Althanas Fitness Thread, Redux Edition

[Breaker]

Thanks for the words. I haven't felt a significant change in body composition, but my shirts feel a little better. The improvement is equitable with the 8-9 lb loss I've experienced, so it's hard to say I've gained muscle per se. If I -am- burning some fat and gaining muscle while not noticing it, then I'd take that in a heartbeat. I can start tracking BF% on my scale to see if there's anything going on there. I'm not sure those measurements are worth a damn (particularly since I don't understand how they measure body fat; some electrical impulse/resistance type situation?), but it won't hurt.

Keep in mind that "gaining muscle" doesn't necessarily mean getting bigger. Especially considering the type of exercise you're doing, I wouldn't expect it to make your muscles much bigger, but they may grow heavier/denser. The easiest way I know of to notice changes in body composition is to measure the circumference of your stomach each time you weigh yourself. You can also measure your waist, quads, biceps, chest, and hips, but belly is usually where the biggest changes are seen.

Yesterday was day 7 for me of exercising every day... I'm one third of the way to 21 days, which according to science is when it will become a habit!

I went for a short run instead of doing hill runs before my regular workout, and I kept sugar completely out of my diet. Avocados are my friends... I'm thinking I may ramp up my exercise today, but we'll see how I feel this evening.

[Breaker]

Daily update... the diet is back on track... so far. And I had a great day for fitness.

This morning - 25 minute yoga practice
This afternoon - 20 minute walk
This evening - 5 minutes tension band warmups
3x5 minute rounds of hard shadowboxing, 2 minutes rest
20 cocorinha squats, 30s rest
20 pushups, 30s rest
30s plank, 30s rest
30s wall sit, 2minutes rest
25 cocorinha squats, 30s rest
25 pushups, 30s rest
45s plank, 30s rest
45s wall sit, 30s rest
5 minutes stretching

I decided to push myself for an extra set today, and I'm glad I did. My lungs got a decent workout today even though I didn't feel like running in the rain, and I'm sure I'll have sore muscles to look forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow being sunday I'll probably do a lighter workout, a thorough review of where I'm at, and make some plans for the upcoming week.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Well, I survived Krakow (barely). So, a promise being a promise to myself, I'm going to smash it from today. My goal is to get something healthy down me for my main meal and do a combination of a long walk and 50 sit-ups tonight, after work.

[Breaker]

For the past couple days I've had very low energy, so I've just been going for walks and doing yoga. There seems to be an issue with my hips which is causing issues with my knees, so I need to be really careful about injury until I get that corrected. Trying to get my hands on a book on corrective exercises and such.

[Storm Veritas]

Great 5 mile run today. Knocked out a good 6.5 on Sunday. I'm currently testing OUT of Ketosis with no solid rationale as to why, but my best bet is excess protein. Fuck it. I feel good, I'm not gaining weight, and I'm strongly considering just adding in some fruit, kiboshing ketosis altogether, and just resuming my normal "tight" diet discipline of plenty of healthy carbs through fruit only.

Either way, I feel strong and pretty healthy. Could be a lot worse.

[Chelley]

Finally found my workout DVD!! Gonna get a starting weight and measurements tonight and tomorrow. Also trying to cut back on carbs and do more veggies instead. I'm not gonna cut back quite as far as I had to while pregnant (that was torturous! I loooooove my pasta/potatoes/rice), but I am going to stop indulging as much as I have been. Elijah is officially a toddler now, so gotta get healthier to be able to keep up with him!

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

One of my friends, a personal trainer, has offered to put me through six weeks of hell in order to shift as much weight as possible and kickstart me onto a proper fitness programme. Usually I would be reluctant to part with money to train, but this guy knows what he is doing and just getting a bit of external motivation is enough to tempt me into doing it.

From Tuesday next week I'm going to get whipped into shape, so I'll be keeping tabs on here as to progress. From previous sessions I did with him years ago, I remember crawling home a broken man but the guy gets results.

Looking forward to making some tangible progress on shedding four stone!

[Storm Veritas]

How much is a stone?

[Yvonne]

A bit lighter than a boulder.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

How much is a stone?

14 pounds.