The 2022 Exercise Motivation Thread.

[Norachan]

Sometimes you just need a day to rest. I always find I'm much stronger and more flexible after a day doing very little

Also, for any of you who exercise at home....do your cats look at you like you've grown two heads while working out?

Mine are used to me acting weird. They just roll their eyes and mutter, "She's at it again. Standing on her head as if that's the best way to catch birdies."

I've been doing yoga and walks every day. I'm not so good at getting up early so I've been following deer trails through the woods on my walks. At least it's nice and shady in there. I saw a beautiful bird the other day.

I had to look it up when I'd got home as I'd never seen one before. It's called a copper pheasant, or yamadori in Japanese. It was so beautiful and came really close to me. I thought it was a magical phoenix from another world.

 

[Norachan]

I've been dodging thunder storms all week, but I've managed to walk every day and do yoga too.

 

[Jem]

I'm still plugging away in my exercise routine. I'm on holidays for the next 11 days and planning on cleaning and organizing the whole house...not sure if all that work can be a substitute for the exercise but I'll probably still do a few days just to make sure I keep up with building up a routine/habit for myself. If I stop, It'll be harder to start back up again...

 

[furmonster mom]

So I was talking to my weight trainer/fitness guru, complaining that I couldn’t seem to get my weight to budge
Fitbit was telling me that I was burning about 1750 average calories, and consuming about 850 on average. That’s a 900 caloric deficit. The weight should have been melting off!

So, he says the Fitbit numbers average about 25-28% high.
So I make a spreadsheet calculating Fitbit values vs. .75*Fitbit values.
HUUUUGE difference.
So I bust my butt, trying to average a 600 calorie deficit, commonly factored as the weight loss zone, using the lower values, and really tracking my intake more closely.

Long and short of it, I lost 4lbs in the last week.

Now, I know this is probably not sustainable for me, so I tell my guy I need something that I can really work with.

So we embark to discover my actual base metabolic rate.
Turns out, I have pretty high muscle mass for my age and gender. But Fitbit was still high, allowing me 1600 caloric intake per day, when it should be about 1100.

Now I know that I have an 1100 cal/day food budget. The trick is to translate that with Fitbit numbers I can work with. Knowing my true bmr, we figured that the Fitbit numbers are actually close to a whopping 32-35% too high! No wonder I wasn’t losing anything just going by that.

So now I’ll be tracking with the spreadsheet at .68*Fitbit values.

 

[furmonster mom]

Managed to get something in each day last week; weights, pilates, walks.

 

[Jem]

Was supposed to exercise today, but I didn't...not feeling up to snuff today, haven't been sleeping well. I did something very out of the ordinary for me and it was making me feel sick replaying it in my head...so much that I couldn't wait till Monday to talk to the other person affected by my mistake so I went to talk to her this morning. She basically told me that she hadn't even noticed and just laughed as she gave me a hug. It was SO NOT a big deal to her, no harm done. She felt so bad that I was so upset that she apologized to ME. The thing is, she's not a tyrant that I'm fearful of or anything...I'm just way too honest for my own good and it was eating me up inside. I'll hopefully be able to sleep tonight, and get back to my routine on Monday.

 

[Norachan]

consuming about 850 on average.

Whoa, that's low! I think your metabolic rate will start to slow down if your calorie intake is that low for any length of time

But Fitbit was still high, allowing me 1600 caloric intake per day, when it should be about 1100.

That's seems more reasonable. I've found that cutting out all carbs except for fruit and eating plenty of protein helps keep my weight down. Lots of nuts, soy yogurts and tofu keep your energy up without putting any weight on.

I've been doing lots of outdoor work recently. My enclosure fence needs rebuilding in places, so I've been dragging logs around and sawing wood. Lots of yoga as well, but I only have time for one of two walks a week these days

 

[Lari]

I carried my 21ish lb child for most of a half mile 'hike' today because she was having a moment and refusing to walk, but also refusing to let daddy carry her. I'd have brought the carrier on the hike with us if I'd known she was going to pull this, lol.

Been doing a fair amount of walking this week, but also a fair amount of crap eating, so I don't think I'm benefitting, really.

 

[furmonster mom]

Been getting something in each day, usually a walk of some sort. Problem on those is that I have to wait until about 9 pm for it to cool down enough.

My indoor activity is usually my “5’s” plus pilates or yoga.

Today I went to my weight training. My trainer took my body mass measurements, and he says my muscle mass is optimal for losing weight as long as I keep up the cardio.

 

[rubysmama]

I haven't posted here in a while, as for some reason, instead of inspiring me when I post, it does the opposite.

So while I've not been posting, I've been going for regular early morning walks.
Most days at least 20 minutes, and several 30 minutes. Today was 28 minutes.

I walk at a pretty brisk pace, so it's still good cardio, I think, as long as I walk at least 20 minutes.

 

[susanm9006]

It was rowing day today but I skipped. Yesterday I picked up and hauled in 80 pounds of water softener salt and then spent an hour and ten minutes mowing the lawn in 86 degree temps. Arms need to rest before I can row.

 

[susanm9006]

I haven't posted here in a while, as for some reason, instead of inspiring me when I post, it does the opposite.

So while I've not been posting, I've been going for regular early morning walks.
Most days at least 20 minutes, and several 30 minutes. Today was 28 minutes.

I walk at a pretty brisk pace, so it's still good cardio, I think, as long as I walk at least 20 minutes.

I think sometimes you just need to go at your own pace without pressure. If you go, you go and if you skip, you skip. And if posting doesn’t encourages you, it doesn’t make sense to do it.

 

[furmonster mom]

I came home from running errands in the 108° heat with the full intention of doing my 5’s and some yoga (low intensity today). Then I sat down and promptly nodded off in my chair.
So, now time to get to it.

 

[Jem]

I've managed to keep up with my planned exercise schedule...I'm still sore today from Tuesday's routine...well not so much sore (that was yesterday) but still stiff. Tomorrow is a day off from work so it's my extra workout day that I do every 2 weeks when I work my 4 day work week.......that was a lot of "works" in one sentence...apparently my vocabulary is starting it's day off a bit early....and I don't feel like re-writing it better. ....I'm tired.
Anyway, this is probably just "user error", but I did measure my waist on Monday and it's just over 1 centimeter less than when I first did my measurements. Hoping this means things are going in the right direction.

 

[Jem]

I've been weighing myself once a week or so since starting to exercise and have been fluctuating between 146.5 - 148 lbs. Once I weighed 146 lbs. but have never managed to get past that threshold. Today I finally got past it and am at 145 lbs.!!!!!!!
Small victories to keep me motivated! And it will only get better because I still haven't introduced my "cardio routine" just yet...still have to reorganized my living room or bedroom to accommodate my elliptical.

 

[Norachan]

Apart from a couple of yoga practices every week I haven't done very much actual exercise lately. I'm re-building my enclosure fence, which is taking a lot of time and energy. I always start to worry about the fence collapsing in the heavy snows every winter and it needed a bit of an overhaul anyway. I'm about half done. I've made a double gate, which I'm very proud of. I'll post some pics when I've finished.

So no walks, but lots of carrying timber around, sawing and using power tools. My wrists hurt! I have such puny little arms and power tools are heavy to hold for any length of time.

 

[furmonster mom]

Did my 5’s and pilates mid day, then went for a late night run- walk.
Mondays are disk golf at the park I go to for my runs, so it’s a bit busy. The park has a one mile pathway around the perimeter, and I do 3 laps.
I ran out of collagen a couple weeks ago, and I think my knees are noticing the lack, lol. Got more at Costco today.
I hit the 10 lb loss mark this morning, still a ways to go.

 

[Bri5]

I am a month into weekly ballet class. Still doing at home workouts another 4 days a week... PT exercises, biking, and hand weights primarily.

 

[Jem]

I'll admit, I was a little discouraged as I started my exercises as things didn't seem to helping much at first, but over the last few weeks it seems things a moving in the right direction. I'm down to 143.5lbs as of this morning so I've lost about 4 to 5lbs! My waist measurements went from 80 to 76cm and my "muffin top" went from 91 to 88cm!!!!!!!!! I'm super stoked!!!
I was really worried as a lot of the weight I've gained is related to stress and hormone issues so I didn't know how well things would go. Of course I've been a little lazy during this time as well but exhaustion and burn out is not something that is easily overcome. Not to mention my physical issues that I don't have much control over...
I'm just so glad that my slow and steady approach is working for me.

 

[rubysmama]

I was getting in some regular walks there for a while, but now not so much. But it's fall garden cleanup time, so that'll get me exercising again soon.