Well this has been kind of awkwardly brought back up top... but while it's here I have a question.

I've been kind of sort of thinking about a gym membership. More in passing that really seriously. It really frustrates me that I'm thinking about it in December, and signing up for/around new years would be the most joinerish thing to do. I'm not looking to body build and my apartment has a little mini-gym I can use already, but I am out of shape. Not in an obese way so much as a "I want to die after I've been running for 45 seconds" way. And that upsets me a bit. One of the many things I'd like to end up being able to do in life for no real reason is run at a decent pace for... I don't know how long, but more than one minute. And while I don't want to body build, I wouldn't mind filling out/toning just a touch.

So the difference between what I have and neglect to use out of lazyness versus what a gym would have (I imagine?) is some sort of trainer/motivator and someone who can give me a semi-well thought out schedule of what exercises to do when. Which would probably be helpful, since I like structure. The right gym would also probably have an indoor parking lot, which would help with the whole "I don't want to walk there in winter, it's cold!" thing.

Whether I'd actually unlazy myself or not after signing up is an unknown that depends only on me... so I guess my question is whether anyone here's been in a somewhat similar situation and found it worthwhile/not worthwhile? Did anyone here find a gym membership helpful in unlazying themselves, or was it just a money sink until you got out of it?


Slightly Related Question: Someone in this thread said they'd stopped drinking soda, which is awesome. I down waaaay too much coke. I've tried stopping once or twice, but it never really took hold. Switching over to water and drinking just for drinking isn't the same. The water's all tasteless and has no caffeine (I tried some water flavoring stuff, but it tasted really bad to me). Tea might be a better tasting caffeinated alternative, but tea's a lot harder to get your hands on in several settings, since you need boiling water and all that. I'm not dead set on cutting soda out of my life completely, but having 300-500 calories per day from 2 or 3 cans is a pretty huge chunk of empty calories I'd be much better without. And if I get one of those 20 oz bottles instead it shoots up even more. Anyone here have tips for weaning yourself off of food you love, but really shouldn't have (too much of)?

I lucked out, in that I had to chuck soda when I moved because they simply don't have the kinds I prefer here, and I let go of most fastfood, because the pizza and burgers just ain't right.

Between that and trying to keep up with students in things like swimming, basketball, and tennis (wherein they all humor me, I swear), I actually got my abs back and that sort of buoyant spring you get after putting on new muscle.

But, I'm watching some of my students (mostly women, but not all) seriously starve themselves, hoping that'll take care of everything and that shit don't work. I'm forever trying to feed entire nacho platters and full-sized chocolate cakes to students who're deliberately skipping all but a few meals a week, pretty much since I was a student.

Cucumber soda sounds really neat. I'll have too look that up and see if I can find out what it tastes like...

Breaking the soda habit is a lot easier if you straight-up don't keep any in the house.  Even if you let yourself buy a can of soda when you're out shopping or when you pass a vending machine, you drink a lot less soda by not having soda available on demand.  Works for candy too.  Myself, I drink a lot of water, but my poison of choice is chocolate milk.  Chocolate milk has more calories than an equal volume of Coke, but fewer calories from carbs, and it contains protein and calcium.  It is also much less acidic than soda (by a factor of 1000 or so), which makes it better for your teeth, gums, and stomach lining.  That's not to say it's good for you, but it's not as bad as soda.  (It's also a little harder to drink -- you have to pour yourself a glass, you can't just pop open a can -- so you drink less.)

I've never been a member of a gym, so I can't speak to whether you're motivated to exercise by having a fitness coach and a gym membership that you're paying for.  I suspect this is the kind of thing where people's experiences may vary dramatically for no particular reason.  At the same time, speaking as someone who can run at a decent pace for quite a while without stopping, I don't think you need a trainer to get to the point where you can run for a few minutes.  You just need a treadmill, some determination, and a little curiosity.  Find a speed where you can already go for a few minutes without wanting to die -- maybe around 5.5 mph, a relaxed jog? -- and see how long you can maintain it.  Three minutes?  Five?  Ten?  Repeat this a few times, seeing if you can extend the jog, and eventually you'll feel ready to try upping the speed by maybe 0.2 mph.  Repeat until you're at a pace you're happy with.  If you're interested in weights, you can do that before or after, whichever is more comfortable, but I'm the wrong person to ask.

Riri-kins wrote:

That's so true. I prefer to drink flavored water if I want something sweet.

I've really let myself go since I quit the gym, so I restarted and I realized I'm the fourth fattest person and the second fattest woman in there. It doesn't even help when I go with my friend. How can I not get discouraged?

Soda kicking is hard, but it's a cinch when you go cold-turkey and no longer have it in the house/apartment. I've been soda-free for 3 1/2 years now, and it feels effing amazing.

Don't let your current size discourage you. Instead, picture what the you six months or a year from now will be. It'll be awesome! You can do it! If you ever need any motivationals, I've got a harddrive full of some. Just lemme know, yeah?

Another thing is, now that you've told us, we'll be cheering for you and hoping to see some positive results, so don't disappoint.

satyreyes wrote:

If you're interested in weights, you can do that before or after, whichever is more comfortable, but I'm the wrong person to ask.

You want to do weights before cardio. The fuel in your belly is absolutely required to make muscle gains, since muscle doesn't build by burning off fat tissue as easily. Whereas with cardio, you want the cardio to burn the fat anyway, which it's more likely to do if you've already burned your food fuel pumping iron.

Also, unless you're not working out hard enough, your focus will naturally wane a little as your workout goes on. This is less important in cardio than in weights, where you can seriously injure yourself being sloppy.

This is an absolutely amazing website about weightlifting and general fitness for womens (and guys, actually, the advice is solid either way): http://www.stumptuous.com/ It relates to another subject in the thread, which is how to get inspired/stick with it.

The answer for me has been to involve in my working out a goal that is immediate, and has nothing to do with my weight or how I look. Those take longer, and are easier to sell cheaply to yourself when they do happen. Did I add five pounds to a lift? Do my muscles feel like they're going to blow up? Did I totally just have better form than the jackass meathead pumping ten times my max sloppily? I have to think that way, because I'm fat and flabby and surrounded by totally fit guys right out of firefighter sexy calenders. I absolutely god damn hate going to the gym with a passion you wouldn't believe, because it's intimidating being around fitter people, and I'm lazy. I hate working out. But I feel SO GOOD when it's over. That feeling, and the progress, are what keep me going.

...that, and when I'm fit, I have the endurance to masturbate for longer.

...what.

(BTW, despite my appearances, I'm actually quite well studied on fitness and could probably answer a lot of questions and clear misconceptions. Especially where it concerns diet, 'cardio', and weightlifting, which is TOTALLY GOOD FOR WOMEN AND NO YOU WON'T LOOK LIKE HULK HOGAN. So if anyone's interested in that, just say!)

At the end of the day, honestly, you need another reason to work out than 'I want to look good.' That is a great goal to have, but it takes too long to achieve and something as challenging as a real workout needs an immediate reward. It doesn't have to be 'I pumped iron like a fucking BAWS today.' It can be 'If I can hardly lift my arms afterwards, I get to have a nice hot bath and relax.' Find a way to reward yourself for your dedication. I'd love to say the dedication should be enough, but that's not practical for most of us, and we do need an incentive.

As for working out with people, that's a double edged sword. On one hand, it can keep you motivated to challenge yourself and not make excuses. On the other, you two could just as easily talk each other out of the commitment more often than you would have on your own. You have to experiment with it.

Valeli wrote:

Anyways, as to my question, anyone else want to do anything along these lines too? Be it running, or weight loss, or improving your time on the 100 back stroke, or... whatever? Feel like sharing how it's going and being all inspirational and stuff? Dunno. I don't feel like starting a blog or anything like that, but I wouldn't mind posting how I'm doing somewhere, and this thread seems like a passable place. I'd feel less stupid about it if I wasn't alone though.

Sure! I need to get back into running anyway. I was currently working on completing a whole 10k, and I'm actually pretty close. I've also been needing to do more arm stuff, because my twigs just aren't cutting it. I also need to cut off about 7-9% body fat, so that's the third goal there.

In short, totally, Valeli! We can keep logs here, and also, if you're into RPGs any, there's a site called Fitocracy that tracks work-outs and gives you points based on what you do. Sort of guides you in the right direction. I've loved it.

Well, I lost three pounds last week and realized that my problem is that I eat out and snack too much. Now I'm kind of in a weird fast food withdrawal phase. I've also started using the treadmill again and it feels really good. My upper body strength is terrible, but I'm just taking it one day at a time.

OnlyInThisLight wrote:

I've never been able to kick Coke either.  I can sometimes switch it out to Coke-Zero or replace it with Peach Orchard Punch for a week, but I always go back.  Unlike food, I'm incredibly picky about drinks.  I hate the taste of most alcohol, juices, water and milk.  I don't think it's the caffeine that gets me though, it's the sugar addiction.  Even on mornings I have coffee, I still want a nice, cold coke.  When upset at work, if I drink a coke its like a sudden burst of happiness.  Sugar.

Do what I did and limit yourself to two a day for a week, then one at dinner for another, and finally replace it with bottled water. I swear not having it in the house makes it much easier for me. If you must have a sugar rush then shake up some Crystal Light in a bottle. There's nothing better than that pink lemonade flavor.  I'm not saying you can never have a Coke again. I'm just saying it'll taste better when you can.

Last edited by Riri-kins (01-01-2013 03:21:58 PM)

Okay, it's time to get back into the grind.

Now that my upper respiratory infection is gone, I can get back to working out like usual.

I did upper body today to ease back into it. Push-ups need some work, but my dips are as solid as ever.

Gonna go running tomorrow, so that'll be interesting to see.



Do we need to post progress pics? They say it's extremely motivating and is stronger at keeping one from regressing.

Valeli wrote:

Finally did time a test mile and came in at a fairly disgraceful 10:23. Still, you've got to start somewhere. I wasn't even able to run it all entirely. I ran the first 1/3, and then took ~6 20-30 second "quick walking" breaks during the second 2/3. Something about it hit me really hard and crushed all of my air. The biking and rowing machines haven't been nearly as bad. Anyways, that's the starting mark. So I've got to knock off 3:23 somehow to meet my goal. The best news about this is that if I can just get myself fit enough to do the whole thing with non of those walking breaks, I'll be able to cut over 2 minutes right there without even raising my pace.

There's a good program called "Couch-to-5k." It'll kick your ass into shape. I don't think you need to start at the beginning, but find what day you can do with ease and start there. Here's the link: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Run was awful. Ran 1.5 miles in 15 minutes, not bad. But I was meaning to run 4.5. Wasn't able to activate enough to get started on that second set. My legs gave out and I was left with having to endure the walk of shame.

I finally ran a mile! Yay~

Ok. Jogged it, really, but at no point did I do anything that would qualify as fast-walking or slower so I'm pretty excited. I didn't time it... it certainly wasn't an impressive time, and may not even have been a lot better than my original mile time where I had brief 20 second walk intervals tossed in. It wasn't pretty either, and it didn't feel all that fun at any point, but it felt great after. All-in-all, I think going from needing to walk after 1/3 of a mile to being able to jog the whole thing in about three weeks is fairly decent progress, and it's a good landmark if nothing else.

I'm not sure what to do next. I guess I should run another mile and time it, and then set my next short-term goal to be a fairly small but still sizable deduction off of whatever time that is. Or, maybe it would make more sense to just keep trying to hold up whatever pace I have but do it for.... 1.5 miles? I'll go in one of those two directions I suppose. Maybe the first, since my goal's really just a 7 minute mile and not to become a successful long-distance runner. But even so, I should be able to run a bit more than a mile so I'm not feeling completely broken at the end of the first one.

The coke thing's going well too. I've only had one of those in the last two weeks (although I've had some margheritta's...).

In general, I know I should be eating better. I just don't really know how. I don't eat junk food, beyond the fairly occasional pizza or Chinese delivery, but I'm not eating anything good either. Maybe I shouldn't worry, since I don't really want to loose weight beyond five pounds or so, and it seems kind of strange to worry about my food when I'm not overweight at all. I can cook a few things. I enjoy it, but it always seems to take me an hour to finish, not counting the time it takes to drive out to the store, buy stuff, and get back. That's an hour I really don't have right now... I'm feeling stressed for time as it is. It doesn't help that none of the things I cook are particularly healthy either. Don't know... maybe I'm actually not eating that badly and it's kind of in my head. Like I had a crabcake sandwhich for lunch and yelled at myself because it was fried. A crabcakes a small side salad can't be /that/ bad for me though, can they? As long as I'm not doing that every day? But the problem is other days I do restaurant stuff to... I'll get chicken fajitas or enchiladas with (probably) too many toppings piled on, etc. Or I went to the cheesecake factory last weekend and had a /huge/ plate of food that could probably have fed three in a pinch. Certainly two.

Meh.

Still really happy about my mile though!

Last edited by Valeli (01-23-2013 08:19:53 PM)

Do I still want (to pay for) a trainer? This is mostly just me musing to myself, and trying to answer my earlier question of if a gym was a good use of cash. If anyone else wants to chime in though, I certainly don't mind.

Basically, when I joined the gym, I got 1 month (4 sessions) with one of their trainers for (almost) free. I liked it. It's nice to have someone there to show you around stuff. And it's not like my particular gym is a mecca of flawless bodies that puts me to shame  when I try to exercise in the same place (although there's a few), but it's still nice to be around someone in great shape who knows what they're doing and is spending their time and attention trying to help stuff work out for you too. I've certainly tried more than one exercise/machine I wouldn't have otherwise because of suggestions/explanations too.

The best part for me, probably, is just having an appointment. If I was going with a friend instead I'd probably have the same effect, but without anyone to meet up with being expected to show up helped keep me honest this last month. Even on the days I wasn't seeing my trainer it was useful, because there's a sense of wanting some improvement to show between week one and two, three and four, etc. (Plus, they're still there even when they're not spending time with you, which is kind of nice. In a way.) One day I was going to miss when I got an e-mail that they were sick and not at work from the gym, but then they called me to check if I was going anyways which guilted me into it. I don't know if I'd have missed the next time too, but that sort of miss one day, then two, then a week, then stop is definitely what ruined this for me the last time I bothered trying. Getting to run a mile without stopping was totally awesome too. It's been awhile since I last did that, so it was really cool to see some sort of tangible result in just one month.

So lots of positives, for me at least.

The negative? Now that the free month is over it comes to ~70 dollars+/week if I feel like continuing, with a minimum contract of three months. So... more or less 1000 dollars for three months. A bit less. It's payable. And /if/ it keeps me showing up constantly for three months it's probably worth the cash.... It's a bit hard to say. My goal of a 7 minute mile has no cash value, since it's of no actual importance. The broader goal of being in good health has no cash value either, but it definitely is of some importance.

At the moment I'm giving it a few days, but think I'll probably pay up. It's really helped turn going to the gym a bit from a chore to something I enjoy. Also, I feel like if I'm going to work in health care, keeping my own health up is important. Otherwise I'd feel somewhat hypocritical telling others what they should/shouldn't be doing, or why they should follow certain courses of action for the sake of their health. But still, 300 dollars a month. Gag.

Last edited by Valeli (01-26-2013 10:23:37 AM)

I second purplepolecat. It always helps to have a reward.

I'm finally getting used to working out again after two weeks. Last night was the first time I maintained a speed for a an hour.