ePlaya Fitness Club

[Elliot]

Yes, getting the heart rate up a bit for even just half of an hour will do wonders, according to my doc. Preferably every day, but it all helps.

And I remember the immense improvement in fitness I achieved by just three weeks of vigorous daily bicycling in 2009 -- before the pinched nerve showed up the first time. We were not designed for modern society. We were designed to chase down our food on foot -- and stay ahead of those who would eat us!

It's been rainy around here lately, but I got in two or three good walks since my last post. And I spotted some MOOP there in Anderson State Park -- which I removed in a suitable plastic bag the next day. Now I put a MOOP bag in my pocket every time. Little things like that do matter!

As do Xs on a calendar. Anything to avoid forgetting to exercise.

And Mr. Jellyfish hits the hammer on the head with the portion control. I'm making progress on that now. From what I understand, it is a matter of allowing the stomach to shrink by forcing ourselves to eat less for a while. Once the stomach is smaller, it will take less food to make us feel full and content. But stuff extra food in, forcing the stomach to expand, and it will soon take more and more to make us feel full and happy. I'm no expert, but it does seem to work that way for me.

[moonrise]

OK, moon is signing up, where's the membership sign in sheet? X Moonrise

I don't have too too much fat to lose
My first step will be small....less ice cream (except black raspberry!) and more portion control...(Jelly is correct, 'cause it's worked for me before)

Better diet overall, start using the VitaMix more often....I found a gift wrapped, used one waiting for me after 2010 BM! (my Bday is the week of the burn and I gave up buying a VitamIx to go to BM and what do ya' know, playa karma provided! The fam chipped and and bought me a quality used one, wow! ebay is the ticket if anyone is wondering, the motors last forever! there a tons of them low cost on ebay)

also low impact exercise, short walks are where I can start.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~less tobacco

[Elliot]

No signup sheet, no dues, nothing of the sort. Just a bunch of friends encouraging each other to live healthier.

[ygmir]

yup, that's the ticket.
I'm sick today, but, managed to chainsaw and split a few days worth of firewood.
It's about all the exercise I could muster.

[Elliot]

Sorry to hear you are sick, Ygmir. Hope it is just a common cold, in which case the best advice may actually be to eat plenty, because the body needs extra energy to fight off the virus. Internal activity uses energy just like swinging an axe does. I have read that serious chess players burn as much energy per minute as joggers, just from thinking so intensely.

There's an old saying: "Feed a cold, starve a fever." Do I have that right? Don't know about the fever thing, but I am under the impression that eating well does shorten a head/chest cold. I went thru one a couple of weeks ago.

Some years ago I had the flu -- real full-fledged influenza -- the kind that sometimes kills people. I certainly thought I might not live thru it -- I unlocked the front door and wrote a note describing my symptoms, in case I decided to dial 911, or died. I mention this to encourage everyone to get a flu shot each autumn.

Get well soon my friend! You have a fire engine to turn into a Mutant Vehicle! That will require all your strength! Oh, and if you want to install a piano on it, I have eight of them!

[moonrise]

yeap, I rarely drink...this may become my da bar, lol, a fitness juice bar so to speak,

(I sneak into da bar, also da bar2 n 3 but only for a rare night cap!)

EFClub could become my cutting down and eventual quitting tobacco cheer me on thread, yipes.
Cold turkey is the only way to go but I need time to face that beast head on!

Thanks again Elliot, free dues work for me!

Ygmir, don't over do it! Sorry to hear you caught that friggin' whatever is going around, blech, I had it also *shudder*

Perhaps try Tumeric in your food...one of the ancient spices and supposed to kill germs. It's like a tasteless curry, can add it to anything almost (soups, cooked veggies, scrambled eggs etc) and it's low cost...it slightly darkens foods, a very light yellow/orange like color, no biggie, dishes can be harder to wash, again, no biggie.
Good for ya year round and when fighting off bugs. my .02 cents

[moonrise]

yup, that's the ticket.
I'm sick today, but, managed to chainsaw and split a few days worth of firewood.
It's about all the exercise I could muster.

woops, forgot to quote ya. see my post above ^^^^
stay warm and maybe break the fever under a shit ton of blankets in bed, worked for me, took a couple/few days though *drenched w/sweat* but it worked!
Hopefully there's no temp/fever...buuut if so...see above and above.
(maybe have chicken soup, afterall chicken is loaded with antibiotics, saves you $ going to a doctor in a pinch, the cheaper the chicken the more antibiotics, no joke...google it) Just a suggestion from psuedo dr. moonrise
Just stuff I learned from rubbing elbows with all the international tourists/coworkers bringing germs into Reno/Vegas/Tahoe *shiver*

[Elliot]

Well then, gang.... We have our first mission -- should you choose to accept it. Moonrise is going to quit smoking, and we do know how powerful that addiction is. Together, we shall be stronger!

[AntiM]

We've had bad air quality for the last few days. I do start to wheeze is I do anything outdoors. Hate these winter inversions.

I take tumeric and ginger capsules, well, when I remember. The ginger is great at arthritis pain prevention. The tumeric, just because. I cook with it too. And garlic.

[ygmir]

*sprinkling tumeric in the soup I made last night, which I'll eat today*

thanks for the tips, Elliot, Moon, AntiM......

[daratheresa]

wow, this is the thread for me...

i use diet and exercise to manage a lifelong neuro-muscular disorder that affects my feetsies and to a lesser degree my hands. last summer i changed our family diet (one of my kids has the same condition) by cutting processed foods and sugars and eating fresh and/or organic as much as possible. i used to laugh at people who did this, but the overall quality of life improvement has been so worth it. i cut coffee down to one or two cups a day. i started drinking more water. i started taking a lot of vitamins. i've always been "sort of" in to herbal and natural remedies for things, but have really stepped that up and learned a wealth of information. instead of being blasted on narcotic painkillers for my nerve pain i can almost always deal with it naturally, i only take the narcotics a few times a month now instead of a few times a day like i used to.

i quit smoking (cigarettes) in august. for real this time. (i quit smoking for my pregnancies but started again after each of them, doh!) i feel about a million times better for that, even if it did add a few pounds.

i've done yoga for nearly a decade now. i do it nearly every day, at least for a few minutes. from time to time i hit the gym around the corner from me, but i'm a stay at home mom who homeschools her kids; i don't get a lot of free time. so i mostly work out at home. we do yoga. lots of yoga. the wii fit is awesome, especially during the evil, arctic winters we get here. i want to get a punching bag and put it in the garage, but haven't gotten around to it yet...

and yeah, turmeric is awesome. even if it does stain everything that nice yellow color... i use it in everything from curries to home made cough syrup.

[sputnik]

I brought my bike in and set it up on the trainer the other day. Been doing 30 minutes of hard riding every day since. Somewhere in the past 6 weeks I suddenly put on 10 lbs, and I didn't even overdo it at thanksgiving.

[Elliot]

Welcome aboard, Daratheresa! And everybody else!

Amazing how this thread has come back to life.

And we are on our first Special Mission -- Moonrise is quitting smoking, and he will be successful because we will all give him a daily mental boost. Go Moonrise!

[moonrise]

Whoa! I came here after stumbling into that friggin' wikileaks ..wiegh in thread...talk about a stress inducer, I almost over ate!
(I hope the eplayans don't harm their freindships over that wikileaks BS politics and religion, best way to sell a novel (add in sex of course) those 3 and you've got your formula for a hit!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well then, gang.... We have our first mission -- should you choose to accept it. Moonrise is going to quit smoking, and we do know how powerful that addiction is. Together, we shall be stronger!

This will not be pretty, when the final day comes...I may show up here daily, several times daily.
I've quit before, each time lasting; 10 yrs, 8 yrs, 4yrs, at 48 I will die a young death if I do not cut it out! I am NOT that ephemeral!
I'd like to stick around for a while longer. (the 10yr success was done in Europe of all places! If I can hold it there, I can hold it at 2011 BM!)
fyi, I fell off the wagon when I was stuck on a boat! no food, just smokes! another time, my entire neighborhood burned to the ground, except my house! I was all like, "gimme a cig! fuck!"

It takes tons and tons of water drinking and DEEP breathing, a LOT of deep breathing (like call the little white men w/buttefly nets kinna deep breathing)...and affirmation daily from a freind or family member (they caller ID screen me sometimes!)
Ok, ok...I do need time to phsych myself up. Cutting back already...grrr. (No date set yet, I'll get there)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AntiM, hang in there and thanks for the reminder, ginger for arthritis..and the garlic for gen. purpose.
AntiM wrote:

We've had bad air quality for the last few days. I do start to wheeze is I do anything outdoors. Hate these winter inversions.

I take tumeric and ginger capsules, well, when I remember. The ginger is great at arthritis pain prevention. The tumeric, just because. I cook with it too. And garlic.

@daratheresa, glad you got away from the prescription drugs and/or the bizarre nerve pain in the feet. The nerve pain drugs have some truly frightening side effects. You might try the old fashioned "stick your feet into a bucket of ice water" treatment if the nerve pain in the feet acts up, it's a shocker but for me it can work wonders. 3 to 5 minutes is max safe time (I do 5+ mins, doctors ok'd it, *a dull yea*) Could your sciatic nerve be causing the foot nerve endings to hurt/burn? Feels like you're standing in a bonfire with little pygmys scraping ya with broken glass and other sharp objects! help! (fucking pygmys!)

ygmir n sput, sorry, seems I am addressing only the semi-cripple club.
Get well n stay strong, respectively.

[Elliot]

You will definitely get there, and I don't care how ugly the process looks. I, for one, will be checking the computer several times a day, most days.

[daratheresa]

Welcome aboard, Daratheresa!

why, thank you!

@daratheresa, glad you got away from the prescription drugs and/or the bizarre nerve pain in the feet. The nerve pain drugs have some truly frightening side effects. You might try the old fashioned "stick your feet into a bucket of ice water" treatment if the nerve pain in the feet acts up, it's a shocker but for me it can work wonders. 3 to 5 minutes is max safe time (I do 5+ mins, doctors ok'd it, *a dull yea*) Could your sciatic nerve be causing the foot nerve endings to hurt/burn? Feels like you're standing in a bonfire with little pygmys scraping ya with broken glass and other sharp objects! help! (fucking pygmys!)

never tried the icewater thing, though living here all i'd have to do is step outside the door for three minutes. (we've had over four feet of snow poured on us this week alone!) yes, the nerve pain medications are terrible. i can't take them. almost all of them are also behavioral modification drugs, which just...well, they're not for me. at all. i take the straight up narcotics when the pain gets too bad, but i seldom have to do that any more. believe it or not, processed sugar for some reason plays a big role. cutting soda and using honey or turbinado sugar in my tea and coffee and such has made an amazing difference. turbinado does not set off my issues, though i couldn't tell you why. strange world.

quitting smoking this last time was the worst. it took a good three or four weeks to get over the temper flares and crying jags. i hadn't realized how much i used cigarettes as an emotional self-regulator. i am really thankful that i managed to do it while my husband was home as he was able to act as a kind of buffer between my terrible mood swings and the kids for those first few weeks. it was rough, to say the least. but you can do it. no, really. i mean that, not just as some vague internet encouragement.

(and yeah. fucking pygmys. with fire and razorblades and little tasers, i think.)

[Sham]

I would like to sign up with the eplaya fitness club. I really need to drop just under 20 lbs. to bring my weight to 150. I really don't over eat, but I am sure my metabolism is slowing down. I can't really get into my superhero outfit any longer, as it makes me look like an aging, overweight shell of the superhero I used to be. (the superhero is part of my art car and a very real outfit)
I do a full workout 3 times a week, which usually includes a few miles on the treadmill.
I have a coke addiction that I am trying to break. (specifically Diet Coke) That may have something to do with my metabolism not burning off the calories.
I would love nothing more than to show up at Burning Man for 2011 at 150 on the button.
Please help me ePlaya Fitness Club!

[AntiM]

Diet Coke, most diet sodas, are evil. Not because of the artificial sweetener, but the preservatives containing benzoates. I'm sensitive to them, so I think other folks may be as well. Can't hurt to try dropping them and see if there is a difference. Nothing to do with your metabolism, but I'm an anti-diet soda crusader. I've successfully switched to those flavor tubes in water, although I do drink plain water when I'm not home.

150? That would be a great weight for me as well. I have a bit farther to go to get there though. My Wii says I should weigh 127. That hasn't happened since I was in the Navy.

[daratheresa]

i was given some advice a few years ago, and it has helped me on my endless self-improvement kick to no end.

if you can do something (take a walk, not smoke, remember to take a vitamin, drink water or tea instead of soda) every single day for 30 days then it becomes a habit. if you can brute-force your way through those first 30 days then it becomes routine and you don't even really have to think about it any more than you have to think about brushing your teeth. you just do it.

i cannot tell you how much this one little bit of advice has made things easier for me. try it.

[junglesmacks]

Congrats to all on the initiative.. We only get one shot with this body, so let's make it the best ride we can..

I'm wondering how many of you trying to lose weight have looked at the other side of the equation being supplementation/nutrition.

If you are feeding your body with the correct balance and rate of nutrients, then you physically will not crave food like you do. When you are hungry, that's your body telling you that it wants those calories and nutrients. Supplement it correctly on a daily basis, and you are feeding it what it needs and leaving out what it doesn't.

My personal formula for dropping 30 lbs in 8 months along with loads of body fat % and wow increase in muscle mass was this:

Every day, a shake with All-One vitamin powder (http://www.vitacost.com/All-One-Nutrite ... dientFacts), two scoops of vanilla whey protein ( mixed with water and two caps of flax seed oil.

Don't freak out that it says "Active Seniors".. it's just the original formula with added B complex for energy and some CoQ10 and ginko. I'm 35 and I take it.

Just taking that alone in the morning will give your body all the nutrients and protein that it needs and will stop your food cravings while giving you incredible amounts of energy and health. The difference is unreal.

Now, the other half is exercise and diet.. it's true. For this, I bought a recumbent bike off of Craigslist for $100, and would wheel that sucker directly in front of the TV and play video games for 30-60 mins daily while doing 20 mph. I bought some second hand dumbbell free weights and a weight bench and formed my own routine with them and would do that 2-3 times a week.

Make rules with yourself and stick to them! It's a lifestyle change, not a diet! NO fried crap or fast food.. period. No grease, or as little as possible. Start reading the labels on EVERYTHING that you put in your body. As little saturated fat as possible. Eat your veggies. Shop the perimeters of the grocery store.. meaning.. produce section and meats. Nothing in a box or in a can.

If you follow the above all winter long, by next spring you'll be healthy, lean and feeling like an entirely new person. Promise.

[daratheresa]

If you follow the above all winter long, by next spring you'll be healthy, lean and feeling like an entirely new person. Promise.

*applauds*

i second this...

[Sham]

That's great advice. There is no need to think about "starting Monday" or "after New Years". I will get a salad with grilled chicken for lunch. I have my water with some flavoring in it.
Thanks for the help.

[junglesmacks]

That's great advice. There is no need to think about "starting Monday" or "after New Years". I will get a salad with grilled chicken for lunch. I have my water with some flavoring in it.
Thanks for the help.

Exactly. It's just little rules and changes in your life that you start incorporating one at a time and just stick to them. Before you know it, your lifestyle has changed and it's now habit. In fact.. to me it's like quitting smoking. At first, it's tough.. wow. But.. after a few weeks, you start to smell how nasty they smell and how awful people look doing it. It's the same with crap food and junk that people put in their bodies. You start looking at other peoples carts in the grocery store and think "WOW.. I used to eat like that!" while you wheel yours past loaded with fresh vegetables and fruits. Once you become aware of what you're doing to your body and how common it is in this country to just not care and poison it on a daily basis, it's like eating the apple in the garden of Eden.. you realize how naked you were.


Here's a cool food tip for great salads: I get the big bags of frozen chicken breasts from Sam's Club (who.. by the way.. carries whey protein and supplements for cheap! pick up a 5lb bag and a huge bottle of flax seed oil caps next time). I boil about 3-4 chicken breasts at a time, and then refrigerate them in a ziploc bag. This gives you super lean and virtually fat free chicken breast to cut up and put in salads or whatever. I get the tubs of organic baby spinach from Sam's and make killer spinach salads with chicken, tomato, avocado, cucumber and a few craisins on top with raspberry vinagarette. I crave the suckers..

[lucky420]

Good Luck Moon, you can do eet (said in my best Cuban accent)

[AntiM]

Hey, my Wii says I've lost two pounds since I bothered to get on. I quit working out round the time dad died, even mild depression becomes a struggle for me. So knowing I maintained my weight instead of gaining is encouraging. Two pounds is not weight loss, that's a water weight fluctuation.

I do well, then I slide. But I don't quit forever.

[lucky420]

gaining no weight around this time of year plus the stress of your dad passing away, IS an accomplishment. Congratulations! I know what you mean about the slide, I do the same thing....grrrr

[moonrise]

wow, a whole bunch of good stuff since I last visited (too much to quote)

@daratheresa interesting you get the bon fire w/pygmys w/razor blades too, I wrote glass etc but those and thumbtacks and a whole host of other sharp weapons are what they use! (someday I hope to yank them into the bon fire with me!)
if I over or under do it...lyrica is non-narcotic (I think) the miltary will give it to you I think? It's nongeneric, I can't get brand name,
Similar is generic called, gabapentin, sadly you feel epileptic! from these drugs?!?! wtf???? At least the gabapentin helps quell the pygmy pain attacks.
gabapentin is for eplilepsy, it can give the patient STRONG eplileptic symptoms...and at BM!!!! Allll the flashing lights... I needed a guide first night out!
I wore DARK sunglasses, was a bit concerned but I was ok, wierd lookin 'nah...lmfao...I managed, ice was rare, gabapentin easy..you get the picture....or you will 2011, the others KNOW what I'm sayin' (it's ok, laugh!, I did)
I'm a minor slow motion trainwreck here but I hide it very well, Tux n cane, no one really knew...except me and the pygmys! I wanted to do a LOT more at BM but had to be a good little camper (haha, I found plenty to do but........)
ok, 'nuff spilling the beans here...(btw, my campmates found/caught me sleep walking towards Red Lightning one night! I almost needed a leash! and..and...and lastly...oh yea and thank dawg I was dressed! LOL )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back to reality camp here folks...
The ice water is an East coast Italian family thing, agh, but it does help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My issues are too much or too little movement destroy me, soft tissue presses on damaged nerves...I have been walking more (I was a an outdoors guide, private pro snowmobiler, skier for dawgs sakes!) now all I can handle is low low impact stuff..walkin' is my best bet, maybe a gym with a low impact whatever is it these days...for now walking is free. (or at least cheap n easy!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My plan is eat better (js, yea, I like fresh food n vitamins not much meat, chicken perhaps)
Here's an issue, since BM, I am hooked on panckaes!, bacon! etc! etc! etc!
BM ruined my AM routine a tad! and the holidays on top!
Thank dawg I like oatmeal! with apples, I had it with fresh apple for breakfast today, phew.
A gypsy taught me to eat a TON of oatmeal before holiday or party dinners!
It seems to help! STUFF yourself with oatmeal before the big dinner days for sure! plus we need to all remember what jelly said, get the stomach shrunk, yup.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's sunny out, goin' for a walk and I ain't quitting tobacco until after new years holidays btw...this I knew and I'm not THAT tough!...I can only handle so much at once (cut waaay back though!) I read a lot about it, it's a selfish habit, I won't go on here...too ugly and that's what google is for.
I will mention interesting facts, such as a fat cells can release the tobacco toxins YEARS later...greeeaaat...interesting scientific fact to know.
On a much happier note; I am looking forward to re-joining the ranks of non-smokers! I'll get there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Time to wear some shoe sole leather down!
Encouragment to everyone! btw I like "don't forget your towel" for the EFC motto..just a thought! hahaha...where's the eplayan who digs that sayin'?

[Elliot]

Oatmeal yes, with honey! I love honey, and it's supposed to be quite good for us (if what I have read is correct).

So you are not ready to stop smoking until after New Years. I understand. We're not the Health Gestapo here. We'll be here for you when you are ready.

[daratheresa]

@daratheresa interesting you get the bon fire w/pygmys w/razor blades too, I wrote glass etc but those and thumbtacks and a whole host of other sharp weapons are what they use! (someday I hope to yank them into the bon fire with me!)
if I over or under do it...lyrica is non-narcotic (I think) the miltary will give it to you I think? It's nongeneric, I can't get brand name,
Similar is generic called, gabapentin, sadly you feel epileptic! from these drugs?!?! wtf???? At least the gabapentin helps quell the pygmy pain attacks.
gabapentin is for eplilepsy, it can give the patient STRONG eplileptic symptoms...and at BM!!!! Allll the flashing lights... I needed a guide first night out!

yeah, i can't take any of those... i've tried them all and they all wreck me. i swear my IQ dropped by like 40 points while i was on lyrica. and the brain/psych side effects were not worth the minor pain negation. my issue is that over time my nerves lose the ability to keep the nerve sheathes intact and as the sheathes disappear the nerves underneath them slowly die off... yes, it's as terrible as it sounds, but i really do deal with it pretty well at this point. it's not a huge deal as long as i remember to stick to my eating and exercise and vitamin and other herbal guidelines.

and too funny. too funny.

Oatmeal yes, with honey! I love honey, and it's supposed to be quite good for us (if what I have read is correct).

honey is a natural antibiotic. and if stored properly it pretty much never goes bad. and as an aside i will sometimes swap out my multi-vitamin with bee pollen.

also part of what i do to make sure my feet get a break is make myself sit down for 15 minutes out of every hour. unless one of the kids is seriously hurt then i do not get up. it's actually pretty difficult to manage with the kids and all. and it probably makes it seem to people online as though i just sit at the computer all day long, since those 15 minutes's are usually spent at my desk. but it does help with the can't over-do it/can't under-do it catch 22.

[moonrise]

@daratheresa interesting you get the bon fire w/pygmys w/razor blades too, I wrote glass etc but those and thumbtacks and a whole host of other sharp weapons are what they use! (someday I hope to yank them into the bon fire with me!)
if I over or under do it...lyrica is non-narcotic (I think) the miltary will give it to you I think? It's nongeneric, I can't get brand name,
Similar is generic called, gabapentin, sadly you feel epileptic! from these drugs?!?! wtf???? At least the gabapentin helps quell the pygmy pain attacks.
gabapentin is for eplilepsy, it can give the patient STRONG eplileptic symptoms...and at BM!!!! Allll the flashing lights... I needed a guide first night out!

yeah, i can't take any of those... i've tried them all and they all wreck me. i swear my IQ dropped by like 40 points while i was on lyrica. and the brain/psych side effects were not worth the minor pain negation. my issue is that over time my nerves lose the ability to keep the nerve sheathes intact and as the sheathes disappear the nerves underneath them slowly die off... yes, it's as terrible as it sounds, but i really do deal with it pretty well at this point. it's not a huge deal as long as i remember to stick to my eating and exercise and vitamin and other herbal guidelines.

and too funny. too funny.

Oatmeal yes, with honey! I love honey, and it's supposed to be quite good for us (if what I have read is correct).

honey is a natural antibiotic. and if stored properly it pretty much never goes bad. and as an aside i will sometimes swap out my multi-vitamin with bee pollen.

also part of what i do to make sure my feet get a break is make myself sit down for 15 minutes out of every hour. unless one of the kids is seriously hurt then i do not get up. it's actually pretty difficult to manage with the kids and all. and it probably makes it seem to people online as though i just sit at the computer all day long, since those 15 minutes's are usually spent at my desk. but it does help with the can't over-do it/can't under-do it catch 22.

Hahaha..."my IQ dropped 40 points on Lyrica"...yup, probably...yikes!
Sorry to laugh but it gives new meaning to "that smarts" when referring to pain.

I always hear, honey is a cheap source of Vit B and a teaspoon "fools" the brain/body into thinking it "got the bee pollen" (bee pollen daily is best, but costlier)
I'm glad, honey saves some money and tatses better, thank you very much.
However, I do miss the bee pollen on cold cereal.

My bee keeper freinds told me they stopped eating bee pollen because when they collected it, the smaller hole for the bees to enter the hive would scrape off some of the bees legs!
They took the smaller hole entrance plate off, they just could not do that to their bees anymore...they get plenty of honey..

@darathaersa...what's the best way to store honey?

@Elliot, thanks...yea..I'll get to the stopping cigs, I've been cutting back for starters.