getting_fit

hi! my name is Caitlin and I'm here because I want to lose about 15 pounds or so. I am 5'5" and I currently weigh 116 pounds.

my weight history looks like this:


my goal weight is 100 pounds, but it would be awesome to get back to 90 pounds.

I am a vegetarian and usually struggle with getting motivated to exercise...

that's pretty much me.

Hello!

I just noticed after I joined that there is not a lot of activity on this sight. Hopefully it will amp up a little!

I started a diet and exercise program the first week of February and have lost about 17 lbs so far (with much more to go as you see my stats below). I do cardio about 5 times a week on the elliptical trainer and strength training 3 times a week. I love strength training and see myself being addicted to it in the long run. I could seriously imagine myself (once all the excess weight is gone) training to be a boxer or female body building. I absolutely love the weight room!

I don't know, maybe I am a little crazy...but the feeling after lifting weights for an hour just leaves me feeling awesome. I have always enjoyed it, since I was in high school, but now I am learning how to incorporate it with cardio and a well balanced diet so I can get to a healthy weight and then get toned. I'm not trying to be some steroid-ed out muscle queen or anything, just wanting to get definition and tone.

Also, Stallone is my inspiration for working out/getting fit. And yes I am a girl (incase anyone was wondering) and I like boys :) . I just love me some Rocky/Rambo!

Here are my stats
HW: 275
CW: 258
GW: 150 with muscle!

Hello, everybody. I'm Jonna, 23, currently obese-but-losing, and here's my problem:

I have no butt.

Absolutely no butt. My hips are very wide, but I have zero buttocks. My butt profile equals pancake.

So I'm asking people who may have more experience in exercise - is there a way to get something even resembling a butt through, say, stepper exercises? I'm sick of every pair of pants I own having an "airbag" around the area where my butt *should* be. It's ugly, unflattering and just seriously stupid-looking for every pair of jeans, slacks, even capris to have this area with nothing filling them on the rump side of things.

Is there a way to exercise my butt on, or is plastic surgery pretty much my only hope? :(

Hello everyone! I'm new and thought I would post a quick intro.

My name is Jessica and I turn 30 this month. I've recently put on a lot of weight and now have 50 lbs to lose. I've become a bit obsessed with losing the weight and getting into shape. lol

I can't afford a gym membership right now so three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) I'm using dumbbells and body exercises at home. On the other days I'm doing yoga and cardio (there's a cardio section on my bellydancing video that is really intense).

I'm also trying to watch what I eat but so many years of eating bad is hard to stop. But I'm proud to say that I'm doing very well with it so far. Some slip ups but I'm trying not to let that discourage me like it has in the past.

Anyways, I'm happy to be here!

Hey everyone!

I've lost 45 pounds recently, but I seem to have hit a rut. I've been doing all the same things, but the weight is staying the same. I'm going to start doubling my cardio and cutting more carbs, and adding more water, BUT, I have a question.

I was watching some show the other day that said a ton of celebrities swear by this weight-loss stuff called Hoodia. It's some cactus-type plant found in Africa. I went to CVS and sure enough they had Hoodia weight-loss pills so I bought some.

Has anyone else ever tried Hoodia?

hi everyone - just wanted to write and say keep up the good work! over the last 2 years i've lost 70 lbs. it hasn't been easy but i'm almost at my goal weight.

i put up some of my favorite exercise tapes on ebay. i highly recommend all of them. thanks for looking!

HUGE LOT lot of workout videos - Billy Blanks, The Firm, Tae Bo, etc.







(if this isn't allowed please feel free to delete.)

I was reading an article somewhere ( I know, very accurately documenting my sources ;) that there was a study done with women who were various ranges of overweight, and in that study, they had women who would look in the mirror often and state positive feedback statements about their own bodies , women who would just survey themselves in the mirror without giving verbal feedback, and women who did neither as a control.
What the results showed was that by the end of the study the women who were exposed to themselves in the mirror, with and without feedback, had a more positive image and overall satisfaction of their own bodies, and less anxiety as a whole.
HOW COOL!
So, as a fledgling bellydancer, I realized, I'm not spending enough time really LOOKING at myself when I dance- that's the way to get good, so you see what other people see, and not just go on what feels right, because there's a good chance that's wrong- if it was as easy as what feels right, everyone would be good at it. So, that's what I've been doing. using my USB camera set up through the TV to watch myself- Robbie said I could even shut off the TV and record it and watch it later, since I won't always have immediate feedback at the time I am dancing. I have always KNOWN I had to really watch myself, but I would get so wrapped up in ugh I hate my insert body part here when I do the insert dance move here, that I couldn't eyeball myself.
So, a few weeks ago our original choreographies were taped at a rehearsal before a hafla/troupe tryout, and I had decided to act "as-if" since I can't be in the troupe due to scheduling conflicts ( so sad) and allow myself to be taped while dancing... AND I watched the play back. My choreo was only a few minutes long, so I had to FORCE myself to stop critiquing my various body parts and watch the dancing itself. And once I did, I realized, A) I'm not a bad dancer, and B) that wasn't so damn hard.
So, with the Eye Toy Kinetics finally working, I am constantly watching myself when working out or dancing. Not always the best feelings, but certainly not that bad- not a deal breaker by any means
Ok, so, in dance class last night afer working on a short choreo, we were all working together to work on our synchronicity ( not quite my strength yet) and I was able to watch not only me, but 4 other women! Ok, so... I have realized, that I have never really known what my relative size was compared to the general population! And not that I was critiquing these other women's bodies by any means, but trying to view my own with a less critical eye, and I realized, I'm not so HUGE. I am NOT bigger around than the general population. I am NOT the Macy's day ballon, OR the Hindenburgh! My abs are not hideous enough to send people running and make small children cry, and my thighs cannot be used in the event of a water landing! Now, I AM definitely to heavy for my own frame, fo sho. But I am really tight for my size. I have nice skin. And I'm a decent dancer.
And when I was 13, 14, 15.... when I look at the picures of myself with my friends, I now realize, I was NOT huge. I was just 4'10 with a fully matured female form. I was comparing myself to these other girls who were a minimum of 6 inches taller, with legs up to my chest- my friends were apparently part gazelle. But I was fine, and so were they. We were all just different.

So this is it. Fat was always a bad word. THE trigger word. The scale and the mirrors were my ENEMY, and by ignoring them, I thought I was avoiding bad pain, but I was creating much bigger problems, in the literal sense of the word. So, no more. the mirror is my weapon, and my friend, and the scale is my guage.
I am beautiful, I am strong, I am powerful and you had all better believe, I am FIERCE. I CAN do this, and I WILL DO THIS, I will get to a healthy weight, and along the way, I will continue to appreciate my body as it IS, not just how it could be, or I want it to be. The only thing that can stop me is my own fear, and I will never let my fear conquer me again.

Hello, I'm new here. I have a couple weddings coming up (my cousin's in a week and a half, and my sister's in December) and I'm using them as the prime motivation to add more exercise to my routine. I already work out for at least 30 minutes three to five times a week, but I'd like to add a routine for days that are too busy (or I'm too lazy) to make it out to the gym.

I was thinking about getting an exercise video/DVD. I do a little bit of pilates/yoga from time to time (they have classes at the gym) but I was thinking about getting something that's a little bit more intense or at least more high-energy. I've never done anything like this before, so I mostly wouldn't be able to keep up at first but that's okay as long as it's possible to keep up after doing it for a week or two weeks. And I'd like to really work on the core muscles - my stomach especially - as well as maybe my leg muscles. Any suggestions on video/DVDs that you've found helpful would be great!

Hi!
I just joined this community, thinking that I might find the support I need.
I've had a knee operation last week, so I am not able to work out just yet, but I need to lose weight (which I am working on through healthier food and less of it...), and I want to get back into the habit.

Any suggestions of how I could start off again?
It'll be a while until I can REALLY use that leg again, but I want to start planning early.

Suggestions?

Long story short
Under 200 lbs. blah blah reward blah blah excited over exercise kinda have become a junkie and get pissed if I can't work out, kinda need to work on that, blah blah
Ok, so, months ago I wrote up this big list of mini weight loss goals, and while I was formulating it (It's still not done, I have a lot of mini goals) I ran across an ad in Self for PSP Eye Toy:Kinetics, a 12 week interactive exercise and toning game/program. I did some research online and everyone seemed to really like it. It was mentioned that the camera you use is a somewhat light sensitive, but typically it was rated 4 or 5 stars out of a possible 5. COOL, right? So, the goal was for when I hit under 200, I could get that for myself.
I jump out of bed this am ready to go to the mall (and I HATE the mall, people, on a good day, and THIS is tax free weekend from hell) and go an get this game. I go around to various game stores until I find it, $50 bucks. come home, change, and it's go time.
This thing the biggest piece of poo, it doesn't sense our movements on the right side of the screen. I play with the settings, do the troubleshooting, even call Playstation, apparently it's defective. ok, bring back to the store, exchange. Come home again AAAAAnd. CRAP! This thing is just rotted as hell. You wave your hands through the air to control the menus, and they barely sense the movements. I get so damn crazy I'm waving my arms in the air like a looney. big movements, small movements. trying to shake my head around. jazz hands. ANGRY jazz hands (this last was said by my Robbie at dinner, which made me laugh so hard I spit out my mashed potatoes!) You get a 15 minute arm workout from frustration hell trying to get TO the workout section.
We try setting the sensitivity levels from low to high. We try everything from no lights to 7 different lights place at various points throughout the room. Different lighting combos. On the high settings it's sensing movement from inanimate objects like throw pillows and books. We cover the bookcase, couch and door with sheets. We continue to play with the lighting. We refocus the camera. we turn off over head fans. More light adjustments. We try to make the regular controllers work for the menus.
Finally, I decide that I am just DONE. I cannot do this everytime I want to work out. I am so frustrated I start to vary between hysterical laughter and crying. When I could GET to the interactive workout, and it sensed every 2 out of three movements, the game was AWESOME! Even my slug ass of a boyfriend was all about doing it, and he's the one who spend over an hour making the above adjustments to try to get it to work!
Now I have to deal with the stupid game store who is willing to swap it out again, but if it doesn't work they won't want to give me my money back because they don't do that with anything "opened" (to which I said, of COURSE I opened it, and the SECOND one, I wanted to USE it! That's how I found it's a piece of crappola and NO there's NOTHING wrong with my PSP) they just want to give store credit, and I am not a damn GAMER! I don't need $50 of credit at a video game store. If they gave me my money back, at least I could go buy a bunch of workout videos somewhere else. But that's another story.
The real story is just, I'm disappointed. I don't really WANT my money back, I wanted it to WORK. I was excited and waited for MONTHS to get the damn thing :(
And I was so looking forward to the new cool workouts, and the challenge against myself. Now, I'm all poopy.