Struggling at the gym
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About a month ago you started? 4 or 5 weeks @ 3 times a week=12/15 times to the gym. While a very good start, it is a start. How long was it the your profile picture was taken and now? How much have you gained in that time? You really cannot expect to lose the weight much faster than you put it on. Most people don't realize how long they have been gaining to get to where they currently are. They, therefore, don't understand how long it will take for the weight to be shed. (Hint, it takes a while). Well begun is have done, to quote Mary Poppins. All that's needed is the determination to continue and achieve what ever goals you have planned. Diet for weight loss, exercise for general fitness. Way to go in getting started, keep it up and see results.1
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nicolega2001 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Part of it is the fact that fitness takes time to build...it doesn't happen overnight. Part of it is the fact that some days are just better than other days. I've been training well for 5+ years and I have good days and bad days.
There are moments where I'm like yes I got this I'm killing it and then other times I'm like what on earth am I doing? This is hard!
Haven’t been obese for a few years now, exercise daily and I still feel like that some days. You’ve got it, just keep going. No one kills it every time.0 -
I mix my protein powder with a cup of cold coffee. I find that the protein gives me the energy I need to get through the workout but the caffeine from the warms up the muscles a bit faster than without. I went for over a week without the coffee and discovered that I did not really get warmed up enough until my workout was almost over. Added the coffee back and I warmed up faster ... for me personally, it is just a bit of a boost and may not work for everyone.1
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About a month ago you started? 4 or 5 weeks @ 3 times a week=12/15 times to the gym. While a very good start, it is a start. How long was it the your profile picture was taken and now? How much have you gained in that time? You really cannot expect to lose the weight much faster than you put it on. Most people don't realize how long they have been gaining to get to where they currently are. They, therefore, don't understand how long it will take for the weight to be shed. (Hint, it takes a while). Well begun is have done, to quote Mary Poppins. All that's needed is the determination to continue and achieve what ever goals you have planned. Diet for weight loss, exercise for general fitness. Way to go in getting started, keep it up and see results.
I predict I was about 70 pounds lighter in my profile pic. And I think it was taken about five years ago.0 -
When it comes to physical activity particularly to going to the gym when you don't have "a gym body" showing up is the biggest part of the battle especially early on where you are now. Just keep showing up. Keeping doing your best and stop when you're done or when it gets too hard. I'm not saying do this forever, just long enough to get into the habit of getting up and going. Over time, it will get easier or you'll find different activities that you enjoy that keep you going back. You can always amp up your activity over time.
I am only slightly overweight now, but I have some pretty tough cronic pain issues and sometimes it's just downright hard to get up and go when I have trouble walking around the house. But I go anyway. Some days I might do 5 minutes on the treadmill, walk the trail outside for a single lap, or do 10 minutes of heavily modified Zumba.
It will get easier over time. All the best!1 -
nicolega2001 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Part of it is the fact that fitness takes time to build...it doesn't happen overnight. Part of it is the fact that some days are just better than other days. I've been training well for 5+ years and I have good days and bad days.
There are moments where I'm like yes I got this I'm killing it and then other times I'm like what on earth am I doing? This is hard!
A great quote from Greg LeMond - "It doesn't get any easier, you just get faster."
I've exercised (on and off - with some long "off" stretches) for most of my life. This time I've been back at it very consistently for almost two and a half years. Lifting weights hasn't gotten any easier, but I'm lifting a lot heavier weights than I was when I started back. Running/cycling hasn't gotten any easier, but I can run/cycle a lot farther and faster now, and I don't get the crippling muscle soreness like I did in the beginning. I'll never set world records, but I just turned 55 years old and I'm in the best shape I've been in in the last 35 years.
As cwolfman13 said, I still have days where it feels like I'm slogging through mud rather than running, or I have to double check the amount of weight I put on the bar because it feels twice as heavy as it should. It's just how it goes - we can't be "on" every time and not every workout will be a new personal record. But eventually, consistency yields dividends.3 -
I updated my profile pic today so that people can see what I actually look like now.2
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Congrats on deciding to make a change ! I too decided to do the same. June11 I stopped smoking ( a 20 year habit ) and August 23 I joined the gym . I started slowly just trying to find my way. I too use heart rate to monitor my cardio. I shoot for an hour a day and start at the low end of my range and go up as I feel it throughout hour. Some days are way harder than others and yes caffeine helps!2
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I had a lot of problems with fatigue when I first started. I found the main causes were dehydration, lack of quality sleep and too much sugar in my calories (believe it or not I only eat about 1/2 of what I use to). When you have a cap on calories and you eat a lot of sugar, there isn't enough good nutrition going in to support exercise.1
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quiksylver296 wrote: »nicolega2001 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Part of it is the fact that fitness takes time to build...it doesn't happen overnight. Part of it is the fact that some days are just better than other days. I've been training well for 5+ years and I have good days and bad days.
There are moments where I'm like yes I got this I'm killing it and then other times I'm like what on earth am I doing? This is hard!
Me, too.
Me three! Most days going to the gym is a struggle.
But that means that your sense of accomplishment after completing each planned workout can be proportional to how hard it was to finish it. We are re-training our brains as well as our muscles here. There comes a time when the self-pat on the back after a completed session starts to make us feel good. Good in ways that overeating and lounging around in front of the tv never did or could. That’s the eye-opener. We just have to stick to the new good habits long enough to get to that point. Please be proud of what you are doing. Because it IS hard. Yet, here you are. Doing it.1 -
Congrats on getting started and staying consistent. When you are unfit and overweight (as I was when I started) the goal is to establish a new habit, be consistent, and GRADUALLY pace yourself. You will instinctively increase your effort as you are able. Depending on your starting fitness level, it can take a long time to feel like you're doing great. But the important thing is that you're improving on YOU. If you push too hard too soon you can easily become discouraged, overtired, and possibly injured.
"Small daily improvements are the key to staggering long term results." Robin Sharma1 -
Some days I just am not feeling it. Tuesday was one of those days. I really didn’t want to be there and I didn’t have a very good work out. But I was on my period too and Ive got a little cold so maybe that’s why. You are doing great keep up the good work. It takes time to build up.0
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Some days are better and some days are worse than others.
Just keep showing up.
What you are experiencing is normal.
What kind of exercise are you doing?
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Yesterday I was scheduled to lift, but was a bit tired and almost blew it off. I had a cup of coffee and felt much perkier.
Over the last 2-3 months I have also been making a concerted effort to go to bed earlier. Eight hours of sleep every night helps everything, not just my workout.0 -
You know those times where you dip below your target HR? You're still doing more than you were when you were sedentary, right? That's the biggest thing.
It's great to try to keep in your target zone - but don't stress over it.0 -
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You don't need to do any kind of intense or heavy exercise if you're obese since it's not good for your joints.
Calculate whatever your TDEE is when you're sedentary or lightly active & subtract 500-1000 from there. Stay away from a lot of carbs and sugar if you want to see a steady weight loss.3 -
nicolega2001 wrote: »They have a circuit at my gym with ten weight machines. In between each machine you do one minute of cardio.
to me the main question is whether you enjoy that. i dropped in on a circuit class a few times when i was first looking into lifting - i was in now-now-now mode and it was the only immediate gateway i found. after the novelty wore off, it dawned on me that i loved the weights . . . but i absolutely hated the 'circuit' format.
so there's that. ymmv, but circuit was way too stressy and pressured and bossy for me. some folks find it motivating. i found it noisy and demoralizing. doesn't mean i'm not a big gym rat now; i just didn't stick with the first format i tried because as it turned out the first format i tried simply wasn't 'for' me.
congratulations on your consistency. i do agree with all the people who feel it's perfectly fine to go with what your body feels up to, rather than trying to stick to the letter (or number) of some formula just because someone gave you that formula when they barely knew you.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »nicolega2001 wrote: »FatWithFatness wrote: »Coffee, caffeine is your friend.
You're the second person who has said that on this thread. Very interesting to me! I had never considered that before. I think I assumed it would make me feel dehydrated.
I would take HR zone training with a grain of salt as there are numerous things that can affect it. It's something I watch when I'm riding, but I don't get too wrapped up in it.
A nice conversational pace endurance ride in the afternoon usually has me somewhere between 130-140...that same ride done in the morning after a cup or two of coffee will have me at 150+. It doesn't really mean anything...my level of effort is the same, it's just that my HR is "artificially" raised with the caffeine...and likely some raised cortisol levels as they tend to be high in the AM.
I'm glad to hear you say 150 HR....I was on the elliptical and HR was up to 148 (which I'm not in shape but getting there). Someone had told me 150 was the max....lol ....so I'm not gonna die now!0
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