"I am not fat I am (insert excuse here)

[BlaqueKatt]

I don't think any first-timer should just pop in a video and do some yoga.

But I did take a few classes at my last university, so it was just a matter of my having absolutely no sense of balance (seriously, I nearly broke a foot walking on flat pavement before.)

Chair yoga-much more difficult to cause self injury......

[fireheart17]

Regarding sizes, I'm a different size depending on where I shop. -.-

Same here. Also between clothing brands in general in the same damn shop. For instance, the local Big W has Avella (their plus size stuff), Emerson (their 8-16 stuff), Wavezone/Malibu (their "surf" gear) and Bonds (generally your trackies). When I was a 16, I did not fit the Wavezone stuff. I only just fit the bonds stuff. Now I fit into Avella.

I can't afford a gym membership either, which is why I workout at home. The music is better at home anyway, and no one looks at me like I'm a three-headed sloth.

You can buy the Zumba kits for around $100. All the gear and no paying for a membership

[Lace Neil Singer]

If aerobics is your thing, there's a zillion DVDs you can buy by various celebrities.

I'm a size 16 in some shops, 18-20 in shops directed at skinny teenagers, and weirdly, a 14 in some shops with larger sizes. I just make sure that rather than trust the sizing, I just try the clothes on before I buy them.

[lupo pazzesco]

I just make sure that rather than trust the sizing, I just try the clothes on before I buy them.

That's pretty much all you CAN do, really. I sometimes find it annoying that sizing isn't standardized in women's clothing. I'm a 20 in some, 22 in others, size 18 for the tops on occasion. Blegh. Don't get me started on bra sizes, either! I'm a 36 E cup. Know how hard that is to find?? (I think Lace, you're also one of the...amply blessed, if I'm not mistaken from previous threads...?)


Also, I prefer exercise DVDs, but it's more that I'm self conscious of what I wear to workout, and don't like people staring at me. The boyfriend and I are going out of town this weekend to visit his family for the holiday, and he wants to bring one of the DVDs we have, get a workout in. I asked if we could just go for a walk instead, as I really don't want his whole family watching.

Good news is, we recently purchased a game for the PS3 that has a lot of kickboxing routines, and I'm finding I love the beginners kickboxing. You warm up, and I'm focusing on the punching, getting those moves down before I move on to the actual kicking. It's a great exercise, I'm finding, and the moves are pretty clear cut and very well explained. Here's hoping it helps. *crosses fingers*

[Seshat]

My own husband claims he can't squat. Bullshit. He can't squat his own bodyweight first time out, and his knee sort of hurts because he's got shitty form, so he he claims he can't do it at all.

I can't do a standard, full squat because of knee problems. (Not 'my knee sort of hurts', but 'a physiotherapist watched me, then put his hand on my knee and felt how it moved, and winced'.)

I have a sort of 'risk of arthritis' issue in the knee. I forget the exact name, but .. meh. Anyway, the important bit is this:

The physiotherapist gave me <dramatic chord> AN ALTERNATIVE EXERCISE.

If you can't do standard squats for whatever reason, a physiotherapist or a good fitness instructor can give you a different way to exercise the relevant muscles! Same with any other exercise out there.

So no, barring disability - and even with many disabilities - there is a way to do it. Whatever 'it' is. You just might need an expert's advice.

Edit: No, I take it back, I have known people with serious medical issues that prohibited intense exercise, but even then they still watched diet

My issues prohibit intense exercise. But they don't prohibit mild exercise. They don't stop me from walking - some days, admittedly, it's 'walk to the front gate, using the walker'. Other days, it's half an hour in the shopping centre, or all the way around the block plus a bit.

And I can (and do) do modified-squats, and bicep curls, and so forth, as long as I pace it. (Do one, rest, do the next, rest...)

I'm losing fat. More importantly, my blood tests come back healthier every time.

So yes, I may one day proudly declare myself to be overweight-by-BMI, but healthy-by-blood-test-and-other-tests.

And that's fine with me. The BMI is only one of a range of tests with which my doctor can monitor my health. If I show up with a good hip/waist ratio, blood pressure, liver function test, fasting glucose test and so on and so forth, I can live with a bad BMI.

[Gravekeeper]

Couldn't pay me enough to touch squats. My knees function fine for day to day use, but I hit a piece of cast iron at full sprint in the right knee when I was 16. It struck right above the kneecap in all the soft tissue. Was braced for weeks afterwards.

I don't really want to be sticking a bunch of weight on it. ;p

Currently, my daily routine is my physio for my back. Which is 30 crunchs and 30 leg lift/extension thingies I forget the name of plus a host of specific streches x 3 times a day. I had an anterior pelvic tilt before which was the root cause of all my original back problems and injuries. Took about 4 months of physio to re-align my pelvis. Now I basically just have this daily routine for the rest of my life to keep it there. I still need to go in for specific assisted physio to sort out the rest of my back problems. But I don't currently have the time or money.

After 5ish months of doing 90 crunchs / 90 leg extensions targetting the arse all of my jeans no longer fit. So I bought one size lower. Now they stopped fitting over the last few weeks. qq. They're just hanging off my hips now.

[Boozy]

Couldn't pay me enough to touch squats. My knees function fine for day to day use, but I hit a piece of cast iron at full sprint in the right knee when I was 16. It struck right above the kneecap in all the soft tissue. Was braced for weeks afterwards.

I don't really want to be sticking a bunch of weight on it. ;p

A properly performed squat does not place weight on the knee. It places weight on the quads, hamstrings, and supportive tissue.

[SkullKing]

There are also many resources for body weight exercises.

This one for example: http://bodyweightculture.com/forum/content.php

[blas87]

I do lots of squats.

Unfortunately, my butt is still huge, and now my thighs look like a man who body builds.

[Andara Bledin]

Unfortunately, my butt is still huge, and now my thighs look like a man who body builds.

You can't target fat loss. Your body will burn fat from where your genetics tell your body to burn fat. You can, however, tone the muscles under the fat to make it look less unattractive.

What you can target is muscle tone and muscle mass. If you do a lot of reps at low weight/tension, you tone. If you do a small number at higher weight/tension, you build mass. Squats are one of the more effective ways to build mass, so if you don't want to build muscle mass, you should probably avoid them.

It's essentially the difference between sprinting and distance running. A sprinter will be packed with muscle because they are moving against a lot of resistance as they fight gravity and inertia to go as fast as humanly possible in a short burst. A distance runner will keep the pace light and easy and go for hours at that pace, leading to a high amount of tone with a very low level of mass.

An informative article on myths regarding squats by Charles Poliquin.

^-.-^

[Lace Neil Singer]

I don't do them cuz I don't like doing squats. So I walk loads instead, which I do like doing, and swim.

[Nyoibo]

A properly performed squat does not place weight on the knee. It places weight on the quads, hamstrings, and supportive tissue.

Not really, by definition anything that involves an extension of the knee involves weight.

[fireheart17]

I don't do them cuz I don't like doing squats. So I walk loads instead, which I do like doing, and swim.

I do the exact same thing. I swim at least twice a week (although I've been neglecting it due to uni) and I walk around campus a LOT.

[LadyBarbossa]

And recently, same person I mentioned in my earlier post put up a quote that said

"I'm not fat, I'm just so awesome it overflows!"

as well as:

"I consider my fat like a trophy for all the food I ate!"


Oh my God, NO! No. No. No. There aren't enough "No's" in the world for this. Overeating to the point of damaging your health and to the point you can't bathe yourself properly is not something to be proud of!

[fireheart17]

"I consider my fat like a trophy for all the food I ate!"


Oh my God, NO! No. No. No. There aren't enough "No's" in the world for this. Overeating to the point of damaging your health and to the point you can't bathe yourself properly is not something to be proud of!

That second comment is absolutely disgusting. Not to mention that it flies right in the face of people who can barely put food on the table.