I am putting together a fitness basket for a girlfriend to help keep her motivated on her weight loss journey. (This is something she discusses regularly, so I am not putting this on her.)
As maintainers, what helped you get to that point? Besides dedication. She doesn't feel comfortable using free weights at a gym so I was going to get a set of 5, 8, and 10lb ones to start (and either a session with a trainer in her home to show her exercises that would best benefit her or a book/dvd). I was thinking of putting a journal in so she can get her frustrations out and also celebrate her successes. I have other accessories for jogging as she does tend to do that. Oh, and I have a few fitness magazines in there as well.
If you can think of anything else that helped motivate and support you through your journey, please post them!
An gift basket full of fitness toys sounds wonderful. A couple of sessions with a personal trainer is a wonderful idea. If you are looking for additional things I would also include a book called "The New Rules of Lifting for Women." If you don't want to actually purchase the book but want to turn her onto a group of fitness related readings, put together a list of books such as the New Rules..as well as others that she could find at the library or purchase on her own.
A fictional book that I really enjoyed reading was Water with Lemon. There are so many others out there too. I'm sure others here have some good suggestions to add to the list as well.
What a great thing to do for your friend!
BTW: I bet that basket is feeling pretty heavy with the dumb bells inside. She's going to have to develop a baseline just to accept the gift.
I'm not a maintainer, but I was intrigued by the thread. This is such a cute idea. If she's in to workout DVDs (I'm not really) a lot of people here seem really into the Jillian Micheals and the Biggest Loser workout DVDs (30 day shred seems especially popular). Resistance bands are a great tool as well, since they are so versitile (my trainer never had us use weights, resistance bands do everything). You could also maybe look for some sucess stories online. Find the ones that best match her situation and print them out as motivation/encouragement. The journal is an awesome idea by the way. And maybe a gift card to a local grocery or farmers market? hmmm... that's all the ideas I have right now. Good luck.
Beautiful measuring cups and spoons for the kitchen. If she's serious about weight loss, working out is GREAT but she's going to have to be careful about food intake as well.
These are kind of pricey - but I had seen them earlier and knew where to find a quick link!
Very nice idea. Wow. My middle sister (I'm one of three) is great for giving amazingly personal gifts. So, if she had given me a basket that had all the things that helped me this year it would contain:
1) Volumetrics Eating Plan book by Barbara Rolls
2) FIRM: 500 calorie burn fitness dvd
3) Biggest Losers videos: 1st and 2nd volumes, and the cardio max one
4) yellow measuring spoons and cups (I love my yellow ones)
5) 3fatchicks website info on how to sign up, printed off some of the more inspirational pages, with a cover page that says something cool
For maintenance, I'm thinking very much about resistance bands and easy to remember all body exercises. I've down-loaded a few great ones from About.com. I'm taking these with the info I pulled off from the 3fatchicks page on resistance bands (I think it's in the fitness thread).
Glory, i LOVE those measuring cups! They're so pretty!
I also wanted to second an I-tunes or similar type gift card, especially since you said your friend is in to running. And maybe a heart rate monitor/pedometer thing?
Gift ideas for a beginner
She's going to have to develop a baseline just to accept the gift. 
