Boy, I may have been sore enough to not want to move for the last 2 days, but I can SERIOUSLY feel the difference in my muscles, in my arms and my legs, my abs are catching up too...whoohoo :-) and this is only like 2 weeks into training... can't wait to see what they're like in another 2...

Well horray for you!!! What an awesome feeling that must be!!!!

Exercise is such an important part of all our weight loss journeys. I am probably in the best shape of my life at 36 and that is from being in the worst shape of my life a few years ago when I could not do much of anything. And at 19 I had backpacked the Grand Canyon from rim to floor and back. Through much of my early 20s I continued to be an avid hiker, then...bad habits.

Wanting to get my health back was prime motivation. The important thing is not to get burned out. Being sore for 2 days is not a good thing, eventually you will get tired of that and it means you overtrained. A little soreness is fine and a little persistence is great at first, eventually you want to reach a stage where the exercise is a very pleasurable experience. I am actually at that stage now, it doesn't hurt at all when I am doing it and feels great afterword. I played ultimate frisbee for the first time last week after years of not doing it and felt fine once I got my second wind. This summer I am doing research in southern Chile and I feel much more confident about handling it by being in shape.

But the bottom line is you will get so much good from exercising. Studies have pretty much found you do not gain an appetite from working out and some find you may have a smaller appetite. But even not wanting to eat more is great because you are burning more calories, and your body processes food so much better, and your energy level and mood are much better overall. It is just really a good thing to be excicted about and follow through with.

Larry

seeing is this photo takes. I am probably about 5-10lbs lighter now, this was pre veggie diet me, but quite a difference from 320lbs.

PNG,
Great job. I posted elsewhere that I'm ready for you to come back to OH and be my personal trainer! Keep up the good work.

Larry,
You've done a magnificient job! What an inspiration...and Chile...how great is that?? What kind of research do you do?...if you don't mind me asking.

Continued luck.

Gayle

I am a geographer which is a very broad category. I look at nature/society issues from something called a political ecology perspective. But I do use maps (well mostly satellite images nowadays) and Geographic Information Systems to look at land use changes. I hope to spend about a month and half gathering information about mapping resources and GIS in Chile and also looking at conservation efforts in Mapuche (local) communities in southern Chile (temperate rain forests, whoo hoo, think British Columbia without the Starbucks, winter there though in June) especially as regards agriculture. And I have really limited Spanish right now. Ah well as they said in Shakespeare in Love, it does all work out, and it is a mystery. BTW that pic is about a month old now so it is me at 36. I guess I've gotten a little vain about this but people are really suprised when I say that when they see in person, they usually think 27 or 28. No complaints from me though.

Gayle, I actually could do that, I have a home study degree for fitness and nutrition...lol, but I really do have a hard time keeping myself motivated, let alone someone else...LOL

Larry, I know exactly what you mean, I grew up a dancer and martial artist, so now it's really hard for me to think of myself as unfit, I worked some ballet into my workout today, into my warmup and cooldown, and it felt so good to feel a little graceful again

You're making great strides, I just sent one of my male friends to check out your post with the pic, he's shy so I don't know when he'll post, but he's starting about where you were, and his lifestyle has been unhealthy since birth, and he's having some probs getting past that.


Oh yeah, I also get my age underestimated I'm going to be 26 this year, and usually get 20 at best

Larry I must comment on how wonderful you look!!! aqnd yes i agree i love to feel a little sore ness, just a bit to know that it is there but it never lasts more than a evening and then it is just oh i felt that. when i started it felt good to know that some thing was happening. I sure know how good that is. I do not get sore anymore, it takes a huge effort to make anything hurt on me anymore!!

I have a bunch of 'before' pics but they are on my family computer in California. But I kept my ID from when I was a high school teacher. This photo is about a year and half old. It is probably going to look really grainy because I had to scan it, it is not a digital photo. But here it is.
Larry

A) It is motivation for me to keep being healthy.

B) To surprise people

C) To show them I did actually lose a 120lbs although I think I was around 280 something when that was taken.

There is this beautiful Spanish/Scottish lass in another department and we were talking over coffee one day and I said I was 320 at one point and she needed it converted to kgs, so I thought and said 140, which turned out to be pretty close. And she didn't believe it so out with the teacher id. Not sure I should even bring up the weight loss with ladies but I am what I am so I guess it shouldn't matter to much.

great job, larry, you are a great inspiration, and thanks for sharing.

That is very great to see, the before, and after!! You know what Larry I have the same reasons, why I want to lose weight, and why I keep coming here, to help others, After I had my child, I weiged around 270, and stayed in the 260s for a year, trying to figure out how to get it off, For 5 weeks now I have been doing the low fat eating, exercise, and just plain motivation. I now weigh 243.. I am gonna get it off, like you did!! you are such a motivation!! That is such good work!! I am almost speechless,, Thanks!!

latisia

WOW what a change!!! I should do that side by side!!!

you have really made some great wonderful changes and WOW are ypu nice looking!!!

Larry!

Just a bit of a change!!! When I get discouraged, all I'll have to do is check out your pix. Great job, Larry, congratulations!

Thanks for sharing with us.

Gayle

PNG..Muscles are awseome aren't they? I keep feeling for em, I'll find em one of these days. lol Good job!

Larry..Amazing and inspirational! Thank you for sharing, and motivating us. BTW..in my opinion, you should share this with anyone that comes into you're life.

Most definately, I got the digicam for a few days, so I'm going to take some current pictures... and post em with my <GASP!> Thanksgiving pics (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! NOOOOOOOOO!!! NOT the Thanksgiving pics!!)