I am the ultimate couch potato. Yep thats me. I don't want to be anymore.

My work is physical for about 3 - 4 months of the year, then the rest of the year its mental work.

I have my hobbies, but they are sit down hobbies...quilting, cross stitching, reading, computer. Though I do have gardening which is not a sit down hobby and is only good for so many months out of the year also.

I have asthma, so sometimes it restricts my activities.

So.... in order for me to not only lose weight, but lose the flab, I need to push myself to use my equipment.

I have a tread mill, a recliner cyle, a universal gym, and a glider. Also have some dumb bells.

So, does anyone have any words of encouragement, incentive, motovational sayings..anything to get this potato off the couch?

When you find out, please let the couch potato sitting beside you (me) know - will ya? Meanwhile, Pass the pork rinds. *Munch*

I need to get some weights, and I'd like a recumbent bike. I had a tread mill, but sold it. Too much weight on the joins made it near impossible to use. Did make a great clothes hanger though.

Alice

I too prefer the couch to anything else...........HOWEVER.....we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Pick yourself off the couch and go exploring. That is what I have done. It has only been about 3 weeks now for me. ( I started to hike before starting over with LC) But my results are incredible already! I am not tired. I do not feel pain when I stand. I can walk without the shin splints. I get to enjoy nature. My dogs loves me for it. My husband loves me for it. My ass doesn't feel like its sitting around my knees, and it isn't hitting me on my back either. This is all in just three short weeks. I don't even do the hike every day. Sometimes I just take my dog to the park, and give it a good pace. Start out slow...take deep breaths...think about what you see, smell, hear. It has been great for me. Maybe you will enjoy it too. On the other hand, we all have to find what is right for us. I would never enjoy running, or soccer, or grass hockey. I do like volley ball, and have been invited to play on Monday nights. I haven't gone yet, but I will soon. You just have to think about what you might like to do, and do it!

I hope this doesn't sound like chastising, because that's not what it is meant to be..

When you were growing up, did your parents ever give you the dinner table line "You better eat that up. There are poor starving children in *name the country of your choice* that would want that in a second"?

Well..good gosh Alice..you have a gym that most of us would die for!!! Some of us have nothing..I myself made dumb bells out of containers filled with nuts and bolts and nails and sand.
I was a couch potato too. One day I just started, and I haven't looked back since.

Just go down there an use that wonderful stuff. Even if it's only for 5 minutes a day. At some point all of a sudden you will find yourself loving the feeling of having sweat pour off your forehead. Give it a try. You might surprise yourself!!!!

This is exactly the kind of nudging I need...thank you all.

I went downstairs the the gym, and looked at it all. My husband says the spiders have better legs than I do (Gee thanks Hun)

But I dusted the eqipment off..... but I am having a hard time deciding which to start first.

What is best to do...cardio, weights what? I need another nudge in that direction.


I figured out the time of day...mid afternoon for exercising. My job has me working in the morning and in the evenings. Only leaves the afternoon for all my stuff.

As for walking or hiking outside, my allergies and asthma would probably stop me from getting too far.. ..that is why I have all that equipment.

AngelaR...how did you know my parents made me eat everything on my plate? Threatening me with those poor starving children in other countries.

You go Girl!!!! yippee...the dust is off the stuff....

What to try first..gosh that's a tough one. If you do something too hard it might turn you off exercising? Why not start with the treadmill? Walking is surprisingly effective exercise. If you find that boring, see if you can find the manuals for your other stuff. Maybe you can find something that will strengthen those spider legs *wink wink*

And about that parent thing...starving children is a universal parent thing..like "I used to have to walk 5 miles to school, in the snow"

Have fun with all that glorious equipment.

Alice
I used to go to a gym and just "have a go" on all the equipment and use the treadmill, rower etc but never felt I was getting anywhere. It cost me quite a bit of money as I used to put off going there. I would "visit" maybe once a month and remain a couch potato for the rest of the time.

Then I read on this forum about Body for Life and bought the book and haven't looked back. Because it is structured and gives you a set plan to follow, I found it easy and love doing it. I am now in my 8th week of the 12 week challenge and look forward to continuing.

The book explains which weights to use for which muscles and the fact that you progress from week to week give you an incentive to do better.

Have a look at some of the gym logs here to get more info.

Good luck
Judy

There is a "Getting Started" thread at the top of the topc lists here that may point you in the right direction.

Good luck, and the hardest part is getting started. It's all easy after that.

Well, I did it

I started working out!! I used my recumbant cycle (finally found out what that thing was called) I did it for 15 minutes, then used my universal gym, and did what I think is the butterfly thing, then the pull down thing, then the push forward thing. Each thing, 3 times each and each time for 10 pushes or pulls.

Hope I am doing them right. After I used the universal gym for about 15 minutes, I used the cycle again for 15 minutes. So total of 45 minutes.

Can anyone tell me if that was okay....or tooo much or too little? Do I do the same again tommorrow or do I wait a day, or just use my treadmill what? I am confused.

I desperately need input and guidence. Thanks all who have encourage me to start!!!!

AngelaR...I couldn't have said it better! Alice, I'm so jealous of all the equipment you have...it's so convenient...you don't even have to drive to the gym at 5:30 in the morning like me. Trust me, if you start slow and keep at it (especially the weight-lifting), you will WANT to work out everyday. There's nothing like sore muscles after a great workout! (that's when you know you're changing your body...)

What's very important in my opinion is that you don't over-do-it on the cardio. I know so many people who don't work out and when they try to start up a program, they try running as fast as they can for 30 minutes until they are beet-red and the room is spinning. Then they give up because it's too hard....duh! Exercise shouldn't hurt or make you feel sick....just thought I'd put that tip in there in case you haven't worked out on a regular basis before. Good luck!

Today I used my giant ball, to do some ab work. Funny, if I try to do ab crunches on the floor, I get sick literally. Doing it on the ball...I am fine.

Then I did 1/2 hour of yoga. I hope this is okay.... don't have anything to follow, perhaps I will buy the "Body for life" book, as I heard that it is great, and takes you thru step by step.


I wasn't sure about doing the weights two days in a row....so I decided to do them every other day.

I did order TrainerDan's book, but I haven't received it yet. I can hardly wait...

Got Trainer Dan's book, skimmed thru it, and today I plan on reading it thoroughly. Looks good, has a lot of interesting information.

Yesterday afternoon, did some more weights and recumbant cycle. The next time I do it, I will add more weight and resistance, it already is getting too easy. Must have been in better shape than I thought

Body for life, that web site looks interesting. Does anyone know more about it, and how the site works? I signed up for the free EAS, but haven't figured out how it works? Need some help..ppppppppplllllleaaase!!!!!

I'm doing body for life, using the book. The web site is pretty much the same from what I saw skimming thru it. It's basically an exercise and (not exactly low carb) diet program. The exercise is alternating days of 45 minutes weight training and 20 minutes of aerobics. Both routines use intensity/intervl training for maximum effect. I'm quite enjoying it. There are quite a few folks following BFL, but modifying the diet part to incorporate low carb. The exercise routines are organized into 12 week "personal challenges".

With the wonderful gym equipment you have, if you are interested in really good workouts, then you should do more reading on BFL and see if it is something you are interested in doing.

If you go back iup the menu into exercise forums, there is a forum just for BFL questions.

in Fall of 2000 I got myself a mountain bike (yeah like thats needed in illinois). I started riding about 1.5 miles, and Would come back with my legs like jello. Soon after I found myself going 3 miles. Then 5, then winter hit. In Spring of 2001 a friend of mine bought a BikeE (semi Recumbent). I liked it and when I originaly bought the mountain bike I was thinking about a recumbent. I found out BikeE had a lower end model which was much more in my price range for a bike. I bought it and rode it starting at around 3 miles then working my way to 5 then 7. Soon I found myself going 12 miles then 15. By the end of summer I was up to about 30 miles. However some where in there I found I had quit losing weight. I had lost about 80 lbs. I was getting discouraged. then Fall hit so I switched back to the mountain bike. However I still was not losing weight and I had gotten my HR up to about 171 during 15 mile rides on my mountain bike. During the winter I stopped riding. This spring I picked back up and lowered my calorie intake to about 1200 and was burning about 1500 on a 15 mile ride and wasn't losing weight. Recently I posted to here and found out I wasnt eating enough to sustain fat loss. I started eating more (Protien/Fat) and reducing as much riding and have started losing weight again (taking in probably about 2000 calories)

Moral of the story...
its fun to build your stamina up but don't over stress your body! It tends to have negitive effects like burning mussle instead of fat.

if your goal is to lose weight then I would work the larger mussles of the body(legs) with some sort of cardio fun. Toning up the helps though.

I think you are doing a great job. Keep it up!

The BikeE recumbent has a very comfy seat and allows you to ride for longer periods of time. However I can only get my HR up to the 150's 160's if I really stomp on the peddels.

I picked mine up at the local shwinn dealer. You can check them out on www.bikee.com

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Francis that is amazing all that biking! Wow You are amazing!!
I never saw a recumbant cycle quite like that one in the picture. I bet it's great to ride!!

AngelaR thanks for the tip on the BFL Forum. I definately will check it out.

Not2Fat ..thanks for the heads up about not overdoing the exercise especially if I am not used to it. Even when I was doing it on a regular basis, the normal sit ups for abs always made me ill...so I couldn't do too many ever!!