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I don't believe at all in a sugar tax. It also punishes people who eat those things in moderation and are not overweight.
But it is shocking to see how immensely fat some people are getting. I saw someone recently, who I hadn't seen in 10 years. He was quite thin then, and lean. Now he was immensely fat with a massive sagging belly that hung over his pants and tree trunk fat legs and basically enormous. Must have gained 100lbs. It was a sight to see. Wonder how it happened because this guy is like 55 years old and yet was 45 and skinny then.
If you don't watch it - either by scaling back your consumption or exercising more - then you will gain weight as you age. Maybe not to that degree, but I find that it is far easier to put on weight from 40s - on and much harder to take it off. Now, more than ever, I can't let things get out of control in the first place.
I think it's extremely sick and rude to make fun of obese people. This is not something to laugh about; the misfortunes of other people.
Unfortunately it is also rude to confront people and force health advice on them. I just look at them and think, "I'm glad it's not me." The more I see the more I'm motivated to work out harder, eat healthier.
I bet I've been to the gym 5 days in the last week including yesterday. I'm giving serious thought to heading over today and just using the treadmill, do maybe 25 minutes at 2.5/3 mph for cardio, then skip the rest of my workout routine. I did a lot of upper body exercises yesterday in addition to the tread, but I know I should let those muscles rest until tomorrow. I'll set the tread today mainly to get my heartbeat in the zone, and keep the other settings moderate as possible consistent with hitting the target. Probably zero slope and set the mph to get the bpm I want.'
Addictive, eh? Me too! Particularly surrounded by the good vibes from other gym members.
I generally take a more moderate tack and sometimes just quit in the middle if I feel the particular muscle group is getting too strained. I move on to a different machine, different muscle group. The treadmill is the only place I feel like I can't get off until I've met my tally. It's also the most boring machine for me. I upped to 25 minutes yesterday and think I'll call it done when I can do a reliable 30 minutes at cardio rate.
I'm not sure how much my muscle hardness is genuine and how much is imagination. When I was previously exercising both my arm and leg muscles were really hard, but nobody would call them large. I seek definition and hardness, not big bulges. (Well...) I could be wrong but I think women like men with hard, well defined muscles and tight asses, and I can achieve that, or pretty sure I can.
My biggest problem is what I refer to as "male pregnancy." I think continued exercise and attention to my diet will take care of the stomach fat. I know I'll never have a 6-pack. I just want my blue jeans back, and a little slack in my belt. I've been dressing too long in just my sweats.
The best part is that I know I'll make it unless I drop my program. It's like a sure thing.
I particularly liked a new machine I started yesterday, inclined leaning back with my feet angled up in front of me, pedals connected to a weighted moving slider and doing reps pushing up extending my legs. Handles at hand to twist in and lock the weights in the upper position. I know I'll be visiting this machine more often and adding on weight.
I like to make my reps about 10-12 and sets about 3-4 of them. My trainer says after that just add weight and keep the reps and sets as is. The staff at my gym are amazingly helpful, well informed, and very, very enthusiastic!
Hahaha "male pregnancy" You're too funny. You're on the right track, just keep on going! Before you know it, you'll hit your goal. I had two kids and OF COURSE the added weight didn't just fill out my "top" and my "bottom", it also filled out my middle and I had the spare tire thing going on. You would've thought I was still pregnant. I have to admit that wasn't my finest hour...rolls of flab. I remember the first day I worked out with all of that chunk..it was uncomfortable. But I kept at it, since Rome wasn't built in a day. Eventually, the chunky middle started to disappear and I started seeing abs. It's like my abs felt liberated with the fat gone. I too won't have that super cut six pack, especially due to the excess skin I have in the lower abs (no matter how hard I exercise, that is there to stay barring surgery) but that's ok. I just feel great knowing that I can don a TWO PIECE bathing suit again after 11 years and babies.
For cardio, I find it boring too, regardless of machine. (I use the elliptical and the stairclimber, alternating with the treadmill). To start, I did what you are doing to build up endurance. Once you get the endurance down pat, then you can do 30 or even more. I personally don't do more than 40 mins of cardio unless I wanna get a little extra in. The amazing thing about exercise is that you start to see gains in a short amount of time (i.e. increased stamina, lower pulse, increased energy) but many people only focus on what the scale says (only to quickly give up when the scale doesn't present the number they want) :/
Hahaha "male pregnancy" You're too funny. You're on the right track, just keep on going! Before you know it, you'll hit your goal. I had two kids and OF COURSE the added weight didn't just fill out my "top" and my "bottom", it also filled out my middle and I had the spare tire thing going on. You would've thought I was still pregnant. I have to admit that wasn't my finest hour...rolls of flab. I remember the first day I worked out with all of that chunk..it was uncomfortable. But I kept at it, since Rome wasn't built in a day. Eventually, the chunky middle started to disappear and I started seeing abs. It's like my abs felt liberated with the fat gone. I too won't have that super cut six pack, especially due to the excess skin I have in the lower abs (no matter how hard I exercise, that is there to stay barring surgery) but that's ok. I just feel great knowing that I can don a TWO PIECE bathing suit again after 11 years and babies.
For cardio, I find it boring too, regardless of machine. (I use the elliptical and the stairclimber, alternating with the treadmill). To start, I did what you are doing to build up endurance. Once you get the endurance down pat, then you can do 30 or even more. I personally don't do more than 40 mins of cardio unless I wanna get a little extra in. The amazing thing about exercise is that you start to see gains in a short amount of time (i.e. increased stamina, lower pulse, increased energy) but many people only focus on what the scale says (only to quickly give up when the scale doesn't present the number they want) :/
Thank you Ria Elise? (Nice name if that's where your username came from. I am of course the "dog of love!") To tell the truth I'm having the best damned time of my life in my renewed and much more serious gym workouts. I'm still astonished at the espirit de corps I share with my fellows at the gym. I truly believe that pushing your workouts causes a mental change that results in enthusiasm and a feeling of well being, and that my fellows (and fellowettes) share common goals and common respect to one another.
Just note I'm a writer, that I pride my sense of humor as my "secret weapon" in which I ensnare women into liking me, and generally have a bonhomme spirit of liking the idea of getting along with my fellow humans. (Sadly, some people abhor others who are in better spirits than their own.)
Yes, men and women face different challenges, due to our differing endocrine and hormone systems. Never the less we don't get to choose, and even if given the choice I don't know which I'd pick. Thankfully it is one decision I'll never have to make or regret. I'm satisfied with the hand fate dealt me.
You may be one of those women I enjoy as they use the stair climber/stepper while my ab cruncher faces them (from their behind, LOL!). I find it amusing that evidently both men and women enjoy watching the other's posteriors! I was once complimented by a cute woman/colleague who told me I had the second best, tightest ass in the entire company—about 120 employees—except for #1 the "silver fox" who was a senior VP and I'll grant him, he was a damned fine looking guy! Even better, he was not only my friend but one of my role models too, and I was awed to being his second best! It was a very flattering compliment to me!
I did my 30 minutes of cardio on the tread today, and I've decided this is the final target on the thread. I noticed it was harder to push my bpm up to my previous target (150 bpm) which I consider a success. I'm becoming acclimated to my new workout regimen and I think 30 minutes of cardio is quite enough (even at 140 bpm). Even better, once I get my boring 30 minutes of cardio in I feel free to strain any muscle groups I wish!
The only scale I look at is the treadmill. The other machines I use don't even have digital displays. For them it's just me and my music, sets and reps, setting the weight settings... I believe I already said, my trainer told me once you have settled on #sets and #reps, just stick with that and if you want more exercise just change the weight settings. -- This is so fantastic that I have such access to such fine but safe training equipment! Unlike free weights it would be difficult to harm yourself by misuse of equipment. Particularly with such fine staff freely giving you the customer all the patient explanation you need to ensure they use the equipment properly, and even more in their enthusiasm to help you meet your physical fitness goals!
To be honest I don't see my progress reflected in mere weight, but I know you should not weigh yourself daily, and that weight is not the only measure of fitness.
I know I am already there. My spirits are so improved that simply my self-confidence was totally worth it! And I know for sure that as long as I stick to my nutritional guidelines and continue working out that my own personal fitness goals will be reached.
Even better, I have my own theory about a person's physical fitness in terms of fitness age vs. chronological age. Of course you cannot beat age; 120 years alive is usually enough to kill you. But I believe that in recent months I have been older than my chronological age yet in recent weeks I feel myself getting younger, and in terms of my cohorts I believe I will earn the title of a "very young XX" (irrespective of my chronological age).
It's not how old you are. It's not how old your thinking says you are. What it is, it's how much time you are willing to spend to artificially meet a more younger standard, that's how old you are. I can't be twenty again, but I believe I can reach a point where I am 20 years younger than my chronological age.
A LQ isn't going to hurt you as long as you are conscience of the sodium. I eat Amy"s Organic frozen bean and rice burritos and her Indian wraps too. They are low in calories and portable. If I do not have time to make my own lunch I bring one of them to work.
We love Amy's.
For frozen foods, they are one of the better choices.
I use your posts throughout this topic as my reference. Your "observations" are nothing more than mocking blurbs (calling people 'leviathans', using the terms 'waddling', yada yada) at obese people's expense. What you "observe" is nothing particularly new or insightful either. I think it's understood that there are a lot of overweight people in America. You don't have to "feel sorry" for them, but you likewise don't have to insult them.
Obese people should be treated no differently than those with a drink or drug problem.They all have a problem with addiction.
We call out parents found incoherent and slumped in cars after an overdose yet not those parents too obese to properly take care of their children.
Or even worse allow those children to become as obese as them.
It's hypocrisy.
There must be something in the water people, and most regrettably - kids and teens, around me explode into full blown fatties within rather a narrow time window. OK person today, a fatty several months later, and it is not stomach fat, it is like somebody blows them up with fat like a balloon. It must be synergy of aging (long time abused) metabolism with the crap we eat, or perhaps some pollutants on top of that. At some point our bodies just quit resisting the onslaught.
Nope not at my local gyms. People cut you off, steal your machines or racks, leave their crap all over the place, don't clean up their corcuits. Just like in the rest of life. Plenty of self-absorbed people. No explosion of politeness.
They can't steal my "machine." I'm a runner. I run in my neighborhood and local parks. They're "stuck" to the ground! Please, just don't run me down!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Northnomad
I don't believe at all in a sugar tax. It also punishes people who eat those things in moderation and are not overweight.
I agree. Sugar taxes are just the government intruding in what should be private matters. My parents taught me to behave sensibly. I don't need the government to give me a second dose of the same thing. And anyway, my parents did a fine job of it. When did you ever see the government do a fine job of anything? All the government seems to be useful for in this case is threatening people "for their own good."
It's the principle. I don't drink sugary things. In fact if sugar can go bad then mine may be in danger. I use it for the rare bit of baking. I sweeten my tea with honey.
Quote:
Originally Posted by riaelise
For cardio, I find it boring too, regardless of machine.
Thus my use of the neighborhood sidewalks and parks. I run for a stated amount of time. I can vary my route for variety. The only machines I worry about are the ones with four wheels that my not see small, speeding objects! No need to worry though, I see very well, and I assume they are trying to run me down.
Alas, in another dozen years I may have to take up gyms as I pass through the dreaded 30s. For now running keeps me fit and gives me a good cardio workout. I sometimes use wrist and ankle weights too, particularly if I need to get it over quickly, so I increase the difficulty and decrease the time.
Alas, in another dozen years I may have to take up gyms as I pass through the dreaded 30s. For now running keeps me fit and gives me a good cardio workout. I sometimes use wrist and ankle weights too, particularly if I need to get it over quickly, so I increase the difficulty and decrease the time.
Oh my, the dreaded 30's? LOL
What will you do when you're 59 like me? And what do you call the 50's/60's?
I am a firm believer that for me, it's healthier to get my exercise outside in the natural light and fresh air, too. I need sunshine.
This is a real question though, if your metabolism slows as you age and you are currently exercising strenuously in your 20's, 30's or 40's, what do you think you will be able to do 20-30 years later to keep at a healthy weight? Do you believe you will be able to run further or faster? That you will be able to do more reps of heavier weights? That you will be able to eat significantly less than you are now?
I have belonged to a number of gyms over the years and I have never experienced that. My current gym is wonderful in that regard. I have made some wonderful friends from the gyms I have gone to.
Maybe its because the gyms I have gone to are privately owned and not a big chain.
We don't have a lot of gyms, chain or otherwise in my city. I have been to a few different ones over the years. when I went to Planet Fitness, people were generally nice. This was in a blue collar suburb, it wasn't very crowded.
But I live in a more urban part of the region, and we have no gyms or the gyms have a giant pool of people feeding into it, so they are really really really crowded. In fact this is a reason I just cancelled my chain gym membership. We don't really have a lot of indie gyms, just a zillion boutique fitness places. Each boutique place has its own crowd and vibe. But most of the ones I have been to are friendly if they aim to cater to a range of demographics and fitness levels.
There are personal trainer gyms, and obviously those are quite different.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lovehound
Wow! All I can say is that I live in an affluent neighborhood and perhaps encounter a better class of people in my fellow customers.
Maybe, maybe not. People are getting pretty self-absorbed in my region so I think it is more related to that. You sort of have to seek out people holding doors for you and the like. I live in a fairly affluent part of town, but my day to day can be all over the map in terms of the areas I go to. This year I have been really making an effort to try classes at different studios. And all have their own vibe. But the ones in the city I live in are generally really friendly. The city I work in, not so friendly.
They can't steal my "machine." I'm a runner. I run in my neighborhood and local parks. They're "stuck" to the ground! Please, just don't run me down!
I do find cardio machines super boring. I'd rather go outside. I have been doing the stairs in the rose garden with friends lately. Also, I really like biking to my errands!
Quote:
I agree. Sugar taxes are just the government intruding in what should be private matters. My parents taught me to behave sensibly. I don't need the government to give me a second dose of the same thing. And anyway, my parents did a fine job of it. When did you ever see the government do a fine job of anything? All the government seems to be useful for in this case is threatening people "for their own good."
It's the principle. I don't drink sugary things. In fact if sugar can go bad then mine may be in danger. I use it for the rare bit of baking. I sweeten my tea with honey.
I really don't like the implication in this thread that every overweight or obese person chugs sugar all day!
I know I did have a lot more sugar as a kid. I am an overweight adult. I don't eat a lot of sugar at all. Or drink much soda and so on! I hope that people aren't judging me heavily on the rare day I throw some soda or chips in my cart!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KaraG
Oh my, the dreaded 30's? LOL
What will you do when you're 59 like me? And what do you call the 50's/60's?
I am a firm believer that for me, it's healthier to get my exercise outside in the natural light and fresh air, too. I need sunshine.
This is a real question though, if your metabolism slows as you age and you are currently exercising strenuously in your 20's, 30's or 40's, what do you think you will be able to do 20-30 years later to keep at a healthy weight? Do you believe you will be able to run further or faster? That you will be able to do more reps of heavier weights? That you will be able to eat significantly less than you are now?
I think this is a really good question! One I am wrestling with now as I am making a more concerted effort to lose some weight. What is the right amount of things that are sustainable for the long haul. I am almost 40 and obviously I need to think through my 60s and beyond!
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Me too! 
I think continued exercise and attention to my diet will take care of the stomach fat. I know I'll never have a 6-pack. I just want my blue jeans back, and a little slack in my belt. I've been dressing too long in just my sweats.
You're too funny. You're on the right track, just keep on going! Before you know it, you'll hit your goal. I had two kids and OF COURSE the added weight didn't just fill out my "top" and my "bottom", it also filled out my middle and I had the spare tire thing going on. You would've thought I was still pregnant. I have to admit that wasn't my finest hour...rolls of flab. I remember the first day I worked out with all of that chunk..it was uncomfortable. But I kept at it, since Rome wasn't built in a day. Eventually, the chunky middle started to disappear and I started seeing abs. It's like my abs felt liberated with the fat gone. I too won't have that super cut six pack, especially due to the excess skin I have in the lower abs (no matter how hard I exercise, that is there to stay barring surgery) but that's ok. I just feel great knowing that I can don a TWO PIECE bathing suit again after 11 years and babies.
Please, just don't run me down! 
