Are you in shape?

[MJ4H]

I dunno I've been looking for someone in the shape of a triangle?

[path12]

Originally Posted by jeheinz72

Still some work to be done before I hit "in shape" but I'm a lot closer.

I'll just steal this line. I will be doing my first walk/plod half marathon in about three and a half weeks. My goal is to finish before they close the course (4 hours).

[AgustusM]

up until I turned 30 I worked out 6-7 days a week, played basketball for hours, ate whatever I wanted and was always ripped with not an ounce of fat.

then I had kids, and the time to just go to the gym, play in 5 softball leagues, etc went away and I put on about 5 lbs a year.

2 years ago (at age 41) I found myself very overweight at 235, huge beer belly and a lot of problems with my back, ankles, knees, stomach, etc.

a serious back problem that landed me in the ER and essentially bed ridden for 2 months got my attention and I changed everything. I didn't really cut anything out of my diet, I just cut back from 5 portions to 1.5. I started walking and I walk for an hour every single day. I don't always want to, but I know if I don't my back will hurt. So I have a number of podcasts I like to listen to and I hit the road and listen to my podcast.

Since the ER day I have lost 50 lbs from 235 down to 185, which is less than I weighed in high school. I probably have a little more fat to lose, but don't really want to lose any more weight - hoping to lose about 10 pounds of fat, but replace it with muscle.

[Lorena]

I got the exercise thing down but my portion control and choice of food is just terrible. I also don't drink water as much as I should and hardly drink sodas but when I do, they're diet.

I have a lot of weight to lose so if I can get this portion control thing down, I'd be in business.

[Crapshoot]

Good thread. About a year or two ago, I was 6'0, and 260-265 or so; horrendously out of shape. There was this girl (that quasi served as motivation), and I just started hitting the gym we have at work for an hour a day, every day, and cut out the really crappy food; ie, I can't tell the difference fat-free and regular cheese, so why not use fat free? I think I stopped losing weight a year ago at around ~205 or so, but people around tell me I look very different; I think its converting fat to muscle at this point, instead of losing the lbs.

I didn't use a trainer or anything, but now I'm wondering if I should - really, I should be down to 180 or so, and that's hard.

[MJ4H]

I used to be one of the worst eaters ever, but since starting EA Sports Active, I feel like eating the wrong foods will ruin the work I've been putting into my exercise program, so I just don't do it. I also eat a lot less and have more energy. I'm not in shape yet, but I feel like I will be.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Good thread. About a year or two ago, I was 6'0, and 260-265 or so; horrendously out of shape. There was this girl (that quasi served as motivation), and I just started hitting the gym we have at work for an hour a day, every day, and cut out the really crappy food; ie, I can't tell the difference fat-free and regular cheese, so why not use fat free? I think I stopped losing weight a year ago at around ~205 or so, but people around tell me I look very different; I think its converting fat to muscle at this point, instead of losing the lbs.

I didn't use a trainer or anything, but now I'm wondering if I should - really, I should be down to 180 or so, and that's hard.

and the girl?

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by SFL Cat

I've found if you mix up your routine each week, it keeps you much more interested. I've also incorporated a six weeks on, one week off. After a week off, I go back to the gymn refreshed and ready to feel the "burn" again.

On a similar note, I think that if I had the time to get involved in multiple sports for most nights a week I'd be in awesome shape. Unfortunately that's hard to do as a father of an infant.

The best shape I've ever been in, post-college, was a few years back when I was in 2 Ultimate leagues, and playing pickup on Sundays. I was playing Ultimate 4 days a week. It was awesome.

[Marc Vaughan]

I'm still somewhat overweight but not totally unfit as I play a fair bit of soccer.

I'm 6'6'' tall which helps make my huge girth less noticable ... at least thats what I tell myself

(I agree with the no snacks no temptation rule - unfortunately I have 3 kids)

[jeheinz72]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

To start off, I'm a big guy, always have been, broad shoulder, barrel chested, etc. I'm 5'11" and right not I'm just a bit over 300, which really sucks ass, up till recently I've usually hovered around 275-285 which still sucked ass. Although I'm a big guy, I'm probably in better shape then most guys my age. Hell my cholesterol is low, something in the low 100s. But then cholesterol isn't entirely dependent upon exercise.

About 4-5 years ago I used to play tons of racquetball, 3-4 days a week 1-2 hours a day, but that was when I used to work nights, it was great in a matter of about 6-9 months I lost about 35 pounds and was in better shape then when I graduated high school was down to 249 pounds. I'd like to get back to that, but it's just finding the time. I don't understand how you guys find the time.

I wake up at 6 AM to get ready for work usually out the door by 7:10, then I'm at work from 8-4/5 PM. Once I get home it's time to start making dinner because neither me or my wife like to eat a late dinner (we usually go to sleep by 10 PM). If I was to work out when I got home I wouldn't be done working out and showered till nearly 7:30, which would put me eating dinner around 8:30/9 PM at night.

Anyway that's just making excuses, but I'm looking for solutions, where do you guys find the time and still get a healthy amount of sleep.

I'd be happy at about 220-230 and think for me that would just about be just right because of my body build, I have lots of muscle in the lower half of my body.

Sounds like we're of somewhat similar build (I weigh more but I'm 6'5")

This is going to sound asinine, but give working out before work a try. Yes, you'll likely have to get up at 5 or earlier (I get up at 3:25, since I work 6 A - 3 P and then the kids have all my time once I'm home). Shower and get ready at the gym. Take breakfast with you to work (I eat oatmeal for instance)

It sounds completely backwards but I have probably twice the energy when I wake up at 3:25 and workout before work than I do if I sleep in until 5:15 and go straight to work. The energy carries me throughout the day and I'm in a better mood by lightyears. Plus when i get home I have no guilt that I should work out or anything since it's already done. I tend to eat better on days that I workout since it's silly to workout then ruin it with some donuts or a burger for lunch.

Try it for one week, ya never know, you might like it. Worst case all you're out is getting up early 5 times.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by SFL Cat

I've found if you mix up your routine each week, it keeps you much more interested. I've also incorporated a six weeks on, one week off. After a week off, I go back to the gymn refreshed and ready to feel the "burn" again.

I definitely echo this. With my ankle, hand, and shoulders severely limiting what I can do from a cardio perspective, I find that I spend most of my time on the elliptical at the gym. I make up my own workouts (varying resistance and "hill effect" over various time periods) or use one of the pre-programmed ones pretty often. In order to figure out which elliptical workout I'll do on a given day, I roll a die, with workouts assigned to each number.

Also, varying it up doesn't allow your body to get "used" to the one workout. This is good because your body can become more efficient when doing workouts when it gets "used" to them.

I talked to my trainer about this today a little bit (I lift with a trainer twice a week--with all of my joint issues, I really need his guidance to ensure I have good form and don't overextend my joints, which I'm prone to doing). His exact words were, "if you're trying to lose weight, you want your body to run like a Hummer, not like a Prius, so vary it up to keep it from becoming efficient."

His recommendation was to do high-heart rate interval-style training 2-4 times per week (where you do a short burst at high heart rate--up to 90%--and then a short burst at lower heart rate--recovery phase--and then rinse, repeat) and lower intensity cardio the other days. Also, don't do the high heart rate stuff two days in a row. Makes sense, it actually implied to me that I should take it easier on at least one more day a week than I usually do.

/tk

[JS19]

Just started a new program yesterday. I got it from the latest muscle and fitness magazine. From what it says, and I understand it's a magazine and they will pretty much tell you anything, but it's supposed to be "based on cutting-edge research that shows the best ways to burn fat in the gym, this setup will allow you to build muscle and strength while dropping bodyfat". Sounds too good to be true, but I'll give it a shot. Anyhoo, similar to what terpkristin said, it involves "high-heart rate interval style training", however, it's 6 days a week so there is really not as much rest as she recommends. Workouts involve supersets ( doing one set of an exercise, followed immediately by another, rest for a minute and repeat for the prescribed amount of sets). When you are done with all the exercises for the muscle group, for example yesterday I started with chest, you go straight to cardio using a 7 minute HIIT (high-intensity interval training) system, which for the first week is 1 minute at max pace (pretty much sprint), followed by 30 seconds of 20-30% (a semi-fast paced walk), then back to a minute of sprinting, so on and so forth for 7 minutes. Finish the cardio, then on to the next muscle group, finish that one, then back to the cardio, etc.

If you are just trying to get back to it, you may want to think about trying a variation of supersets, as they will keep the heart rate up pretty much throughout the entire workout, and although its only been a day, I think this HIIT cardio gig is pretty legit, it's not all that difficult, but gets the heart racing.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by jeheinz72

Sounds like we're of somewhat similar build (I weigh more but I'm 6'5")

This is going to sound asinine, but give working out before work a try. Yes, you'll likely have to get up at 5 or earlier (I get up at 3:25, since I work 6 A - 3 P and then the kids have all my time once I'm home). Shower and get ready at the gym. Take breakfast with you to work (I eat oatmeal for instance)

It sounds completely backwards but I have probably twice the energy when I wake up at 3:25 and workout before work than I do if I sleep in until 5:15 and go straight to work. The energy carries me throughout the day and I'm in a better mood by lightyears. Plus when i get home I have no guilt that I should work out or anything since it's already done. I tend to eat better on days that I workout since it's silly to workout then ruin it with some donuts or a burger for lunch.

Try it for one week, ya never know, you might like it. Worst case all you're out is getting up early 5 times.

Oh I know I'd like it, I loved it back when I'd play RB in the morning, I would feel great all day, but I'm a nightowl, I love trying to stay up late. I'm actually starting to go for walks at night now, 2.5 miles yesterday, couldn't today because we had company over, but I'll be back out tomorrow, going to push doing it and get my wife to go with me so we can push each other. We will see how it goes for now.

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by rowech

and the girl?

Sadly, nothing doing . But hey, she motivated me to get off my ass, and I'm thankful for that bit.

[Crapshoot]

Dola,
I'll echo the work out during the day bit - I do my routine at noon everyday, and I really like it - makes the rest of the day feel a lot better. During the day, its a break; at the end of the day, it feels like a chore. Psychologically, it makes a huge difference IMO.

[bhlloy]

I play 4 soccer games a week, but am still pretty out of shape and get tired very easily. If this was FM, I would have a very low "natural fitness" rating I feel. I find I do slowly build up endurance, but if I miss a week or two I'm completely back to square one. I just spent 2 weeks in the UK drinking beer and eating kebabs and the last couple of games since I have been back have been absolute hell on earth (probably not surprisingly, but it does surprise me the level at which I lose endurance after only a couple of weeks off).

I can't get myself to the gym for love or money - if I wasn't playing soccer, I'd probably be at least 30 pounds heavier than I am. Right now I'm 5'7, around 145 on a good day.

I've been considering joining a local Rugby club just to change it up (and I really enjoy playing and haven't since high school), but I'm not sure a lot of nagging injuries and bruises is what I need right now and that would probably set me back a lot.

[B & B]

Update: Weighed in this morning at exactly 187. Thats the good news, being down 18lbs since ~Mothers Day. However, my triathalon hopes are all but dashed. The interval running Ive been doing has taken its toll on my knees and has caused some painful tendenitis thats never happened before. Hope that its just my body adjusting to the new regime because there wasnt a single occurance that caused this pain. Therefore, taking more days off in between runs/biking/tennis than anticipated.

[Arles]

I'm 6-3, normally about 215 and play in an amateur soccer league here in AZ year round. I also play hoops fairly regular.

I used to run about 2-3 times a week (plus soccer/BBall), but last Monday I started the P90X. I'm on my sixth day and it's been the best workout I've ever been a part of (including personal training). It's tough, requires between 1 hour and 1.5 hours a day, but if I can just stick loosely to the diet I expect it to have a big impact.

If you are in decent shape (ie, play sports, can do decent pushups/weight), I would take the fitness test at p90x.com and see if you qualify. If so, I would highly recommend it. The workouts go very fast and it's extremely challenging. I've just done the first 6 days, but I can't imagine not going through with it from this point on. Your body just "feels" different after a week and I expect that will continue as I move forward.

[Fritz]

how did I end up in a fitness thread?

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by Fritz

how did I end up in a fitness thread?

You egotistically searched for your name at the FOFC messagboard, then typed inthe following response: "how did I end up in a fitness thread?"