Who has lost weight through exercise? Come and inspire me please!

[cupofteaplease]

Hi all,

Well I've had a terrible time with my weight yo-yoing since my teens, I lost 5.5 stone, but have now put back on 2.5 of that due to 2 pregnancies and a sedentry lifestyle.

Anyway, I've bit the bullet and joined the gym and my gym induction is on Friday.

What should I expect? I did a class about a year ago with the bloke doing my induction and it was such hard work I was nearly sick and never went back

I don't want to feel sick when exercising, but is that something I should expect to be the norm?

I desperately want to firm up and lose some weight before my best friend's wedding in almost 4 months.

I currently weigh just over 11 stone and have accepted that WW/diet alone doesn't work for me. I KNOW I need to get moving.

How much could I potentially lose/achieve in 4 months, and what would I need to do to achieve this?

Any advice greatly received!

Goodness if I had to do over 3kg that would really have stopped me - I really cant do that much with my arms and said so. There is no point in straining to lift 3kg and hating ever minute of it - thus then not doing it and ignoring it. Far better to start with a weight you are comfortable with and actually using it.

As for free wieghts I would have been scared stiff to start with free weights, better to start with something you feel comfortable with and then progress. I did really well with weight machines before progressing to free weights.

PS are you allowed to put adds on this message board for other message boards?

He's trying to help IVY, so many people at the gyms are doing more harm than good it's not funny.
You see them pounding away week after week and getting nowhere.
I've been asked to demonstrate equipment that the staff obviously haven't bothered to explain properly which is dangerous.

It looks like he is touting for custom to me.

Did you miss the bit where he offered to do the menu's free of charge then ?

No, I didn't miss a thing

Thanks for the 'support' sorrento!

Ivy - I'm not selling everything, just giving advice on here as a professional. Besides I'm full and can't take any more PT clients on! My blog is free information I write for my readers to try and teach them the right way to exercise and eat. My forum is just the same as here, for people to talk and chat about exercise and nutrition, but moderated and commented on by me, so you have someone advising in a professional manner.

Have a look around at how many threads there are on here, very misleading is all I can say. I'm just trying to give some professional advice , from my everyday exeperiences of helping men and women get fit, and lose fat = the healthy way.

Fruitstick - good work, just coz it was 5 yrs ago - you can do it again?!!!

Ivy - talking about weights you said you couldn't do 3 kg. This really bugs me. Do you have children? I bet they weigh more than 3kg and you pick them up. Do you go shopping? carry the bag? I bet they weight more than 3kg. Just because it is a 'weight' people get scared by the number. OK, forget the weight, just lift something that is challenging for around 10 repetitions! Too many people (sorry ladies!) I see at the gym are pumping out rep after rep with like 2kg weights, and it is just a waste of time! (see above!)
Machine weights just move in a fixed range of motion, and are not functional or practical. Use a weight that might move about all over the place - that is functional, like lifting something daily, plus it will work more muscles, and therefore burn more calories - surely that is what you want?!
P.S. What if I told you machines were developed in the 70's and are mostly used by bodybuilders?!

Also, I think that is why a lot of my female clients come to me. They are scared of using gyms or freeweights as it's a mens thing (which is rubbish). It's just that (rightly so) they aren't comfortable with them. However, I use freeweight and bodyweight stuff all the time.

If you're not connfident/comfortable with something you won't do it.
My answer, get confident, get comfortable!

Stay in your comfort zone with everything in life and you'll never progress.

You sound like my dh MarkPT Oh dear God, he's found me.

He was in the same profession as you until he turned to the dark side of law enforcement.

He found watching people in the gym thoroughly demoralising for many of the reasons you detail.

Free weights are absolutely the best choice to make for resistance work and should not be the preserve of over developed men lifting weights that are too heavy for them in an incorrect manner. It makes you work your own muscles and improves your core stability too which after having children I really needed!

It's lovely to hear lots of people sounding passionate about exercise. It makes such a difference to your weight (though still just a number imo), shape, energy levels, positivity, hair, nails, er marital relations. And it's fun. It really is.

Good luck cupsoftea. I'll be following this thread with interest.

By the way MarkPT, how did you find MN??

I have always hated the cross-trainer and glad to see my suspicions confirmed. At the moment I go to the gym 4 or 5 times a week. I do Bodycombat twice a week, Bodypump once a week, use the gym once or twice a week. In the gym I use the treadmill, stepper and Concept 2 rower for cardio then work out with dumbbells. At the weekend, I try to go for a three mile run too.

I have used juicing (Jason Vale) to lose nearly 18 pounds in weight (see juicing thread) and it has stayed off. I know MarkPT will probably diss it but it worked for me, help retrain my appetite, given me more energy and I eat more healthily now. My cousin has lost over 2 stones through juicing too.

Great work people!

ShowofHands - one of my female clients pointed my in the direction of one of the threads, and from there is snowballed - too many comments to make and soooo little time !

Spokette - no I've recommeneded juicing to some of my clients, for some of the time. It's certainly not something you can stay on for too long as it is low calorie, depending on how many meals a day you cut. But it is a good addition, especially as you're having natural foods within the juice.

You guys have restored my faith in sanity after reading some of the other posts about pills, potions and strange diets!

Well done, and keep it up, I'm here to help if I can / you want?!!

Mark, phew, nice to know that you also recognise the benefits of juicing. I have incorporated juicing into my overall diet and tend to stick to juices during the day at weekends.

For sure! I'm all for healthy natural exercise and foods! It's what the body is there to digest!!

We less sugar, less juice and if you want a bit of fruit you shoul dbe having the real thing not concentrating all that fructose and calories into one glass in my view.

I lost a lot of weight through exercise alone when I took up running.

Personally gyms have never worked for me. They bore me to tears and I find that you don't work half as hard as you do in the great outdoors. i found myself just watching MTV and not really pushing myself.

When I started running I was about 11.5 stone (i'm 5ft 4) and my weight eventually settled at a very slim 8 stone 12.

Nancy I agree with you about gyms. They're great for some people but I prefer to get out in the great outdoors or have a swim. I do have some free weights at home as the resistance work has really complemented the running. Luckily I live in a rural area so a run up some country roads and round the farm is really rather pleasant. Good for stress too I have found. I had a similar starting weight to you and have lost over 2 stones. I'm still trying for the last little bit around the middle but am extremely happy with where I am atm. I'm still bfing so don't anticipate that I will lose the last little bit until dd weans.

I think the great thing about exercising is it becomes a lifestyle shift and not the short term measure that dieting is (and the reason why the weight often goes back on when you stop). You become more inclined to walk instead of taking the car, you take the stairs instead of the escalator etc. Maintaining the way you want to be is far more realistic when exercise becomes a looked for part of your life. Nobody's saying you have to take up marathons or go to a gym (unless you want to) but being more active and seeing the benefits of it is such a good thing I think.

You have to read the book Xenia to understand why it's juice not whole fruit and veg.

Well mark - I can honestly say, I have never picked up either of my dc with one hand! I just couldn't do it, I only ever carry a shopping bag in my hand hanging downwards - I dont try to lift it to my ear or shoulder!

If I had let my gym instructor insitst that I lifted heavier weights to start - I may aswell have stopped there, I would have just avioded the weights. I couldn't lift them (I still struggle with my arms doing weights) so I kept the weights lighter and gradually have increased as I have gone along.

If I have too heavy a weight I want to try to swing the weight - that surley isn't the correct way to left a weight by swinging it? I do actually see rather a lot of men swinging the weights to get them up above there head etc, I would have thought you could do alsorts of damage to your body swinging weights.

Your own body weigh is a great tool, I like body balance for that reason, I do the body pump class as the instructor puts you right with how you are stanfding and lifting the weights.

I like both the great outdoors for cycling and an indoor pool or sauna after! Gyms are great when it is wet aswell.

Well Ivy sounds like you need to hit the gym and weights asap, if without a medical reason you can't lift 6kg's you're very out of shape what if your child was hanging or needed you to pull them out of water or from another hazard ?

They are swinging the weights because burst of large weights are better than lifting them up and down repetitively. In fact reps of low weights do absolutely nothing whatsoever.
Same with running you need to sprint for 1 min, jog for 3 and then build up so you are sprinting for longer and resting less.

Sorry - where did I say that I can't now lift 6kg? very confused at what you have read?

What I said was that the weight would have put me off at the start, for you low weights may be pointless but if that is all you can start with then surely it is better to start low and increase as time goes on? Or is it better to not left at all if you can do the heavier weights at the start?

he he! I like it!

Progression is the key. Sure if you can only lifte 3kg, above your head, for 8-10 reps at first then do that. BUT don't stay with that because it's too hard/challenging to move up. I see the same people lifting the same weights they were doing 4 months ago at the gym. The whole name of the game is progression. If you're not progressing your results will dry up.

Juice is certanily a lot better fo ryou than most of the junk people eat. But you need your roughage adn you need to ensure you don't cram the calories and huge fructose hit into one swift drink in my view. My all means eat 1n orange, apple, pear (but be aware many sugar addicts do abuse fruit as much as sweets) but there's no need to be juicing them all up as then it's worse for you.

The idea in brief xenia is that people eat too much full stop and by juicing you retrain the stomach to not be full of stuff and actually listen to your appetite, all liquid based diets, slim fast, lighter life etc subscribe to this theory.
The trouble with juicing is that it is a life long commitment and the day you stop and start eating you need to be extremely careful otherwise all the hardwork goes out of the window.
Having said that, cutting out carbs after 6 and all dairy meant I lost a stone i'd been trying to shift for a while so it worked for me.

None of those diets work though long term. The only thing that works is learning to eat three regular meals a day. We aren't built to eat liquid based diets. Certanily nothing wrong though with getting used to several hours between meals and snacks and learning to feel hunger again and if it helps with that then that's good but dont' con yourselves into thinking a juice drink with 5 organes in it is low sugar or even low calorie and it will leave you very very hungry compared if you ate say a protein/good carb snack or meal with an orange after.

In some senses with many fruits juicing is mainlining sugar which for many is their principal addictive substance.