Trying things the NF way

[PlantStrider]

Well, I'm 35 days into exercising. I spent the first 30 going to the gym daily, following the plan laid out by the personal trainer, and getting things done. I made progress, upped the weights, and felt better (slept better too). But I had no body changes. I gained 8 lbs and lost no inches. Sigh. I had been hitting all my strength and endurance goals though, just not weight loss.

 

I wondered why things weren't working and found NF. I had been doing 3 rounds of 15-20 reps at around 40 lbs. One of the articles said this was good for endurance, but not getting me the right muscle. With strength training, I've been doing 5 rounds of 5 reps, upping the weight each time, and building the right kind of muscle. I've added in the beginner body weight workout and switched cardio day to interval training.

 

I'm 4 days into my new routine and things are going well. MWF I do my regular gym workout (yes it's machines, but I'm working on transitioning) of chest press (35), seated rows (70), pull downs (70 lbs), back extension (70), calf press (70), leg extension (70), leg curl (70) seated squats (90), 4 ab machines (70, 60, & 10 lbs), hip abduction (170 lbs), and hip adduction (170). I also do the beginners bodyweight workout and some exercise ball crunches on MWF. TRSU I do interval training to get ready for some of the 5ks that I want to do. I walk them, but I want to get down under an hour and eventually under 45 mins.

 

It'll take a lot of time, especially since I've got things working against me like plantar fasciitis, hormone issues, and recovering from rotating my tibia, but I'll get there. I've been working at it, I feel better, and I want to get stronger. I'm 310 lbs and I'd like to get down to 200. More than that, I want to do a proper pushup (no more girly ones), and a (actually several) pull up. 

[Guzzi]

Hey, welcome to NF!  

 

It looks like you've made a good start, don't worry about gaining that 8lbs btw, it's most likely to be from fluid retention.  When you start asking your muscles to do things they haven't done before they become inflamed and retain fluid.  You'll probably find that drops off again over the coming week.  

 

One thing I noticed is that you are exercising 6 days a week.  You haven't said what your interval training consists of but unless it's quite low impact (which isn't normally the case with interval training, lol!) I would worry that you're not giving your body enough time to recover from your workouts.  Muscles get stronger while they're resting, not while they're working.  The other thing to not is that if you are going to the gym 6 days a week you run the risk of burning out, getting fed up and quitting.  It's important to make sure you make time for the other things you enjoy in life too. 

 

Obviously you're the only one who knows what you're doing and how it is affecting you, I'm just throwing my 2 cents in for you to consider.  Feel free to chuck them back at me. **ducks**

 

How have you found the forum so far, is there anything I can help you with?  Feel free to ask at any time. 

 

Guzzi

[Ana Fini]

Hey m6kinney!

 

First of all I want to say it's awesome what you're doing and it shows that you have lots of determination!

I really think you are on the right track but I totally agree with Guzzi.

 

You need to balance your exercise and get LOTs of good quality rest! Try to not spend more than one hour in the gym if you are going so many times a week.

I even say that first step into getting healthy is to sleep well!

The second step (that you didn't mention) is your eating habits! This is more important than the proper exercise, and if your goal is to lose weight this is ALL that matters! Don't get me wrong here, I think that exercise is essential and everyone should be doing it! Your exercises seem very good too. But again, the eating habits is really the key point for losing/gaining weight. Yes you could be gaining weight due to water retention, but resistance training boosts your metabolism and that make us feel hungry all the time, so it is very very important that you are fueling your body with good sources of nutrients.

 

Wish you the best luck in your journey and hope to see more of you!