I know that getting exercise every day is a big part of staying healthy. But I must admit I have trouble finding the motivation for getting off my fat a$$ and actually doing it. I've found in the past that adding some accountability helps so I'm hoping there will be someone else here interested in doing an exercise challenge.
The 'rules' would be simple, just state what your goal is and then log in each day what you did toward your goal. I'm going to set the end of the month as the 'end' of the goal. Then we can set a new goal for October (or stick with the same one).

My goal is to get 30 minutes of some kind of exercise EVERY DAY. (I just counted and that means 19 days in a row without missing a day. Since my birthday is on the 19th I'm going to consider this an omen!)

Please join me, the more the merrier!

This is just what I need Thanks for starting this. My ultimate goal is five days a week, but I think I will join you in every day for the rest of the month. A half an hour or more a day is definitely do-able!

I will post every day and promise to encourage you and everyone else (let's hope!) that joins!!

What kind of exercise do you like to do?

Carrie

LIKE to do? That's a toughy. What DO I do? Well, I'm belong to a gym and actually I do kind of like using the elliptical and the weight machines. The problem is the gym gets really full after 4 in the afternoon so if I'm busy at work and can't leave early I hate using the gym. (Therefore I haven't been there in two weeks.) Otherwise I do really like to ride my bike and take my dogs for a walk. That's probably what I'll be doing the rest of the week since I know I won't be able to get away from work early.
I used to do the 'Firm' tapes at home. They're really hard but I always noticed really great results. Problem is we're in the middle of a major remodel at home and there isn't any place where I can work out at home right now. But when the remodel is done I may go back to doing those too.

How about you?

Hmmm...lets see I like the Firm also, t-tapp, callanetics, turbo jam for videos. I also like the arch trainer at the gym and the weight machines. Once I am doing it, I enjoy it, but I have a hard time motivating myself to start

I have a doggie too and we try to walk him every day, but he is afraid of his own shadow. He's about 85 pounds and he runs the other way if he sees a chihauha in a sweater. Is that your dog in your avitar?

The dog in my avatar was my beloved Sadie who I lost about 2 years ago at the age of 16. We now have a Vizsla and a Vizsla/Cocker Spaniel mix and I'm probably going to be getting another Sheltie in January. We live in the country and when I 'walk' my dogs it really means that I walk on the road and the dogs run back and forth in the fields around me.


EDIT: I changed my avatar - the new one is our Vizsla when he was a puppy.

Wednesday's exercise: 30 minutes stationary cycle

By the time I got home last night it was already starting to feel really chilly outside so I decided to opt for indoor exercise. Today's supposed to be warmer so I'm hoping to do a walk tonight. I prefer to do something different each day, I find I get less bored that way, and I've heard/read that your body reacts better if you change up your exercise.

How did yesterday go for you?

Hey there!

Good job on day 1!

Last night I did Lower Body Jam (30 mins) and took O'Neill for a half hour walk. I can't say it was a brisk walk...he's half hound, so there's a lot of sniffing going on

I like to change it up also...otherwise I quit

You think nobody else on this whole board does any exercise?

Carrie

Hey there! Keep up your exercise efforts. They WILL pay off for you.

Thanks, Jimmy!

Now go get some more people to join us over here

ps. Nice t-shirt

Can't make 'em come, but I'm sure more will be here when they're ready.

Hi, I'm game. I am one of those funny ones who says they hate to exercise, but always feels so better when I do. I am working on my attitude and telling myself that I like to sweat. My hubby is ROTFL about that one, but sweat I do. I try to work out every day. Today was 1 hr. on the stationary bike. My kids are off school so I may not get to walk this afternoon. I have an exercise question. I know resistance training is important, but since I will be building my walking up to 90 minutes a day now that school has started, can I just do weights for the upper body. I weigh quite a bit so I figure hiking my body weight around might to enough for the lower body. Any thoughts anyone?

I'm in. This is really going to be a challenge for me because currently I've been going to Curves 2-3 times a week and telling myself that I need to do more. I read this post earlier and talked myself out of joining but I'm back and making the commitment in writing to 30 minutes a day every day!

Woohoo! Welcome Evainemage1 and Robin M!!

So glad you're joining us!

Great job Carrie! Just 18 more days to go.

Evainemage1 - about the weight training - I agree, if you're doing major walking and you're carrying some weight you'd probably be fine to start out with just upper body weight training. After a while you might want to mix it up though and take a shorter walk some days and do some lower body strength training on the shorter walk days. The body tends to adapt to whatever we do so sometimes to move forward we have to change things up.

Robin M - the only rule of this challenge is to set a goal and work towards it. Don't feel as though you HAVE to set a goal of 30 minutes a day if you're not ready for it. Whatever goal you want to set is fine. On the other hand if you're ready for the commitment - more power to you! We're all in this together!

gracieanne, I just noticed your weight loss so far!

That is awesome!

I will commit to 30 minutes a day because I KNOW I can do it . . . I just procrastinate!

Welcome Evainemage1 and Robin!

Yippee...we have 4 in our challenge now. I hope you all know that if you suddenly disappear I will come find you!

Evainemage1 - I agree about the lower body training. I do a full body workout with weights once a week, but I go with MUCH lighter weights for lower body because that is where I carry my weight - hips and thighs I do callanetics which has slimmed my legs down quite a bit as I'm sure all that walking will do for you! Glad you joined us!

Hi Robin! I'm so happy you came back to post! If every day is too much - commit to adding 2 days in addition to the days you go to Curves. I'm just committing to every day until the end of the month to get a jump start on making it a habit. I will likely change my October goal to 5X a week

Gracieanne and CKDoodle, Thanks for the input. I walked alot last school year to lose, but since my walking was limited over the summer, I figure returning to that is mixing it up a bit. At least I hope so. My dog, my Ipod, and my walking shoes. I have to confess that I look forward to walking again. Good sweating everyone.

Alright already! Quit trying to talk me out of 30 minutes EVERY day! LOL!

CKDoodle, thank you. I was losing about 4 lbs a week but that has slowed. No worries, tho, because I am still losing .02 lb at a time!

I am thinking about doing T-Tapp. I have the book and am going to read it and look at the website and go from there. I have heard such good things about it.

We are going on our 2nd cruise in December. Last (our first) cruise, I weighed about 245. I want to be in much better shape for this one so maybe I can talk DH into dancing!

Hey Evainemage1:

I also only work the upper body. I let running handle the legs. I lift Mon, Weds, and Friday and run on the alternate days. It provides great recovery time.

The weight training is the absolute best thing you can do. If there is a choice between cardio and weight training, opt for the weights because weights build muscle which burns more fat.

Jimmie just blogged last week in his interview with Adam Campbell and he confirms the science which says that endurance training; i.e. walking, running, biking, etc do very little for weight loss. The weights give you more bang for the buck.

Not only that, if you have a lot of weight to lose, you can safely build more muscle by weight training and then ease into your cardio routines safer at a lower weight. I know in my own experience, it's much easier to run half marathons at 161 than it was at 207!

Best regards,

Charles

CKDoodle, I have a golden retriever. He is such a lover. He will walk as much as I want, but since he is over 10 I limit him to about 3 miles. He does not even mind what music I listen to. Who is your walking buddy?

Hi Charles, I am so glad to see you here. I have read your other posts and learned alot. I know all of the benefits associated with weigth training but I have never managed to stick with it more than a month or two. I am working on that. I would like to build more muscle and by the time I get to the maintenance part of my journey, I want to have an athletic build so I can keep up with my three sons. Can you recommend a free weight program for the upper body? I have weights up to 10 pounds, and I hope that will be sufficient for awhile.
I have read on Dr. Eades blog about aerobic not really helping with weight loss; however, it does burn calories. I find that I can maintain my weight doing Atkins with close to induction level carbs, but I don't lose unless I burn alot of calories with exercise. I wish it was easier, but I will do what it takes. By the way, your running pics are wonderful.

Oops! Well, only two days into the challenge and I've already missed a day. My husband wanted to go buy more siding for the house and the store is 45 minutes away. By the time we got home it was 8:30, too late for me to be able to exercise and still be able to get to sleep at a decent hour. You won't kick me off the thread for missing a day, right?

Evainemage1 - LOVE golden retrievers! My sister just brought home a new 8 week old golden puppy last night. I'm going over to her house tonight to meet the new puppy, can't wait!

I hope everybody did better than me yesterday!

Good afternoon everyone. I managed to get my biking in this morning. It was abit of a slog since I committed the error of staying p 2 hours later last night. Sleep does make such a difference. When I was in school my group had a motto: Sleep is for wimps; healthy, happy, well adjusted wimps, but wimps." Now I can definitely prove that lack of sleep leads to wimpdom. I hope everyone as a good Friday.

CKDoodle, I run a menagerie as well. From the golden to my sister's neurotic sheltie that runs headlong into the walls while trying to herd his toys, guinea pig, hamsters, fish. Oh, yea, and three boys to help care for all these critters. My golden is pining for his afternoon walk, but I am so tired from staying up that I may wimp out on him.

Evainmanage1:

I have a good workout at my office which I can send you. It was developed by a physical trainer and some of the women use it at my wife's job. It doesn't have to be "weights" per se, I personally love pullups, situps, pushups, and planks. These exercises build core strength because they work multiple muscle groups at one time and you can do them at home or in the gym. For instance, the pushups works the arms, chest, upper and lower back, the abs, and the shoulders in one movement. You don't need equipment and you don't need a spotter.

Make sure you don't push too hard. Weight lifting is ideally done every other day to give your muscles time to recover. I also do my running every other day and it makes a big difference. If you start slowly, it's easier to keep it up. Don't burn yourself out. With low carb, you won't lose muscle so it's not necessary to work out as often.

Cardio definitely has its benefits, it's just that if you can build muscle, you'll burn more fat and you'll up your ACE (on Atkins) or the amount of carbs you can handle. The carbs are used to top off those glycogen stores of course, but more muscle means that those stores are larger. I can only handle about 30 to 35 carbs per day as well.

I'll try to remember to send you the other workout on Monday when I get to work.

All the best,

Charles

Can you send it to me as well? Thank you.

Thanks Charles. I appreciate your time and effort. I had to laugh abit though. If I had been able to do a push up in high school, then gym wouldnot have been so miserable. I assume there is a way to build up to a full push up though so I will give it another try. I can't wait to see my hubby's face when I can finally do one. I have never been able to do a push up or a chin up in the entire 25 years that I have known him. Wow, now I really feel old. Are there geriatric versions of those exercises?

Bleary eyed morning here. My hubby and older sons are camping and I hate to go to an empty bedroom, so I stayed up to 1 am. Then, my youngest was sick and up from 1:30-2:30. At 6:30 the dog needed out. Wimpdom to the max. I did slog out 20 minutes on the bike. Painful. Tonight I am going to bed on time. I hope everyone else is having more fun with their workouts this weekend. Take care

CKDoodle

K. is jealous of O'Neill. I hope my men are home early enough for me to walk tomorrow, but I will definitely ride the bike. It sounds like your workout went well today. That's terrific. I was wondering what an archtrainer is though. I was also wondering what your workout goal is. Right now my main focus is simply buring energy and imroving endurance. Once my walking habit is established I plan to add upper body resistance to start building some muscle up. I will check back in tomorrow. Have a great Saturday night.

Good morning to everyone. Actually it is almost noon here but since I just finished by cycling for the day, I am going to consider it still morning.

Checking in with my exercise:

9/13: Curves - 30 minutes
9/14: Walk - 120 minutes
9/15: Curves - 30 minutes

I recently bought the Fit & Fabulous T-Tapp book and have been reading it. I am going to try the 15 minute DVD that came with it and if I like it I will order the 45 minute DVD.

I think my sister and I are going to join a water aerobics class. It is on Monday and Wednesday evening for an hour.

Robin, 120 minutes walking. Wow. Do you have a beautiful place to walk? Some of us walk with our dogs? Any walking buddies? You are doing awesome.

Good morning everyone! Couldn't post all weekend - the dog chewed through the cord on my laptop! I'd be mad if I wasn't so glad he didn't electrocute himself. My exercise this weekend consisted of working on the house - including my own version of yoga as I tried to tape the seams in the back of a closet only 3 feet high. Will probably try for a walk tonight since it's supposed to rain tomorrow. Glad to see everyone's doing so well with their exercise!

gracieanne, I hear yoga is good for flexibility. I cycled for my hour this morning, so I feel pretty good about that. The weather here looks to be 70 and sunny so I am going to take my buddy K. for a walk this afternoon as well. Yeah, skipping housework because the dog needed a walk. My husband thinks I walk the dog because I feel K needs the exercise. Well, he does but so do I.

Ladies:

As promised, here is a suggested weights workout which was created by a physical therapist here in the Raleigh area. She works at the hospital's outpatient rehabilitation facility. She's also my PT and a magical message therapist. If you are in the Raleigh/Durham area and you need a message, I can refer you, she's the best!

I also recommend pushups -- ladies, you can put your knees down and try to use your arms --

situps -- try to get to where you don't have anything holding your legs. Holding your feet down is cheating your abs because you're using your hips and thigs to pull yourself up.

Pullups are great, especially for guys because it forms that V shape in the back that the ladies love on the beach. Ladies, you can hang from a bar to build back muscles if you can't pull yourself up.

Planks are great for the abs, the forward and side ones.

All of these exercises can be done with a swiss ball to challenge your core and your abs more for great results. Perform the exercises with good form. If your form starts to fall off, that means it's time to stop so you don't risk injury. Lift heavier weights with less repetitions. It's faster, it's more effective.

A Pilates class is wonderful from what I understand because the emphasis is on core strengthening. With a stronger core, practically every exercise is easier.

Above all, take it easy. Don't workout if you are sick or injured. On a low carb / high fat diet, you will not lose muscle like your sugar-addicted friends. Therefore, taking time to recover will not compromise your efforts.

All the best,

Charles

Charles,

THANK YOU for attaching that PT plan. I am gonna try it tonight. I am planning on doing a light workout, but I wanted to add something else. Thanks again...this will be perfect.

Charles, I downloaded that plan and plan to start tomorrow. I have a follow up question. If I am doing the walking and weights one after the other, should I do the weights first or should I walk first? Thanks so much for your help.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

My Monday exercise was 1/2 hour walk. It was really nice out too. This afternoon it's supposed to rain again so I supposed my indoor bike will have to do.

Charles - thanks for all the help and the great information. You've made a great contribution to our challenge!

Good morning to everyone. I finshed my hour on the bike. I did get a walk in with K. yesterday. Today looks busy, but maybe I can swing it. The weather is mid 70s and breezy. Take care and pain free exercise for everyone.

Ok eveyone, it's been exactly one week! How are we doing so far? I have 6 days out of 7. Last night was 30 minutes on the bike.