Pre-holiday health and fitness goals, anyone?

[hooplady]

So with my condition, it's almost impossible for me to get any cardio exercise without injuring myself, because repetitive joint movements, impact, and resistance all beat the shit out of my already mangled, half-living corpse.

But a fellow mangled person introduced me to this whacky frickin' crazy weighted hula hoop: https://www.shape.com/fitness/gear/fitness-accessories/smart-hula-hoop-tiktok-trend-amazon

It feels vaguely like being punched in the kidneys repeatedly by an army of toddlers, but otherwise, it's decent cardio with much less wear and tear on my joints, especially my knees and hips, which all need surgery.

I've seen weighted hoops, LED hoops, and fire hoops, but this is the most bizarre thing I've ever encountered. So do you twirl the actual hoop or do the weights move around you?

[Morning Glory]

Update:
I've lost about 10 lbs since I started this challenge!!! Most of it was early on, then I gained some back and lost it again. I'd like to lose another 5 lbs by year end.

I've drastically reduced snacking and TV watching, mostly due to being busy with work and having to get up earlier. Some days I'm too busy to eat lunch too.  I had cut back on booze at first but that's crept up again, planning to go booze-free for a little over a week until we go to my mom's for Thanksgiving. Diet has been pretty healthy overall but I have given up the calorie tracking for now.  I feel like my body isn't retaining water any more and I'm getting less heartburn, which is a nice bonus.

After the new year I really want to get back into strength training (and I'll have a lot more time lol).

[Metalcat]

So with my condition, it's almost impossible for me to get any cardio exercise without injuring myself, because repetitive joint movements, impact, and resistance all beat the shit out of my already mangled, half-living corpse.

But a fellow mangled person introduced me to this whacky frickin' crazy weighted hula hoop: https://www.shape.com/fitness/gear/fitness-accessories/smart-hula-hoop-tiktok-trend-amazon

It feels vaguely like being punched in the kidneys repeatedly by an army of toddlers, but otherwise, it's decent cardio with much less wear and tear on my joints, especially my knees and hips, which all need surgery.

I've seen weighted hoops, LED hoops, and fire hoops, but this is the most bizarre thing I've ever encountered. So do you twirl the actual hoop or do the weights move around you?

The "belt" part stays put and the weight flys around you on a track inside the belt. You can adjust the distance of the weight and that varies the level of difficulty.

The belt is made up of links, and each link has a bit of suspension where it touches your body, so as the weight swings around, the link kind of springs against you softening the impact, hence why it feels kind of like being gently punched by a bunch of tiny little toddler fists, but no bruising like some people get with weighted hoops.

Unlike hula hoop, there's almost no learning curve, anyone could do this within a minute of adjusting belt position.

[Extramedium]

My latest challenge in a friend group is everyone doing a 5k run (or walk) as fast as you can on Thanksgiving morning.  No need to be at an organized run, just out the front door 1.55 miles, then back.

[Metalcat]

Still kicking ass at IF.

Have upgraded from daily eating windows to some alternate day fasting, so 2-3 full fasting days a week.

I have lost almost no weight, however, in this time I have taken two very indulgent food-heavy vacations where I have eaten my weight in both cheese and seafood, and haven't gained an ounce, so I'm chalking that up to a major win.

[Serendip]

@Malcat —that definitely seems like a big win!

I’ve been plugging away at this 30 day walking/hiking/jogging challenge. Pretty great motivation and I’m glad I signed up for it. It gets me out rain, shine or snowstorm.

So far my weight has remained stable even though I’m doing IF fairly consistently and expected to lose another 5 or so..but as I said previously—thiis might  be the weight that my body prefers and it’s a healthy one so I’m fine with no more weight loss and being at ‘maintenance’ stage.

Feeling excited for winter activities but trying to stay active during all the mediocre weather as well..

[Metalcat]

Oh, another win is that I can use my new crazy weight hula hoop.wothout too much strain on my really bad hip. That's a huge win

[anotherAlias]

I'm still stuck at just a 1lb loss despite consistent IF.  This is frustrating.

[Metalcat]

I'm still stuck at just a 1lb loss despite consistent IF.  This is frustrating.

I've advised a lot of people successfully through significant weight loss and one of the things I always say is that if you are maintaining, you're 90% of the way there to losing.

All you need are small changes to see a loss now. Even just burning an extra 100 calories a day will produce about a 1lb/mo loss, and 100 calories is practically nothing.

If you don't have a ton of weight to lose, it's pretty easy to eat for maintenance with IF. I'm a BMI of 23 with a damaged metabolism and a disability that keeps me sedentary, IF won't do shit for my weight loss alone because it's too easy to hit my caloric needs, even with one meal a day if I'm not intentional about what I eat.

[Metalcat]

It's hard to keep track of weight with alternate day fasting because my water weight swings around like crazy, but it looks like I'm down about 3-5lbs since this thread started. I had a sudden drop two days ago, which is typical for me.

I'll be eating on point and for weeks on end the scale will do nothing and then all for a sudden drop. Graphed on a longer timescale though, the slope of loss is clearly a consistent, slow, steady rate, it just looks really choppy in the short term.

[Morning Glory]

Good job Malcat!

I've lost between 7-10 since starting,  but I believe the first ~5 was all water.  My biggest healthy change was taking a long walk after dinner every day.

My kid told me yesterday that I need to work out because I'm too weak to carry him around. I think he is just lazy, but I agree with him that I need to start doing some strength training again,  after the big move.

ETA he's just commandeered my breakfast. Sigh.

Update: he gave half to his little brother because "sharing is caring". Little brother shared his half with the dog then tried to sneak outside with him. I made myself a new one.

[Metalcat]

I'm very happy.

I've never had trouble losing weight as long as I eat well, but will everything my body has been through, and how little I'm able to move these days, it was getting scary how little I could afford to eat without gaining.

My eating had been very, very disciplined for the last year, with no alcohol, and I just wasn't losing unless I ate *under* 1200 calories most days. The problem is, the longer I ate at super low levels, the slower my metabolism slugged downward.

It really felt like a losing battle, and now I feel so much better and right back on track. I can eat intuitively again, I don't have to track calories, I feel like I've regained control of my weight even though I'm still very limited in my activity.

[Serendip]

Went for both an alpine and nordic ski this week. Very mellow, short attempts. But feels good to be building towards better cardio (Nordic!) and better stamina (alpine!). I live in a ski town so this is very much the obsession of nearly everybody at this time of year—getting outside and hoping for more snow and less rain..

Been sticking with my 3-4 micro sessions of yoga as well..

[Metalcat]

I've been back by the ocean for a few days and ate my weight in seafood again.

But the rest of December will be alternate day fasting with alternating 12hr eating windows. So 36:12.

On the non metabolism, non weight-loss front, IF is definitely benefitting my skin, which I had read was possible, but wasn't really expecting.

[mm1970]

Now that I'm not half marathon training, I'm detoxing...from running.
My workouts have returned to gentle - I run 1 to 2x a week, either short and fast or long and suuuuper slow.
DH and I are doing regular workouts together, but they are 20-30 minutes, and we take rest days.
So, this week, a core workout and an upper body weights workout.
Today we took a rest day instead of full body weights.
Mostly because I'm tired, and also because I am newly diagnosed with carpal tunnel, and my hand/wrist hurts.  I'm doing my PT.

Thus, my eating habits, instead of fueling long runs, are returning to fueling life.
My version of IF is most days of 10 hour window (9 am to 7 pm).  This is a bit of a challenge, because I wake up at 5-6 am and work out in the morning.  So 9 is late.  Also, dh cooks dinner and it's rare for me to be able to start eating before 6:30 pm (I have late work meetings too).
I eat 4 meals a day, and I eyeball my fridge in the morning and aim for 2-3 cups of fruit every day and 2-4 cups of veggies (raw or cooked).  Also, a few high protein items and usually 3 "carbs" (sorry Malcat, by that I mean "calorie dense carbs" or "higher glycemic index carbs").
This means I've taken off a few pounds - a little less than 3 lbs in 3 months.

What's better, I feel pretty darned great.

[Serendip]

What's better, I feel pretty darned great.

And isn’t that wonderful!

I successfully completed my November 30x30 challenge and now we are aiming to keep it going with daily walks/hikes  for as long as is possible.  It was a supremely rainy month so it was great motivation to just bundle up and get outside (and I went for a 8km hike this morning)

I am sticking mostly with an 11-7 eating window. Feeling fairly good heading into December..sleeping regularly (at least 8hrs) helps.

[Morning Glory]

I've lost about ten pounds since starting this challenge and my heartburn is better. I can't really say I'm any more fit though: my back is telling me I really need to do more strength training and yoga, so that's my goal moving forward.

[CNM]

Update! I haven't weighed myself in a while, but I am feeling pretty good.  I've gotten into a good exercise habit lately and I've put extra effort into not eating until I'm hungry/stopping eating when I am satiated.  I also did a giant purge of my closet to remove all ill-fitting and unattractive clothing and replaced some items.  This has really improved my mood and general outlook.

[jsap819]

Lost another few lbs since my first post but won't likely hit my goal. I don't mind as long as I feel good and look good. My belly is gone and more muscle tone. I've been slacking with eating clean due to the holidays but I've upped my workout a good amount and have been able to stick with it for nearly 3 months now. Goal for 2022 is to not so much lose more lbs, but get my body fat down to below 20% with 15% being ideal. I'm currently at 23%. Keep it up, everyone!

[Metalcat]

Lost another few lbs since my first post but won't likely hit my goal. I don't mind as long as I feel good and look good. My belly is gone and more muscle tone. I've been slacking with eating clean due to the holidays but I've upped my workout a good amount and have been able to stick with it for nearly 3 months now. Goal for 2022 is to not so much lose more lbs, but get my body fat down to below 20% with 15% being ideal. I'm currently at 23%. Keep it up, everyone!

Also lost a few more pounds, can see my abs nicely, so very happy with that.

My DH is in the best shape of his life heading into 50 and looks frickin' amazing, so it's nice to join him again after such a frustrating period of my metabolism being such shit.

Who knows what will happen in 2022 after the surgeon hacks me to literal bits*, but if everything goes well, I'll gain an enormous capacity for exercise, which will serve me sooooo well going into my 40s.

*6 surgeries including both of my legs being broken