Week 1 Daily Exercise, Weekly Challenge, Chat, and Discussion

burly_man308

Week 1 Daily Exercise - 30 minutes of cardio a day.

This is the week 1 daily exercise challenge. 30 minutes of cardio per day. Whatever cardio you want: run, walk, jog, swim, elliptical, bike, hike, etc. Anything that gets you up, moving, your heart rate up, and body burning. FOCUS on your DISCIPLINE this week. By day 3 or 4, when the "new challenge start" hype wears off, and your body is sore and tired, be disciplined to get your work in. Be disciplined to measure your food and track it, good or bad, and learn from ourselves. Be disciplined to do what you are supposed to do when no one is looking and take the hard road, the road less traveled; the struggle we face and the choices we make will help forge that discipline we need.

Week 1 Weekly Exercise Challenge - 15 miles of exercise completed this week.

Keep track of the cardio you do this week and it can count for this as well. But if you can complete 15 miles or more total this week, good.

Fyreside

Hmm, well it's already Monday here, and Sunday was my rest day. So I guess I'll have to catch up a cardio session.
I did spend the day setting up my gym equip for some serious use however. Everything but the red multigym is from my previous get fit effort last year. The weights were all rusty old things people had discarded, I soaked them in vinegar then gave them a fresh paintjob. The multigym I bought on Friday. It's all 2nd hand gear.


Check out what happened during my first strength training session on the multigym.. LOL

rh0322

Took a spin class this morning...little less than hour cardio. Not sure how that converts to miles :-)

burly_man308

Sorry fyreside, i forgot you were ahead of me. That home gym looks awesome though.

And rh0322 great job on the spin class. I took one of those one time and thought I was going to die.

OregonRunner5

Wow Fyreside - don't think Duck Tape is going to fix that, whoa. Let us know how you resolve that - I'm curious!

rh0322 -- Spin bike - wow - that is tough.

Love the home gym pics. Here are mine. I mostly work out in my room so I hope there is no embarssing easter eggs in the photos. No guarantees in life though hu? haha.

I use the blue matte for Yoga and I try to get in 'Daily Burn 360' (an app) a few times per week. I also have some 10lb and 5lb weights, sit up bench, and my treadmill in my garage.

My primary sport is trail running. Lately though my mileage has been very low, like 6-10 miles a week and I haven't hit my workout goals. I have some health issues and I really have to be careful with my prep and execution and recovery. So I really want to get a strong Yoga habit in place (I find Yoga insanely boring - but it does make my body smile all over happy - it's very good for recovery and sore spots).

I'm really tired of being fat, I'm in Pre-menopause and I don't have pretty young person fat, I have old woman emergency intertube tire around my waist. I probably float like a trooper. Dietary stuff that used to work for me - doesn't work anymore. I've had a profound crash course on hormones and genetics lately and realized I'm going to have to really change things up if I want to lose weight and it's probably a dice roll if it works at all. I do look just exactly like my mom and grandma in later life, so genetics - what do you do. *sigh*

Anyway -- here is my "gym" -- the rest of my gym is outside in the woods and along the beach.

burly_man308

Love those pics. I'm not sure what everyone's plan is going forward but mine is to follow the Paleo Plan (relatively strictly). I had a lot of success with it in the past, actually lost about 50 pounds on it, but then when I met my wife, she cooked so good and I stopped doing what I was doing, most of it came back... story of a lot of people's life, I know. But I find that it is relatively simple, no processed food, dairy (although I love milk and use it in my protein shakes), just meat, veggies, fruit, and nuts. Through the first week, I feel my energy levels rise and just feel great again. Not sure what everyone else is planning to do, but that's my game plan. I'm not sure of anyone's dietary needs, concerns, or restrictions, but I would recommend going in with a plan and sticking to it for a few weeks to, enough time to see results. If its not working, then make some changes. If it is working, stick to it.

explodingmango

Liking this challenge. I probably can't adhere to challenge #1 super strictly; my Mondays are busy enough that I kind of have to use them as a rest day from any deliberate workouts (while I keep the step counter on my phone on and I usually walk/run about 3 miles just doing the day-to-day activities of Monday, I don't really count it as a workout because that feels like cheating). What I can do, though, is average at least 30 minutes a day and 15 miles total - I've been coming pretty close to that lately; time to close the gap!

Also loving the home gym pictures - makes me wish I had one of my own to show off. Sadly I live with my boyfriend in a tiny little studio with no room for this kind of setup...one day in the near future we'll move into a two-bedroom apartment and I'll find myself some good equipment and we'll all be good, but for now I can make do with the nearby park (will share photos of that later, at least) and actually using the gym memberships I'm paying for.

I don't have any strict diet plans, beyond staying within my target calorie range with a reasonable nutrient balance. The only thing I want to actively work at changing is that I want to get my protein intake up and my simple carb intake down - particularly, I've gotten into the unfortunate habit of going for juice or soda just to push me over the edge when I find myself under the low end of my target calorie range toward the end of the day, and it doesn't really make me feel that great, so my goal is to start replacing that with a high-protein snack or "second dinner".

corinasue1143

I am just plain old counting calories and losing very slowly. If I had a home gym it would just have cobwebs on cobwebs. I need the social aspect to push me. I swim 2-3 days a week, take yoga classes, hip hop, and whatever else I find at the gym that looks like fun. No weights. Looks like I need to add some walking this week.

Fyreside

@OregonRunner5 Great setup you have there. I can't really run trails, but I do enjoy getting out into nature whenever I can. Would love to see a pic of your favorite trail. And yes, nothing short of welding will fix that bench. Its raining for the first time in 4 months here, but when it subsides I will fix it up and post a pic.

@burly_man308 The paleo diet is one that just makes sense to me. Getting back to the foods our bodies are built to eat. The heavily processed food that lines our supermarket shelves is so unhealthy . If I wasn't such a fussy eater, I would give it a try. My plan involves strict calorie counting of the foods I like to eat. With a secondary goal of increased protein intake and a tertiary goal of reduced sodium.

@explodingmango Love that name I would count any miles covered in daily activity. It's all burned calories after all.

I've done the gym memberships in the past, but the hurdle of getting out and going there was high enough to stop it from happening enough. Then I got so big that pride became an issue. There's nothing fun about going to a place full of fit people wearing clothes that barely cover me and trying to not look like I'm about to have a stroke on an exercise machine. Anyway, with the gear I've gathered, I'm all out of excuses now.

Hey, if it's cool with people, I'm going to start inviting group members to friend on here.

burly_man308

I've invited people to be friends on here and highly encourage it. It allows you to see the person's daily log and see if they finished their journal for the day. It keeps us accountable.

Fyreside

Hey Burly, are we doing daily checkin/updates or just weekly?

burly_man308

I would like people to be active on here daily, just to hold everyone accountable. I would suggest dropping a post to say you have completed the daily exercise and food log to get the points, it makes it easier for me to check here than having to check everyone individually. So yeah, I would like everyone to at least drop a post saying how they've done each day and any words of wisdom, advice, encouragement, etc.

Hope you all take charge and own today. Tomorrow is never promised. Do what you can today and everything will take care of itself. Keep moving forward.

OregonRunner5

I'm getting started again with FitBit - okay I admit it, I don't really know how to add friends on there or how it works exactly but it gave me this public URL if you want to buddy up and do step challenges together:
http://fitbit.com/user/24HCM4

I use my Garmin, PShackles or Paula Shackles should bring me up.

If you do the step counting challenges or something, add me, might be fun!

MmamabearR

I like all the pics. I wish I had my own to share, but my 5YO son takes over every room in the house. I usually work out in my living room. We have a high ceiling which makes me feel less crowded.

I started my weight loss journey in May with one thing in mind - I cannot diet! I can't. I've tried and failed so many times. So I decided just to eat better. That's why I joined MFP. It helps me stay within my calorie goals, and I keep a sharp eye on my fat, carbs, sugar and sodium. If I get too high on any of those, I adjust what I eat for the rest of the day so I still eat enough calories for energy, but I don't go over (too much) on the rest. I cut out most junk food, most fried foods, candy and sweets, and cokes. But I haven't done away everything. Now and then, I'll have a some cookies, I'll sneak a drink from my husband's coke. I still eat regular fried eggs, white bread, ice-cream sandwiches. all in moderation and I keep an eagle eye on serving sizes.

Two things I have changed fitness-wise are I make sure to get a minimum of 10,000 steps a day and I work out 45-60 minutes 4-5 times a week. I bought a cheap fitness band on Amazon to remind me to move every 30 mins and to monitor my steps. It also keeps track of when I workout and how many miles I've put into each workout.

explodingmango

Well, my day was thrown off before it even started. I'm trying to recover so that "thrown off" doesn't mean "completely ruined."

Last night after I got home from climbing, my boyfriend and I got dressed up and went out, just for the hell of it, which was mostly nice. Except I chose the wrong thing to wear and it made me really acutely aware of just how much I have left to lose. Sometimes I forget how small my frame is and think I'm pretty close to ideal...then I find myself spilling out of parts of my tightest outfits no matter how I adjust them and I remember, and god is it ever discouraging.

The good news about that is, I've recognized a messed up thought process that sabotages me - in moments like that, I always wish there truly was some kind of negative-calorie food that I could just shovel into my body to make it happen faster, and for some reason my disorder feels like there should be such a thing. I'm trying to replace the impulse to try and find that mythical food with going out and exercising, or...something else actually productive. But that's easier said than done.

Then last night as I was going to bed I saw the news about Vegas. That was...a little stressful, but there were way fewer details then than there were this morning, and...I'm kind of glad because I don't think I would have been able to sleep if I'd known more.

My boyfriend and I are planning the wedding in Vegas. It's only a 5-6 hour drive away from us. We need to go out there one of these weekends to tour likely venues. We were strongly considering this weekend, but communication was slow and other plans came up. So basically we narrowly avoided getting wrapped up in that just by "bad" luck.

I...am more than a little rattled. The stress is making me physically ill. I'm taking the day off school because I won't be able to focus, I physically don't feel good enough to sit in class, and I don't trust myself on the drive. But that means I don't have my usual Monday movement...I'll have to work something out that I can do, possibly without being able to go beyond walking distance today.

For right now, I'm going to look up some good recipes for healthy comfort foods to make for lunch. Boyfriend and I both need it.

cnavarro002

Hey everyone, love the motivation and competitiveness going on. I'm excited for this weeks' challenge, and seeing as my goal was to hit the gym at least 4 times this week, well I can kill 2 birds with one stone.
Question: How will you know if we actually completed the challenge? For example, when I'm on the treadmill, I don't log it as an exercise because I track my steps and I don't want to double log. So, do I not log it and enter the exercise on MFP, or is it on the honor system at the end of the week?

MmamabearR

What happened in Vegas still seems unreal. I actually felt a little selfish going through my normal routine today when so many aren't able to and many others never will again.

I'm sorry you're feeling so much stress. I hope you find a way to center yourself and bring some peace back to your day. Take care.

OregonRunner5

@explodingmango ((BIG HUGS))

This is the first year since I moved to the West Coast I had to cut out some of my running routes and places I would normally go because I just didn't feel safe and had to deal with harassment.

Comfort foods -- well -- a nice hot cup of tea. Recommend today a fall blend with a little cream and sugar. Maybe a nice scone to go with it or a few graham crackers.

We have some rather lovely coffee houses here on the Oregon coast - so if you were here I would recommend a nice Americano at Coffee Girl with a slice of their home made cake and watch the sea lions play while you relax and listen to tall tales from fishermen in the background ("well back in '82 we caught so many crab that year - yeah how many?") or the rumblings of lost tourists, ("is that the ocean? I think that's the ocean..some older guy who is always with them nomatter the group pops in as the expert, expert on absolutely everything...oh yes that is the Pacific Ocean!" while pointing out at the Columbia River -- cracks me up, every time.)

meat513

I workout at the gym today for an hour. I walk on the treadmill on incline 1 at the speed of 3.4. My total steps for today is 21,728!!! Some of these steps were done at work. I have completed my food diary and was under my calorie goal! I want to wish everyone the best of luck on this amazing journey!!

burly_man308

Awesome job meat!! Keep it up! Great start. My steps were only 12,000 today. Entered my food but it wasn't like I wanted. Got my cardio in, but feel like I could do more or go harder. Didn't get a chance to get to the store so still scrounging around for food right now. Hitting the store tomorrow. Seems like everyone got off to a good start today. Stay strong and stay disciplined.

explodingmango

Well, I feel a lot better after a good lunch and going on a nice evening run in the park. It's the first time in years I've built up the courage to go on an outdoor run that wasn't part of a class or event. Even found ways to work the playground equipment into the whole thing, which was a lot of fun. According to my phone, including warm up and cool down, I covered 3.86 miles in 42 minutes. I don't know how accurate that is, but my average pace through the bulk of it was apparently close to 7 miles per hour, which is...way better than I typically do on the treadmill.

Still feeling kinda sick, and still avoiding most news, but at least I got some good activity in!

Fyreside

Sounds like a great session in the park Mango. I have to admit I stopped watching news a few years ago. I know living in my own little bubble isn't ideal. But when I hear something is happening and take a look, I think sometimes it's for the best. My heart goes out to everyone involved in yesterdays tragedy.

21000+ steps in a day is awesome meat. Nice one.

Oregonrunner, the cafe by the water does sound great. Unfortunately I just retired my fitbit in favor of a Garmin unit, so I've left the fitbit community behind. But I did find this place.

Hey mmamabear, not sure if you have tried coke zero, and I know flavors do vary from one country to another, but for my money it tastes ever so close to original recipe. I decided a while ago I'd much rather have a zero than nothing. And now I keep some in the fridge.

cnavarro, I've been wondering about the double logging thing myself. After lots of reading I am confident that MFP working with one of the brand name trackers will not double up on steps + logged workouts. So I'm logging my workout with my garmin HR thingy and trusting the software to sort it out.

Well, I'm going to make this my daily checkin post as well. Everything is on track, but if I'm honest I've hit the first little wall.. Only a week in from when I ramped up my efforts too. Thinking my tracker was being overly optimisitc I changed my activity class setting and boom.. my calorie burn estimates went from thousands to hundreds. I'm sure it's closer to the truth now. But I was still like Awwwww Dangit.. About the same time I started battling some superpowered food cravings and to top it off, my daily weigh showed an upward spike of about 2kg Which I know has to be liquid retention.. But still. It all conspired to take the wind out of my sails a bit lol.

Reading about everyone's progress has been really helpful and so I've dug into my reserves of motivation a little to stay the course. Hoping to settle into a sensible rhythm that doesn't require too much grind for the next few weeks.
My daily exercise targets have been met and I'm well on track for todays calorie target. But I need to get to sleep earlier because that late night snack fairy is evil.

Edit: I've done an extra 15min cardio session Mon and Tues, I'm hoping that can count towards Sun just gone.

ccrdragon

Did not get exercise in yesterday - work deadlines and all that nonsense - will get a walk in today. Did complete my diary for the first time in forever and was well under calories for the day. I plan on taking a walk today at lunch to get away from my desk for awhile.

Question for the group - does it count as exercise if I spent the day Sunday removing furniture and putting new furniture in it's place (as well as deep cleaning the areas where the old furniture was)? We replaced our living room set and spent the day taking care of that - I got over 5000 steps for the day and never left the house!

OregonRunner5

I woke up two hours early yesterday and fit in the exercise I had my husband turn on the radio really loud when he got up so I would start rocking out and forget to go back to sleep. Well, the hack worked. I got in some light Yoga, Aerobics and a run. I could have done better on the food.

My calves are super sore today. I'm walking around all stiff and weird today and can't hardly sit (the toilet is so painful!! omg - lol).

So what's going on with everyone today? what's the headspace and gossip?

MmamabearR

I had a long day yesterday and only was able to do 43 mins of workout. But I got in 5.6 miles. I wanted to get at least another 15, but I'll take it. Tonight is another night.

@Fyreside Thanks for the suggestion, but nothing tastes like the original in my opinio. I have tried Coke Zero and it reminds me a lot of the Coke they tried introducing in the 80s. Not for me, thank you, but I'm good. I actually like the sparkling Dasani's - Lemon or Lime are delicious.

Alrighty, I only have time for a quick post. perhaps more later

MmamabearR

BTW @OregonRunner5 that whole scene you painted sounds awesome!

meat513

I have completed my food and exercise, I've walked 4.1 miles with a total of 11,318 steps. Thanks for the comments y'all. We are doing such a good job!!

burly_man308

Awesome job fitness warriors. So happy to see people posting and interacting and keeping their discipline about themselves. I got back on track today big time, up early, got a 1.75 mile run in and then walked for a total of 55 minutes of cardio, 3.25 miles total. Completed my food log, under calorie count. Not the food that I want to eat, but finally got to the grocery store this afternoon and got my clean food again. Got some exciting news today that I'll share later, but it kept me bust all day and I couldn't log on and check up.

Keep up the great work, keep logging your food, keep getting your exercise in, keep believing, keep grinding, keep your discipline and keep moving forward!!

burly_man308

Fyreside, my fitbit said that I did enough exercise to earn an extra 2100 calories today. I don't buy that, cause being honest, my daily allowance from MyFitnessPal is 2300 calories. I just don't believe that I "earned" a whole day's worth of calories to consume on top of what I am supposed to consume per day. In the past, when I had the most success, I tried to stay about 100 calories under what MyFitnessPal told me I was allowed, and took the calories burned as "icing on the cake", just extra fat burned away. So I wouldn't worry too much about the extra calories that they say you're allowed, just focus on your calories for the day and any calories earned from exercise, just see it as a quicker way to get to your goals.

Keep up the effort Fyreside. This is when some of that darkness sets in. You're a week in, and here is where your body is going to say, "It's easier to rest today than go for that walk or run. It would taste so good to have that late night snack." Hold the line my friend. Grab onto that "why" you mentioned and vanquish that darkness. Face it head on and reinforce to yourself that you are stronger than it, and you have great thing to accomplish. I believe in you. We believe in you. Looking forward to your next update my friend.

Fyreside

Thanks Burly. I have been getting a bit carried away with the numbers. And I'm going to do as you have suggested.. Just focus on eating a bit under the suggested amount and let anything on top be a bonus burn. Yesterday I really indulged the eating room suggested by my extra burn and I know in my heart I ate way more than I needed to.
So yes, its the old keep it simple thing..

FWIW I think I speak for the group when I say thanks for putting together this challenge. I've already done one of my 2 15min cardio sessions this morning and I darn sure wouldn't have done it without the challenge goal.

@ccrdragon Personally I say if it gets you up and moving and feels like exercise, count it. For me, a day of no exercise is literally sitting down working on the computer or similar.

explodingmango

Well, my off day continues into a second off day...luckily not entirely of the derailing variety. On the down side, I ate more than I wanted to - not because I lost control, but because I was so disoriented I lost track of what day it was - but my whole losing track of time issue of the day continued at the gym. Decided to do a couple of the classes that I can take for free with membership...the next thing I knew I'd spent almost 3 hours there with nearly no breaks. I was so out of it that the amount of time I was spending there just completely failed to register to me.

Made up for the extra food, at least.

Spent the first 20 minutes on the treadmill - planned to make it longer so I was going at a slower pace than usual (but then I changed my mind and decided to get a little bit of work on the weights in before the first class started). In all, I went a little under 2 miles running.

And, tomorrow I have no choice but to force-reset myself - I have a math test.