So,  does anyone else here work out? If so, what types of work-outs do you do? Do you listen to music while it's, going on? Do you eat a special type of diet? Have you seen results, and if so, were they the results you wanted to see?

And, if you regularly work out, can you still drink alcohol without any adverse reactions to your physique?

I've been working out for a while now. Since last November, i have only taken about 3 weeks off due to a torn articular cartilage in my knee.

Alcohol will knock me completely off schedule.

I do well with exercise as long as I treat it like a habit.  Every day, same time, no excuses. 

If I get drunk and miss a day, I end up making excuses.  Then next thing I know I haven't exercised in a month because I keep making "i'll start again next monday" excuses.

Yeah, for sure. It's much easier to go 5 days a week than 1 day a week.

I'm going 4-5 days, doing 5-6 sessions a week at the moment. Sessions being anywhere from 45 mins to 2+ hours. Not drinking is making it really easy to stick to it, and I'm having a blast.

Do you get cravings for alcohol?

I've never been much of a drinker, but I know for sure that if I was still using speed I would probably end up polishing all the shiny stuff in the gym instead of using it...

i just ride my bike until it gets too cold then i want to be fat anyway.

Now there's a woman who knows how to work it...

Like donuts and dumbbells ...

I hate doughnuts ...

Why, the hole in the middle too big?

hehehehe

That too; OBVIOUSLY!

Do you get cravings for alcohol?

Nope. I do crave sweet things more often now, though.

I broke a 2 week run last night with a little wine. Back to sober today though.

And yeah sweet stuff, during that 2 weeks I went through an entire 5 Qt bucket of ice cream.
Mostly made into milk shakes.

I baked a cake for the first time ever last week. Ate the whole fucking thing in three days. I do pretty well at not eating junk so long as I don't have it around, so I won't be baking again anytime soon.

Hmm. Yeah the only sweet i really like is chocolate, and I am thankfully too preoccupied  to buy any. Yay!

What kinds of things do you focus on during your workouts? And, do you plan your weeks out?

I've read that variety is the key to staying motivated and/or interested.....

And I am running out of "new" ideas so I was thinking about planning 8-10 different work-out's, so I can just pick one each morning and do it...

Any ideas about that?

I really don't focus on anything when I'm working out, that's one of the great things about it. I don't spend my time there thinking about anything but what's in front of me. I find it mentally very restful.

My usual gym cardio is the elliptical, and I've recently found that sudoku on my phone makes the time fly along, and since I'm only using my legs it's actually a little harder than arms and legs. That's about as focused as I get, and sudoku is pretty mindless anyway.

I don't plan anything week to week, but I have a set daily schedule. Saturdays and Sundays off, Mondays optional, and then I go hard Tuesday through Friday. I do my best to hit every muscle group at least once during the week.

I've only been going full steam ahead since July or so, but I've lost about 30 lbs since then. Not drinking obviously also helps with that.

Dieting's fun. I'm on a diet right now; it's called "poverty."

I'm on a similar diet. it's called "living in a 40 year old motorhome with a fridge the size of my ballsac". Basically, you eat ramen and anything you can find to add to ramen. And since it's south Florida, all the citrus, lychees, mango, papaya, kumquats and avocados you can steal from someone's tree. So yeah, it's not bad when you run out of ramen. And things to add to ramen.

Chopped carrots, celery, onions, garlic, and ginger make awesome ramen additions.

On topic, I did a three hour gym session this afternoon. Fuckin'A!

  I do not have the money to join a gym so I am really working on the creativity factor with what I have at home. I've got a set of resistance bands, several small weights ranging from 5-15 lbs, a 5 lb ball, and a set of 10 lb ankle/wrist weights. Also, I have all of the great outdoors to run and walk all I want.

3 hours in the gym??! That's pretty awesome.

i have a gym membership but no time ugh

I know A LOT of people who have a gym membership but no time. I get angry when I think of that, because they all sit around in their lego-perfect condos and houses, whining about how they don't have enough time Ever to go to the gym... On Facebook. I get angry, and then I laugh. A lot.

And then I feel pretty good about myself, and my poor-ass situation, because with almost No Money whatsoever, I am dropping a size a month, and getting in much better shape. And I Still update Facebook and LOL at them.

Actually, all these whiny, wealthy asshats are mostly my obese family members. Whining to each other.

But I'm good.

I dunno, I tend to believe Nick about not having any time. He's got a wife, baby, job, Godzilla, and nuclear reactors melting down to contend with.

I eat as much pig as possible.

Its a great diet.

I dunno, I tend to believe Nick about not having any time. He's got a wife, baby, job, Godzilla, and nuclear reactors melting down to contend with.

That's pretty much it. I'm a creature of habits and it's hard to build good ones about going to the gym when your work takes so much energy. A lot of people are less fortunate so I don't complain and I made it over there today so go me.

Yes Go You.
I am surrounded by obesity and down home country fried rednecks. Not very many of them place any importance on health in any way so I feel especially esteemed in these parts.
I have much respect for people who truly wantto change and/or get/stay healthy even if they are busy.

I love exercise and really want to get a rhythm back on. For a year I was working out 4x per week and got in great shape. It'll come back.

Loony in Japan helps - it's hard to put on weight when pickled cucumbers and firewater is your Friday night special.

  I do not have the money to join a gym so I am really working on the creativity factor with what I have at home. I've got a set of resistance bands, several small weights ranging from 5-15 lbs, a 5 lb ball, and a set of 10 lb ankle/wrist weights. Also, I have all of the great outdoors to run and walk all I want.

BTW, that's a pretty fuckin' decent set of stuff you have. You can do a lot with all that.

You were asking for tips before, and today in the gym I thought of something someone might find useful. I play little number games within sets. I tend to do lots of reps at relatively low weight, and I find it's really handy to sort of trick myself into completing sets. Instead of counting from 1 to 20, I'll count 12345 four times, or 12345671234567654321. 25 can be a count up to 13 then back down to 1, stuff like that.

Yes! I do that... well, I count EVERYTHING. Steps I take, reps with weights/bands, leg movements, rotations when hand-washing, number of paper towels I use when drying my hands.....

But, I never thought it could help with working out. I count every rep, but I might try this method, because lately, I have found my thoughts drifting to softer, more relaxed things, when I really want to stay focused. Maybe this 12345123451234512345 for   20 will help.

Thanks for sharing that.

No prob!

Also, http://www.livestrong.com is awesome. I've been using it to record everything I eat and drink for about 10 days now, and in that time I've lost another 5 lbs, after having hit a plateau for a while.

You plug in your age, height, weight, daily activity level, and weight goals. The most you can select is a target of +/- 2 lbs a week gain or loss, because that's what's sustainable. For me to lose 2 lbs a week they're allowing me just over 1600 net calories a day (and as you lose weight and enter your lower weight, it adjusts this number down). I've found it pretty easy to stick to, and haven't really changed my diet much at all. I was eating fairly healthy stuff anyway, but I'm certainly not starving myself.

The coolest part is that having to plug everything in, it really makes you aware of where your empty, not even satisfying calories are. I was wasting a whole lot of calories on bullshit drinks, juices and sodas etc. When you open the fridge and there's a can of coke and a bottle of water there, knowing that the can of coke costs you 140 calories makes it that much easier to reach for the water. That's not to say that it's never OK to have a soda, but it helps you realize that you should have a soda when you want a soda, rather than just drinking something mindlessly because you were thirsty.

Livestrong also lets you plug in the exercise you're doing, and counts that against calories consumed. So I started the day yesterday with 1600~ calories available, but did a lot of exercise and burned close to 1500 calories, so I ended up coming in almost 700 calories under my daily allowance.

The one thing I'd say is vital when using this is to be honest and when in doubt, over-estimate how many calories are in whatever you're eating. If you guess something is 300 and it turns out it's actually only 220, well then great, you just saved yourself 80. Better that way that consuming a bunch that you don't mean to because you're in a fantasy world where mayo doesn't really count because it's just part of the sandwich. It's a total cliche, but you're only cheating yourself.