MissCurlyFrog

Okay, I did not know that. Yeah, I guess my form probably isn't great, I really don't know my way around running and it never felt fun enough to get to know it I suppose... Maybe I'll try it out again though. But a rowing machine also sounds interesting, I'll definitely look into that, thanks No, it does not. In fact, I walk whenever I can and it is the hiking part I want to train for. I don't want to be out of breath as soon as I so much as glance at the steeper parts of the way, and since my boyfriend wants to get me into the mountains as often as possible there's quite a lot of that. But walking alone doesn't seem to do much for me there, and taking the stairs whenever possible doesn't seem to help much either... The TV is because I'll watch TV either way, let's be honest here. So why not be productive while doing it, if that's possible? Plus I won't get bored. I never wanted to just use my parents' stationary bike by itself, but with a show or a movie running I was even motivated to stretch and maybe do some other exercises after workouts. I'm pretty new to all this, so forgive me if this question sounds stupid, but isn't a kettleball more of a strength-workout? It does sound interesting work-out wise if I'm looking for variety and I might look into it eventually, but it isn't really cardio, is it? (I should probably have mentioned before that I want the machine to train for mountain hikes, my bad...) Sounds fun, but the whole point would be doing it in a flat. Plus $170 sounds like quite a lot. I know a website that offers used machines in good condition, those mini-steppers are €10 up and rowing machines approximately €35 up. I'd have to find out whether they're any good, of course, but unless I find *the perfect solution* that I'm willing to pay more for, under €100 would be my price range I suppose... This looks really interesting, I'll definitely look into that, thanks

I was thinking about getting a cardio-machine. My parents have a stationary bike which I could use while watching TV, that was perfect for me. But now, in a place of my own, space is very limited. I could get a cross-trainer from my grandparents, but there's simply no room for it. Question is, is there something actually useful in smaller sizes that I could fit under a table or in a cupboard when I'm not using it? Like those little stepper-thingies, are they actually any good? Or another alternative for doing sports while watching TV? I have considered alternatives. Unfortunately I never really got into running, and I'm afraid it also doesn't quite agree with my knees. They always end up hurting. Maybe arthritis, it's running in my family... I also don't want to bike to work and all that because I'm terrified of anything on the road that's bigger than me. With me on a bike that would be literally anything. I don't trust the traffic in my city, I even hate driving a car here. Thanks for your help!

I'm currently a student and I travel between my parents' home and my boyfriend's home multiple times per week. Their eating-habits aren't exactly bad, but they're not that great either. At my bf's it's usually me who cooks. I'm also reliant on homemade lunch because we don't have a cafeteria or restaurant near the school and even the supermarket is ridiculously small for the number of people frequenting it. We're lucky we have one microwave for a student-body of probably more than 500. Problem #1: Breakfast It takes me a long time to get going in the mornings, so I don't have time to prepare anything fancy for breakfast. I used to eat cereals or muesli with milk or sometimes yoghurt, but that didn't feel too satisfying and it also gets quite expensive. If I only eat toast with jam or honey I'll be hungry again soon. I currently habe oats with nuts, raisins and yoghurt for breakfast, but I keep forgetting to buy more yoghurt, so now I'm looking for alternatives. I don't really eat eggs or bacon or anything savoury/salty for breakfast except maybe for weekends, and I'm running out of ideas... Problem #2: I'm a sucker for sweets and desserts. I love chocolate and cookies and cakes. I love to bake. But I have no idea how to get a good balance. I'm usually not eating as much as I used to, but I miss baking cakes. But I also hate feeling somewhat guilty for eating biscuits or chocolate to try and get me through a stressful day. Is there such a thing as healthy alternatives that won't recquire lots of fancy ingredients I'd have to get for lots of money at a specialised store? Because I still feel like my soul would appreciate these sweet moments in life. Problem #3: I'm a sucker for comfort-food. If I don't manage to prepare lunch or grab some leftovers I usually just quickly cook some noodles and throw some store-bought sauces or pestos and parmesan in. If I do manage to cook or have some leftovers, it's not unlikely for it to be something that may not be so very ideal as my go-to-recipes when faced with the question of what to cook. Jambalays probably isn't so bad, but Lasagna and Mac'n Cheese and pasta-bakes all have noodles in them again, which is usually recommended to stay away from in this forum as far as I've seen. I know that meal-prep is important, but I'm having trouble making it a habit because I feel like I have a rather limited repertoire of go-to-dishes while wanting more diversity, and also I keep forgetting about it and only remember that I should have cooked when I'm already supposed to be in bed because otherwise I won't get enough sleep and be completely useless the next day... Sorry for the long post, but I didn't want to spam the forum with multiple ones ^^" Any kind of help would be really appreciated

My mom used to do the whole "hide veg in the spaghetti-sauce" deal when we were kids and it's still my favourite thing ever. I still mostly like the vegetables unrecognizable in my meals. I have no idea why. In a sort-of-bolognese style of sauce you can easily put carrots, zucchini, squash (and maybe other pumpkins, don't have too much experience with it yet...), I guess parsnip as well, and definitely celery. You could also try some eggplant, it was surprisingly good in a chili we had recently. And as has also been mentiones before, some kinds of mushrooms also sound delicious for spaghetti sauce.

I recently started bouldering with my boyfriend. I climbed and/or bouldered before with school, but that's years ago and nothing serious. I want to try and go more often if possible and try to actually improve. Problem is I probably won't be able to go to bouldering or climbing gyms often because I'm broke, which is also why I don't have my own equipment (like the much wanted shoes) yet, and borrowing these increases the entrance-fee of course. I was wondering what exercises and stretches I can do at home or at the small gym I have access to to at least get the strength I need for climbing. I can't say which machines and equiptment the gym has to offer since I don't know the names... At home I have a pair of 1,5kg/3,3lb dumbbells, and my sister has a pair of grippers that I could probably borrow. There's rather high bars in the courtyard of my house which I never use because they're full of spiderwebs, I can hardly reach up the smaller one and even if I could I couldn't even do one pull-up. What tips can you give me to improve my performance for the times I do manage to go to the bouldering gym again?

I have yet to define clear goals, I guess it's a bit of a mix of everything? But the eating-thing for the moment is mostly to make me feel better. I often feel flabby or something like that, and since I started trying to reduce my dairy-intake it got a little better, so I wanted to try out a soft version of the paleo to see whether it would make me feel better as well. My main concern would be to find a good breakfast option for me that doesn't contain too much milk. All those milk-alternatives are about twice as expensive as normal milk, so I'm not sure how good that would work out for me at my current budget. I was just wondering whether anyone had ideas for that. Also for the lunch-thing. Wraps and sandwiches are nice in summer, but when it's still colder out I would like something more hearty than that, but as I said, I don't have anywhere to heat the stuff up on campus, so something like chili wouldn't really work that well either because it doesn't taste that good cold, does it? I don't even know whether there actually is a hearty homemade take-away lunch-option like that, I just thought it wouldn't hurt to ask here.

Hey there I've always been a little intimidated by large message boards and apparently I'm not too good at using the search function, so please excuse me if anything like this has been asked before, and if you're feeling kind direct me towards the thread, okay? So I've read the starting-out-kit, and while I don't want to go full paleo (yet) I'd like to try limiting the paleo-no's. I've already tried leaving out dairy for a week and it seems I felt better, so I try to limit it as much as possible now. (Is soy-milk okay? I guess almond would be better.) My problem is, I eat a lot of the paleo-no's - dairy, bread, pasta, rice, ... I have a sweet tooth and while I like dried fruit it's a lot more expensive than just grabbing a chocolate-bar. I always have a sweet breakfast, cereal or oat-porrige made with milk and honey or raisins for sweetness. I also have coffee (malt with milk or bean with cream) where I was already able to cut down on sugar. Lunch is also a bit problematic. I prefer having a hearty lunch cause I don't really have dinner most of the time. And since I'm a student I would actually like to prepare meals to take with me to campus so I don't have to buy stuff. So preferably something easy and fast to make, and especially something that tastes good when cold, because there's no means of warming it up... All in all I would apreciate any tips on how to adjust my diet with these things in mind - links to other threads, recipes, etc, etc. Thanks to all those who respond and have a nice day