the_walrus0

I should also note that cardio alone has never given me such a huge increase in hunger.

Hi everyone, I am not new to exercise completely, but I am sort of new to strength training. I have always preferred things like hula hooping, walking, biking, dancing...a ton of cardio, while I hardly ever did consistent strength training. What I have done has not been very serious. The last week I've spent a lot of time doing the beginner bodyweight exercise that I found here on Nerd Fitness. Some information about me is that I eat Primal Blueprint style, mostly, although I'd say I'm much more lax about grains than I should be. However, it's a lifestyle I can maintain right now. I am about 230lbs, 5'8 and have hardly any muscle. I've never maintained a consistent exercise routine aside from hula hoop dance. I am trying to do a full body workout ever other day. I'm finding that on days that I strength train I'm not insatiably hungry, but the inbetween days when I rest/cardio I am starving. Usually my 1,800 calories a day is perfect but on days after strength training I'm finding myself wanting to eat way over. I haven't been though because I'd like to keep losing weight while I build some muscle. So my plan is to eat 1,700 on strength days and 1,900 on rest days where I'm feeling hungrier and see how that goes but I just thought I'd get some feedback from all of you. One of my big goals is to start building muscle but another goal of mine is to get under 200lbs. I know building muscle is good for me but I just need to deal with this increase in appetite. Any information, tips or advice?

I had to switch out coffee for caffeinated teas because coffee hurts my stomach. I ignored it for a long time and attributed my stomach issues to other things but now that I eat primal and have been for a few weeks I had to face the facts. But I love tea so it's just an excuse to drink a ton more of it.

Thank you!

I learned how to do yoga from DVDs, two specifically. Both of the instructors would name the pose as they instructed you to go into it, while also giving advice on form and breath. I can do my DVDs without looking at the instructor now because I know the name of each pose. You may just want to look for a new instructor or ask your current instructor if there is any way to get a better explanation of each pose. It might help them expand their teaching style. Perhaps it's something they've never thought of doing before.

I have binge eating disorder. I personally believe it to be directly related to carbs and sugar for me. I've never just binged on anything like meat or cheese or veggies alone. It was always combined with chips or bread of some kind. Eating these things just caused me to uncontrollably consume more of these things. Even though I learned this a few months ago I've only recently been able to cut out the bread and sugar. I haven't binged in nearly 30 days! It definitely is a real disorder, whether it's diet related or related to emotions. It definitely helps for others to be educated. Being told 'just put down the fork and take the stairs' is more detrimental than people might assume.

If I did particularly good on a workout and I don't have homework to do I will play a video game for an hour or two. Or else I will find a funny movie, get in my bed with a cup of tea and watch it. Basically it feels better for me to do relaxing time-wastey things knowing I've worked out hard and eaten right. Those are my 'rewards'.

She loves circuits. I'm currently working my way through her 30 Day Shred, although it's probably going to be more like a 60-90 Day Shred for me. The rest of my fitness knowledge lies in yoga and cardio. My preferred cardio is hula hooping. I can do beginner and intermediate hoop tricks and I'm trying to learn more but it's really something I'd do on an active rest day. As for yoga, it gets a sweat going but I only do about 20 minutes a day before meditating. It's not really about the workout, it's about the movement and the breath. So Jillian is where I decided to start my strength training. I'm acquainted with lunges, squats, pushups and stuff like that but my dedication to these moves has been spotty because I've always been worried I wasn't getting a complete workout. Googling 'strength training' tends to yield confusing results. All I know is at the end of Level 1 of the 30DS I'm on the ground, red faced and sweaty. That's with breaks in between, although Jillian insists you shouldn't stop longer than 5 seconds. I definitely need to build some muscle an endurance. Anyways, what do you all think of Jillian Michaels DVDs? After the 30DS I plan to start my own circuit training in the gym where I will incorporate more weights. Does this sound like a solid plan?

Thank you all for taking the time to reply! I just started Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred so I'm hoping it will help give me more confidence in the gym. She does circuits of strength and cardio for 30 minutes at a time. By the end of it I'd like to be down another 10lbs and ready to start my own circuit training.

Yoga did really good things for me. Before I started doing yoga I didn't believe in the things my body could do. I had a hard time being present and calm. My sleep was often interrupted and I had frequent night terrors. Yoga calms me. It gives me something outside of my head to focus on. Yoga is often slow compared to most exercises. I feel like I'm flowing from pose to pose, pausing to enjoy the benefits before moving on. I wouldn't say yoga helped me lose weight or get fit, because it didn't, but it did help me love myself and appreciate what my body could do. Without it I might never have started educating myself on strength training. Before yoga I did cardio like it was my job. I still go through bouts of night terrors when I'm stressed out or going through a lot of changes, but they are not as frequent and tend to subside when the stress is taken care of or I get used to a new routine/change. I consider yoga to be part of my meditation with the added benefit of being more active than sitting on the couch. Of course I continue to do only beginner routines and haven't moved on to intermediate stuff yet. You could start with a Sun Salutation. There are different variations but they tend to follow a set pattern. It's what most yoga DVDs will start you out with. It's also very energizing and refreshing.

Hi there! My name is Rebecca. I've been a nerd as long as I've been overweight so...my whole life? A little background: I have been overweight since I was a child. As a teenager I developed some EDs, mostly bulimia. I attempted to achieve unhealthy thinness with anorexia but when I'd end up binging I'd throw it up. I eventually managed to get my calories down to 800 a day, though I had no idea what calories were. I just kept eating to an almost non-existent minimum. I was working out 2+ hours a day. I managed to get down to 160lbs(5'8) but then I started to drink and use drugs. I put all the weight back on and then some. My ED morphed from starvation and bulimia into binge eating disorder. Once I learned what calories were and how they really worked I started intentionally trying to eat way too few of them again, but I would always binge. This went on for 5ish years until I was 19 when I finally gave up drinking everyday, using drugs and smoking cigarettes. I'm about 1 month completely clean of alcohol, about 2 years completely clean of smoking and using. It's great, I'm a much happier person. After recovering from substance abuse about a year ago I had a lot of healing to do. I started doing yoga and trying to love myself. I've taken care of a lot of problems, patched things up with my family, got into college and made the decision to lose weight the healthy way. Since then I've done a lot of research on health and fitness. Just recently I was finally able to go primal, aside from peanuts, and I am finally in control of my binge eating disorder. I've lost almost 20 pounds and I've started working on fitness to help set some short terms goals while I work for long term weight loss. I love working out. Whether it's yoga, hula hooping, running/walking, dancing, lifting or bodyweight exercises I am definitely in love with it. I have a lot to learn about lifting weights though. My knowledge extends only to the knowledge that you should have rest days, you should warm up and you should use proper form. As of now I just lift 10-15lb freeweights at the gym. I'm terrified of barbells, the squat rack and the benches. I can't do a pull up yet. I'm here because I want to level up my life! My binge eating is under control, the scale is going down and my energy is going up. I'm excited to meet new people. I've got about 120lbs to drop before I'm in a normal weight range, but I'd love to be toned when that happens!