After 19 days of recording food and weight, I finally committed to logging my waist measurement in MyFitnessPal. Not the waist size of the trousers I wear but the measurement around my middle. I started out beneath the 40-inch (or above) danger zone identified by the NHS but a little higher than the ideal of 37 inches (or below). I wasn't surprised by this because it was consistent with the additional weight that I'm working to lose. On day 26, I took a second waist measurement and was delighted to see it had dropped by an inch.
At this stage, four weeks in about to start my fifth week, I'm completely sold on MyFitnessPal and its usefulness in logging calories and progress. And Google Fit and MapMyRun are equally useful for the exercise data they provide.
Making exercise effective
This week I've been revisiting the idea of weights, since being inspired by one of the MyFitnessPal community discussions. A guy had taken three pictures of himself. One at 315 lb, one at 195 lb before muscle tone had been built and one at 195 lb completely toned. I'm not aiming for the same muscle tone, but I am a bit worried about the lack of strength exercises I've been doing and was inspired that this person who started a long way above my weight is now around half a stone lighter than my current weight and is completely toned as well. It took him a good 18 months to two years, but the one thing he said was that he wished he'd started weights earlier.
This thing about weights and resistance training comes up time and again in forums and on websites, and although there's definitely a weight/cardo divide between segments of the fitness world, it spurred me on to look around at what's available.
Dumbbells up to a weight of 2-3 kg aren't badly priced but the problem is that all but the top end of these weights aren't heavy enough to be of much use for training and toning. So I looked for alternatives to spending out on expensive equipment when I'm not certain of my requirements and found this suggestion of using milk containers.
While I didn't go so far as strapping socks and water bottles to my body, which was one of the other suggestions, I did fill a 4-pint milk container with water and the weight was just under 2.5 kg. This proved a gentle introduction to resistance training. But already I've felt the need to increase this weight and a 4-pint milk container filled with sand weighs just over 3 kg, while a 6-pint container weighs around 3.5 kg when filled with water and near 5 kg when filled with sand.
In combination these provide a good variety of weight for different exercises, and for info: a 25 kg bag of sand from a DIY store is less than £2.
Dumbbells up to a weight of 2-3 kg aren't badly priced but the problem is that all but the top end of these weights aren't heavy enough to be of much use for training and toning. So I looked for alternatives to spending out on expensive equipment when I'm not certain of my requirements and found this suggestion of using milk containers.
While I didn't go so far as strapping socks and water bottles to my body, which was one of the other suggestions, I did fill a 4-pint milk container with water and the weight was just under 2.5 kg. This proved a gentle introduction to resistance training. But already I've felt the need to increase this weight and a 4-pint milk container filled with sand weighs just over 3 kg, while a 6-pint container weighs around 3.5 kg when filled with water and near 5 kg when filled with sand.
In combination these provide a good variety of weight for different exercises, and for info: a 25 kg bag of sand from a DIY store is less than £2.
Ideas for using milk containers
I'm no health guru, so this is purely what I do and I don't accept any responsibility for people injuring themselves or damaging people or property.
A milk container it turns out is great for pairing with step exercises on the stairs. Climb two stairs while lifting the container from your middle to behind your head with two hands (as if you were performing a throw-in from the side of the pitch in a football game). Then raise the container above your head, down to your chest, forwards (extending your arms straight out in front of you), back to your chest and then down to your middle as you descend backwards. Fifteen minutes of this is good a good combination of strength and cardio exercise.
It works fairly well when running on the spot as well, although now I’ve seen Boyle work out with milk containers on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, it does take on an edge of foolishness. Something I’m afraid that goes with the territory of loosing weight and improving fitness. You become something of a cliché, and feel at first quite ridiculous running around the streets and even exercising at home (especially when it's January and the new year resolution period). But plenty of other people do it, and if you get through a month of fitness and exercise without giving up then you’re doing well.
A milk container it turns out is great for pairing with step exercises on the stairs. Climb two stairs while lifting the container from your middle to behind your head with two hands (as if you were performing a throw-in from the side of the pitch in a football game). Then raise the container above your head, down to your chest, forwards (extending your arms straight out in front of you), back to your chest and then down to your middle as you descend backwards. Fifteen minutes of this is good a good combination of strength and cardio exercise.
It works fairly well when running on the spot as well, although now I’ve seen Boyle work out with milk containers on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, it does take on an edge of foolishness. Something I’m afraid that goes with the territory of loosing weight and improving fitness. You become something of a cliché, and feel at first quite ridiculous running around the streets and even exercising at home (especially when it's January and the new year resolution period). But plenty of other people do it, and if you get through a month of fitness and exercise without giving up then you’re doing well.
Further ideas for milk containers
Take two 4-pint containers one in each hand (filled with water or sand), and while running on the spot lift them so your arms are at right angles. Bring the bottles together in the centre of your body then open them out as wide as you can, expanding your chest. Bring them back to the centre and then lift them up as high as you can while pressed together. Return the bottles back down again to where they were and repeat the wide opening of your chest.
Note: here are some more in-depth ideas for using milk containers (or jugs as the American sites prefer to call them).
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