Would you like to be friends?

tarobeans

Hi! :happy:

I'm a music student from Australia, and boy I wish I came here sooner!

I've become an AVID fan of myfitnesspal after just trying it out for 4 weeks mainly because my mood has improved tonnes! This feeling of being energetic and optimistic is pure joy.

My next goal is to know what it is like to feel hungry again. For the longest time, I have been feeling full, bloated and hate the sight of food! I feel like food wants to torment me with its beauty and scent!

So far, my friends who have joined haven't kept up with it, so if you're more of a regular user, hit me up because I'm in it for the long haul and we can help each other to live healthier and do some last minute fat loss before the end of the year!

Just a question for you guys - What are your favourite exercise sites? Some of my favourite include sparkpeople and youtube's livestrongwoman and befitin90 (I'm on day 12!). What about you? And lastly - do you run?

15kaspen

Hi!

I play volleyball, so I use that for working out during the season. I was in karate (black belt!), but my karate place closed. I go walking when I can, and I sometimes jog. I'm not a huge fan of running, but I'm trying to ease into it. I'll have PE class 2nd semester, so that will help. It's mainly the winter that's bad. xD

But I'll add you; good luck!

tarobeans

Hey Kim! When you walk do you listen to the trees and birds or your own playlist?

Rockmyskinnyjeans

I would love to be friends with you. I am just starting to run, in preparation to run in 5K races. Also, I love cupcakes (no doubt!) so you have a great profile pic. I have lost almost 45 lbs (a little over 20 KG) since I started MFP and I am glad I came to this site. I look forward to knowing you better.

Also, with my running, I have over 2,000 songs on my iPhone and I need to put them into playlists, but for now, I just switch them up.

tarobeans

Hey! Apologies for the late response. That is such an amazing weight loss achievement! I want to be able to say the same too and inspire others like you are.

I am interested in starting to run too, but have little idea where to start. Can I just start running in my local oval and hope for the best? Like drinking water, running is another thing I don't naturally like so I find it hard to get into unless I'm motivated.

sdreed25

Hi! I'm fairly new here too (well new to the forums), although I've lost some weight already I'm finding MFP great. I'm also a runner who started at walking with light jogging first and now completed my first half marathon this year in under 2 hours, so I'm happy to tell you about my program, lessons learnt, etc. ;-)

Add me if you like

reshieroo

Hi everyone.
I'm a 42-year old doctor by training and am currently working as an addictions therapist. I live in the beautiful city of Singapore and love the tropical beaches out here near the the equator.
I'm on this site for 2 reasons mainly.
First I wanna look good and feel good. I am chasing that elusive six-pack that I have not have since my twenties. I do not accept that "it's all downhill from 40 onwards" and I refuse to live in beer-gut-ville. I am determined to prove that us 40+ men can look good too.
Second as I'm not getting any younger I want to live as healthy as possible which I think is one one the keys to avoiding injury and illness.
I'd love to add any and all kindred souls out there so that we can share in this wonderful journey together.

tarobeans

Hi sdreed25! I would love to know what your running program is like and lessons learnt will definitely be a bonus. I am planning on running and would like to be injury-free and start on a good note. Where and when do you run usually? When you get the chance let me know all the juicy details

Hellow reshi! Nice to meet you and what a great place to live and exercise in. I think my main motivations is also to feel better. For ages I was feeling unhealthy, easily irritated and pessimistic. Someone here said "exercise and the rest will take care of itself". I couldn't agree more.

sdreed25

Hi,

Glad to share the program of how I started out running with you all :-)

First thing to mention here is I’m not re-inventing the wheel, there are many similar programs out there on the web and I got this one from a fitness magazine, so I’m not taking any credit for it but just saying it worked for me and I’ll be adding some details about lessons I have learnt from my sessions that might be valuable to you too. First four things I learnt that will help you straight away are:

1. Ensure you are fit enough to do some basic exercise before you start this, I’m no doctor or fitness expert this is purely my story and advise.
2. Go at your own pace, this is not a race and is about getting stamina into your legs and lungs, you can ask me about stage 2 – Speed and 3 – Endurance once stage 1 is done
3. Forget distance too at this point, it might become important to you later if you want to race but at this point forget it.
4. This is a 14 week program of running & walking, I’d recommend following it and not jumping ahead as that didn’t help me and actually put me back.
5. If you try to start a new week and the change is too much, repeat the previous week. This is not a failure, this is just a slower improvement that week, you’ll get there.

So basically this is a 30 minute session 3-4 times a week with a rest day in between, expect the last day if you do the 4. So I did this either in my lunch break from work (we had showers) or after work and before dinner on a Mon, Wed, Fri & Sat, it’s good to do the last two of any session with no rest day and then you are ready for Monday’s new challenge (but adjust the days how you want). The list below is the 14 sessions, session 1 is simply walking strongly for 4 minutes and then running for 2 minutes and then repeat that for 30 mins (5 times). Each week you either end up losing a bit of rest/walking time or adding a little running, it gets more aggressive near the end but you’ll be full of running power by then. If you can’t run for 2 mins to start with I’d just adjust that down to what you can do with run with that, walk for 4 for the 30 mins and improve weekly until you can do the 2:

Walk Run Repeat
4 2 5
3.5 2 5
3 2.5 5
3 3 5
2 3.5 5
2 4 5
2 5 4
1.5 5 5
1.5 6 4
1 6 4
1 8 3
1 10 3
1 15 2
0 30 1 GOAL!

This is it! And good luck. I’d advise simple stretching before and after (but I was never the best at making sure I did this!!). Also on a the food front, if you are feeling very tired the next day after this you might need to eat some of those calories you earn running on those days, so on a M,W,F & S I tended to eat 50% of the calories I earned in running. Remember at this point food is fuel for the runs, before and after (don’t eat in the hour before and eat some carbs within 30 mins of finishing).

Stage 2 – This for me was speed work, I wanted to run 5k in 30 mins at this point and was a little behind that pace. So here you can work intervals of running and running hard to slowly improve you overall pace, I followed the Nike Speed workoputs of 10 mins warm up pace followed by 4 sets of intervals at 3 mins fast and 3 mins normal pace, with a 10 minute cool down. My pace has improved so much over the last year I’ve gone from 33 minutes for 5k to 23 last week!!

Stage 3 – Being competitive and always wanting to push myself the next stage for me was a 10k, so I entered myself into a race and gave myself 3 months to train. I added 0.5k at a time until I hit 10k. That 10k took me 60 minutes and from then on it was all about pace improvement with intervals and by race day I completed the course in 49 mins and whilst leaving the event I entered their Half Marathon which was 3 months away, more training and I completed that in 1hr 54mins. All this in 12 months from the humble beginnings of 2 mins of running at a time 

Hope this is useful and feel free to ask questions or send me a message. Ultimately the result for me is I’ve gone from overweight and unfit to being energetic and within my BMI by miles, it’s now the off season of races here in the UK so I am just working ok the gym on stabilising muscles for running and general fitness, it’s too cold for much running outside.

Also if you want another running guru and expert who has been on a great weightloss and running journey follow my MFP and Instagram friend joyzy who’s lost over 100lbs.

Steve (@sdr_fitness_goals on Instagram)

redsteve65

Good luck on your journey. I joined the site in January and by hitting the daily targets it worked for me.

Log your food and your exercise and you will be successful.

Feel free to add me.

tarobeans

WOW! Thank you soo much for the comprehensive running plan. That's so true about jumping ahead, I read somewhere that one's long-term chances of continuing a brief, easy habit are much greater than they are for a desperate, punishing one. This will definitely help others.

You and joyzy are so inspirational. I can't believe Joyzy started walking with a cane :O It's amazing the things that people can achieve!

I'm going for my first session with my mum right after finishing off this message. Looking forward to getting some fresh air! I can already hear the birds calling

Steve - Hi there, sure will add you!

johnnyhodge

I've been on here for about a year or so. I try to do cardio 4-5 times a week and just be as consistent as I can with tracking my food. It is important to still track even on the days you go WAY over your limit.

Feel free to give me a request.

Good luck!

moicanu22

Hey all!

I am 26 years old, working as a systems analyst for 5 years. I am calm, i love games and tecnology.

Why I Want To Get In Shape
I've been weighing around 134kg for 4 years on average. I decided to change all that, losing 30 kg and put an end to my sedentary lifestyle.

Please add me and lets do it together!

tarobeans

I did my first run - found it so much harder than I thought. Didnt expect a 2 min run to be a sweat.

Hey moicanu and Johnny, will add you. I love consistent people.

6Penguins

Hi!

I'm just starting out on here but would love people to chat to! I'm doing the fitness thing on my own and I find it pretty hard to motivate myself somedays!

For exercise I'm using www.blogilates.com - the girl is so upbeat and knows how to keep your attention! She is on you tube under POP pilates

WildAngelJoy

Feel free to add me...my knees are not cut out for running or cycling BUT I love being motivational, love my MFP friends and enjoy reading about their diets and exercise (from Zumba, to walking, to running, to Insanity!). I lost weight on here but was sick for 3 months and gained it back due to lack of exercise (none per doctor's orders) and medications. I'm back and ready to crack the whip

lenjaw

Hi guys, I thought I'd post here as although I'm not new to MFP, I've only just starting logging properly and discovered the massive amount of support that is available through the forums. It'd be great to have some more friends to see how other people eat and exercise I definitely use it more to track what I eat, rather than lose weight, but I still need that encouragement.

I am a keen runner and can only agree with the widom that has been passed on to you so far on this thread, but if I can stress only one thing, please let it be this: Get a pair of running shoes fitted properly. I know they can be a little pricey, but it really will help prevent injury and generally make your running career easier! Also, double lined socks help to prevent blisters if you're having problems with those.

Otherwise all I can say is good luck and if anyone wants to add me, I'd be more than happy to accept.

Jen

sdreed25

I did my first run - found it so much harder than I thought. Didnt expect a 2 min run to be a sweat.

Yep it's funny isn't it that 2 mins sounds like nothing...... until you are running it! It's a tough old program really but it is so worth the effort. Even now when I do intervals for 2 mins faster than normal I can't believe how long it lasts!

Glad you found joyzy, she is awesome and a top running inspiration

sdreed25

<snip> but if I can stress only one thing, please let it be this: Get a pair of running shoes fitted properly. I know they can be a little pricey, but it really will help prevent injury and generally make your running career easier! Also, double lined socks help to prevent blisters if you're having problems with those.

Jen

This is very true, especially if you find any feet, toe or calf pain, then get checked out for some shoes. On the sock front, after I got some proper runners socks from SportDirect (pretty cheap) my sore toe issues were solved! Black toes can be part of the journey though and I've had my fair share!

sdreed25

Oh and sorry for the triple post but WELL DONE on doing your first run, it's an amazing start to hopefully a lifetime of joy that running can bring, take it steady, enjoy the progress and keep us informed :-)

tarobeans

Hi 6Penguins! I've heard of the blogilates girl. She has so much energy! I guess she gets it from working out!

Hey WildAngelJoy! Cute puppy!!!! My friends love zumba too, personally it looks like tonnes of fun but I don't know how to access the sessions. Do you know of anyone who provides decent lessons on youtube?

Hi lenjaw! Thanks for the running shoes tip. I have some OK shoes. They have a bit of heel but they mould around my feet and give my feet a slight bounce haha. I have longish feet so my toes can feel a tiny bit squished sometimes But if I get longer shoes it's bulkier overall. I will upgrade them when I start to run longer. What stage are you at in running?

Hey again sdreed! I really wanted to run again today but I just resorted to a brisk walk. I can't wait for tomorrow! I'm going to run with my friend and her puppy. Thanks for the support and nice arms!