h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Points accepted, S/M/B - but may I submit that when I say I'm a reformed fatbastard, I mean it! I went to the gym very unfit, and significantly overweight. I wore floppy T-shirts to hide my gut until I had shrunk it enough to wear an athletic vest (which gets less sweaty - I sweat buckets in the gym!).

Gyms can be expensive. Check whether your firm has a corporate membership anywhere, or suggest they do it (good for morale and productivity) - also check local schools and colleges, and our council's leisure facilities, which are often very much cheaper. But make sure tey have proper fitness instructors (which even expensive gyms sometimes don't).

Am I right in thinking wholemeal bread is rich in calcium?

Ah, Calcium! Some good sources are: orange juice, even without the calcium added; broccoli; spinach; tofu (soybean curd) -- read labels though, to determine calcium content; fat-free cheeses. Some cereals are also calcium-fortified.

Going to the gym is fine, as long as you don't have a chronic health condition. If you do, be careful to check and see if the trainer at your gym is knowledgeable about the effects of exercise (and the temporary rise in blood-pressure) on your particular condition (mine is diabetes, with proliferative retinopathy -- spikes in BP a big NO-NO)

I just know a lot of people who won't go to the gym for the reasons I mentioned, but am pleased to hear that it is not a universal feeling. Mainly, I wanted to point out that there are HEAPS of options in exercise, and I agree that the gym has a lot of good points, it might just not be for everyone.

About wholemeal bread... I'm not sure, and will defer to Spacecadet on all the possible dietry sources. But then, I guess the point I'm trying to make about calcium can be made about any diet -- make sure whatever you do, you still get the nutrients your body requires.

And I'm impressed at your success. I hope I manage to do the same.

, or ... having FINALLY made the commitment to herself (which is (hopefully) the first step).

Don't forget swimming - I did. I can't swim well because of my asthma (most pools are too hot, so I get sweaty, out of breath and the air is humid - hence I can't breathe!). But swimming is fabulous exercise, as others have said.

I'm planning on regular swimming next month, when my youngest starts school.

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Hi Just,

I'll go along with 98% of your list; as I've no experience with cross-training, I cannot comment. I'm also glad to know about the difficulty of achieving the wash-board stomach....part of me fantasizes about that even while knowing that I'm not interested in that amount of effort.
Arnie smokes, too, (I don't know how he's billed as a fitness guru) so he's not THAT bright....
I've had to tell my doctor to use the skinfold calipers instead of the tape-measure because as much as my belly sags more than I want to admit to, there's less fat on it than there used to be....I'm big boned, 6'2" and by now fairly well-muscled; I don't fit ANY of the hight-weight charts...

Fruitbat

Other sources of calcium, apart from dark greens are figs, sesame seeds or tahini (sesame seed paste - my favourite!) and fortified soya "milk". (There are many brands of soya milk available in the UK, but the one my daughter has been given from when she first started solids and I stopped breast feeding her is Plamil.)

Re the expensive gym subject and posing in front of mirrors etc, sporting lycra. I've worked out at some right old sweat boxes and don't wear lycra. Usually I'm sporting scruffy attire, as it'll only get filthy in the gym, although I do wear gloves because my hands get too calloused without them. I think the sort of place that has been described are the expensive "health clubs".

The gym that I use now is the most expensive one that I've ever belonged to and the membership works out at £12 per month. Mind you, as it's only five minutes walk from the house I don't have the additional expense of travelling.

As for cross training - go for it! Swimming and running are great activities but please don't forget stretching - especially Yoga!

Hi Gwennie,

My gym is not a fancy health club, but it's not especially cheap either - about £40 per month for unlimited visits and free access to all training session (circuits etc.)

Still has mirrors, though

Yeah! My gym has lots of mirrors too! You know, I'm convinced that they fix the mirrors (as in fair grounds) to flatter the punters as I never seem to look that good when I get home!

My gym costs the equivalent of £25 a year! It's in South Africa. Our national currency has been devalued so much now that overseas holidays are impossible unless you're a millionaire.

I often walk to the gym, it's a 20-30 minute trip, but it adds to the calories burned!

That might hold true for you, Gwennie, but all I'M saying is that it doesn't for everyone. I'm very glad gyms don't daunt you, but I know people who it does. We can't help our insecurities.

I went rollerblading yesterday. Woo.

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I'm not a big fan of the gyms either.. but there are plenty of ways to get or stay fit outside them - either by walking, running, cycling, or even roller-blading, which can also be great ways to get some fresh air and see some wonderful country side (depending where you live!) or my personal favourite - swimming. Which is great exercise and there are no mirrors to be seen

Hey, reformed fatbastard -

Question: You pitch low weights and lots of reps. I've heard other people tell me the same thing, but the exercise plans on my bowflex are all in the 8-12 reps category. What's the advantage of the additional reps?

I have to admit (1) Ego pushes me to increase the weights as soon as I can and (2) fewer reps means a faster work out.

What's the advantage to doing the longer sets?

JZG is probably busy and can answer later, so meanwhile here's what I have to say!

For weight loss you have to burn energy. Now I don't know how you rate the resistance with the bowflex apparatus, but when lifting ordnary weights you'll see that, for instance, you can lift 200 lbs one time and 150 lbs ten times (or a little more, or a little less). 200 * 1 = 200 and 150 * 10 = 1500. So with the lighter weight you burn 7.5 times as much energy in one set. If you reduced the weight to 100 pounds you could probably lift it 40 times, and burn 20 times as much energy as when you did 1 rep with 200. But if you reduce it too much it becomes too boring because you'll be repping until you wished it would be doomsday.

I can say from my experience, that reps in the 10 to 50 range can be good for building muscle strength and size, and will also use up a lot of energy and thus burn fat in the process. To me low reps are reps below five. I don't recommend low reps because: 1) it becomes very difficult to control the weight and this unnecesarily increases the risk of injury; 2) reps are reduced a lot while weight is only increased a little - consequently you don't get a meaningful increase in the training stimulus; 3) You drain away your nervous energy very rapidly, even though you don't expend much energy as actual work. I used to become extremely tired from a workout of half an hour of very heavy lifting, while if I reduce the weights only a little bit I can go on for an hour and complete much, much more work in total. Now if the low reps really gave you a better muscle stimulus, I would be doing something stupid because I would be expending a lot more time and energy than was necessary. But I don't want strength alone - I also want to improve my capacity to do a large amount of muscular work. And longer workouts with lighter weights and more reps does improve my work capacity. And they burn off fat. And they are effective in increasing muscle size and strength. That's a combination you can't get from either heavy low-rep lifting or extended low-intensity aerobic work on their own. Weight training is for me better than aerobic training because I can make sure that ALL my muscles are worked equally. I know of no aerobic apparatus that does that, at least not one that is freely and cheaply available here in the RSA.

Porkchop, I'm glad you noticed that building muscle mass increases your metabolism and makes it easier to get and stay lean. Trust me, if you are really overweight then muscles form only a very small percentage of your total body weight. You can add 5 pounds of muscle, and it will not make a visible difference to your bulk but will increase your metabolism so much that it will enable you to lose weight while consuming more calories than you did before. And that means you can lose weight while still eating a nutritious and satisfying diet.

Thanks for the advice - I'll give it a try.