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Is RunKeeper Elite worth it?
I got the RunKeeper app on my iPhone last week. I love it so far. Having it track my distance and calories is really motivating to me. Every now and then the app sends me emails to say I've set a new personal record for distance, etc. However, I would have access to a lot more information about my activities, like longest…
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What's your favourite gym in Ottawa?
I thought it would be fun to take a survey (... of the half-dozen members here so far...) of gyms in town. I have membership with Goodlife and I only go to one location because it's really close to my place. However, I'm not 100% happy with it. It's a bit cramped. It also seems to go through trainers very quickly, and I'm…
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Calf Cramps!
I started Couch to 5k on November 1st and it's been going very slowly so far. I'm barely at Week 3 and I can't get through 3 minutes of jogging in one go. My problem all along has been that I keep getting really bad calf cramps - sometimes I get them even during the 5-minute warmup when I'm going 4 mph at most. I got new…
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Need help with calf cramps
I posted this in the Couch to 5k group but I've only gotten one answer, so I thought I'd try the main Fitness & Exercise forum. I started Couch to 5k on November 1st and it's been going very slowly so far. I'm barely at Week 3 and I can't get through 3 minutes of jogging in one go. My problem all along has been that I keep…
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Stage 1 - Lunges and deadlifts?
I'm halfway through stage 1 (yay!) and I have some questions about lunges and deadlifts. Lunges : I have a lot of trouble doing them with weights. I can do maybe 10 before the underside of my thighs - can you tell I'm bad with muscle names? - start to hurt and often I even fall down, sinking onto the extending knee. It…
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Frustrated by sodium
I'm trying to lower my sodium intake. It's a bit all over the place (today was 2507, yesterday was 1686) and higher than I'd like and I'm not entirely sure why. I don't eat processed foods, very rarely eat chips or other salty snacks, and never salt my food. I like salami and other sandwich meats, but I always get the ones…
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Weird calf pain
For the past few days I've had a weird, persistent pain in my left calf. The last time I went to the gym was last Thursday but I didn't hurt myself there, and I didn't feel the pain there then or immediately after my workout. It hurts especially badly when I walk, although I feel pain even if I just press my fingers into…
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Healthy snacks for school
I recently started the winter term in my Master's program and on Tuesdays, I have 9 hours of class in a row. That's three 3-hour classes with no breaks in between unless the prof decides to let us leave early. Occasionally there MIGHT be five minutes' wiggle room for me to run to the little food kiosk. It has some healthy…
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Finished stage 1! :D
My goal was to finish it by Monday, so I'm a bit ahead! I realized when I checked the book that I was supposed to reduce the number of reps as I went along... I didn't really do that. I almost always did 2 sets of 15 (I did fewer for pushups and lunges because I HATE them and more for cable rows and other exercises that I…
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Does this sound like realistic body fat loss/muscle gain?
The last time I checked my body fat/muscle mass percentage was in October. My body fat % t was around 30% and my muscle was 34%. I have an Ozeri scale that measures all this stuff. I know these scales aren't 100% reliable but I was confident that it's consistent with itself. I stayed away from the scale for a few months…
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HRM readout way higher than what MFP says
I got a heart-rate monitor for Christmas. It's a Polar FT7. I used it for the first time today, during my 20-minute brisk walk to and from the gym and 15 minutes of warm-up on the treadmill. When I entered the data into MFP it said I burned 196 calories for both activities - the HRM says 300. 99.99% of posts I've read…
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ProForm 390E elliptical question
One of my resolutions for 2012 is to walk/jog/move a certain number of km before the end of the year and I want to include the distance of my elliptical workouts in the total. But the screen on my machine displays "distance" with no units so I have no idea if it's strides, feet, meters, or what. I can't find the manual and…
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Should I increase my calories?
Before I started NROL, I had my deficit set to a pound a week, or 1550 a day. When I started NROL I bumped it up to half a pound or 1800 and I've been making an effort to get more protein in. I started the workout on November 1st (I'm toward the end of Stage 1). I don't do a whole lot of high-intensity cardio; I walk…
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Hydrostatic weighing?
I have the feeling this is going to be a long shot, but is there anywhere in the city can I get hydrostatic weighing done to determine my body fat percentage? Is it super expensive? What's the process like?
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Having trouble increasing my protein
In November I started doing New Rules of Lifting for Women, and I realized I don't get a whole lot of protein. Last week my average was 79 grams a day. My goal is 150! I just don't know what to do to increase it. I eat yogurt, cheese, eggs and lunch meats virtually every day (mostly this spicy chicken thing that's 5 grams…
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Brown rice that doesn't taste awful?
I like plain steamed/boiled white rice as a side dish a lot. I've made a few attempts to switch to brown rice because it's healthier and has more fibre and everything, but it just tastes awful to me, like warm mushy cardboard. I've mostly tried the store brand or whatever was cheaper because I suspected I wouldn't like it.…
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I suck at push-ups!
Like you would not BELIEVE. I can barely do a single "regular" pushup. At first I was doing them from the knee and even that was difficult - I could do maybe five in a row and then I'd have to stop for a little rest. Then when I was reading my copy of NRoL over, I saw that it said not to do them from the knee because that…
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Good recipe websites?
Hey everybody, I'm looking for recommendations for recipe websites. I really like Epicurious.com but it doesn't update very often and only a fraction of the recipes there are for main courses. Thanks!
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HRM recommendations
Basically what the title says! I'm going to ask for an HRM for Christmas. I've never used one so I'd like to hear your recommendations and your experiences with them. Thanks!
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Blood sugar and lipids
I had blood tests done last month and my blood sugar, cholesterol, lipids and triglycerides were all normal/low. However, I just started taking a new medication and one of the potential side effects is increased blood sugar and lipids. I'm going to need to do monthly blood tests to monitor those, and I'm not TERRIBLY…
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Vegetable puree soup
This is a low-cal, tasty and really healthy soup that's great for a cold fall/winter evening! It's not the most interesting or "exotic" recipe on here but it's great if you're having trouble getting your vegetables in. You're going to need a blender. This makes two servings. Ingredients 150 grams peeled and chopped…
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Cardio for weight loss - what's your experience?
I've been having a hard time losing weight. Since mid-July I've been hitting my daily calorie goal (1550) and my macros let's say 90% of the time, doing cardio 3-4 times a week, all of that... and I've lost 5 pounds. I'm supposed to be losing 1 pound a week. I eat my exercise calories back, I don't weigh myself around my…
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30DS and knee pain
I started 30DS on Thursday and on Saturday I started experiencing pain in my knees, but especially the right one. When I stand up after sitting/lying down for a long time and start moving it really hurts, but it goes away after a few minutes, I guess as the joints warm up. I didn't do the video over the weekend hoping it…
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Probably stupid question about body fat %/total weight
I did a weigh-in this morning because today marks one month that I've been tracking food again after going off the rails during my honeymoon. I lost two pounds, which I'm pleased about, but I'm kind of confused about my body fat percentage. In mid-May I had a free health assessment at the gym, during which I found out that…
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Making sure the weight STAYS off?
Again and again, I've seen the following statistic tossed around : only 3-5% of people who lose a decent amount of weight manage to keep it off for more than a year. Nobody ever explains how they arrived at that figure. Is it based in fact at all? Does it only take into account people who go on fad diets or take…
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How many reps?
I do weight training at the gym three times a week. My current routine is seven of the weight machines : low back extension (75 lb), leg extension (60 lb), leg curl (60 lb), hip abductor and adductor (70 lb), lat pulldown (45 lb), and chest press (30 lb). I do 5 sets of 10 reps at each machine. I was just wondering whether…
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"I haven't gained weight, this scale just sucks!"
I'm sure a lot of us here have said that to ourselves after a disappointing weigh-in. I don't want to use the scale as an excuse instead of being more disciplined with my eating, but I've noticed that it's a pretty flaky machine. It's a digital scale, so I thought it would be reliable but it seems to be the opposite. For…
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Low-cal cookie recipes?
One of the wedding gifts my husband and I got was a really cute set of animal-shaped cookie cutters. I haven't used them yet for two reasons : 1. I have very little experience with baking. 2. As someone who is trying to eat healthy, nutritious food as much as possible... cookies are not something I want to have in the…
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Eat my exercise calories? But I'm not hungry.
I keep reading about how important it is to eat back the calories you lose exercising. i certainly don't want to push my body into starvation mode or do anything unhealthy for my body. It's just that most of the time I'm not hungry enough to eat my exercise calories! For example, today I'm at approx. 528 calories so far.…
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Trouble losing weight and frustrated!
First of all, hi everyone! This is my first time on the website, although I've had the MFP iPhone app for a few months now. I'm posting here because I'm having a lot of trouble losing weight - in fact, I've gained a tiny bit - even though as far as I can tell, I'm doing everything right. I'm getting really frustrated and…
