Posts: 1,727
9/16/10 11:10 P

No, yesterday I walked 7 miles... some of it carrying a pack and two bags that weighed 37 pounds. Today I want to die. I hurt everywhere!

SparkPoints: (8,582)
Fitness Minutes: (25)
Posts: 1,623
8/29/10 1:17 A

Today I walked from West 36th Street down to Chinatown (Lower East Side) in less than an hour, and I tracked it on SparkPeople's Map Your Route function -- Four Miles in less than an hour and it only burned up calories in the low 200s (235 or something like that)! THAT'S ALL????
I guess the Map Your Route function doesn't consider the calories expended by dodging deadly NYC traffic and zooming around the sidewalk-blocking TXTing Zombies writing e-mails as long as "War & Peace" on their iPhones and Blackberries. (Is there any other city that has TXTing Zombies? Maybe in a shopping mall?)

But, to answer the question: Yeah, I'm fit. If I can walk that fast for that long, I'm fit. But it didn't even burn up the number of calories in an Iced Coffee! What a bummer!

Edited by: KURTORTOISE at: 8/29/2010 (01:25)

current weight: 140.0

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Posts: 2,706
8/29/10 12:38 A

After 3+ hours on my bike today I realize just how far I have to go to be fit!

Posts: 24,879
8/28/10 4:31 P

I see myself as somebody struggling to keep what fitness that I know I had a year ago & to improve it back to where I was ten years ago.

Posts: 680
8/27/10 8:55 P

I am moving toward fitness, but have a long way to go. Too tired often and poor eating habits. Flutter

Posts: 1,624
8/27/10 12:32 P

getting fitter!

Posts: 2,098
8/27/10 7:53 A

I see myself as so much fitter than I was 10 years ago. I can do many things now that I couldn't then without pain. I am still a work in progress though. Other people probably see me as a jiggly old lady but I know how I feel on the inside and how much more my outside can accomplish. : )

Pounds lost: 21.0

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Posts: 4,075
8/26/10 11:42 P

I have the same feelings as you Admiral, I find it hard to look at myself as being fit, when you pick up a magazine and see the picture of what I perceive to be physically fit and then I look at myself and think ..no way.
On the other hand I know I am stronger, and faster, and with each passing day I feel my energy levels keep building.

May Minutes: 0

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Posts: 4,358
8/26/10 9:31 P

I guess I have trouble perceiving myself as fit. Somehow being fit means I'm never tired, sore, achy...and I do feel all of that depending on my exercise week. Right now I'm training to walk a half marathon in October. I've always enjoyed walking, but now I'm pushing myself to go farther and faster. Am I fit? Well, I AM going farther and faster than I could six months ago. So I must be!

My husband admires Lance Armstrong, who won the Tour de France seven times. Apparently someone asked him if it ever got easier after he trained for an important race. He said that it never got easier, he just got faster. Right now, being fit for me, is just like that. I keep pushing the envelope, I pay for it with aches, but I make progress, I don't give up and I keep my eye on my goal.

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Posts: 1,900
8/26/10 9:09 P

I feel pretty fit, on the whole. Sure, I like food a LOT, but I also exercise enough to keep me in a healthy weight range. I can walk pretty much tirelessly and generally do what I need to do, so yeah, I feel pretty good.

Posts: 2,706
8/26/10 9:09 P

Under all of this flab I am a very fit person! I just wish the flab would go away so the world could see how fit I am!

SparkPoints: (8,582)
Fitness Minutes: (25)
Posts: 1,623
8/26/10 8:25 P

Interesting article, but there seem to be two main reasons why I'd have a different perspective than others here:

1. Those magazine articles that claim that men have more positive views of their bodies and aren't very upset by weight gain are true, at least in my case. I may have been in denial because I hadn't realized that I had a "spare tire" all around my waist until I was in a dressing room with mirrors all around and I saw the back of me. But even though I was shocked, I wasn't upset enough to do anything about it.

2. I spent most of my life underweight because I was unable to gain weight no matter how much I tried. I often made myself sick drinking weight-gain shakes and gain-weight meals; I always exercised at home and also went to gyms -- I gave up trying in my early 30s. So, when I finally did gain weight, it was a pleasant surprise -- until I couldn't stop it.

So, I didn't grow up with a bad image of myself as unfit or overweight; if anything, I was always too skinny -- until I hit my mid-40s.

Throughout everything, including now, I always chose to walk and I have a lot of energy, so I don't feel unfit. If there are younger people walking with me, they'll often complain that we're walking too much, or too fast -- so, I'd figure that I must be doing well for my age.

And, many times, usually in a Teacher's Break Room in one school or another, people would tell me about their aches and pains, their new medication, and then struggle to get up from their chairs while telling me "Wait till you get to my age" -- and then I'd find out that they were younger than me. So, that would also make me think that I'm doing pretty well for my age -- and that was before I lost the excess weight.

So, now that I've gone down from 180 to almost 140, I still feel that I'm doing pretty well for my age, and it's definitely true.

And although most of my "healthier lifestyle" would be SparkPeople-approved, I still have some "decadent" things I do/eat that I don't plan on changing.

I think it would be interesting if there were more males here to comment so we could compare and see if those magazine articles are true.
Maybe some of the ladies can ask their husbands about it (if you think it'll make you wind-up in Divorce Court, don't do it ).

current weight: 140.0

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SparkPoints: (43,482)
Fitness Minutes: (33,430)
Posts: 6,146
8/26/10 5:46 P

I have joint problems that limit my ability to workout as much as I'd like but I feel good, my bp and cholesterol are good and I never get sick, so I guess I feel pretty fit. I also walk every day and do as much exercise as I can. I've lost 75 lbs but still have 100 to lose but I'm out of bed and so much improved from 2 years ago that I can love myself without reservation.

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Posts: 24,879
8/26/10 5:04 P

Are you fit now? One of my teammates from the Indiana Sparkers is a frequent guest blogger for the DAILY SPARK. I love to read her blogs. Especially take note of the third paragraph and share with the team how you react to it.
www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=see_yours
elf_as_fit_person_no_matter_your_size
See Yourself as Fit Person, No Matter Your Size
By Beth Donovan (~INDYGIRL)