The Diet/Self-Improvement Thread

[ladycattat]

You guys, thanks so much for your support and kind words.
Not really sure what pity party I was at when I wrote my last post.....just feeling really sorry for myself I guess.
Like everyone said, I need to stop looking at the big numbers, and just break it into smaller attainable amounts...maybe that way I won't feel so overwhelmed.
I need to go think a good think, and find a plan that works for ME!

xx to all!
Laurie

[tizzylou]

Hey Laurie, yes you do need to find a plan that will work for you, but as a mother and a caregiver, think what a wonderful example you will set for your kids, plus as you make healthy diet choices, and include those choices in what you prepare for your family, you will be benefiting their health also.

[zeebs]

Ghost, you can do it! Bread is my enemy (not in terms of weight, but it just makes me feel like crap as I am a little gluten intolerant) so I make up a big batch of brown rice and freeze individual portions sizes, and top with tuna for a super quick meal (I get the thai red curry or satay flavours, which are nice and fatty, lol, but I am sure they make lower calorie versions!)

I am still gymming my butt off (went 5 times this week) and absolutely loving it, in fact I have decided to train as a personal trainer. I am so excited! I don't know exactly what course I will be doing or anything yet though. Today I did a jam (funky dance) class, it was so fun, just like going to a nightclub and shaking my booty (which I don't get to do very often these days with two little ones!) My gym even does disco lighting for the classes, lol.

Oooh, good luck with the personal trainer program! You will be so good at it!

[lilychemgirl]

Thanks Zeebs! I am really excited about it I start as soon as my loan funds come through (it's an online course with a 40 hour industry placement at a gym, and you can start as soon as your fees are paid).

[lilychemgirl]

OK, surely someone must have an update/weigh in or something?

Guess what.... I just signed up for my personal training course
I am so excited to start, and you guys can totally ask me for tips when I actually know some stuff
I think I overdid it a bit at the gym last week (I ended up with sore shins and a sore back after a particular class - it involved lots of jumping, which my body just doesn't like, won't be doing that one again), so this week I have taken it reasonably slowly, monday and tuesday I did body balance (yoga/tai chi/pilates blend) and I took the day off today. Tomorrow I am doing a weights class, friday an RPM class (do they have RPM over there? It is a hardcore bike class - ) and I am hoping to do another pump (weights) and a dance class on the weekend.

[Xarata]

OK, surely someone must have an update/weigh in or something?

Guess what.... I just signed up for my personal training course
I am so excited to start, and you guys can totally ask me for tips when I actually know some stuff
I think I overdid it a bit at the gym last week (I ended up with sore shins and a sore back after a particular class - it involved lots of jumping, which my body just doesn't like, won't be doing that one again), so this week I have taken it reasonably slowly, monday and tuesday I did body balance (yoga/tai chi/pilates blend) and I took the day off today. Tomorrow I am doing a weights class, friday an RPM class (do they have RPM over there? It is a hardcore bike class - ) and I am hoping to do another pump (weights) and a dance class on the weekend.

How exciting! You girls make me want to be a healthier person. We do have RPM over here- it's just called Spin Class/Spinning. My hubby just joined a gym (i did not, mostly because i hate working out in front of other people), and i went with him to look at the gym before he signed up. It's small and nearby which is good, but it's next to the Hershey factory (THE chocolate factory) so when you go in/come out the air just reeks of chocolate (kind of smells like little debbie swiss rolls actually- which is funny, because when i sit in traffic next to the factory i think it smells like hershey kisses). The first day, Bob came home and told me I was right, that chocolate smell was a killer. Body balance sounds like something i would like, but i don't think our gym has that class. I kind of want to take kickboxing, but the description on the class said "boot-camp style workout by a former drill sargeant" and I decided that really wasn't the class for me... Good luck with your personal trainer certification!

[tizzylou]

lily, how exciting. When you can tell me how to modify alot of the kneeling yoga poses, so that my knee doesn't rebel, I'm interested. I absolutely love to do yoga, but since I fell and flared up the arithritis in my knee, it doesn't like me to do many of the floor poses, so I'm open to suggestions.

Xarata, I had to laugh about the chocolate smell, I don't think I could work out if I smelled chocolate the whole time. Not that I don't like the smell of chocolate, but smelling it constantly while working out would really nauseate me.

To all you tread mill fans, you need to go to physical therepy for a whole new prespecitive on how to walk on a tread mill. Yesterday, the had the treadmill set at an incline, had me facing backwards on the treadmill, walking backwards. Last week, I was on the stair climber backwards, and the week before that on a small rolling stool, walkin the length of the room on my heels.

[KingTaco]

congratulations lily!! That sounds really exciting.

I've been working like a madwoman, 70-80 hours weeks so I've been eating terribly and not exercising at all...so I joined the gym near my office so I could go to spin 3x a week. Spin class was what I really missed from being unemployed, my local gym had 11am spin classes with awesome instructors. This gym is a bit more intense (honestly, the staff all look juiced), but it's a nice break from work!

[lilychemgirl]

I did my first lecture last night - the first module is on nutrition, and it is booooring for me, because I know it all already (partly because I am a scientist, partly because I am interested in that sort of thing), so I am just forcing myself through it in case there is anything that I have missed So far, the only thing is that I always used to get HDL and LDL confused (I knew what they stood for, but couldn't remember which was 'good' cholesterol - it's HDL btw - and which was 'bad' cholesterol).
I can't wait to get to the exercise modules!
I did RPM (same as spin I think Kingtaco) on friday, the instructor was this really bootcamp style (calling you out if she thinks you're slacking etc.) woman, and some people would have absolutely hated it, but I loved it There was a really good atmosphere, the place was packed, and because a lot of the people who go to my gym (particularly at 9.30am) are either mum's from my daughters school or people I have got to know in the few weeks I have been there, I knew half the room. I'm so going back! The only thing is that you pay an extra $4 for RPM classes on top of your membership (which is already $100/month) so it could get expensive It totally kicked my butt, I had the shakes and sweat dripping off my nose by the end, lol. And I am one of those people who doesn't sweat much at all.

[booboo]

OMG, $100/month! I'm a single mum on a tight budget, I was thinking of getting along to one of the free salvation army gyms, are there any disadvantages or any reasons why they would be 2nd best??