Getting fiscally healthy is just like getting physically healthy. You need discipline and tenacity. Today is my first day of my Boot Camp class. Time is relative they say, 45 minutes can be heaven or hell depending on what your doing.

Anyone trying to get fit? Or even maintaining their health. The same way I am tired of being broke is the same way I am tired of looking at certain parts myself in the mirror.

I will not stop eating the things that I like just not as frequent. I am going to start looking for low caloric alternatives to pizza, pasta and bread.

I don't want to starve myself, but I do have to learn when to push the plate away.

I started in October -09, and am now pretty close to the fitness level I was at when I was 20 (I'm 32 now).
I started out with plain walking, until I had gained enough leg strength to jog.
Now I jog or ski almost every day. Variation makes it more bearable, but I'd still enjoy it if I did the same thing day after day.
A hard workout makes your body release endorphines, there's nothing like free drugs

As for weight, I was slightly overweight when I started.
And working out actually put another 2lbs on me
I AM a lot skinnier now, though.

If losing weight is your primary goal, I've had success with the Atkins diet before.
Just ordinary food, no "milkshake starvation diet".

I made it through my first class alive.

Pain is weakness leaving the body.

Does training for an olympic distance triathlon count?


Try GoingGreen's two-fist approach! And stop having seconds.

My wife and I did a boot camp thing about 2 years ago. We were not in bad shape before and already had a fairly health diet. But working out every day, even for a half hour or so led to losing quite a bit - I lost 17 lbs. I gained some (about 7 lbs) of it back though I am in much better cardivascular and strength condition so I know most of the regain is muscle (maybe a couple of pounds of fat too). I know I am in much better shape because I have done a few of triathlons since then and have consistently improved.

Personally I think you need to eat healthy most of the time. But if you love pizza then don't try to go without. Just do it in moderation.

For inspiration - there is a great Nova (as in PBS) program that aired a couple of years ago about the Boston Marathon. They took a group of ordinary people and had them train for it.

You also have to stick with it long enough to start seeing results. After several months you will probably notice your overall health is better and you start to feel goo after working out rather than just being tired or sore.

@Fantasma

That's awesome that you enjoyed your first class! (Ok, so I know that's not exactly what you said but I'm sure that's what you meant).

I love your quote about pain being weakness leaving the body. Stick with it and all the weakness will be gone so there will be no more pain.

Also, never underestimate swimming laps as an excellent way to lose weight - your body has to expend calories just to stay warm (even if the water is in the 70s or 80s) and the less experienced you are the more inefficient so the more calories you burn. And it is mostly painfree compared to running or other stuff like that.

Even if you don't like it or are not good at it you can do it. Two years ago I could barely swim 25 yards (once across the pool) without being out of breath. I was in decent shape but I was so bad at swimming that it took a lot of work to do it. But I decided I wanted to do a triathlon once in my life so I had to be able to swim 800 yards without stopping. I trained and trained thinking I would do it once and that is it. Now I am kind of hooked on triathlons and swim 2.5 km (1.5 miles) once or twice a week for training. If I can do it anyone can!

hearing this make me wanna go to the gym.

HA! Get this I was born on an island for the most part of my life lived 10 minutes away from the beach and

I CAN'T SWIM.

That is something I will work my way towards.

Boot camp so far is well painful and its BOOT CAMP .

Hmm, if you can't swim then it is probably not the best exercise for you...at least until you learn!

By the way, supposedly Captain Cook could not swim either.

Another day out of boot camp, I go 5 days a week. Did you know there are exercises you can do that will make your booty burn? Seriously though health is so important you don't know how important it is until your in a hospital on your back. This past year I would lie awake b/c of debt and indigestion. I am doing something about whatever it is that bothers me. Only one life to live, here's to your physical, mental, emotional and financial well being. Whatever that needs to be improved in your life devise a plan and start. Thats the key to everything you have to start and stick with while maintaining flexibility.

Never take a drug to lose weight. Eat right and exercise. The drugs almost always turn out to kill some people. Why take that risk?

And yes, I know the message is spam but was not going to let that horrible advice slide.

Fantasma,

How is your bootcamp going?

Working out is a slow progress b/c i am lazy. I can't afford boot camp anymore. It did help tighten up my arms, thighs. I am not out of breath after a few jumping jacks. I am going to start walking in the evenings, time is not the issue my inertia is. I have made a conscious effort on what I eat. Adding more veggies to my plate instead of rice and pasta. AS much as I love meat/fish/shrimp etc I cut back on all of that as well.We'll see how that goes.

Hey Fantasma,

Working out once is easy. It's making it a habit that's the hard part. I congratulate you on keeping this a focus, instead of just letting it slide completely. It's so easy to just slip back into our old ways.



Are you following any particular nutritional program? I only ask because what you just said sounds a little haphazard and unguided. There's nothing wrong with rice and pasta - they're excellent sources of the carbs you need to fuel a good workout. Particularly if you tend toward natural rice (not Minute Rice) and whole wheat pasta (an excellent source of fiber). Also, why would you cut out meat and fish if you're trying to build muscle? Those are unbeatable sources of protein. The key is to stick with the leaner varieties (skinless chicken breasts instead of ground beef, roasted turkey instead of deep-fried, battered fish, etc.). Fish is an excellent source of the essential fatty acids your body needs.

I just want to make sure you're going about this properly, and not just trying to starve yourself to fitness (which, obviously, does not work).

Kombat's advice is sound. Almost all types of diets work in the short term, but regardless of what their proponents and salespeople would have you believe, all diets work simply because they reduce your caloric intake. If you consume fewer calories than you burn each day, you will lose weight. All the various fad diets (Atkins, South Beach, whatever) work by reducing your caloric intake, but many of them do so in ways that are not sustainable (or even safe) in the long term.

The most sustainable approach to losing weight and then maintaining your weight at your desired level is to eat a balanced and healthy diet (which includes carbs, veggies, and protein) but reduce portion size. You might not lose weight as quickly as you would on a fad diet, but you're less likely to gain it back because you can maintain this healthy diet for the rest of your life. You can either stick to three meals a day and make them smaller, or you can eat many small meals (dozens, even) throughout the day as long as you can keep track of your calories and make sure you don't overeat.

You can burn a little fat by building muscle, which burns more calories than fat even at a resting state, but it doesn't have a big effect. If you add 10 pounds of muscle, which will take a good 10 months of boot-camp style workouts and weight lifting, you can undo the daily caloric benefit of those 10 pounds of muscle simply by eating one extra orange per day. And you might end up doing that, because exercise makes you more hungry.

So the secret to long-term fitness and health is: exercise more, eat less. If you want to lose weight, eat fewer calories than you burn. If you want to maintain your weight and not gain any, eat just enough to replace the calories that you burn. Easy to say, not so easy to do, but that's really all there is to it.

Fantasma - congratulations for sticking with your fitness goals even if you can't keep going to boot camp.

I agree with everything brad and kombat said. I would also note that it gets easier as you get in better shape. You will find that you have more energy!

Let's say a person is 25 lbs overweight (which is actually not an awful lot!). Imagine having to carry around a bag of cat litter (or whatever) everywhere you go. You'd probably be tired by the end of the day just going about you everyday tasks! You'd feel much better and have more energy to work out or have fun if you didn't have to carry it. Well, extra fat is pretty much like that. It does not do much for you but you have to carry it around. I'm sure you already know that though.

Having a group to work out with is really helpful for motivation but even if you can just find teh time to walk a mile or two every day it helps!

Good luck.