I’ve been lurking for a while, trying to find all the info I can. And of course reading other people’s inspirational stories. Not sure where I should post this or if I should break it down into several posts but here goes.
Background: I’m 27 years old; 5ft 2in and somewhere around 125-128 pounds. I’m not overweight but I am WAY out of shape and I have gained weight in the past several years that I never thought I’d gain. And it seemed like it happened quickly so I’m trying to maintain my weight and better my health. The health is the HARDEST part for me because most everybody in my family is at least a little over weight. Never really ate well. Ate a LOT of fast foods and few veggies and fruits growing up. I’m trying to do better but I’ve got a long way to go. Even when I THINK I’m doing better. . . it turns out not to be so. For example, after reading on this site and other sites I looked at my 100% whole wheat bread I’ve been buying and trying to get use to, only to find its not really whole wheat.
Wheat is not the first thing on the list of ingredients. I’m a picky eater too so that doesn’t help any. I don’t cook much. . .the little bit of cooking done in my house comes from my husband who only cooks things that take 30 minutes or less to cook and sometimes its one thing (like Mac-n-cheese) and sometimes we’ll eat a meat and one veggie. Don’t think bad of me for not cooking. . My husband had to cook when we got married 7 years ago because I was in school and didn’t get home till LATE and he had to fend for himself. Now he gets home from work about 1.5-2 hours before me so it’s still more convenient for him to cook. And I’m not complaining! He don’t care about his health or the weight he’s gained. He buys the groceries because he says I spend too much money when I go. I try to make him a list of healthier foods. But he always has to have chips and cookies. So I tell him every week. . . do NOT bring any sweets into this house that I like because i have very little willpower. So he buys things I don’t like. . .most of the time.
My exercise habits can use some work too. Until I went to college I did pretty well because I played sports. Not so much now. . .which is showing from the scales.
I’ll get into a “get fit” mode and go to the gym or exercise at home for a couple months and quit. Going to the gym was too much trouble and exercising in the afternoon wasn’t good because something ALWAYS came up. So, my new routine is that I start the day with a workout. I get up WAY too early so I can get like 30 min of exercise. Which brings me to some questions I have and hope somebody can answer. Or perhaps I should post it somewhere else. ??
I bought a MIO Heart Rate Monitor ($37) to keep track of my calories burned and my heart bpm. I have a hard time sometimes trying to get it to read my pulse. . .i know I have one.
I’ll read up on it again to make sure I’m not doing something wrong. Now, I did get a reading this morning (after several tries) and it had 180bpm and 94% was beside it.
Is the 94% telling me I’m working that hard? Because I’ve read where you should try to keep your efforts or whatever around 70-80%. Well, all I did was walk. As per the suggestions on the site, I used the Leslie Sansone 2 mile walk DVD. And I didn’t really even break a sweat. It was fun though. I timed myself also. I walked 32 minutes. My next question is,
is it more accurate to keep track of the time that you are intensely working out. . .like during the video. . .or should I also count the 5-10min afterwards where I do crunches and stretch? I only have a maximum of 35 minutes to workout and that includes the stretching and crunches. But I rather do it in the mornings because everybody else is asleep and not interrupting me, and i'm pretty tired in the PM. Also,
how accurate are these heart rate monitor watches? I plugged in numbers on the MIO watch website and the FitDay website and they all say I’ve burned a different amount of calories. I’m thinking the watch is better since it takes your weight, height, and heart beat in consideration. I’m sorry for such a long post.
Amy
Introduction followed by questions
