Rules for the Scuba board Fitness Challenge

[Tractor Tom]

I know it is still early this morning but I have already missed my opportunity to do my exercise. If I am going to get it done I have to by 5:30am before work. My body is still on the EST not daylight time I just could not get up at 5, it felt like 4 to me.

...could NOT get out of bed at 5:05 and get to the gym.

Did a LOT better this morning. Was up with the alarm at 5:05 and into the gym at 5:30. Got on the stepper for 35 minutes and did (according to that machine) 4.5 miles. Then over to the stationary bike for another 25 minutes and another 6.1 miles. So I have my 10+ miles in for the day. Added a little protein to my breakfast (a slice of smoked turkey breast on a bit of french bread) to help stave off the 'hungry's' until lunchtime.

Have a good day all.

 

[Big-t-2538]

Ha...I made it 24 hours so far...

For those who don't know...I'm a Mt Dew Addict.....by addict, I'm talking 4 cans a day. Actually, it was something I was in the process of phasing out, but decided yesterday to nix it all together (after the usual 1 in the morning car-ride to work)...there's a lonely open case at home...I wonder how long it will last.

 

[neophytediver]

Well, I actually made it up at 0530 this morning, but nixed the gym. Am feeling lousy and figured riding to work as I do and going to the gym would be a bad idea. Dieting has never been something easily accomplished by yours truly. For one I don't believe in robbing your body of something it needs like the Atkins or Sugar-Busters diets. They only set yourself up for failure in the long run. (And I'm sorry, but the Dr. Quack, I mean Phil, approach, NO!) Two, I freely admit I am a foodie. Always have been. When I asked at the age of 8 how to cook, my Mom said "There's the kitchen, don't burn down the house." And I haven't looked back since. I rarely if ever cook from boxes or kits and firmly believe that recipes are only guidlines to be followed the first time you try a new dish.
I try to buy healthy food, plenty of "fresh" veggies and fruit, but being as broke as I am that's next to impossible. And with the strange hours I am here at the USSRC, eating at a consistant hour is problematic at best. So unfortuneatly I can't eat the way I want to, I am stuck eating things like hotdogs and ramen noodles or whatever there is in the vending machine because they're all I can afford. I could brave the food that the cafeteria serves the kids when they come to Space Camp/Academy/Advance Academy, but I swore that grease fest off a long time ago.
It seems that my only option is to drink tons of water (gotta start carrying my CamelBak eveywhere again like I did in the Army) and punish the tar out of myself at the gym and on my bike. If anyone could offer me some advice on an approach I might take, it'd be much appreciated.

 

[DiverG]

Wahoooo!! I "ONLY" weigh 310.5lbs not the 335lbs I thought I weighed. Not sure if I believe the scale or not, but it is a brand new scale.

 

[njrn2]

LUBOLD-

Yes, cardio workout is great and all, but many people will tell you that they lost and just walked alot. Just start with small changes!

Julie

I agree. Fitness or Excercise sometimes seems a little to intimidating. The philosophy at WW is to call it "Activity". This seems to get more people to perform higher activity. I know that when it gets a little warmer around here more people would be diving for their Activity.

I am in such lousy shape that my legs get tired even walking a mile, the muscles get all tight when I walk. What does everyone else do to stretch or loosen up before excersize ... I think that may be part of the problem.

Walking at a brisk pace works for many people. If you are uncomfrotable start out a little slower. Rather than focusing on distance, I focus on time. I say that I am going to walk for 30 minutes, I am going to bike for 30 minutes. The distance is irrelevant. I do however have a pedometer that can keep an estimate on how far I have walked, just for my interests.
Some research shows that it is actually better to stretch after your wrm up period; especially after you have been through a period of incativity. This allows your muscles to stretch more appropriately.

Yesterday I actually took down my bike ang gave it a "tune up" The tires were completely flat after not being used for four years (conveniently I got the bike four years ago). After riding against the wind for 20 minutes I was exhausted.

THe agenda for today is to clean the garage, do some house work, food shop, and purchase a new BBQ Grill. Maybe I will be able to get a quick bike ride in.

Started the day off with my little omlet and iced tea.

-Joe
Another Day, Another Challenge

 

[Tractor Tom]

[ok ok ok.. i know.. I'm not allowed to post in this thread.. feel free to delete it]

Tony. I -definately- know where you are at. Dew is a really tough beast on both the calories and the caffine. But the caffine truely is the worst part of it.

What I did:

Dumped the Mt. Dew cold. I switched to Sprite and I allowed myself one big coffee for breakfast on my way to work every weekday. If I needed something during the day, I drank a sprite... after about a week, it started to taste like Mt. Dew! If the headaches got too bad, then I'd get myself hte smallest cup of coffee I could find, pour out half, and drink that.

After a couple weeks, I switched to water... Even now, 10 years later, I always have a bottle of water on me. A few sips and it controls the headaches [which I suspect now are dehydration based, not caffine based].

After about a month, I replaced the sprite with water; or juice with meals

A few years later, I started phasing caffine back in; but never more than one or two cokes a day plus my morning coffee. When I start noticing the insomnia return... I go back to just my morning coffee, and water.

water is your friend. g'luck!

I was always a coffee drinker, sometimes 20 cups a day when in my prime (makes me wonder now how I ever managed to sleep) and found that caffine and weight loss didn't go together too well. So I mixed my regular coffee, 50/50 with decaf. Went that way for about a month or so, and cut out the regular diet coke in favor of the caffine free diet coke. After a while, I cut out the 50/50 mix in favor of regular decaf. Finally, I'm pretty well caffine free, and have been for a couple of years. I find that a cup or two of 'regular' coffee gives me the shakes, and a large regular diet coke at the movie will keep me up much of the night. It's not easy, but you can do it....

 

[chickdiver]

My office tried mixing with decaf to wean everyone off for a while- my Dad's temper got worse, and we went back to leaded (I don't have caffiene issues, I also drink coffee only on the rare occasion, so I don't care ).

Activity: the current research is showing that approx. 200 minutes of cardiovascular activity a week is the break point for loosing weight. That sounds like a lot, but the good news is that it's cumulative, and you can do it in 30 minute chunks if you like (I do 4 60 minute sessions). Weight training will up the metabolism and helps tremendously as well.

Neophyte- you have the perfect solution, you just haven't realized it yet. Try to pick a day off a week to prepare some meals for yourself, buy a cooler and take your preprepared food with you. It's a great solutiion, since you like to cook, and in the long run, less expensive and always a healthier option than vending machine food.

 

[Big-t-2538]

50/50 decaf. Wow.. great idea. I hadn't thought of that [I've got issues with decaf coffee by principle ]

Isn't Decaf not "truly" decaf? I've heard it is something like 25%...any truth to that?

In addition to the dew...I usually have 2 cups (my trusy 24 oz. buffett mug) of coffee after arriving at work and before lunch. I figure the amount of caffine I was drinking (before cutting out the evening dews) was an absurd amount....then I cut it back to just one with the drive in, and one with lunch two weeks ago....until yesterday when I skipped the lunch dew. In light of the "get fit program"

Today...no dew on the drive in....but I got my coffee about 8 seconds after getting in the door (as opposed to the usual 10 minutes after arriving). I wonder how long I'm going to be able to go dew-less. It's a habit I picked up while competing and finishing up school that I've never been able to kick.

And Gedunk....no...the guy who takes out the ram is way smaller than me ...had I been in there, the ram wouldn't have been able to stand back up.

 

[simbrooks]

So what was the grand weigh in??

I went to the gym last night and did my full set of weights, 11 exercises for 3 sets of 10-12 reps, total lifted 45,730# - which is a typical max for me at this time.

Set down to check out the scales and found i was ~242# - getting better, only another 22# to go from my previous 248# the other week. Also check my blood pressure, it was 113/47 (just after exercise), which seemed normal, although i dont know if it is higher of lower than my normal amount directly after exercise or not though.

Am thinking about checking out my body fat, where do you get those calipers with instructions as to how to calculate your body fat from the measurements?

On a last note, didnt get up in time this morning, still dying from the DST change, will go do cardio tonight instead or this morning, oh well.

 

[njrn2]

Neophyte- you have the perfect solution, you just haven't realized it yet. Try to pick a day off a week to prepare some meals for yourself, buy a cooler and take your preprepared food with you. It's a great solutiion, since you like to cook, and in the long run, less expensive and always a healthier option than vending machine food.

Preparation-- the demise of many dieters.

Prepare, prepare, prepare. I know that it takes time. Even adds time when food sopping. But, planning and preparing save calories. If you know that you have an afternoon binge that needs to be kicked in the bud, bring something healthy to snack on. Ofcoarse, once you make the decision to plan, eat what you have not what everyone else is ordering