Hey guys!

[Lithog]

I'm excited to try to start getting fit! 2 problems being that I'm overweight and weak. I'm 5'8, female, and weigh about 215lbs and it ain't muscle!

Problem is, I don't enjoy exercise or sports or much of anything involving moving my body. And when I do try something my body is so awful and out of shape I just end up not liking whatever I try. It's humiliating. I have even stopped hanging out with some of my more active friends because I'm so embarrassed and I just know I'm dragging them down ya know?

I've tried exercising and dieting before, but my biggest hurtle seems to be what I call the 3 Month Barrier. It doesn't matter what it is... learning guitar, practicing kanji, exercising... I stop at about 3 months. It's been like this as long as I can remember.

Anyway, I haven't decided yet if I should start by focusing more on the strength training or eliminating fat. I also need to figure out where exactly to exercise... space is limited in the house and my toddler's stuff is always ending up everywhere. The toddler himself is very enthusiastic about my exercising, actually. Last time I quit he was pretending to do pushups and trying to pull me off the couch and force me to do them too. Problem is, when I do them he crawls on my back! Which would be cute and awesome when I'm stronger but not so great now.

There's a local gym that offers childcare, but even though its huge and has several locations the reviews are pretty negative because of hidden fees and generally being skeevy with cancellations and whatnot. Also, they apparently do not have enough benches and racks for all the bajillion people who show up.

Right now I have the app Jefit for keeping track of exercises and reps. Wonder if anyone has any other app recommendations?

[Merrye]

Well the good news is that you know where you tend to fail, so plan for that.  Make it a goal for month 3 that you'll track your progress much more aggressively.  In the meantime, I would say start small.  Much smaller than what you have described.  If it were me (and it was me), start with going for walks around the block.  Or doing 5 push-ups (with or without toddler).  Or dancing around the house for 5 minutes. You don't need a gym to be successful at this point.  The rule I have for myself is that I can join a gym or fitness activity if I can make it through 3 basic workout reps without taking long pauses.  Saves me money and provides me with motivation to do what I need to do before I get to the next step (I want to join an aerial fitness class...FUN!!!)

 

Also, start fixing stuff in your diet...little stuff.  There are lots of great posts Steve made about changing your habits, and the trick to making something stick is incorporating little changes, not huge changes.

[Lithog]

Yeah, I haven't figured out yet exactly what direction I want to go with diet. I think I'm looking more at cutting back in general than elimination. I normally eat very little preprocessed foods, almost never drink soda or even have it in the fridge. I will totally pig out if I have oreos, but I almost never buy oreos (like seriously, maybe only 2 packages a year if even that). I think the biggest thing for me is milk and reducing noodles and rice. I mean, I pretty much live off milk, and if I don't have it at work which I usually don't I won't drink at all. So I'm trying to drink more water, flavored with herbal teas or lemon. I hate water lol.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk