İts time to use your gym membership!!

de1amo

well done! dont overdo it if you havent been for a while-i feel as stiff as an...actor in an Australian soap today!-

-my pattern is 1 day gym and the next resting.(My wife is conspiring to fill my 'off' time up tomorrow but i am 'promising i will go tomorrow!)--Good gym day to you!!

jenniewb

Well done on going and congratulations on your already weight loss: nearly 2 stone is a fantastic amount!

Just wanted to add that its not such a great idea to get too hooked on the calorie counters on the cardio machines: basicly they don't work. Even though they take your age/sex/heart-rate, even though the machines cost the gym ££££'s. Its easy to get caught up in using the calorie counters, not so easy to break free from them.

One machine is not equal to another and they are at best estimations, it can feel disheartening to see all your efforts on one machine for example only pale in comparison to a much 'easier' machine! Try to find your own hard-harder-hardest level as a barometer, its not only healthier for your mind, it can allow you to break free from machines, I've known people become so hooked on the calorie counters they refused to do anything but the same repetative exercises long after their bodies had gotten used to it and weight loss stalled.

If your really into monitoring what exactly your body is doing a heart rate monitor could be an idea, gives a better calorie estimation but again, its still an estimation. Things like stress, an injury, lack of sleep...all wont be shown on your heart rate monitor yet as a result your body could still be burning more or less one day to the next and the heart rate monitor wouldn't show this.

de1amo

İ didnt get to the gym as i set out to do this morning! the wife invented a partners meeting and i got dragged into the boardroom to be bored to death!-we own the school with another partner and it was to do with the end of year show. i have no musical or acting talent so it doesnt inspire me!
İ loved my HRM but for some reason it wouldnt work last time i took it to the gym and i thought i need a new heart woops new battery and like most things i put it on the list of jobs to do! However my wife told me it does work(she tried using it but with my settings!!)-i must remember to take it because it is really useful because like you say the machines arent accurate--i worked out my gym's dont make allowance for the heart beats you would have used if you hadnt exercised! if you know what i mean!
İ belong to a website called my fitness pal and i got a very long equation about how the hrm works out the sum!-its a good site and well worth joining--its a bit american but if you can ignore that there is lots of good tips and agood system to help all levels. greg

jenniewb

de1amo wrote: »

i must remember to take it because it is really useful because like you say the machines arent accurate--i worked out my gym's dont make allowance for the heart beats you would have used if you hadnt exercised! if you know what i mean!
İ belong to a website called my fitness pal and i got a very long equation about how the hrm works out the sum!-its a good site and well worth joining--its a bit american but if you can ignore that there is lots of good tips and agood system to help all levels. greg

Yes, the machines don't account for normal movement you'd have done otherwise, some do (think there is one brand but can't remember the name, good site with more info here) but most don't, theres also some claiming theirs exaggerates what they do also so its up in the air as to how correct they are.

Thanks for not taking offence at what I wrote, I wasn't trying to downplay all your hard work and didn't want to sound as if I was, your weight loss speaks for itself and is great. I just worry because that I've met so many people who get hooked on the calorie counter, they do the same things over and over, seem to even get slower at the cardio machines which work on time above speed in some cases, they get bored, their posture becomes slumped and they exercise with rounded shoulders (and also develop a weak core and upper back pain), or worse, they do things like run on the treadmill way too fast for themselves and so hold onto the bar because they can't run unaided, just because the faster it goes the higher the calories :eek:(instant ingredient for an arm injury), as a result their fitness level really seems to decrease as they just do "whatever gets the best calories" instead of upping their game and doing a variety of things which is really, where exercise is concerned, what will have you lose weight more if anything as it keeps your body guessing so it has to work harder this way, heart rate isn't the only thing that results in weight loss, you wouldn't get a high heart rate if you didn't eat all week yet I can assure you by doing so you'd lose weight! (Not that that is a suggestion for ANYONE!!)

Variety is key, and don't forget resistance work such as weights or if your gym has them kettle balls though I seem to be getting a very good upper body workout just from doing yoga classes! The more muscle you have, the more energy your body requires to keep you alive, the more calories your burning and if your looking to do so, the more weight you will be able to lose (so long as you don't eat them all post workout!). And additionally, the more energetic you tend to feel and less worn out you get when you do have time off.