Exercising with WLI - how’s it going?

[tryingtobesogood]

Morning

I am in my 6th week of WLI and have lost 11lb. I feel so much better for it and have decided to up my exercise to get fitter and healthier. I am going to post my daily exercise achievements here for accountability. Does anyone else want to do the same?

My aim is to be able to:

1. run 5k
2. cycle with my husband on our holiday
3. be able to run for a train without wanting to cry

tonight I am going to a beginners running group to start 5k running training. I’ll report back how I get on.

Brilliant goals and good luck on your journey - I strength train and initially found that I lost a good bit of strength at the beginning but with consistency and patience it has mostly come back - felling better than ever and I still have 4 stone to lose (and not even aiming for so called healthy BMI just seeing how I go fitness wise)

I have a part time job that involves being on my feet all day and find it much easier with some weight off

I started monjaro Dec 24 and have lost 2 stoneish so slow and steady weight loss trying to get as much good nutrition and protein in as I can

Cant wait to hear how you get on at runners group!

@Julesni77 well done on losing 2st so far, that is an achievement.

I think I need to add strength training to my week for my bone density post menopause.

I have 4st to lose as well, it feels like a lot and I am trying to focus on the small healthy gains along the way.

will report back on the runners group

I've been going to the gym for about 18 months, started MJ about a month ago and have lost a stone so far, 3 more or so to go. I am finding the gym a bit harder as I go on a Monday and jab day is Saturday and I'm still feeling tired from it.

I want to run a faster 5k (did couch to 5k last year) or extend my distance after I've lost a bit more, and I've been strength training consistently too. Hoping to maintain current weights I'm using at minimum.

I am on my first week of MJ and have still managed to go to the gym and strength train and I am 3lb down so far, but some of that is water I expect. I have really been ensuring I eat well, hitting 150g protein, 200g carbs and 25g of fibre, and still taking 5mg of creatine per day, so not sure if that is helping with energy for my sessions. Although, I must admit it's a struggle to hit calories some days, but ensuring i'm around 1600 - 1700 cals per day. I hoping that doing it this way, when the time comes, it will be easier to maintain.

Thanks for starting this thread.

My whole life I've just been focussed on loosing weight and couldn't care less about my health. All the exercise I have ever done has been to loose weight.

Even when I started mj, I didn't care about my health, I just wanted to look better.

BUT .. now I finally am slimmer thanks to mj, i have, for the first time ever, started to want to get healthy!

I've lost a lot of muscle mass as I lost weight quickly on mj and that was my goal. I really didn't care about loosing the muscle or how unhealthily I was getting the weight down. I just wanted it gone

But this last couple of weeks I've started to notice I feel frail. I've lost muscle and amazingly, I actually want genuinely to get stronger! I want to be healthy! I actually can't believe I finally have this intrinsic motivation :) I have never cared about my health before.

So... I've started at a swimming club!! (I'm the slowest, but that does mean I can only get better right!?) and I'm going to start running again, but this time with the aim of getting strong and fit and not just to loose weight!!

And... I've decided to start to try and eat better too.. I want to use food as fuel, which I have never ever wanted before. I used to be obsessed with just eating as few calories as possible. But now I want to look after my body and nourish it.

I'm excited for the fitness journey ahead! And I cannot believe I've joined a swim club!!! First time in my whole life I've joined a competitive sports club and it's amazing!

That is amazing, what a great epiphany to have. Exercising for health and strength is so rewarding, the benefits of regular exercise can be felt pretty quickly.

enjoy your swim club, can’t wait to hear about your progress

Thanks :) and good luck with your running group tonight! Hope you enjoy it 👍😊 (I love running!)

Great stuff.

I'm keeping up with my usual exercise per week of 2 x yoga classes 1 x run, 2 x weights/cardio. I'd say I'm finding weights harder now I've lost nearly a stone but everything else is easier. I feel I'm starting to see a toned frame emerging from a coating of fat - I knew it was in there somewhere 😆

Morning, I went to the running club last night to start their c25k training programme, and I got two things from it.

The first was I was surprised I could actually run for a minute at a time without completely collapsing, which gave me a lot of confidence. The other was that I didn’t want to do this in a group but want to do it in my own time. This is not the fault of the group, I just realised that I prefer running on my own.

so today I have downloaded a C25K app and I’m going to start tomorrow when I get home from work.

How is everyone else doing?

I have been doing the c25k app on the treadmill at the gym, on week 3 so far and shocked myself by the fact I can do it. Yesterday I jogged for 3 min increments and I did not fall down gasping. I then went straight to a conference where I spent the whole day walking around so my legs are grumbling today, but not pain just tired and a bit sore.

@InfoSecInTheCity well done, 3 minutes is a great achievement. And at a conference, even more impressive.

I am thinking of getting a treadmill to use at home, I have room now the eldest has finally left home.

Did over 20000 steps yesterday and expecting to do about the same today and tomorrow so all contributing to the overall exercise amount.

Wow, no wonder your legs were achy.

Great thread idea OP!

My approach to exercise is to do "snacks" (hate that word but it fits!) throughout the day of bodyweight strength moves, plus a regular strength yoga video, and walking. In the past I've given up on exercise when derailed by painful DOMS - so keen to avoid that on this journey by doing little and often.

I have 3.5 more stone to lose, but my goal is more about getting back to my pre-kids size 12 shape, and having a good level of functional fitness.

I used to dance to quite a high level when I was young, I also ran with a club for a while in my 30s. I'd love to do both again but I have dodgy knees. A physio advised if I built up the big muscles above the knee my issues would mostly resolve - so that's the plan!

My dream is a life where I can dance confidently, run freely, and actively play with my energetic sons.

I work out 5-6 times a week, managed 24 workouts last month which I was thrilled with.

I run and do f45 which is a lot of strength training and some cardio.

I feel fitter and stronger than ever. Almost euphoric when I work out! Much leaner, muscles more prominent. It has been amazing.

Today I started the day with a real de on my exercise bike. I felt so awake after, great way to start the day. This evening I went to dancercise in a local school hall, so much fun.

all in all a great exercise day.

@capybaraqueen yes! I feel so good when I exercise, I’ve missed that feeling so much as I was so unfit, eating so badly and not sleeping well so just couldn’t exercise.

im so glad I’ve got my mojo back.

@SmallSoupcon i try to ‘snack’ as well. I try to remember to do squats while the kettle boils etc. it all adds up.

Great thread! I’m going to give the dog a brisk walk now and then head to the gym. Think will do a core workout (30 mins) from my WLI provider app and then some pulley machines.

I try to gym 2-5 times a week whenever I’m not ill or traveling. I’ve been doing it for over 2 years but of course the effects are more visible now I’ve lost 3 stone on WLIs. I had lost a few kilos already, so trajectory was in right direction of fat loss and muscle gain, but it’s much faster now. I haven’t lost any strength in the WLIs and my scales say only about 1.5kg of the weight loss has been muscle. So that’s very motivating.

I want to lose another 11kg (bit less than 2 stone), to a BMI just under 24, as long as I can keep training. I feel so much better being stronger. A couple of bouts of long covid had wrecked my strength.

I planned to exercise tonight, but I washed my hair this morning and it’s gone really smooth and shiny. I really don’t want to spoil it by getting sweaty.

the struggle is real

Another week down and slowly increasing my activity. Still doing my dance class, lots of walking and now I’ve added Pilates into my repertoire. I’m feeling stronger and healthier which is fab.

how’s everybody doing?

Hi @tryingtobesogood sounds like you’re doing fabulous!

I completed week 4 run 2 of Couch25K this morning, now running for stretches of 5 mins at a time, which seemed inconceivable a few weeks ago so feeling pretty pleased with myself.

@InfoSecInTheCity 5 minutes, that’s brilliant 🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️

I have always swam twice a week, and walked a lot. Several months prior to MJ I upped my swim session from 45 minutes to an hour. I walk more in the warmer weather for obvious reasons

I have wanted to increase my strength, as that's really lacking from my exercise regime. I tried various classes but didn't get along with them and I can't stand using the gym floor. But then I found body pump and really liked it, and hopefully it will tone me up and give me the strength/resistance element I need.

So my weekly goals are 3x60 minute swims, 2 X bobypump classes, 11 hours of brisk walking, but more if I am away on hiking trips (which I tend to do every month for between 3-16 nights between March and October).

I am due to take my 10th injection tomorrow, I'm doing 3.75mg and have lost about 11kg so far.

@PurpleCoo well done on that loss. Also well done on the swimming, I find swimming really boring so struggle to do more than 30 minutes even though it’s so good for you. I’m always in awe of people who can do it for so long.

I have done 20 minutes on my exercise bike this morning, I love cycling and I’m building up to a summer of rides out in the sunshine (🤞)

I was thinking about Pilates but I have some sore muscles from yesterday.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets time for exercise.

@tryingtobesogood Swimming is my thinking time. I plan my adventures/travel routes/activities or other things in my life. All my plans and decisions are finalised when swimming. I also think it helps that my health club has an outdoor heated pool. It's like being on holiday 😀I honestly could swim all day (breast stroke not front crawl!)

I used to love cycling and did London to Brighton 3 times (quite a few years ago now!). I have dogs now though so it doesn't really work with them, so I am a hiker instead