Let's go!

[nickyji]

Hello lovely people! So happy to be joining you here!

 

I'm a fashion designer from Dublin, Ireland, currently starting my own business and supporting it by working in a takeaway answering phones (i.e. sitting pretty much still for 7hours 5days a week). I'm not very out of shape or overweight, but I'm not very healthy either! I gained a bit since starting such a sedentary job, that I can't cycle to as it's just too far and would take to long, but the most rapid gain has been since I quit smoking about 3months ago, it stops now! I'm hitting the rewind button on my rapidly increasing belly! 

 

My personal challenges:

1. Stop drinking diet coke, it just CAN'T be good for me, like how can something be zero calories? Replace with green tea!

2. Go to the gym for 45 minutes of weight training, 3 days a week, and don't be too intimidated to walk over to the "men's" section where the barbells are kept. Just because 95% of women are sitting on the floor doing endless crunches doesn't mean I have to! 

3. 1 cardio session per week.  Whatever I feel like! Swimming, running, climbing a mountain...I don't believe it matters as long as I get myself moving and break a sweat!

4. Practice piano at least 2 hours per week I've been completely neglecting the piano with everything else that's going on, but it makes me happy and relaxed, so I should be finding the time. 

 

Those are my major goals at the moment. Within my weight training I'm going to work towards proper push-ups (currently on my knees), a pull-up (this may take more time but my PE teacher in school used to just make us hang there if we couldn't do one, which was mortifying, so this would be a big personal victory) and to learn how to deadlift with perfect form before slowly increasing the weight. What do I want to achieve from all of this? Fitness, health, never waking up feeling hungover when I haven't been drinking again, and hopefully as a consequence get those extra 3inches off my waist and hips and be able to fit all my clothes again!

 

If anyone has any beginners weight training advice for me I would greatly appreciate it! Trying to keep it simple so that I can actually remember what I'm supposed to be doing! 

 

 

[Polaris]

Hi, nickyji! First I must say, having your own fashion design business sounds awesome.

 

Now, on to the topic of fitness. I don't have weight training advice for you, but I know why diet coke is not good for you: When you eat or drink something with sugar in it, your body prepares to deal with it by producing insulin. So when you drink a diet coke, your body tastes the sweetness and thinks it's getting sugar, even though it's not, which leaves all the insulin hanging around useless. And that useless extra insulin stores more fat in your body. I think that's why some people say that if you must drink soda, a real coke is better than a diet coke.

[nickyji]

Hi Polaris! 

Thanks, it'll be way more awesome when I can turn a profit, onwards and upwards! Yes exactly! It's weird since I don't even like sugary things, I never really have, but I love fake sugar. Doesn't help that my chair in work is beside all the drinks, literally 20cm from my face. I did it yesterday though and I'm going to do it again today!