Healthy Habits Group?

Sasha · Post by **Sasha** » April 6th, 2006, 7:37 pm

I hope you feel complimented when we all steal the idea. I know nobody will mind if I do it because they'll all get to feel superior.

margaret · Post by **margaret** » April 9th, 2006, 1:31 am

I'm checking back in after this site going down, moving, giving away an old erg and awaiting our new C2.

I have 40k left to finish my 3rd million. My goal is to finish it by Easter (4/16).

My longer term health goals for now:
1) row 5k a day, 4 days a week
2) get outside with my kids (fresh air, sunlight, and walk) every day, at least 1 hour rain or shine (done well there...rain)
3) stick to healthy snack foods, moderate portions (no more than I give my kids...)
4) drink plenty of tea & water
5) avoid stress!

Margaret
(formerly known as "billandmargaret" due to computer savvy glitch)

hunisu · Post by **hunisu** » April 9th, 2006, 8:10 pm

those are some great goals margaret, I should probably try to stick to those as well...

at least most of them as in a few short months (or less) it's going to get oppressively hot here. I keep asking myself why I agreed to move to the desert.

I am proud of the fact that we've quit buying chips as a snack and bought some of the flavored rice cakes instead. That was a big step in itself.

Wood_Duck · Post by **Wood_Duck** » April 10th, 2006, 4:20 pm

I am working on getting and keeping stuff out of the house.

My daughter really wanted some cute pre-boxed cookies when we were at the store last. I compromised (with myself) because normally we would go home and make a batch of cookies. BUT then I would taste the dough while mixing, eat more dough while putting them on the tray, try frosting to see if I got it right.... etc. Not to mention the midnight downing of "a few" cookies.

I bought those precut, preportioned cookies, brought them home, WE baked them and then SHE took them to a friends house. All in all, I only had one cookie. Yes it was more expensive to my wallet but much less expensive to my waist and self-control.

Susan

Rhody · Post by **Rhody** » April 10th, 2006, 8:33 pm

Hello all,
We are having a "Biggest Loser" competition at work. Today was the second weigh-in, one month after the initial. Although I have not been very good with my eating habits, I have been very fastidious about making sure that I put in 5K at least 4-5 days per week. Over the last week I was sick and so did not reach that goal, but here are my stats for the weigh-in:
pounds lost=10 3/4
inches lost=11
Inches lost are more important to me, that shows what is happening to my body. You might all be interested to know that the most inches lost are in my waist/hips/thighs! I attribute that soley to C2!

Wood_Duck · Post by **Wood_Duck** » April 11th, 2006, 6:13 am

WOW. THAT IS INCREDIBLE.

Way to go! Keep up the good work!!!!

Susan

margaret · Post by **margaret** » April 11th, 2006, 3:35 pm

Rhody--congratulations. That's a lot of progress. It must be great to lose weight in your waistline--that seems to be the last place I lose

. Right now looking like a small fat person instead of a big fat person comes first

, hopefully with a smaller waistline in my future. It would make clothes shopping easier.

I'm well on my way to this week's goal of finishing 3 million, starting to think of my next long-term goal. Probably to row shorter pieces, but more consistently (daily!

), to finish another million by Christmas. With a garage, I may try out late night rowing when I can't get to it earlier.

I'd like to get back on track with losing weight; it dropped from my priorities with the stress of moving. I seem to have more success when I have a more predictable routine. I don't want to procrastinate and make excuses, but I do want to be successful. For now, I'm trying to set up the routines that will support a successful attempt.

Margaret

Jennifer · Post by **Jennifer** » April 12th, 2006, 5:50 pm

Hi!
My first post to this forum. I'm 37, and live in Michigan. I just started using my new C2 (2 1/2 weeks ago). I've been using it every morning and slowly increasing my time and intensity. I'm currently doing 3000m in a little under 20 minutes. My muscles are all sore, but I can still sing while I row, so I guess I'm not pushing myself super hard.

For the last few years, I've had basically zero exercise. Drive to work, waddle to office, sit at desk, waddle back to car, drive home. Ugh. I hope to lose about 25 lbs over the next few months. I'm also interested in fitness, better muscle tone and just having more energy to get through the day. I've started to pay more attention to what I eat. Less junk, more veggies, stop eating if not hungry etc. Also am drinking much more H2O.

After 2 weeks, I already feel improvements in muscle tone, but I don't think I'm losing fat. Is 20-30 minutes a day or 3-5k/day reasonable? Or should that be doubled or tripled to see results? What has been a successful weight-loss training program for you?

Wood_Duck · Post by **Wood_Duck** » April 12th, 2006, 7:47 pm

Welcome Jennifer!

Good for you on getting started! It is very important that you get your form correct. did you get a DVD with your erg? If so, make sure you watch it and then either have someone watch you or look in a mirror to critique yourself.

You said you are very sore. That is natural when you start. Are you taking time to stretch. The C2 guide has some good stretches. When I first stated to erg I felt I was spending more time stretching than rowing! But it was worth it. I still am VERY careful to stretch after each row.

As you work on your form and spend more time rowing, you will build up your stamina for longer rows. The most important thing is to not do too much too fast and then quit. Slow and steady is how the tortise won the race!

Good for you for having better eating habits! I too have weight to lose. The good news is that I have lost 25 pounds since Thanksgiving by rowing and eating better. I slowly increased my time and distance especially on the weekends. Be patient and consistant. It took me 12 years to put on all that weight so it will take a while to get it all off. I have at least 30 more to go!

Good luck!

Susan aka Wood Duck

Jennifer · Post by **Jennifer** » April 13th, 2006, 3:50 pm

Thanks Susan!
I watched the DVD before I started, and I think my form is basically okay. However, I haven't been stretching -- I need to get out the guide, choose some stretches and focus on that. That would probably help the soreness, too...

Am trying to row every morning, mostly because I'm afraid that if I take a few days off I won't come back to it. Some days are harder than others -- this morning it was difficult to finish the same 3000m that I did yesterday...

My additional motivator -- my caffeine-addict hubby is giving up his daily latte at work habit (on any day that I row)...

Jennifer

snappyrower · Post by **snappyrower** » April 13th, 2006, 8:03 pm

Welcome Jennifer! Sounds like you are off to a good start.

I just did a 6k, and I walked about 1.5-2+ miles today with a coworker. We split it up into two walks, one in late morning, and one after work. Her and I plan to walk every day until it gets too hot to do so. Our other coworker is just starting weight watchers and may join us on occasion. Hoping we'll all inspire each other. I'm also trying to cut back on fats and meats. One day at a time, eh?

margaret · Post by **margaret** » April 14th, 2006, 12:31 am

Nice to see some of the "old" ducks resurfacing in the new chatroom.

Welcome, Jennifer. Regarding your question about how much rowing works for weight loss, 40 to 60 minutes daily (for the 200k Holiday Challenge) helped me lose almost 10 pounds in a month when I restricted calories too.

I've seen recommendations of 40 to 50 minutes, or around 10K. Naturally it helps to burn more calories, but just as naturally, every bit helps.

20 minutes is a good start; it's plenty while you're retraining muscles for rowing and is enough to get your heart pumping and speed your metabolism to keep your body from switching to "low metabolism" starvation mode. To keep building muscle and endurance, work up to 30 minutes then pick up the pace slightly for a little longer each time as you feel ready. Once a week, the day before a rest day, it's nice to work up to an hour's row at a steady comfortable pace, maybe adding 5 minutes each week.

I'm 5500m from 3 million. I can taste it...

elen · Post by **elen** » April 14th, 2006, 12:12 pm

I feel happy for everybody that can loose weight while rowing, but feel frustated that my experience doesn't seem to be the same.
I don't think I have really bad eating habits ( I don't like sodas, cookies, junk food, fried food) and just would like to loose 15 pounds. I have to confess that I love bread.
I've been rowing for a year now, and almost completed a million meters and I didn't loose even a pound!
Maybe the probelm is that the more I row the hungrier I get and just eating salad ou fruits is not going to suppress my hunger.
Anybody out there with the same problem?

Shannon · Post by **Shannon** » April 14th, 2006, 9:26 pm

elen wrote:I feel happy for everybody that can loose weight while rowing, but feel frustated that my experience doesn't seem to be the same.
I don't think I have really bad eating habits ( I don't like sodas, cookies, junk food, fried food) and just would like to loose 15 pounds. I have to confess that I love bread.
I've been rowing for a year now, and almost completed a million meters and I didn't loose even a pound!
Maybe the probelm is that the more I row the hungrier I get and just eating salad ou fruits is not going to suppress my hunger.
Anybody out there with the same problem?

Elen,

What a bummer to do all that rowing and not lose a pound! I think that the key to weight loss has to be both exercise and eating carefully. I lost about 22 pounds in 2005 by rowing regularly and being pretty careful about what I ate. I got the idea that I might be able to make lightweight in 2006, so I increased my exercise even more and reduced my calories, (no bread

) and I managed to lose another 22 fairly easily in about three months.

I didn't just eat fruit and salad. After a row, I would often eat a small portion of nuts to give me a little energy, the key here being a small portion! I ate foods that I enjoyed at meals, but I did reduce the portion sizes. I mostly eat a vegan diet, so I try to avoid animal products. Eating this way really helped me a lot, I think, but it is not for everyone. All I can say is that losing weight is hard, but being at a healthy weight is really worth it!

Shannon

loonylady · Post by **loonylady** » April 14th, 2006, 10:58 pm

Elen,
I can sympathize with you about the weight loss. We got our rower the end of Oct and I have tried to be careful about the eating but I have only lost a couple of pounds. However, my husband and I both measured our waists not long after we started rowing and we have each lost about 3 inches. I bet if you checked your measurements, you'd find that you had lost a few inches, too. Also, on the positive side, you didn't gain any weight while you were rowing. My downfall is grabbing a bite or two of something sweet - maybe a chocolate chip cookie or two - when I get hungry. I need to find a snack that replaces the sugar.
Carol