Once I had my muscles sore for over a week.

So naturally, I'm freaking out a little.

Mongrel · « **Reply #177 on:** October 02, 2013, 09:48:58 AM »

One of the more interesting things about exercise to come out in recent years is that too much exercise can kill you or shorten your life nearly as badly as not enough exercise. People exercising themselves to death is a bit more difficult and certainly less frequent. Crossfit and rhabo is just one example, but runners have a variety of ills as do many of the other more intense workout regimes. People with extremely low body fat percentages carry grave health risks and often cannot survive serious illness or injury.

I mean, these are people who are in some cases working themselves to death in nearly the same manner as chattel slaves would have been worked to death throughout history. Only voluntarily.

Not that such things should be taken as an excuse not to exercise, but moderation in all things is (as usual) sound advice.

clutch · « **Reply #178 on:** December 02, 2013, 10:57:27 AM »

Anyone else on Fitbit? My mom gave me one for my birthday, and so far I have zero friends.

Quick review if you're considering one: it's not ideal if you, like me, don't do much cardio--I opt for weights and calisthenics mostly--but it's certainly not un-helpful to have the data. Definitely I have felt the push from the game-ification, and have started putting in a mile run most afternoons. Will have to see how that plays out long-term. App is great; logging food/water intake is much simpler than with other, similar programs. What I really appreciate is the de-emphasis on precision. Like most people (speaking anecdotally here) I tend not to keep up with food-logging because the programs are non-intuitive and require multiple measurements per entry. Fitbit trims that down to only the food item and an approximation of how much of it you ate. It's a different (I'd say wiser) approach that focuses on long-term trends over short-term accuracy. Overall, pretty pleased with it, though I wish it could measure activity other than steps. The Basis B1 does heart rate and perspiration measurements for not much more money, but I don't know much more about that product than that.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #179 on:** December 02, 2013, 04:52:01 PM »

Which one are you using? I've been looking at getting the Fitbit Force, which can track elevation as well as steps counted. Right now I'm just doing the one-two method of logging my aerobic exercise in Runkeeper, then tracking food on MyFitnessPal. The main problem with this is, Runkeeper doesn't give me an overall of how I'm doing, only what I log, and MyFitnessPal is heavily biased towards stuff that has nutritional information on the label i.e. processed food. Sure this pasta dish I ate at a fine Italian restaurant is great, but they don't have to publish nutritional info.

I'm hoping that Fitbit could do a good job of unifying these two systems, because keeping track of both is a pain. Also if Fitbit has any kind of decent weight training logs that would also be good. I use a different program for weight training, but it has no API hooks and doesn't communicate with other apps, so it's like it's own system. Ideally, I'd just love a single app where I can sit down and monitor my progress across cardio, lift and diet.

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Author Topic: Gettin' In Shape! (Read 19143 times)