What worked for you??

TO TRY ON BATHING SUITS!!!! Try on some bathing suits in a well lit dressing room with all-angle mirrors!!! Ever since I tried on bathing suits about a month ago, since that day I have been FAITHFUL to my exercise program - never skipping a day no matter how tired I am.

I am looking for some motivation.... Those of you that are having success in the toning and/or weight loss department and are regular exercisers, what are you doing?

I'm lifting heavy with New Rules of Lifting for Women (NROL4W). I started Apr. 16, and I'm half-way through stage 2 (of 7) now, and I've dropped 2 jeans sizes (from an 18 to a 14), and if I suck in, I've lost 2" off my waist (from 40" to 38"). I lift 3x/week, and do 1 hour moderate intensity cardio (usually elliptical) 2x/week. I also take a 1 hour/week dance class (tap & jazz).

What was it that "clicked" for you and got you to start working out consistently? A specific workout? A kick in the butt?

My wake-up call was finding out my cholesterol was over 200. Just barely, but when I weighed 160 in 2009, my cholesterol was approx. 170, so finding out it was borderline high (and off-balance bet. HDL & LDL), convinced me to join a gym to start exercising to reduce it. I did all cardio, all the time, for the first month, then started NROL4W to add weight-training. After only a few months, I'm already excited to have my cholesterol re-measured next winter.

What do you attribute to your results?

1. A change in attitude. Exercise is now non-negotiable for me. No excuses (except illness or injury, which haven't been a problem so far). I wake up, pee, and get ready to go to the gym. I'm trying to make it a habit, but there are still days I want to sleep in, but I push through, and I'm 100% always glad I went.

2. Lifting weights. Heavy ones. It's a hard workout, but I feel sooooooo good afterwards. And I'm addicted to the competitive feeling of seeing if I can increase my weights every time I do a move. Even if it's only by 2.5 lb. I can't increase on every move, every time, but when I can, it feels amazing. Like pushups. I can't do them on the floor, so I do them on an incline (using the bar on a Smith Machine), and every time I go 1 rung lower, it makes me more & more certain I'll be able to do them on the floor (NOT on my knees) someday in the foreseeable future.

3. Seeing results. I can SEE that I look different when I see myself in the mirror. And in how my clothes fit. And in how much easier certain activities seem. Like on May 5, I walked a 20-mile charity walk, and sure, I was sore afterwards, but I walked it faster than I ever had before, and I was MUCH less sore than ever before. And when my 45-50 lb. daughter fell asleep on the car-ride home after I picked her up from the sitter, I was still able to pretty easily carry her into the house and up the stairs to put her to bed. Even on sore legs. That felt pretty amazing, and I want to take that and build on it.

Suspension training with jump rope.

I have just joined.

I gained 30 pounds after a period of injury but was previously very active.

In general, for me personally, the most important thing is that I actually ENJOY what I do. That way I stick to it rather than it feeling like a chore.

Find something you LOVE that you actually think is FUN.

It doesn't matter if that's spinning, running, swimming, Zumba, aerobics, Body Pump, joining a netball team, Wii Fit, play squash with a friend, go rollerskating, buy a bicycle... as long as you actually enjoy it.

In terms of weight loss... when I lost weight a few years ago, the things that worked really well for me were:

- any interval based cardio... like spin classes or Body Combat
- strength training / weight lifting

What doesn't work terribly well for me in terms of exercise:

- pure 'steady state' cardio (like long slow runs etc)
- not doing any weight training

Best of luck. :flowerforyou:

I started with Richard Simmons' Sweatin' to the Oldies and Bellydance for Fitness DVDs. I needed something fun and slightly ridiculous. I've since played around with a bunch of different things, but the important trick is to find something that you like to do, no matter how silly or hard or whatever it seems. If you don't like doing it you won't; it's as simple as that.

I also bought myself a day planner and put a sticker in it for every day that I stuck to my plan. It gave me a little instant reward and let me track my diet so that I had a visual warning if I was skipping too many days. Don't discount rewards systems we developed in kindergarten

This^ Keep trying different things and make yourself accountable.

I started slowly .... 90 minutes per week and tracked it on a spreadsheet (you can use a calendar). I used 10 Minute Solutions from Netflix (lots of these are instant stream) .... tons more videos by mail. After I got consistant at 90 minutes .... I added more minutes.

Eventually, exercise was habit ..... and I found what I exercise I liked. Exercise videos work for me because ... I have no excuses. My go to videos for cardio are Leslie Sansone Walk at Home. Pop one in (anytime of the day) and I'm good to go. Even if I'm in a bad mood, these "no brainer" workouts get me moving. For strength straining I really like Kelly Coffey Meyers 30 Minutes to Fitness series; her personality is great.

Camera on a tripod with a self-timer, plus a bikini. Take photos from every angle, and compare every few weeks or once a month. It's easier to be objective when looking at photos than looking in the mirror, especially if you compare them side by side with last month's photos.

A small calorie deficit worked best for me. Aiming to lose a half pound a week, and aiming for a minimum of 100g of protein a day.

Running makes me happy, but strength training with heavy weights changed my body.

What also helped was continuing to eat the foods I love, like pizza and bagels, but making sure it fit my calories and macros. Since I never felt deprived, there was never a need to binge or cheat. That said, I also took at least one day off a week where I didn't log my food and just ate normally. Sometimes those days would be higher in calories, sometimes not. But it was good to not think about, for instance, counting out an exact portion size of potato chips or pretzels. (And sometimes, I bet I ate less than I would have if I had counted out an exact portion.)

not making excuses worked for me. when i finally read this: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/08/31/is-it-really-worth-it/ it completely changed my thinking.

mind was 30DS and running you can take a peek what 6 weeks of running has done for my legs here!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/627853-6-weeks-of-running-and-this-is-what-happens-pic

I tried so many things but what is currently working for me is Couch to 5K (I like the structure of it) and alternating that with Pilates on Netflix. I tried a LOT of other things before this, but nothing clicked and/or challenged me in just the right amount like these 2 workouts do.

I got seriously out shape while ignoring a hernia. Just didn't want to be bothered with getting it fixed. It was easier to ignore.

Then I saw the Insanity infomercials. I was hooked. Got my hernia fixed, recovered and lost 40+ lbs in 5 months.