Hello all!
I have a membership at the YMCA. I pay monthly however the last time I was there was June... early June of this year. And I paid for those missed months. Well, I want to go back. I had first stopped going because I tore my left shoulder. I just haven't gotten back into the swing of things. :rolleyes:

Now I know there is a bunch of you who are thinking.. gym... like right! What are you thinking, Kass... but hear me out. I went to the gym first thing in the morning... 7am. It was convient because my kids were at school or at least on the bus. I would do the treadmill for 10 minutes or the cross trainer (Oh I hate that thing!) then do either upper or lower strength training.
But it wasn't for the weightloss, I actually gained two pounds over a few months.. muscles. It wasn't to burn more calories, you only burn 120 calories doing 10minutes on the treadmill. You actually burn 300 calories doing an hour of grocery shopping.
What kept me going was the beautiful calm feeling that started right after the work out till the middle of the afternoon. That and I slept like a baby at night. :)

So any ways... I want to go back to the gym... and I would like a support group for that. Care to join? If so please tell me your story and lets get these bodies moving! :cool:

Well I haven't been a member of a gym for quite awhile now....At school, the membership was free (yuh right)....but never used the equipment there anyway...I only used the swimming pool which I LOVED and the walking tracks which they had (both indoor and outdoor).....

Now in Florida where it is much more humid....I find I have few swimming options...and need to walk at the mall....not bad and I do either about 5 times per week....and so am maintaining my weight now....but would really like to lose some....AND

there happens to be a recreation center.....like down the street from where I live....oh how nice it would be to join....and not too expensive either since I still have a student ID and I'm a resident of the town.....Okay will check it out this week......

Meanwhile I need support to continue to move my body....walk or swim....preferably EVERY day....as it certainly helps with my depression...and I get that calm feeling too and I get that general feeling of wellbeing....sort of like all is right with the world even if everything sucks....

I'm also paying monthly for a membership. I went regularly for a good 6 months with a friend when I first signed up.

Now I don't have the motivation to go and none of my friends have memberships to the same gym anymore. My wife is too self-conscious to go.

I could go by myself, but I found it very helpful to have someone expecting you to be there. Its far to easy for me to make excuses to myself.

Inattentive: Relate to your wife being too self-conscious to go....boy do I ever relate to that....especially in co-ed gyms....and it certainly is easier to go when you know somebody else is waiting for you there.....sigh......

Anyway, I did do a thirty minute walk tonight....in partial rain....but that's okay....as my mom always says, "noone ever melted in the rain":D She's right....

I threw a lot of money away on a gym membership, which I stopped going to a few months after joining (my wife opened her own hairdressing salon so I've had to be at home to look after my son a lot more), but had to continue to pay for first because I had signed a contract for a year, then because I didn't get round to cancelling, and finally because the contract had a 3-month notice period for cancellation... I would like to do some exercise - think it would make me feel generally better (reckon this is especially true for ADDers) - but am very wary about making commitments. Could try to get into a swimming routine though - could even take my little son, who could also do with burning off excess energy and frustration...

Well yesterday I didn't go the gym, but I did walk home from work which is over a half mile from home. I loved it! I was wide awake at dinner time and very calm. So I'm calling yesterday a successful exercise day! :D

Woke up confused and frustrated.....and a little later than usual....and so decided before it really started raining I would take a swim....so I did for about 40 minutes and of course it felt great.....it was sort of sprinkling rain the whole time but that was okay.....as nobody else was in the pool with me.....I had the whole pool to myself.....

Perhaps first thing in the day is a good time to exercise....now just to get motivated to do it then....:)

Originally posted by Keppig
what kept me going was the beautiful calm feeling that started right after the work out till the middle of the afternoon.

I joined a gym a few months ago and haven't been going as much as I'd like to...But I also feel the same way you do after my work out....

Oh Joan, to swim in Florida... how nice! It hasn't been above 70 all week, I miss swimming alot! But I guess the good news its cool enough to walk more! :D

fasttalkingmom, Is there a name I can call you by? I'm Kassie

Okay Kassie....you're right:)....I need to be grateful for the fact that swimming in Florida in possible twelve months of the year.....I forget sometimes.....and take it for granted.

I did grow up in Boston -- and for many years I could not swim past the summer months -- by September it did get too cool to swim....but you're right, walking became delightful....

Well I didn't make it to the gym today, like I hoped.

I just can't get out of bed early, not with school starting and getting things ready for the week. I did however do my adominal exercises, like a good girl. And I loosed my back... must keep my posture right!

How about the rest of you?

Okay, well in the past few days I have been swimming or walking....haven't looked into the recreation center yet....I just don't want to pay the money even though it's not that expensive....:(

I'm getting frustrated! My roommate, who is the one with the car, who also promised to go to the gym with me (I hate exercising along.. need someone to talk to ;) ), won't wake up early, he keeps saying he'll get up but didn't till it was time to work. GRRRRrrrr (just like a cat)....

Kassie: You can play REAL mean: set his alarm clock to a REAL loud radio station for very early in the a.m. (way before you have to leave for the gym).....

OR you can put an ice-cube in his bed.....

Hey I said it was mean:D

OR put sexy pictures of his favoriate actor on his wall.....tell him he will look like them if he exercises.....

Well I walked a half mile yesterday and almost a mile today... oh do the front of my calfs hurt! But I'm proud of what I did! :)

I took a nice little walk with my mom today around the track....she got "pooped" early so we had to stop:) but that's okay as we will go again tomorrow.....

Well I 'm amazed at how when I travel, I really tend to overeat..and so when I get back "home" I really want to start my exercise program again -- which is a good thing...I guess....

Yesterday driving to Miami, I sat in a car for 10 hours....yuck....

Today I commit to a brisk walk.....:)

I go to the gym here on base and mostly run on the treadmill. I took a month off, initially because of an ankle injury, but I was off guard for the effect on my depression and my "Week off" turned into a month. It was just as well, as I probably needed the full month to heal properly. My OCD is pretty well controlled, with meds, but it has up and downsides for my exercise. The upside is even on a bad day, it can be very motivating, because it just doesn't feel "Right" to slow down, or quit. The downside is that I have to be VERY careful to pay attention to cues from my body and stick to set routines and stop when the pre-established workout time is over, or my route if I'm outdoors has come full circuit, because that same drive that motivates also makes it very easy to over do it. I was literally running myself into the ground for a little while, and was amazed at the result when I allowed a little bounce back time. Also, I put on twenty pounds in the first week of the break from running. At first I was floored, but it didn't take long to realize I'd be running chronically dehydrated, even drinking as much water as I had been! I lost three lbs in water weight yesterday in one workout. Needless to say, I keep a much closer eye on that now.

It does make a large difference in my over all attitude and stress levels though. Even now, that I am reasonably comfortable with my fitness level, I am still very self concious about going into a gym, and will not use one I haven't at least surveyed a few times to ensure I have enough familiarity with the equipment etc. to avoid looking stupid. It's very difficult for me not to notice how much better condition some folks there are in than me. So, I just try not to look at anything but my read outs and then I end up hyperfocussing until I am done and can sit in a blessedly relaxing sauna. :-) That's my favorite part. Probably makes me lose even more water weight, but the heck with it, I'll drink more.

On another tack, The actual exercise you do, is primarily important for maintaining a set heartrate for a sustained period of time. Different heart rates are ideal for different goals. I am going for cardio vascular efficiency so I try to push as least 70% of my max heart rate and hold it for at least 45 minutes. Thirty minutes is adequate, but I also want to burn off fat while I am at it, and your muscles store enough glycogen to minimize fat consumption for energy until you've been working at a relatively high level of effort for at least 30 minutes. So, the extra fifteen minutes for me is to burn fat calories. You burn some fat calories throughout, but the mix gets substantially greater in favor of fat, after thirty minutes when glycogen starts getting depleted. The real saving grace comes later though. Exercise, even aggressive exercise, only constitutes a small fraction of your daily metabolic activity. However, it directly influences your metabolism for hours afterwards. So, regular exercise can boost your average metabolic rate substantially over the long haul. Also, it never hurts, not even women, really especially not even for women to do weight training or resistance training of some kind. Adding muscle, and because of the lower testosterone levels women tend to distribute muscle evenly not "Bulk" up, adds metabolically active tissue to your body which, in turn, brings your net daily calorie burn higher still. Three lbs of muscle gained can result in a net loss of ten pounds of non-metabolically active fat in the course of a year. I think the overall additional calorie requirements for that muscle come out to something like 32,000 additional calories or so. So, if your normal routines of eating stay the same, and you do an aerobic exercise three to five times a week working up to a minimum of thirty minutes a day at, at least 50% of your maximum heart rate (That's the ideal range for fat burning), and add it a bit of resistance training, then the only thing you really have to do is make sure you don't start eating More and you WILL lose weight. Of course, one should always check with a doctor first, and dietary adjustments may be necessary if you aren't eating properly nutristious food, something we know Joan doesn't have to worry about being a dietician.

Joan probably knows a heck of a lot more about this stuff than I do. I'm just sharing Navy training. Part of their "Quality of Life" initiative was to move physical therapists, personal trainers, and dieticians onto ships to make healthy life style choices and education on them more readily available to sailors.

Personally, I think the best part is that you can take any part of this, one piece at a time and implement it as you see fit. You get some benefit from all of the individual parts, and more benefit as you bring them together. :-)

I still have to work more weight training into my fitness program. Right now I do basic strength stuff, and lower body weights to prevent shin splints and protect my joints.

I used to teach exercise classes for women years ago and I remember how great it felt. I didn't know I was ADD then...I just knew that it calmed me down...sorta like a drug would. I do walk a couple times a week. Living in Michigan is not condusive for consistent outdoor walking. However, reading these posts makes me want to get back into an everyday routine....even if its exercising to music like I used to.