Hi from Philly

Hi there, I just joined.

My story: I was a very athletic person once upon a time when playing sports in college, but over the past 6-7 years have lost muscle and put on fat. After a few start-and-stop tries at being healthier and fitter, I'm looking to reverse that trend once and for all. I have overhauled my eating habits, cut my calories back to a healthy range (1500-2000 per day), and am working on other things like drinking less alcohol on the weekends, eating more fruit, etc. So far, so good. I've lost about 9lbs since September and don't ever want to look back.

I also joined the message boards over at ivillage.com, and while the folks there are really nice and supportive I haven't found it to be too helpful yet. I saw people trying to eat 1000-1200 calories per day for weight loss and it just seems too extreme for me. I guess since I am not trying to lose 100+ lbs my needs are different. Anyway...

I'm basically looking for support and some tips to improve my workouts in particular. After all, if I'm going to spend 30-60 minutes per day exercising, I want to make the most of it, especially on the harder days.

Looking forward to reading everyone's posts! This website is awesome and just what I was looking for--no nonsense.

[charlotte]

Welcome to the forum, philly!

Hey! Glad you're here. Just curious, what kind of sports did you play?

Hi Philly, welcome to this forum.

It's hard to keep your motivation to exercise daily. For variation, make a daily schedule of different exercises for a week. For example: day 1: abs & triceps, day 2: legs & biceps, and so on..

Originally Posted by cassy07

Hey! Glad you're here. Just curious, what kind of sports did you play?

I played rugby in college. In high school I also ran track (400m & 800m mostly) and some tennis.

Thanks for the suggestion, joviemar. The website looks great and I will have to check it out. I'm trying to vary my exercise each day, especially the intensity. I've read in several places on this site that sprinting is recommended, and that's something I think I can learn to enjoy. Some days I do intervals on the treadmill; some days 20 min jog followed by weights followed by another 20 min jog; some days only walking; etc.

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone!

[charlotte]

Are you Pittsburgh Panthers alumni? ;p

Originally Posted by charlotte

Are you Pittsburgh Panthers alumni? ;p

Nope Never played them, either! I was in central NJ at the time, so we played the eastern PA and NY area teams.

[charlotte]

Ah, I saw them on television beating the #2 team in the country last month or something. Everyone went pretty crazy.

Welcome to the forum, Philly!

Welcome to the group Philly! I am pretty much in the same situation hope we can help each other push ahead and accomplished or goals.