Getting in shape

[jesse]

im a gym rat so i want to put in my two cents worth here lol for someone who is basically sedentary (read this i dont like exercise) starting a program is a great thing but start slowly. Tekla is correct start first by stretching so it becomes a habit before any exercise (reasoning avoidance of injuries no other reason necessary) step two-- get a pedometer or better yet a bodybug system, if its a pedometer (cost about 10 anywhere) shoot for 10000 steps a day. bodybugs run about 250 and if you want info on this pm me. step three--figure out your BMR (Basal Metabolic rate) read this as how many calories your body burns if you stay in bed all day remember this number is an estimate. now heres the tough part eat eat eat you cannot lower your calorie intake by more then 500 cals if you do you will sabatage your weight loss efforts by forcing your body into starvation mode. remember a 500 calorie deficit 7 days a week is a pound loss a week this is considered healthy and sustainable. also remember you need to know when you exercise how many cals you are burning because you must replace some of it so you dont excede the 500 cal deficit
next comes nuitrician the second reason people fail to lose weight
jessica

[Cindy]

As others have said, if you are not use to execise you need to approach it a fun way. Low impact, walking or swimming is good. Get an I-pod or equivalent get your music on it and walk and sing etc. Get used to it and enjoy.

Like Jesse, I'm a gym bunny, gyms are great, lots of people who are unfit like to do classes but you can get put off very quickly. The person next to you lets slip he/she is doing three classes tonight and you are struggling to breath after 2 minutes.

I reckon most fit people gain real enjoyment in excercise. I really like working out in the gym, walking etc. Tekla sounds the same with riding the bike etc. It seems unnatural until it hits, then you think why haven't I done this for ever?

If you go to a gym or organised classes DON'T get put off by the muscle people, male or female. I work out on machines with the guys. I now present as a female (I am after all).  I do bigger weights than most of the girls, though I'm dropping rather than raising as my muscle mass decreases. No one has made a comment. Most people in gyms, as in life, don't care what you are doing, just do it.


Enjoy your exercise.
The more you enjoy the more you will do.
Get music and just walk


Hugs


Cindy

[Miniar]

I'm in shape! Round is a shape...

[myles]

Body Bugs are great if you are really trying to make major progress. I use mine and love it. It is a bit of an investment and takes time to set all your food up in the online program, easiest to take a laptop into your kitchen and just start entering everything. When/If you hit a plateau the bug is what will help you figure out where/why you are no longer making progress.
Good Luck to all
Myles Andrew

[noxdraconis]

Huh? -_-'
More boys were hurt by people (really hurt bad too) who didn't like them in PE classes then in all the school/after school fights.  PE is very brutal in a lot of places, and in an all-male school (which I went to) it takes on the atmosphere of open warfare, and some of the stuff that goes on would, in wartime, be called an atrocity.

I'm sure there are quite a few MtF people in here who could tell you what it's like to be one of those last 5-10 people picked for team sports in high school.  These were the same guys who pretty much were hating on you 24-7 as it was, and often in no small part its because they were not the 'jock' type that is so revered, and now, you're not only going to go out and demonstrate what a ->-bleeped-<-ing physical klutz you are, your going to get to do it on their team and keep them from the most awesome awesomeness of winning some game in gym class - which was pretty much the high point of their life as it was, and you just blew it for them. 

It REALLY sucks to be those guys. 

Too true...even though we did not have de jure separation, all the girls tended to huddle in a corner and run away from the ball as if they were allergic to it, so it was only the boys and myself (they actually had a betting pool on what my sex was, or so I heard) who would actually play.  It was truly a war zone.  It is not even being the klutz kid that got you targetted, just general dislike.  I was quite good in class, yet because I was strange and disliked, there seemed to be a target painted on me.  Trust me, after at least one concussion a year and several broken bones, you will be singing a different tune.

[FolkFanatic]

I'm in shape! Round is a shape...

Lmao - yes, it is. Also MY current shape (though i guess you could say i'm more oval.)

I had a job before (working at SPCA) that kept me moving but had to leave. I also took spin class once and loved it - though i can't afford a spin bike so that means gym time (means gotta get motivated to go lmao.)

So far good suggestions. I guess i'll have to break out the IPod and use my tread mill (too cold for park - even my dog doesn't want to go some days!) I'll have to check out Body Bug, too....

On another note: Gym class was the WORST.... All i remember is the constant teasing because i didn't shave my legs....

[jmaxley]

Round shape here...I need to get back to the gym.  I'm going to try the low-carb thing in January.  My biggest problem is the munchies.  In the evenings I get overwhelming urges to eat and nothing I do gets my mind off of it.  I'm going to lay in a supply of carrot sticks and nuts, and some other low carb snacks.  I want to cut out sugar and anything made from white flour completely.

My gym membership expires in February and I don't have the money to renew.  I'm going to start walking (got a nice long drive to walk up and down) and doing pushups (or trying lol) and buy some weights.  The weightlifting is my favorite part of going to the gym.

[Lachlann]

And where girls are cruel too - no doubt about it.

But in a different way. I'm pretty sure most of the girls in high school thought I was really weird, an easy target to pick on because I was different, wouldn't shave my legs or armpits, you know the deal. Instead girls just talk behind your back in the most passive aggressive way they can. They'll give you those snide looks, basically mocking you silently. I remember there was this girl who always smelt horrible and was greasy, it was awful. Well one time we were in the locker room and it was last period and I usually changed fast and got outside, but apparently they were talking about the greasy girl and making fun of her and they thought she wasn't there. She apparently then, came out of one of the showers and left quickly. Someone had caught up to me as I was walking home and asked if I had heard about what happened, and they then told me what went down. The next day the teacher lectured all of us about it.

While words can sometimes hurt more than a punch, there's also the fact that if someone's beating you up because they don't like you, then you've got emotional and physical damage.

[tekla]

I do know well about girls and mental/social cruelty.  It may well have been the first thing I really studied and thought about once I really learned how to observe and analyze stuff.  And I had a lot of interest in the topic and was in many ways a spy in the house of love and got to watch it close up as a JAFO.

And that level of social exclusion is huge, but its not like if you are one of the people getting beat up your all of a sudden going to be popular, and be invited to parties and all that.  Nah, they still don't like you, still make fun of you, the physical violence is just a male bonus.

And in the interest of self disclosure, I was not one of those guys in HS,  (Either group really, I was not a bully, nor a victim) as I had a reputation for being crazy, (by which they meant that they could not predict how, when, or how much I would react, and bullies love predictability) and I was always one of those 'if we going, lets go all the way' types, and so if you wanted to do violence, I'd go straight to Ultra-Violence, I mean if it was great fun to hit someone with your fists, how much more fun would it be to hit them with a wrench, that way my hands didn't even hurt.

[Lachlann]

Lol, I like your idea of going all the way. It makes a lot of sense.

I already do a lot of observing and analyzing myself, but clearly I need to kick it up a notch.

[jesse]

haha tekla that was me in highschool i once got into a fight in a classroom with a kid who was running his mouth he was like lets take it to the hall so when he stood up i hit him with a chair several times and unfortunately got a couple of other kids too. ill always remember the shocked look on his face "oh you thought i was going to follow you into the hall" lol that and the teacher screaming stop and waving her arms around like a crazed fool heh end result a much needed early summer vacation.
jessica

[Cindy]

I remember getting bailed up in the toilets of a pub (the Queens Head in Liverpool for heavens sake ; never saw the humour before) I was total guy presentation with long hair (hippy). Typical skin head approach. He says why were you looking at me expletives. Lower my eyes and said sorry sir. He starts laughing loving it and totally at ease. I smashed his face to pulp on the sink. I did have a black belt in karate at the time and loved free fighting even though I was a fly weight. One of my most favourite memories, that; and the look on his friends face when I went back to the bar to join mine. I just smiled at them.

Lord knows what happened to him, he would have needed a lot of work. I was very angry.

Cindy

[tekla]

Yeah, I just got very lucky, in 7th Grade my personal bully was doing his typical bully crap with his moron friends and he had me on the ground at the playground, and was coming at me and I did the only thing I could think of, which was to grab a handful of sand and throw it in his face.  It was a perfect throw, and in his momentary blindness he tripped over me, fell on to the old-school monkey bars and split his face wide open.  His friends looked at it and ran, and I was never bothered again.

[Lachlann]

Loving these stories. I've got nothing to really brag about or to match them, but I remember this time my friend was teasing me. We were 12 and he was starting to get into the phase of proving himself. He told me I was weak and I couldn't hurt a fly, asked me to punch him, kept asking for it. My other friend was like, "stop, she'll do it." and I turned around and hooked him in the face. He started crying and somehow the teachers missed what went on and were oblivious. I went home and told my parents and they congratulated me. After that he had a lot more respect for me, go figure.

Not really much of a case for bullying but he did ask for it.

[Alex_C]

You can consider a boxing class, it will KICK YOUR ASS but even if you're really fat/slow/lame a good one will not make you feel unwelcome, and you can progress at your own pace. 

I was in one, the trouble was, too much fighting going on (rimshot) really there was, some stupid politics and I stopped going. The other one in town was Evandar Holyfield's and it's a big Christian place, not sure I wanted to get into that. Now I live in a town full of feisty little Mexican guys, probably one of the best places in the US to learn boxing lol.

Now that I"m on T, I'm finding I don't want to build mass so much as capability. That means strength, agility, quickness etc. I don't think there's much actual fighting training going on at my 24HourFatness, but I think I'm going to revamp my workouts this year to something more like a boxer or MMA fighter would do.

Remember if you take up running, if you're really not in shape or haven't been for a while, look up something the army uses called the "airborne shuffle". That's a really slow-ass, shuffley sort of jogging, and it's the best injury-resistant way to get started running. When I went into running all I had to do was think back to how we started out in Basic and follow that course, gradually getting my stride over time. You'll have to look it up on YouTube or something and discipline yourself not to go too fast at first, but if you try going balls out at first you'll feel like crap, and likely injure yourself.

[Ryuu]

You can consider a boxing class, it will KICK YOUR ASS but even if you're really fat/slow/lame a good one will not make you feel unwelcome, and you can progress at your own pace.

Yay. I'm starting boxing soon. Beating things up (even if it's only punching bags) is fun. :] (Sigh... my pacifist upbringing is screaming at me. Which is weird. I'm so messed up, even my pacifist side is confrontational )

[FolkFanatic]

Yay. I'm starting boxing soon. Beating things up (even if it's only punching bags) is fun. :] (Sigh... my pacifist upbringing is screaming at me. Which is weird. I'm so messed up, even my pacifist side is confrontational )

Haha! I did karate when i was a kid - like nine. I loved it, but it was only a two week intro course through some program. My parents promised they would sign me up for real classes but it never happened.  Go figure.

I DO have a gym membership, just need the motivation (i think burning off all the cals from holiday food over the next couple of days will be good enough motivation...) Hmm....

[jmaxley]

I took a month of karate in high school and absolutely loved it.  We didn't have the money to keep going though.  One day I will go back to it.

[CodyJess]

I was in a variety of martial arts classes for six years, growing up. It was great; not just the physical side of it, but the self-disciple and respect. I'm trying to get back into it as my goal for next year; there's a school literally in walking distance, and I know they're good because I took an intro class with them - and nearly threw up. It was a great workout.



My first day at my second highschool... I'm going from one class to the next during passing period; backpack on one shoulder, a paperback novel in hand. Some boy comes up behind me and grabs my ass, so I turned and backhanded him across the face with my book - pretty sure I broke his nose. I certainly hope he was never stupid again to disrespect someone like that again. Teachers and admin weren't too happy, but my dad thought it was funny as hell. I enjoyed my three days off (I didn't much like that school).

Don't think my martial arts instructors would have been too happy to learn about that. 

[myles]

Martial Arts could be good as long as you get into a class where you really move. My son does Taekwondo and loves it. As a kid I was way into sports, did year round sports. I was the first person picked for sport, even if there were guys there. I never really threw my weight (or strength) around too much just used it so people would leave me the hell alone. I was one of the three girls in my entire school to make the bench press club, so sports are fun for me. As an adult I tend to do everything I did  not do as a kid except lift weights, still do that.
Just pick something fun and if there is any chance you can drag one of your friends along with you that may make you more likely to go, does for me. I hope to be full work out again after the new year just need the last bit of swelling to go down from chest surgery.
Cheers
Myles