The 2018 Exercise Motivation Thread

[Draco]

I rediscovered this thread. I will have to read back for ideas.

I recently (4 weeks ago) started to go back to the gym. Been on the treadmill for about 40 minutes during lunch break at work. 40 minutes is all the time I have but better than not going, right?

 

[Columbine]

I've been bad these past few days, and done nothing. I'm just too exhausted and sore I don't like exercising on pain meds either. Maybe next week will be better

 

[Norachan]

I recently (4 weeks ago) started to go back to the gym. Been on the treadmill for about 40 minutes during lunch break at work. 40 minutes is all the time I have but better than not going, right?

Yes, of course! I think I heard you have to do 20 minutes of exercise before your body starts to burn fat, so that means your getting 20 minutes of fat burning every day. That's awesome!

I've been bad these past few days, and done nothing. I'm just too exhausted and sore I don't like exercising on pain meds either. Maybe next week will be better

Hope you're feeling better soon Laura.

I'm feeling pretty exhausted and sore too. Yesterday we had to a bit of major repair work on our deck. One of the support beams was rotten, so we had to haul everything off the deck, jack up the sagging corner, remove the rotten beam and replace it. There was lots of heavy bits of wood that had to be carried around, so I feel like I've been weight lifting.

At least it meant I had a trip to the garden center and hardware store. It's too early to plant any flowers yet, but nice to see so much colour at the store.

Today I did about 45 minutes of stretching, then three hours of gardening. Got to get everything ready for planting next month.

So tired now, I think I need an early night.

 

[jtbo]

Yes, of course! I think I heard you have to do 20 minutes of exercise before your body starts to burn fat, so that means your getting 20 minutes of fat burning every day. That's awesome!

I'm not sure if that is quite as simple as that.

For example if you exercise at the morning before eating, you will burn fat right away, IF intensity is enough low and IF there is some protein in gut.

Now if there is no protein, then amino acid will be preferred, which means muscle burns.

If there is food in system, carbs will be used from system before anything else.

45minutes to 1 hour is where energy storages of muscles are depleted and after that it is either food from system (carbs) or fat or amino acids that will be burned, body quite easily takes amino acids, especially if exercise is hard enough.

To make things more complex, to avoid saving mode and to avoid amino acids being burned, little bit of carbs during exercise works wonders making sure fat is being burned, also one needs to remain hydrated.

It is quite complex system without any really working shortcuts.

However if you work muscles hard it will cause less fat burn, however you might be able to burn local energy storages and re-filling those is where calories go, so when sleeping body might run on fat alone.

There are so many ways exercise can help to loose weight, that any movement really does count, it really does not matter so much if you burn fat or not, as long as you have little something on a day that boost metabolism and make sure eat less than consume and remember to keep protein in system all the time.



Today I did 58km / 3 hour bike ride, 2721calories did say bye bye. I did fill up before ride, so I did not eat anything during the ride and that was not so great, after the ride it is so hard then to keep eating under control. Also right shoulder is really painful now on some positions, so I guess it is lot of rest for this evening.

 

[Norachan]

I'm not sure if that is quite as simple as that.

For example if you exercise at the morning before eating, you will burn fat right away, IF intensity is enough low and IF there is some protein in gut.

Now if there is no protein, then amino acid will be preferred, which means muscle burns.

If there is food in system, carbs will be used from system before anything else.

45minutes to 1 hour is where energy storages of muscles are depleted and after that it is either food from system (carbs) or fat or amino acids that will be burned, body quite easily takes amino acids, especially if exercise is hard enough.

To make things more complex, to avoid saving mode and to avoid amino acids being burned, little bit of carbs during exercise works wonders making sure fat is being burned, also one needs to remain hydrated.

It is quite complex system without any really working shortcuts.

However if you work muscles hard it will cause less fat burn, however you might be able to burn local energy storages and re-filling those is where calories go, so when sleeping body might run on fat alone.

There are so many ways exercise can help to loose weight, that any movement really does count, it really does not matter so much if you burn fat or not, as long as you have little something on a day that boost metabolism and make sure eat less than consume and remember to keep protein in system all the time.



Today I did 58km / 3 hour bike ride, 2721calories did say bye bye. I did fill up before ride, so I did not eat anything during the ride and that was not so great, after the ride it is so hard then to keep eating under control. Also right shoulder is really painful now on some positions, so I guess it is lot of rest for this evening.

Damn it body, why do you have to be so complex?

Does a glass of orange juice count as carbs, even though it's liquid? I usually sip juice while I'm doing yoga.

 

[jtbo]

Damn it body, why do you have to be so complex?

Does a glass of orange juice count as carbs, even though it's liquid? I usually sip juice while I'm doing yoga.

Yes, how solid it is might have some effect on how fast it gets absorbed, but carb is a carb, no matter which form it is in.

Sugar in water, or sugar cube, orange juice or wheat bread, it is pretty much same in terms of carbs.

Chocolate after workout speeds up recovery a bit and two pieces of milk chocolate in a day helps to keep certain form of cancer away in males. However this is not good excuse of eating whole sheet or two of chocolate! (I'm guilty as charged )

Usually I eat a lots before bike ride, orange juice, carbs and loads of protein as protein absorbs at rate of 0.1-10g/hr so as I need to get over 100g a day, that is more than 10 hours even at best rate, so breakfast is very high protein, but also need those carbs too to get body started.

Then I aim to eat carbs during the ride and after ride is more of carbs and some chocolate which works wonders during the sleep, legs are not even nearly as stiff with it than without it.

Yesterday was 4 pizzas, 1 sheet of chocolate, 1 liter of orange juice, 1 kettle of meat/pasta/veggie-stew 3 large bottles of water. 4 pizzas and orange juice were my breakfast.
I should of ate some wheat buns during the ride to be able to go faster/longer and burn more calories though.

Heftiest breakfasts have been over 4000 calories, that is for rides over 4 hours, but I need to try to improve energy storing of body so that I could ride longer and faster, it's over 70km and 4 hours in challenging terrain that I should be able to do and that is still very distant dream.

 

[foxxycat]

I always feel best on a equal mix of complex carbs- ones that take a long time to break down- starch veggies or wheat and protein. I fill the plate half carbs half protein and my salad bowl full of spinach which I nuke for 3 min=don't add water-it's perfect steamed spinach.

orange juice are simple carbs-which will provide energy right away. simple carbs break down faster causing blood sugar spike-any simple carb will do this.

for a longer sustained burn- pasta is the best- it has some protein and complex carbs-this forces the body to burn calories to break it down.

This week I did an experiment-instead of pasta with my lunch I upped my protein and veggies. Spinach has some starch in it and fills me up. I also eat pea pods and carrots. both are good at filling belly without heavy calories-I add ranch dip-one needs fats as well. Believe it or not fats actually help one sustain longer exercising than simple sugars. And fills belly longer. I find a good mix of protein n fats worked just as well for me as pasta/chix/cheese/spinach.

I have lost 1 to 2 pounds but only started Monday. I cheated at supper time but during the day I don't eat carbs-more carrots to replace carbs- I did find at the end of 20 min of riding I was more tired-so I need to add some pasta next week. When I eat a big plate of pasta chicken 3 hours before a 90 min ride gives me more energy..sorry this is so long.

One thing to remember-everyone is different. My body always ran better on pasta instead of rice/potato. I find potato spikes my blood sugar too fast and high-it to me feels just like eating a donut...so I try really hard to only eat at night because sugary foods put me to sleep.

ok this week lunchtime bike ride tue wed thur all the way to fire station.

yesterday it rained-did calisthenics. Push ups, lunges, squats-basically light aerobics in place with good music playing...

 

[jtbo]

Oh yes, it is really different for me, orange juice or doughnut gives me good 1 hour of hyper power where I don't get tired much at all no matter how hard I push.

Pasta is just energy, it does not give me any boost, tends to make me tired, but it does help me going, however pizza with tortilla base is not making me tired while still gives energy to keep going for a lot longer than pasta.

So when I combine orange juice and pizza I get instant boost and also long term boost.

Wheat buns with ground beef and cheese, then drinking orange juice is what works for me when eating during the ride.

I don't feel too much of blood sugar variation though, sure orange juice gives that boost, but there is not that crash afterwards, but with pasta it is kind of instantaneous nausea. It needs to be balanced with some very high sugar content for not to doze off. It is really weird why it does that.
Still pasta works well for legs, gives energy well, just my head likes to seek comfort of bed after eating pasta.

Anyway I like best to eat and get out to ride immediately after that. Then it is quite easy to have calorie intake adjusted so that fat burns during the night.

Potato also can give nice boost, potato combined with orange juice is really nice, only eating potato is such a chore, have to eat a lots of it to get any energy.

 

[Kieka]

Went up the mountain again this morning and rode my bike to the pet store yesterday. Small victories.

Seeing all of your cold weather photos really makes me appreciate the weather here. Tomorrow the local mountain will be the site of the largest ongoing outdoor Easter sunrise service. Which means it will be really crowded. I am hoping to time it right to avoid the worst of the crowds. I've been the service before and they have a few different pastors give short sermons. It really is nice, but way too crowded for my taste.

 

[jtbo]

You want to know how it is to ride like this?

 

[Norachan]

Beautiful pictures @keika and jtbo

I just did an hour of yoga on Saturday. I worked all day, it was kind of nice to have an excuse to sit down, then did some yoga to get the kinks out after that.

Today I finished work a bit early, so did a couple of hours of gardening and then 30 minutes yoga. There is so much to do outside. I try to switch between 40 minutes of hard work, such as sawing, raking or hauling wood, and 40 minutes of something easier, such as wiring up any holes in the fence.

It's nice to be outside. The cats are all there, chasing each other around and lounging in the sun.

 

[jtbo]

Race King race sport were tires I had on:


It was -16C last night and as this ride was morning time, there is no water in these pics, it is ice. Would you ride on this?


Of course that resulted bike escaping from below me, but I do ride MTB, that is not same as other bicycles, falling down is quite difficult with it, just put foot down and straighten bike, riding can continue immediately:

Maybe I put spike tires on for tomorrow morning ride though, I can then ride without slowing down.


So this is how it is to ride on those winter trails.

Edge of that narrow trail is such that front tire sinks in and you will fly over handlebars instantly, so where you can ride is quite bit narrower than width of the path. Then there is this:

Consider how it is to make sure your tires stay on that narrow path, your handlebars are not clipping trees, making sure you keep shifting weight right way, while your eyes are full of water because of the wind and it is very bumpy so you really can't see much at all.
Oh and hills are steep, really really steep, stopping might not be an option, because brakes or tires are not gripping enough, then they claim that being some sort of fun...


I started riding before 8am as weather is nice then, I try to get tomorrow out there at 7am or earlier as then I should be able to catch sunrise, days are already so long, it is amazing how nightmare of winter is starting to disappear.

Ok, there is small amount of snow and ice still left... "Small", like very slightly, only a bit, just a little more to melt, except tomorrow afternoon there is a blizzard coming and we get tons more of the white stuff, lovely, just lovely, it is pretty, but toes are freezing, gloves are wet etc.

4 shirts, 2 jackets and spare jacket to have something dry on backpack is needed, so one can't just go on ride, then all of that needs to be washed after the ride because of sweat etc.

I did fly few times over handlebars, got lot of snow into shoe, gloves wet etc. By 10am I had burned over 2500 calories already. I'm hoping to ride at evening a little and then at the morning, right now it is above freezing and everything is too wet for other than walking.

 

[Norachan]

That looks like a lot of fun jtbo

I can't believe how much snow you have. It's April, for crying out loud!

 

[jtbo]

That looks like a lot of fun jtbo

I can't believe how much snow you have. It's April, for crying out loud!

It is really hard workout though, 165bpm was maximum that I could achieve, here it took 5 minutes to travel 600 meters with pretty much pushing as hard as I could:


My HR should stay on blue zone, but you can see how it is quite bit of more, it is a workout that stresses all muscles though:


That makes it bit less fun, with less weight it might be more fun though, with bike and all my gear, tools extra clothes etc. weight was around 130kg total, so that requires quite bit of power to move up the hill.

You might enjoy it more as climbing those hills would be a lot easier, I reach my maximum HR so easily that I have to stop to gasp air all the time

 

[rubysmama]

That looks like a lot of fun jtbo

I can't believe how much snow you have. It's April, for crying out loud!

We can only hope jtbo is playing an April fools joke on us, and is kidding about that -16C temp and all that snow.

 

[jtbo]

We can only hope jtbo is playing an April fools joke on us, and is kidding about that -16C temp and all that snow.

Sorry, no such jokes, but see, it is warming up, although very slowly and average temperature of 24 hours likes to sit below freezing still:


End of next week should mean our snow is starting finally to melt a bit, but it takes still time.

I think that foxxycat got snow before we did, but maybe their snow has melted bit faster?

Here is small shocker for you all, tomorrow it goes up again, but then again our 1.5 months of summer (at best, sometimes it is spring and autumn only) would not happen if snow would disappear too soon...

 

[Furballsmom]

Does a glass of orange juice count as carbs, even though it's liquid

carbs, yes
sugars, yes

 

[jtbo]

I did some walking in the snow Blizzard, but as they don't plow until after snowing stops, there were ankle deep of snow, under that smooth ice, so it was kinda difficult to walk.



Here is fun fact for you, despite the blizzard, ice scream sellers were out there selling ice cream, only in Finland. Well, at least it does not melt too quickly

 

[Norachan]

Here is fun fact for you, despite the blizzard, ice scream sellers were out there selling ice cream, only in Finland. Well, at least it does not melt too quickly

Not only in Finland. I've been to ski resorts in Japan where they sell ice-cream. Just the thing to warm you up after sliding down the mountains.



There's crazy, mad people everywhere.

1 hour of yoga followed by about an hour of gardening today. There are a couple of big dead trees at the bottom of the cats enclosure. I'm trying to work out how to get them down without damaging the fence.

I need Godzilla to come and pick them for me.

 

[jtbo]

Not only in Finland. I've been to ski resorts in Japan where they sell ice-cream. Just the thing to warm you up after sliding down the mountains.



There's crazy, mad people everywhere.

1 hour of yoga followed by about an hour of gardening today. There are a couple of big dead trees at the bottom of the cats enclosure. I'm trying to work out how to get them down without damaging the fence.

I need Godzilla to come and pick them for me.

Taking care of those trees is just an another way of exercise, tutorial video: