cookinlover wrote: 
This is great, Cookie.

I will say that that I've seen several articles recently claiming that cardio alone isn't as effective as we'd like to think. Bear with me on another KB reference, but until I started with them I was not really getting anywhere — had dropped some weight but not much. Going to KBs,  which are actually an excellent cardio workout as well as a ballistic one, helped me carve off a lot of fat. I don't think too much in terms of pounds anymore, but it was nice to go from 215 to 190.

As the weather gets nicer, I'm going to try some version of this.

I like this thread title much better than the redundant sounding "favorite exercise" thread. I pretty much despise working out, but I despise being overweight and the lethargic feeling that comes with it even more. So every so often I go on a diet and exercise plan, which I always take seriously, at least until I've dropped several notches on my belt and start feeling good again. My stationery bike works really well for me, and because it's here at home, I find it to far easier to NOT skip a day on it than if I had to go to a health club. I've always been an "all or nothing" type in anything I attempt, so it's a strict low calorie/low fat diet for the duration. Then it's 40 minutes a day of hard pedaling while wearing a sweatsuit, every day, until I reach my target weight. I'm in the middle of my latest routine now, and have lost about 18 pounds in the last 6 weeks. About 2 more weeks to go and I`ll be where I want (and need) to be in weight and toning levels. I'd like to say I'll then cut back to every other day for the rest of my life, but past experience tells me that's not going to happen. And so the cycle will continue... which is okay with me as long as I know I`ll start over again the next time I feel the need to get back into shape.

The Art of Strength.  These guys (and gals) use kettle bells, but also ropes, rocks, huge truck tires, logs, sandbags, Indian clubs... Anything but a weight machine — isolating muscles and working them makes them big, but it doesn't necessarily make them strong.

 manbirdexperiment wrote: 
Re: gyms in general. When I decided, about three years ago, that being chubby was not where I wanted to be, I started going to the community centre's gym. Even though it was close by, it's still 15 minutes to get there, 15 back — so there's a half hour gone with nothing to show for it. My point is that working out at home, however one does it, is always easier (and therefore easier to stick with) than going to a gym.

Last Saturday night I was outside a local rink, looking across a courtyard at 7 or 8 people in the gym across the way on the stationary bikes and ellipiticals. The hamster-on-a-wheel analogy was perfect. Worse, I don't imagine they were really getting anywhere in terms of their fitness.

The yin to the exercise yang is, of course, diet. Reading about butter and bacon in other threads makes be salivate like Chester, and cinnamon buns have a Pavlovian effect on me too, so what's a middle-aged guy to do?

Well, going cold turkey and forever denying myself those culinary treats, I make one or two days of the week 'cheat days' — cheeseburgers, pizza, ice cream, whatever... I don't miss them on the other days, and I think I enjoy them more by having them less frequently.

Another aspect that most health types talk about is the portioning. The idea of five smaller meals a day has been a huge help — I eat when I'm hungry, but I don't stuff my face. It's said that the body has a 'starvation' reaction to dieting — it thinks it will never have anything nice again and so it starts to store more fat. Lovely. Stoopit human bodies.

 manbirdexperiment wrote:  You are such an inspiration.

I qualified for a low income membership at the YMCA. I had to cancel it because my income is too low. Actually, it's on hold for 3 months. Because the 3 dollar reduction in monthly fees didn't really help out all that much. 

I'm a big fan of kettle bells, as I've posted elsewhere, but I am starting to incorporate much more "bodyweight" elements into work-outs: push ups, burpees, etc. Wonderful for you, easy to fit into any schedule, and can be done almost anywhere.

I'm starting this as something that would be a little broader in scope than the Favorite Exercise thread: physical activity, healthy food, good clean living on at least a couple of days a week...