Fat Fitness

Hey y'all:

I'm Hank, I'm a 32 year old guy, and I'm starting to really feel the way my size confines my activities. I was fat but active for most of my life, but working in an office and spending too much time on the couch has my endurance and ability in the garbage. I'm trying to get back on my feet, get some of this weight off, and get myself on a healthier track.

I'm looking forward to hearing from other folks about how to balance your current size (or former size) with the need to exercise in a healthy way.

(If I seem familiar to anyone, I had a LJ a few years ago that was focused on health and weight loss, and it helped me drop almost 50 pounds. Of course, since then I've slid right back up, so I'm starting over.)

See you on the sidewalks!

I noticed a new team on Sparkpeople and thought it would be fun to incorporate it into LJ (because I don't really like using the forums and such on SP lol).

Sooo...

In an effort to increase motivation for all these miles we do on our weight loss journies (be it walking, running, swimming, spinning, etc etc etc!), I created 80_days.

Come join a community that is aiming to exercise their way around the globe - 24,901 miles! - in 80 days or less! In order for us to be really successful, we are going to need a LOT of people. There is NO minimum requirement of miles! You do what you can when you can!

Around the World in 80_days...where every mile counts!

P.S. If this post is inappropriate, just let me know and I'll happily remove it! :)

(x-posted to all the weight loss communities I'm a member of, I apologize if you have to see this oodles of times hehe!)

It's ashame this group is so inactive I think it's such a great idea. I'm so tired of reading fitness boards where everyone is already fit and doesn't understand what it's like trying to get fit when you're already heavy... On some of them I've found a lot of downright offensive things said.

Anyway was curious what everyone here was doing for fitness currently?

I'm still doing the DVD thing and in 2 months now with healthy eatting (I used MFD to record my food) and exercise mostly through DVDs I've lost 25lbs so far. I pretty much do them every day I aim for an hour. I alternate Weight training ones with cardio ones so not only am I losing, but I'm getting overall fitter and helping the metabolism.

I checked my resting heart rate the other day and it was like 55! I think it used to be in the 70s.

Anyway just wanted to hear what everyone else what upto.

I was trying to look this up online but couldn't find it anywhere. I know I had a trainer tell me one time about what this was but now I forget. Often after long cardio such as walking I get sorta electrical zaps/pulses in my legs for about maybe 10 mins after stopping. I know this isn't a bad thing - Just trying to remeber what the heck it was. Anyone recall?

Anyone have suggestions on exercise DVDs for heavier people? I've been alternating the Biggest Loser DVD with one of the Walk Away tapes. I can do most of both with some modifcations (no jumping jax, and less extension on the squats and lunges) Basically I want something mostly cardio but I like whent theres some strength training tossed in as well. I'm working up a netflix cue, but I was wondering if anyone had some good suggestions. Some friends suggested Susan Powters, but I don't think her old stuff in on DVD and I don't have VHS at the moment.

Oh, and hi! I'm on week 3 of the weight loss thing this time around. Lets hope it will be the last. Down 11 thus far.

Hey, just wanted to introduce myself. I'm 25, female, severely overweight, but I still like to live an active lifestyle.

Last fall I backpacked about 10 miles up a mountain. That's probably the hardest thing I've ever done physically and at my top weight I consider it an incredible accomplishment. But I also like to bike around the neighborhood and I am learning to skateboard as well.

One thing I find difficult is just to get over the stigma of being in public doing these physical things. That's why I'm a member of two gyms as well. That environment, whether in a general Gold's-type setting or an all-female-Curves type setting is pretty comforting. The only problem is that I haven't really been going to either gym! Hah.

I also took a Tai Chi class last fall which I really loved, but have totally gotten out of the habit.

Anyway, that's pretty much it as far as fitness goes for me. There's a picture of my ride under the cut.

( How I RollCollapse )

A few weeks ago abstrakone and I decided to create a podcast about fitness as it relates to the sedentary lifestyle that is geekdom.

It's not about geeks. It's about anyone who has a job that isn't contributing to their activity every day (read: construction worker). Desks, computers, standing behind a counter and fidgeting like you're at a high school dance. While this might burn a few calories (hey, some of those computer mice are hard to push around!) it's not enough to mitigate what we're putting in our mouths most of the time.

We posted our introduction podcast yesterday, so give it a listen and bear with us while we work out the bugs.

http://www.GeekFit.com/

laurelbay has created a new community caled wl_is_not_a_sin for anyone who wants to discuss weight and health issues from Health At Any Size and/or fat acceptance point of view. She's got a really great community description in the community info, much better than what I'm trying to summarize it as, so go check it out if you're interested.

I have three books on fitness for fat women. Unfortunately, I don't know of any that focus on fat men.

Real Fitness for Real Women by Rochelle Rice
Great Shape: the First Fitness Guide for Large Women by Pat Lyons and Debby Burgard
You Don't Have to Be Thin to Win by Judy Molnar

Real Fitness for Real Women is probably best for somebody who is not capable of very vigorous activity, due to age, size, injury, illness, or some combination thereof. It includes a six-week exercise program that is just *too* gentle and slow for my taste. However, it could be very encouraging to someone who has a really hard time getting active and the book has some great positive, motivational stuff in it.

Great Shape is a little dated but otherwise wonderful. It was originally published in 1988,a nd the current edition is just the same text with a brief forward. The graphics are not great quality, and the women pictured tend to be wearing goofy 80's leotards, but that's half the fun. :) The book does include an exercise routine, but there is so much additional information, covering walking, swimming, sports, exercise-dancing and more, including sports psychology and tips on making sure that exercises are safe for larger bodies. These women were truly ground-breakers.

You Don't Have to Be Thin... is a bit light in comparison to Great Shape, but it does cover a lot of topics and the author's story about being a fat-ish triathlete is pretty impressive.

Does anybody else have books to recommend?

This is what I put into the community information area:

I created this community because I'm a fat woman, I'm interested in pursuing fitness, and I don't see any communities for this topic. I see this community as being helpful for fat people who are using fitness activities to try to lose weight and also for fat people who are not trying to lose weight, but rather do sports or fitness activities for health or pleasure. Personally, I'm fat-positive but also trying to lose weight so that I can be *less* fat.

I think that there are a lot issues in sports and fitness that are particular to larger-bodied people, so I'm hoping that this community will be a good resource. There are already a lot of communities out there for diet-related issues, so I hope to keep the focus of this community on activity rather than food.

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I anyone has any recommendations for other information to go in there, please let me know.