Late last year, I wrote about making better financial decisions. In addition to financial goals, this article also included a 2017 weight loss goal and a commitment to keeping myself accountable by regularly reporting progress here on Financial Slacker. So it’s time to start working out again.
Ever since hitting the age of 40, the weight has been piling on. And I’ve let my fitness lapse as well. I was talking to a friend the other day while walking outside and I could barely carry on a conversation.
When I was traveling every week, I used that as an excuse. But now that I’m working from home for myself, there are no good excuses.
Last year, I tried running again and Ms. Financial Slacker even signed me up to run a half-marathon in January. But shortly after I started, I injured myself. I went to the doctor last week and my injury has healed. So I guess this is as good as it’s going to get. The time to start working out is now.
Rather than jumping back into a high-intensity running program, I’m going to ease back in. Here are some good body weight exercises that I’m starting with.
I am also pulling the bike out of the garage although I’m not a fan of outdoor exercise when the temperature is below fifty degrees. I much prefer to be outside in the heat of summer rather than in the cold of winter.
The elliptical machine we have at home is another possibility as it’s low impact which is good while I’m still on the heavy side. But I’ve always had trouble staying motivated to ride in place for any length of time.
And as the kids are big swimmers, they have encouraged me to get in the pool. While I realize swimming would be a great low impact way to lose weight and get back in shape, I’m also finding it hard to get motivated to head over to the gym on a regular basis.
As you can probably tell, I’m not too excited about any of my exercise options so I plan to mix things up initially, making sure to exercise at least four days per week for at least one hour each day.
Anyone have thoughts on other fun ways to exercise and get back in shape?
I am in the same boat except that I was in good shape at one point in the last couple of years before letting myself go. Now I am dedicated to getting back to that level of fitness. I am also well over 40 and it is harder than ever to keep going. One thing that does work for me is the spreadsheet. I track every workout. This gives me a visual way of looking at what I have done. There is nothing more sobering than seeing you only went to the gym 5 times in a month. I am off to a pretty good start this year with workout number 12 today. That is a frequency of 44% which is still a little low but much better. I think it is gut-check time (no pun intended) and you just have to decide that the time is right. I wish you luck on achieving the goal.
-Brian
Thanks, Brian.
I am also a huge fan of spreadsheets. I lost a good deal of weight about 12 or 13 years ago. And I mostly did it by tracking everything I ate.
I was also in decent shape about 5 years ago. I even ran a half-marathon. I used an app to train. It was a great way to stay on plan.
I appreciate your feedback.
I was doing great until the boys were born. Now I’m 30 pounds overweight, but hoping to get back to exercise early morning now that the baby is sleeping through the night more often than not.
Ellipticals and stationary bikes are the best for reading back into exercise. If you’re bored, try watching a personal finance video you’re planning to write about.
That’s a great idea. I’m always finding it challenging to have enough time for everything. And I tend to get bored watching a movie. But watching a podcast or video that I’m going to write about might be enough to keep me interested (and distracted).
Thanks.
I started playing Just Dance on the Playstation. For the record, I am a terrible dancer, but I really enjoy flailing my body about. I try to do it when nobody is home, but lately I have been really intensely tracking my calorie intake and exercise so sometimes I have to play when someone else is home. We have a recumbent bike as well and it’s not as fun as dancing, but if I looking just to get my body moving I ride it while watching a tv show or reading a book.
It was really hard to start but once I exercised 3-4 days in a row it started to become part of my routine.
Good suggestions. I’m not much of a dancer but I definitely could see the benefits.
I know we have a few Wii and XBox exercise programs as well. Might take a look at those.
Thanks for the ideas.