Any fitness buffs here? I’m slowly recovering from a 5-year period of laziness and overeating. For the entirely of July, I have walked (with some jogging segments) every other day, usually 4.25 to 6.0 miles. I’ve lost 11 pounds.
Right now I’m using an app to set a jog-then-walk/rest cadence of 30 seconds and 180 seconds.
I’m tracking my progress with a home-made C# app.
I have a spreadsheet to track my metrics. I ride a bicycle and visit a fitness center 2 - 3 times per week. Yard work is significant exercise. My Apple watch tracks health related data. At 74, I’m hitting the law of diminishing returns…
I was a fitness “buff”, but a prolonged period of stress and hecticness killed all of my longstanding rhythms and habits. It’s only recently that I’m realizing life might be favorable to me trying to resurrect at least some of what once was. Good job making a start!
Life long nerd and couch potato here, but I’ve made a concentrated effort to lose weight since Christmas 2023. I was 390 then and am sub-320 now.
Weather and joints permitting, I like to get in at least an hour of walking daily, though this is hard most of the year thanks to lack of proper HVAC in this trailer, a horribly hot and humid climate, and no means of getting to a gym nor of affording their service charges. Haven’t tried anything more intense than walking because walking for extended periods already puts undue stress on my ankles, knees, hips, and lower back, though reduced pain from doing the dishes and other everyday tasks over the last month or so has me hopeful my weight loss has reached the point of not overworking my lower joints just to carry my weight and that I’ll be able to walk for longer once the weather starts to cool off… damn, but I miss when autumn and spring actually existed in these parts instead of 80F+ temperatures being likely from March to November.
I’m much more into the strength training side of things but I’d consider myself a fitness enthusiast too 
Browsing actual gym forums always has me feeling discouraged by my relatively weak progress, so I’m glad to see a thread with more casuals. I recently improved my bench press just a bit and felt really good about it!
I’m a keen runner (usually 30-60 miles per week depending on training cycle). I love hearing about people’s training at all levels so will follow this thread with interest!
I signed up to run a 5K on Sat 10/18. Ive been alternating jogging with walk breaks and have lost 15 lbs. I’m close to achieving a sustainable slow jog and abandoning intervals. My modest goals are (1) to finish the 5K in 35 minutes or less, and (2) to lose another 13 lbs by Thanksgiving.
I’ve tended toward overweight ever since I was a kid and have been up and down the scales many times, and have learned how to eat right and exercise, but more often than not have given in to bad habits. (I think of bad habits as being like rolling a ball inside of a bowl. It rolls up one wall of the bowl, pendulums back up the other wall, but always eventually settles back to the bottom.) I always knew that if I wanted to age in good health, I would have to finally make the decision to maintain good habits. A couple of years ago my A1C was getting dangerously high, and I’ve reached that age where the time is now or never, so about a year and a half ago I cleaned up my diet, started fasting on Saturdays, and cycling for an hour 6 days a week. After a year I stopped the Saturday fasting but added a daily walk. I’m not a big metrics guy but I’ve lost about 60 lbs. A couple of months ago I started running once a week with a friend who’s training for marathons, and though I have no interest in marathons, he’s got me running 13 miles now (prior to two months ago I’d never run more than 2 miles).
As a point of encouragement for other folks struggling with weight loss, I would say that the biggest battle is just doing the exercise every day (or whatever your frequency). IMO weight management is very similar to alcoholism - you have to get up every day, and decide that today I will choose to stay on the wagon.
As of today’s weigh in, I’m down to 308 from about 350 at the beginning of the year and about 390 at the end of 2023. Not quite halfway to what BMI* considers a healthy weight, but another 10 pound threshold past.
*I know its not the most accurate metric, but its the best I have to work with since I’m not in a position to have a medical professional track body composition, though considering I’m closer to needing a physical therapist than a personal trainer, I highly doubt I’m carrying a healthy amount of muscle and am pretty sure that the excess weight is all fat.
This is a tricky recommendation as pool access is varied (especially indoor pools during winter months), but I discovered lap swimming a couple years ago after I blew out my knee. Highly recommend. A great lower-impact workout.
I am fortunate to have access to a very upscale fitness center. My membership is provided by my medicare provider. I swim an hour two to three times per week. I usually swim 20+ laps in a 30 meter long pool. I do at least five half laps totally underwater. I also ride a bicycle when the weather is cool.
Unfortunately, I am having very little success losing weight.
