Topic : Ways to Exercise in the House

 This thread surely speaks to changing those everyday behaviors that contribute to your size and shape!
The first thing I had to do was to list all of the behaviors that were unecessary time-wasters and sedentary to boot! Like spending too much time on the Dr Phil boards! I came here because I needed positive attention and feedback, I needed encouragement, approval and, yes, love. All the things I was trying to find in food! Well, I have recieved all of these needed self-esteem builders, and it's time to cut back drastically on screen-to-face time and replace it with more activity.
In addition to my regular work-out routines I will be running up and down the stairs in my house, I will be sweeping the floors more often, in addition to other household chores that I neglect when I spend too much time here. If I'm watching TV, I will get up during each commercial and do something, maybe some crunches or stretches.
The list is endless if you give it some thought.
Anybody else with some innovative and interesting ideas about incorporating more activity into your daily routines?

Well, instead of going up and down the stairs more often.  I literally get home from work - put dinner on and then run up and down the stairs 10 times (up and down being 1) and then after that I sit on my exercise ball and do weights with my arms.  Then I do 100 sit-ups and some other core exercises like laying on your stomach on the ball and doing push ups and laying on your stomach and bringing your legs up - (tightens your butt =)).  If you watch the infomercial on the CORE workout - you can see ideas with out even buying the video.  It's a good 45 min workout or at least 30 minutes.  I do that 3 times a week and the other 4 days I just do the 10 up and down the stairs - it works great and is fast.  Don't do it more - just literally stop and do it all.  I have gotten so good it only takes me about 20 minutes now - it's great.  Hope that might help

My husband has been disabled and bedridden pretty much for about 3 years now.  He spent most of it depressed and eating and gained a LOT of weight and was already a big guy (over 500 lbs.)  June 27th of this year he started a diet and excersize program he made up for himself.  As he couldn't leave the house, could barely walk really, he couldn't do normal things to work out.  He started with lifting weights (we're on a very tight income but I found some cheap hand weights to get him started) to at least work his upper body until he could get breathing better.  Then he started watching a guy on T.V. and getting up a minute at a time doing what he could until he built up some stamina.  He did things like hold his legs up one at a time as long as he could, until it burned. Each week he made himself do a couple more of each excersize he made up.  Slowly it got easier for him to move and get up and down.  That was almost 3 months ago and he has lost about 150 lbs. since then.  He's down to about 560 now and can get in a vehicle and drive again.  He can go with our daughter to watch her ride horses and take her to and from school for the first time.  He can walk across the room without me worrying about him falling down or having a heart attack or stroke from the exertion.  It was so scary for all of us.  If he hadn't found a way to lose the weight he was going to die.  The doctors told him that. 

Now he sees a future again where he can go back to work by next spring and have an active lifestyle like he had when he wasn't so big.  He knows he'll be around to see his daughter grow up. 

So I believe it takes intense will power and a lot of determination but it's possible to lose weight without an actual program and without leaving the house.  He's living proof and we've been taking pictures every couple weeks since he started.  The first roll shows an amazing difference and gave him encouragement to keep going and finish what he's doing.  I'm prouder of him than anyone will know. 

That is a great accomplishment and I am sure  every one he knows is proud of him.  Keep encouraging and loving him and he will keep at it.

Around here, with two active little ones, we dance to our music and I am always going up and down the stairs. I also have an old exercise bike that I will get on at times, I used to exercise to an exercise video, I suppsoe I should dig that out and start it back up,LOL. it did feel good after doing it.  :)

I've spent the better part of 2 years getting myself to the gym to exercise.  I'm a visualist which means I have to "do it / see it" before I can grasp it.  I've attempted to do the exercises in exercise magazines and never could do them. 

 

For example, when I began learning how to sew, I had to take the pattern instructions and re-write them out ... breaking down each paragraph into single sentences and then attempt to work it out in my head.   so you can imagine what exercising at home is like for me.

 

I've bought the videos and actually, none them that I've purchased come up to speed like my gym instructors.  HOWEVER, my goal for my 54th Year of Living is to finally break thru my barrier and come up with an at home routine.

 

One of the things I've been doing is pulling out all the exercise routines from my magazines ....  I want to learn more about exercising -- like what type of muscles groups I'm working, how can I create a routine that works my upper muscles 1 day, lower muscles the next day.

 

I like doing different .. and I love how my current gym class has me using all sorts of equipment ... one day we are using the stability ball, the next day we are using bands & weights ... 

 

I know that I can do this ... it's all about me working out the "barriers" as they pop up in my head. Mostly, it's education ... once winter sets in I'll be pulling those routines out and begin working on how I can do them.  

 

And once I've learned to do this on my own at home, then my exercise schedule will be built around my life style and not that of an organization.  The thought of having that much flexibility is just wonderful!

You must be really proud of him ...  and he's doing it for himself ... to be around for his daughter ... that's wonderful!!!

 

You should pick up a copy of Dr. Phil's WEIGHT LOSS SOLUTIONS ... i've been using the 7 Keys in helping me live the healthy life style and it's working!  It's a slow process .. and the best thing is that it's becoming a permanent life style ... something I just never thought would happen for me.

So far, I've learned to use a stability ball, use handweights, and to use the bands.  I feel comfortable using them.  I don't know why I'm doing it or what the exercises are called ... however, I can deal with that.

 

Now, I've signed up for a pilates & yoga class.  I have a couple of tapes at home and I've attempted to use them; however, I always felt I wasn't doing the exercises properly -- I know -- not a good enough excuse huh!

 

Anyway, my goal is to go to my 3 new classes (I also signed up for interval training too) for 4 weeks.  That's  gym class a day for 5 days.  I'm also planning on still walking my dogs ... that's where my cardio comes in.

 

Then when the month is up, I want to begin exercising at home .. I know that I've never exercised in my own home ... however, I also know that I want my life in my hands not the gym's!  I want to work about my life not their's.   So I have a major hidden agenda here.

 

AND another very important reason I'm taking all these classes ... I WANT TO BE MY MOST HEALTHIEST on my birthday.  I WANT TO BRING IN MY 54TH YEAR OF LIVING  HEALTHIER THAN I'VE EVER BEEN!   and right now, I'm healthier now than when I was 48 years old.  DUH!  who ever said you can't turn back the hands of the clock!

Boy I congratulate you.  How do you find the motivation.  I need to lose some weight, not much but just enough to make me feel a bit better about myself yet I can't get motivated.  I admire you for what you've done so far and I am sure that you will keep it up and you will feel great and look great too.  Good luck and keep it up.

When I first started to watch Dr. Phil's WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE ... I too thought WOW I can do this ... boy was I ever wrong. I committed on 11/18/03 -- 2 months after I started watching the WLC.  By January, I was a total mess ... however, the book WEIGHT LOSS SOLUTIONS was how I decided I was going to work thru my weight loss.

 

I knew that every time I had read Keys 1 & 2, I just couldn't stop thinking about my work issues. I found that they meshed really well with how he wrote the book. So I decided that I needed to expand my knowledge and turned to SELF MATTERS. It took me 2 long, hard months to read and work thru it.  Then I re-read the chapters up to & thru Keys 1 & 2 and realized I needed to practice it.  So I choose 2 long time WANTS:  learn to sew and perform my own dance routines.  I chose these 2 wants because I could make a list of them.  You know, I knew that to sew, I needed to learn how to do hems, collars, sleeves, etc. Dance was the same. I could actually sit down and make a list of the stuff I had to do.    I choose to do SEWING because I was able to get into some classes.

 

So I spent 1 summer facing what I was saying to myself when it came to sewing. It was amazing!  By August, I re-picked up the book and discovered I couldn't set real goals - Chapter 2. Well, I knew that once again I needed outside help so I picked up Stephen Covey's book THE SEVEN HABITS OF EFFICIENT PEOPLE (or something like that) and read it.   It was way over what I needed to learn; however, it allowed me to finally sit down and work out a process to help me do goal work. 

 

I developed my 45-day focus period.  I learned to keep 3 high priority goals in the forefront. I learned that I had to report out what my goals were and each week report out to someone else.  I slowly made it a habit ... and truthfully, one that I'm not ready to change.

 

Have you read Weigt Loss Solutions?  It's all about changing your life style ... it's taken me a long time because I've had to re-learn to cook, to learn to do goal work, to re-read the book over and over again and ask myself -- how well am I doing.  It took me over 2 years to learn to bring closure to my triggers. It took me over 2 years to learn to keep my environment cleaned of junk foods. 

 

It's something you can do to.  Just have to figure out what part of the healthy life style you are not doing and then work on getting it together.

I did the class -- only had problems with the lunges and that's because of my flatfootedness -- I was able to do most of them ... the hard part was balancing ... I am getting beter though.

 

I came home and attempted to pull together all the exercises we did so I could name them and maybe repeat them later on for myself.

 

I feel that I've got good posture and everything.  By the end of October, I will be able to start using the magazine articles to pull together exercise routines I can do at home ...  It's my goal for the month of November!  I'm rather excited about it now.  Now, let's see if I'm able to face my fears and do it!