ME/NA fitness challenge 4/3-4/9

[UmmSqueakster 54]

Welcome to the inagural VJ fitness challenge thread, hosted by the ME/NA forum! We hope to provide support and motivation for VJ members wanting to get (or stay) fit!

If you're new (and we all are this week), please post a short introduction re: your fitness history and a little bit about any goals you may have exercise wise. Come back throughout the week to post any fitness sucesses (or failures) and for some shmoozing.

At the moment, we have pledges from:

ainfante

anxious

rahma

kerewin21

honeyblonde

jasman0717

Everyone is welcome!

On your marks

[honeyblonde 0]

I guess I'll go first.

I've been back in school and working full time now for 5 years. Throughout that time my fitness level has varied depending on my class load and how bad my triglycerides fluctuate each year. I'll get a bad report so I'll workout for a few months and lose some weight and get to feeling better, then I'll take a heavy class load and not have any time to work out for 4 months and the weight will come right back on.

Now that Abdel is here I'm not going to take any more heavy class loads, and he has decided he's sick of hearing me complain about my weight so he is dragging me out to workout even when I don't want to (thank you love!).

My goals are to lose about 80 pounds and get my triglycerides back down below 150.

This weeks goals: Play tennis, walk at least 1 hour, or go to the gym and workout, at least 3 nights. Since we already played Tennis Monday night and last night, and we're planning to go tonight, I guess I should make that 4 nights because Abdel wants us to go Saturday too.

[Aymerlu 3]

Sign me in! I am wanting to lose 20-30 pounds. After my accident back in October I really have not been able to exercise. I go back to the doctor next week and am hoping I get the ok to do light exercise now. If not I am going to go at it with the pilates! I am borderline diabetic now and hopefully with some weight loss I can get my sugars under control.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

Yaay, people!

Here's the post I made in my blog earlier today that explains why I'm on my health kick. It's a bit of a ramble, but here it is:

Must...exercise...

My entire life, I hated running. The worst day of the school year was the mile run day. I turned bright red from the effort and stayed that way for the rest of the day. However, now that I look back at it, it wasn't the running I hated, but mearly the way it was presented. The gym teachers don't introduce running in a gentle way. They say, go out there and run, and we're going to time you and rank you. Thus, I loathed the thought of moving anywhere at any pace faster than a gentle saunter.

Well, last summer I started running. Shocking, I know I know. But, it was the way I did it that made all the difference. I did the Couch to 5k program, which starts out as a combination run/walk and gradually works you up to running 3-ish miles in 9 weeks. I plotted and planned and set my goal to run the Twin Cities Marathon 5k at the beginning of October 05. I dutifully followed the program, running 3-4 times a week, doing exercise videos on my non running days. When the day came, I ran the race in a blistering 38 minutes, without stopping once. To my suprise, when I finished I didn't collapse into a heap on the ground. I walked around and could even converse with my parents who came up to watch the race.

It was fantastic, marvelous, stupendous! Then, I fell off the wagon. Hard. Tamer came, Ramadan came, and I just stopped exercising. It's been 6 months and I've gone running once and done exercise videos and step aerobics like 3 times. Argggggggg. I feel like a beached whale! The kicker came last night though. As I mentioned earlier, I ordered new clothes. I ordered the same size that I got last time, but this time around, they're too tight! That did it, I need to start exercising again! So, here we go again.

My goal:

To exercise 6 times a week - 3 cardio only (combination running/exercise videos), 3 strength/cardio combos (all exercise videos). This is what I did last summer. If I did it before, I can do it again. I would love to get below 150, but even when I was running last year, I stayed about the same wait, just firmed up.

I'm going to start off small, 15 to 25 minutes a day at first, but hopefully work my way back up to the 40 minutes I was sustaining in September. Dare I hope to get it up to an hour each day? Wish me luck people!

April 5, 2006

Workout:

Crunch - Cardio Sculpt: The Body Sculpting Fat Burning Blast!

Classification:

Cardio/Strength mix

Duration:

25 minutes

Thoughts:

I really like this dvd. I've done it before, and kinda know what's coming next , so I muted the sound and turn on NPR. I do that with most of my exercise videos. Legs were sore after. Hurt when I went to bed, but when I got up in the morning, they felt normal. All in all, a good restart.

[Jasman0717 9]

That looks like a good program. I just do the life cycle and lift weights. I do different weight routines each day. I am not much for running, too many years in the Corps. I like the life cycle and brisk walks! I have a goal to loose all my excess weight by Christmas.

[kerewin21 2]

Okay, my goal is to do at least 45 minutes cardio 4 times a week, and weights 3 times a week. So far this week is kind of a bust, but at least I went tonight... 55 minutes on the elliptical (i LOVE that thing, I know they say you're supposed to mix it up but nothing else is as much fun)

And I thank all of you for that, I would've not gone if I hadn't posted earlier to say I was going.

Hope you're all doing well!

[Jasman0717 9]

Okay, my goal is to do at least 45 minutes cardio 4 times a week, and weights 3 times a week. So far this week is kind of a bust, but at least I went tonight... 55 minutes on the elliptical (i LOVE that thing, I know they say you're supposed to mix it up but nothing else is as much fun)

And I thank all of you for that, I would've not gone if I hadn't posted earlier to say I was going.

Hope you're all doing well!

[iceyspots 0]

Sign me in! I am wanting to lose 20-30 pounds. After my accident back in October I really have not been able to exercise. I go back to the doctor next week and am hoping I get the ok to do light exercise now. If not I am going to go at it with the pilates! I am borderline diabetic now and hopefully with some weight loss I can get my sugars under control.

I'm so sorry to hear about that! I had a car accident back in 2000, and just last April well what do ya know? Two herniated discs... I did have the same two herniated discs after the accident, but with regular physical therapy I was able to naturally take the pain away. But, they slipped hard and further.. and this is pain on a whole other level. I wasn't able to even walk for weeks at a time. I had pain that morphine couldn't control. So I went from having a 6 day a week job where I was on my feet 8-10-12 hours per day, to absolute bedrest, needless to say my body didn't like not moving anymore, and it rebelled with weight gain! I hope everything works out as I had my surgery in October and I am just now, according to my surgeon, able to return to normal functioning.

Okay, my goal is to do at least 45 minutes cardio 4 times a week, and weights 3 times a week. So far this week is kind of a bust, but at least I went tonight... 55 minutes on the elliptical (i LOVE that thing, I know they say you're supposed to mix it up but nothing else is as much fun)

And I thank all of you for that, I would've not gone if I hadn't posted earlier to say I was going.

Hope you're all doing well!

Ohh! I absoloutely live for elliptical trainers! They burn so many calories and they are fun. When I had mine at home, I was on it for sometimes an hour and a half.. they really are miracle machines.

I've been exercising on and off for the past couple months, and I think I'm going to kick in my hard game at the end of this month.. I'm spending most of my time right now working, and putting together 10 page papers (Religion and Nutrition Class), putting together Microbiological tests on bacteria, doing a final investigative research on select microbes and all my final exams to boot.

Edited April 7, 2006 by iceyspots

[~Jackie~ 30]

I tried the 8 minute workout with tae-bo...I lasted 4 minutes, sat down watched the rest. I guess I need this group!

Jackie

[UmmSqueakster 54]

I tried the 8 minute workout with tae-bo...I lasted 4 minutes, sat down watched the rest. I guess I need this group!

Jackie

Tae bo is absolutely fantastic! I have Tae Bo Cardio on the list to do tonight. I expect to get through about 15 minutes of it before it kicks my butt.

I'm trying to get my husband to do it with me, but he is insistant that all he needs to do is his weight lifting and sit ups. The concept of a cardio work out are completely foreign to him. Argggggg!

On a related note, next paycheck I'm ordering Billy's Bootcamp. I called to order it when it was new, but it was $60 then, plus $20 shipping Now I can get it for under $40. Huzzah!

[cbd2cai 0]

Ok, my contribution will be recipe websites, LOL! So I start with this one:

American Diabetes Recipes

But this is so boring compared to all the yummy ME foods we like to eat. I need to find a lo-cal site for ME foods . . . the ones where the yummy olive oil isn't drizzled liberally all over everything.

So, I am trying too . . . I have been going to a weekly group which is now going to monthly . . . this is to talk about all our issues regarding healthy, weight, exercise, etc.

Other than belly dancing and walking, I am trying to do some core strengthening exercises . . . some of which I actually incorporate into my warmups for dance . . . I do a lot of crunches, pelvic lifts, pilates style leg work. I have hand held weights for arms. I think I need to sign up at a fitness center again so I can have access to other equipment.

So much to do to get ready for good health!!

[honeyblonde 0]

I had a pretty lousy day yesterday but we still went for a walk after dinner, only 1 mile though. Finding time to get things done is so stressful!

[tatedaoudi 0]

i should should should exersize. . .i need the energy boost. as for weight loss the visa process took 15 pounds off me from stress. My reaction to stress is the inability to eat.

tennis is my love and we will have a rendevous soon. (i wish i could insert a smily face tennis playing icon here).

go ME/NA champions..hitting the streets with a fitness fever.

-Sarah