Fitness Magazines

[jianantonic]

This is probably going to come out sounding bitter and snarky, but that's not the point.  I'm actually feeling quite good and I mean this to sound uplifting.  Keep that in mind.

So I was at the gym this morning, kicking my own ass on the elliptical machine, reading a magazine to take my mind off how painful exercise is.  It's not necessarily a bad pain, but if you're doing it right, it's not easy, and sometimes you need a good distraction.  We've all been there, right?  So anyway I'm reading a Shape magazine, and I get to the part where they do "real people" profiles.  They basically interview women who've lost tons of weight about what changes they made to their lifestyles, and how they're keeping the weight off.  And I swear to jeebus, every one of the "regular" women in these articles does 90 minutes of cardio a day, plus weight training.  

No normal people do 90 minutes of cardio a day.

It is in no way motivational for me to read these success stories when I see that the only way they're keeping the weight off is by working out two or three times more than I do -- and I know I push myself.  I work hard and I do not have another 30 minutes of cardio in me.  I may be able to train hard and get to the point where my body can handle a five or ten mile run here and there, but I will never be someone who can do that every day.  Not to mention the time it takes.  I work like two hours a day, and I still have a hard time finding an hour for the gym every day.  I do it, because I know I need it, but if it were two or three hours I needed to set aside, well then forget it.  I don't have them.  

But you know what?  I do 40 minutes of cardio (10 min warmup before weightlifting, then 30 minutes of real cardio after that) most days (not every day), plus 20-30 minutes of weightlifting, and I feel great.  I'm losing weight (I'm down ~20 pounds from where I was two months ago, and 12.4 since joining Weight Watchers six weeks ago), I'm in great shape, and I feel great about the way I look. 

You do not have to take up residence in your gym to achieve your goals.  Just be realistic with yourself, take it one day at a time, and go for it.  It probably wouldn't hurt to put down the fitness magazines, too.  

Peace.

Comments

[oobermeister.livejournal.com]

i'm sure if they stopped doing cardio 90 minutes per day, they would blimp out again....i.e. instead of cutting more calories, they've decided that they prefer to burn it all off so they can continue to eat themselves into oblivion.

but it would also depend on the intensity of the workout....did it say what they were doing? i mean, walking for 90 minutes could be considered cardio i guess. running nonstop for 90 minutes everyday would make you a pretty serious athlete.

[oobermeister.livejournal.com]

but that said, it's a fitness magazine, which means they might be full of shit

I know!!!

[kixeldorado.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking ths SAME thing. I see one of them that's about my height and other stuff, then I read the workout. Too friggin bad for me, then...Unless I start going at night when I get home, 5 days of cardio just aint gonna happen. :). Night would probably be ok, except that probly won't work so well for that "going to bed at a decent hour" thing I wanna do...

[capriciousbee.livejournal.com]

I would also like to point out that they don't tell you what they eat. I'll wager it's a hell of a lot of lettuce and boneless skinless chicken breast. And when they chirp "I can still eat the comfort foods I love!" you have to bear in mind that they're probably measuring out their ice cream by the teaspoon.

And 90 minutes of cardio a day is no assurance. I mean, I DO run 5-10 miles a day (and you're right, fitting it in is almost impossible), and I'm GAINING weight. They've made huge changes to their lives to get where they are. I know they look great, but I really have to wonder if they have a life.

[flamingophoenix.livejournal.com]

Or maybe they just have really good genes. I always feel kinda weird when I read these.

[goob712.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of something almost completely unrelated...

I used to have a subscription to Maxim magazine. For three years I read every issue. I learned a lot of interesting stuff and got some good laughs out of it before it started to get old and repetitive for me.

In the end, the article that finally disgusted me enough to quit reading: They said that any woman who did NOT get laser hair removal was just lazy and didn't care about their appearance... and that money wasn't any excuse because the procedure is cheap.

wtf? This wasn't even in one of their "joke" articles, this was in an advice section.

Sorry, sirs. I'd rather be hairy. Silly magazines trying to tell us how to be and what is "normal".

[jianantonic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I used to read Maxim when it was brand new (and I was like, 15, ha), but it didn't take me long to realize that wow, men don't know shit about women.

[flamingophoenix.livejournal.com]

Haha, wow.

My mom always badgers me about shaving my legs. I'm halfway to saying "Mom, if you want to pay for laser hair removal. I'll do it." Meanwhile, I just use Nair the night before we go visit them if I'll be wearing shorts.

[jianantonic.livejournal.com]

Nair never works for me. It just makes me greasy and itchy and it takes a whole effing can of the stuff just to cover my legs.