demoiselle2014 Member

Perhaps it would help to identify some of your problem areas (For example, 1. Sugary breakfast cereals 2. Candy runs 3. Evening desserts) and begin replacing them with healthier options one at a time. You could replace the sugary cereals with something healthier, and after you've gotten used to that, begin taking some…

I don't think there is any biological reason it would be bad to skip breakfast if you prefer. I personally am someone who has always had trouble eating breakfast--I don't get hungry in the morning until really late. Part of this is my morning coffee--an appetite suppressor. For years, I just waited until I got hungry to…

Do you have a downstairs neighbor? How do you deal with the noise from the elliptical?

You could get a lot of benefit at this stage from bodyweight training. If you want to lift weights, there is no shame (imho) in starting out with weight machine circuits. You can probably get someone at the gym to walk you through the machines and how to use them. If you want to use free weights, it may be a good idea to…

Me, too. I love living in NYC, but that makes a home gym impractical. Even if I had an extra room I doubt I could have much of a fitness room (due to noise issues with downstairs neighbors).

I make a shake for myself in the morning: banana, protein powder, peanut butter (here's the danger zone for calories), and almond milk. For whatever reason, I don't get hungry for a meal until really late in the morning, and I do much better with my eating if I drink my breakfast.

Oh how much I wish I could have a dedicated home workout area. I'd love to have a rowing machine, for example.

I had some shin discomfort when I started jogging and then later, when I started C25K. It felt like muscular soreness. When I was jogging (without a program), I merely took walking breaks when the muscles on the front of my lower leg felt tight/sore. Same thing with C25K. It went away as I got in better shape. I stuck to…

Thank you. Do you think that bodyweight exercise rather than cardio will be effective for curbing this sense of bursting excess energy?

My doctor said that I could resume running/exercising/walking as soon as I no longer had any pain. I no longer have any pain for any activity except a slight discomfort if I stand on my toes. So I am good to be active, but I'm trying to be conservative in terms of exercise on the ball of my foot (ie, dancing, running, or…

Right now, my foot is basically fine--I just need to make sure not to stand on my toes for hours (which is why I am not doing tango now, because that involves putting all your weight forward on the ball of your foot and then pivoting repeatedly for several hours), or retraumatize through running. I have the go-ahead from…

600-800 seems ridiculously high, but it isn't unusual for various brands of fitness to promise extremely high calorie burn as a marketing tool . . .

I wish that more people had this experience when young.

Try going to a doctor--sports medicine would be a good choice. You may have some kind of physical/genetic thing that can be helped by orthotics or strengthening exercises. Don't ignore joint pain and hope it will go away, since you have to live with your joints for a very long time.

It's great that you've found that out about yourself! It can be very helpful to have a goal beyond "generic fitness" for some people. Dancing has done this for me and my husband. We love to do it together, and we have both taken up other fitness activities to enhance our more "artsy" activity. But there can be real…

That is something else that is invisible for many newcomers to a class: a few people will stick to an activity for a very long time. In my first pilates class, I felt like such a wimp as the youngest person by 20+ years in the room. One woman in particular really impressed me. It was only in my third repetition of the…

Thank you, everyone! I really wish that I could have told myself at 18 that, if I just persisted at a new physical task long enough, I'd make major breakthroughs and it would snowball into many of my other physical activities. It also feels really good to discover that some skills I thought were beyond me as a child are…

You can certainly spot train muscles! People get so hung up on the fact that you can't choose which body part will lose fat that they seem to forget that muscles change the way the body looks and measures, too. Of course, there's also confirmation bias at work with people who are targeting a certain body part. For example,…

I hurt my toe a week and a half ago, so I know the feeling. I have been hula hooping for cardio.

Good quality, firm foam ones that can bear some weight are fine, too, if your budget is limited.

You may want a day's rest before the test so you don't have muscle soreness to combat during the test.

I wouldn't risk it falling out in the pool. Plus, there are no steps to count swimming, so I am not sure what good it would do.

Pilates is good for core strength. Also, right now I am doing MFP's 30 Day Plank Challenge. Planks are great for abs but should be done with good form.

Yoga blocks are very helpful. Marshalls and TJ Maxx often have them on sale. You should get a pair.

If 5 minutes a day is challenging and leaves OP sore, that is probably an acceptable starting place. There's no shame in working up to 15.

Most likely 5 lbs lost in one week is something other than fat, yes.

I just finished Level 1 Day 3, and it was challenging. I found it easier to execute the moves, but my muscles are fatigued and to do some of the combination moves correctly, I had to move down in weight a bit. But safety first, and I got a good workout.

You can go up and down by 4 or 5 lbs easily depending on whether you're retaining water, or when you weigh yourself in relation to eating, drinking, and other bodily concerns.

Getting started with exercise is hard. Good job getting started! There is nothing strange about your legs being tired and sore. Now you have a beginning place: 5 minutes at a time. Tomorrow, get on that elliptical and try to do another 5 minutes (it'll be a bit more difficult this time, since you'll be sore, but light…

Interesting. I thought I was overestimating my size . . . and I was, according to that site, by 10%.