Ready to get on it!!
 

I'll shout at you when you get lazy if you'll shout at me!

Also, swimming is good exercise when you're injured because it takes the weight off the injury. But if you're like me and won't be seen dead in a pair of togs then maybe focus on upper body exercise or even just go walking instead of trying to jog on injuries.

Cheers, We can keep each other straight!

I actually have a public pool just a couple of minutes walk away from my house, only because its the summer school holidays, it is an absolute nightmare. There are no sectioned off lanes if you want to just get some exercise done and the little buggers are constantly jumping in right infront of you to get you to drown.

But luckily I do have the beach, its a sand beach so when I take the dog a walk I always make sure to go down and walk along the sand instead of the path to get some extra resistance when walking. Until the school holidays finnish I am basically stuck to walking along the sand and my stationary bike. Hopefully that will be enough as long as I do it regularly and reduce my calorie intake right???

What exercise do you do?

I cycle and go walking. I used to walk/jog but my sports bra doesn't fit me anymore and it's just too uncomfy to jog without it. So I guess that's one of my goals - get back into my sports bra and jog haha.

Walking on the sand is great, I wish I lived near the beach.

It's really hard for me to find time to exercise during the week because I'm writing my MA dissertation which is due at the end of the month (scary!) so I don't really have time to leave my desk during the week… But I love cycling, on the weekends I often go on trails with my boyfriend and he's not overly fit but fitter than me so it's a good challenge for me to try keep up with him.

Oh My Dissertations.....
I just finished 3rd year and have already completed my original Proposal, but I am not looking forward to writing my dissertation up over the winter.

I totally understand how time consuming uni work is..... its not like you can read journals and walk at the same time.

I have however been able to cycle on the stationary and learn German through this awesome app I have at the same time lol.

Yeh the beach really really helps.... Its a nice walk, but everyone from Glasgow just comes to the beach on a sunny day and then the pleasent walk becomes no more.

I used to jog, not very far but like maybe a mile? But ive just recently badly hurt my ankle, I was in crutches and a moonboot for a while and ive been off it for maybe 3 weeks max? all the brusing has gone but it still hurts after long workouts. Bit of a pain really.

You poor thing, that injury sounds painful! I actually went for a nice long walk after dinner and I think it helped clear my head as well as get out from the desk a bit. I think I'll try and do a walk after dinner every evening while the daylight lasts and a cycle on the weekend...

And thanks for understanding the uni thing, I feel like dissertation is the only word in my vocabulary right now haha.

What are you doing regarding diet? I've really just made a commitment to lose weight this week so at the moment I'm just looking at what I'm eating and trying to make good choices and weighing my portions but I'm not totally sure how to approach the food thing...

The weight loss has really been a new development for me too.... I have a loooong way to go at 308. I remember stepping on the scales at boots at the beginning of the year and it said 22st11. I cried all the way home. When you act super confident and have lots of mates, you kind of just forget what people see on the outside. I love fresh veggies and fruit and lean meat, my issue mostly is that I live at home just now sharing a house with my unhealthy family.

I dont have much spare money, but I decided for 2 weeks to go on a soup diet before my neice and nephews christening on the 19th. which basically consists of making a very low calorie soup, have boiled eggs on a slice of wholemeal toast for breakfast, soup for lunch, salad/veggies with turkey or pork and later on when I feel like binging just more soup.

I will ususally come in anywhere between 1400 and 1800 cals.

Have you ever heard of Amelia Freer?

I hadn't heard Amelia Freer her but I looked her up and she has some great recipes!

I made a few batches of vege soup (literally throwing every type of vege I had in the fridge in with some vege stock) and it was really tasty. I'm trying to have this for dinner every night of the week plus a vege smoothie for breakfast and a sensible lunch/snacks. I'll see how it goes!

That sounds great. :D do you feel eating your veggie soup for dinner fills you up? I am always wary of eating too much soup a day and end up with a bad dodgy stomach that influences running to the toilet often lol.

But I feel that If I ate a bigger lunch, I would be able to get away with soup for dinner.

Hey Scotsgal moving our conversation over here so we don't take over Riestrella's thread.

Originally Posted by Scotsgal:
Thats great that you new job comes with free gym membership! I during the semester just there I was commuting to uni from my mums house which was around an hour and a half away (I live with my mum because I decided to travel a lot instead of moving out like most people). So I have decided not only to go back to uni and turn my degree into an honors degree, I will be moving into the city next month to make my commute just a 15 minute one.

The uni has a cheap gym to students, but once I have finished my classes, I have not one ounce of motivation to go do anything active. :/

I am currently 304lbs so I am doing a lot of it for health reasons, but the main one is really just to become the slender person that I feel inside. I feel I could be a great dancer lol sounds silly but when your dancing with an extra 150lbs on you, it doesnt look and feel as great as you'd think.

I have never been slim, I was a very active child who lived in a pretty poor family and was brought up on frozen food. I never got a great chance at life when it came to my health. My sister could eat anything and it never showed, my little brother the same. While they have now at 28 and 21 started putting on the pounds, I have been fighting since I was about 7 or 8 to get rid of it.

I am a lot more aware now of nutrition and what is good and what isnt good for your body. So this time I am really making a go at it, Its time and im now better equipped.

Is a rebounder like a trampoline? I have thought of getting one of them but I wasnt sure how my ankle would take it. You think it wont jolt anything too much?

Above ^ just to jog our memories! hehe!

Completely understandable about not wanting to do anything after classes! Same thing happened to me in college... it's also when I weighed the most! My peak was about 270lbs and I didn't really realize how bad it was until after college was over. I still am a pretty lazy person I assure you I am just not letting myself say 'not today' or 'I'm too tired' which is pretty difficult for me! For starters I would take small walks - this is exactly what I am doing at the gym. I don't go for a very long time just 40 minutes and I started at a rate of 2 miles an hour and in less than a week was able to increase that to 2.6 miles an hour. It's not much for some people but a serious accomplishment for me!

I completely get where your coming from with dancing!!! That has been a huge thought for me too and I feel the same way! I absolutely love dancing and took some Zumba classes here in St. Louis, Missouri for a while but with my weak ankles I hurt one pretty bad because I am out of shape and didn't have the right shoes for the pivoting in class. When I get under 180lbs my plan is to start trying to go back to the classes with proper shoes.

About the rebounder - I would invest some insight from a doctor just in case but I specifically got a rebounder for the fact that it is less detrimental to your joints than other exercises. Keep in mind that you DON'T HAVE TO let your feet leave the rebounder in the beginning! Especially since I am sure this is the biggest concern that you and I both have in terms of using one. Just the movement in general is a good workout for your whole body. I would suggest looking up some videos on rebounding techniques before you decide to get one as well. I use a couple videos from a beginners workout for rebounding and it will help strengthen your knees and ankles too. You'll feel the burn I assure you.

One of the biggest things I can say to you in terms of exercising, and this is from a lot of failed attempts on my end, is to not push yourself TOO HARD in the beginning. Take the little achievements for what they are! ACHIEVEMENTS! Walking for an extra 5 minutes is always better than the day before. If you see some weight lost and a pound or two creep back up don't distress just find out what may or may not have happened and motivate yourself to get it back off! I talk to myself through almost every weigh in and exercise I do so that I continue to have the confidence that while I might not see too much of a change just yet it is still coming!

Welcome! Sounds like you're ready to change your life for the better! You can do this :). For a sore ankle, I would recommend something low impact like biking or swimming for cardio. For strength/core work you could try pilates - blogilates.com is a fantastic website run by a very peppy trainer. There's a beginners calendar on there to try out.

Please feel free to join my sweat for summer challenge if you want to stay accountable and join in with the support group :). We're always looking for new people to chat to! Same invitation applies to you, unicorn and Mrs Clayton :D

Thank You Riestrella!!

I have been looking at the challanges but I keep missing the start of them lol. If you dont mind a late joiner then Ill get to it.

I used to love swimming, I'm a very strong swimmer. But with it being the school holidays the local pool is an absolute nightmare!!

So hopefully If I stick to cycling just now, once I move to the city and once the schools go back, ill be able to swim again without getting divebombed.

Yes, you can join at any time, no problems! I always try and make it clear to everyone you really can join even if it's started :) Just hop on over to the thread.
Ugh, school holiday swimming pools are a nightmare!