eMagSFitnessArticles
"Your Window to My World"
Content at eMagS
Carolyn's Sucess
Main Page
Old News & Gossip
Live Camera
Weather in Z�rich
Me & My Friends
Fun Zone
eMagSimeClub
eMagSOut&About! NEW
eMagSFitness
Country Information NEW
Via eMagS I got in contact with Carolyn in Georgia. Here you can follow her progress from the very first steps to a healthier and more fit life. She is very proud of her results so far, with all right! Her story is an inspiration for us all, so she has agreed to let me publish chosen parts from our chat sessions here on eMagS. She has achieved tremendous results and I hope that all you eMagS friends will find it inspiring too. If you want to ask her questions and give her positive remarks on her progress just post a message on the eMagS Message Board.
If you want to ask eMagS fitness Panel questions, just drop eMagS an e-mail.
The story will continue here and is getting more and more interesting. Especially now since her husband has joined the program too. Thank you Carolyn for being an inspiration to us all, and keep it up!
First Contact - The Start
carolyn_in_ga: Hi, I am from georgia in the US. seen your profile, that you were interested in fitness. I am checking into a gym to get fit and lose weight. Maybe you could give some advice on what to look for.
mags_magnus: Well, I'll try to give you advice. I am Swedish but situated in Zurich so when it comes to sportsclubs I can really only recommend Swedish and Swiss ones. Anyway, maybe I can give you some personal advice on working out and diet.
carolyn_in_ga: I am really new to this type of fitness and need all the advice I can get. I did have a chance to check out your homepage alittle.
mags_magnus: Wow, great - first of all good luck - fitness is fun! Second, what is your goal with taking up fitness?
carolyn_in_ga: Yes, I used to could lose weight and stay fit just by sports and such but as I am 46 now and don't do as much, it shows. I am trying to lose weight and don't want the flab that goes with it without exercise
mags_magnus: I know, several of my fitness colleagues have made the same experience!
mags_magnus: I always start out telling my friends that the road to get fit or just feeling comfortable with yourself is consists of three parts.
carolyn_in_ga: what are the three parts?
mags_magnus:
1. Eat right. Not to little, rather more than you are used to. Doing excersice requires energy. The key is to get the RIGHT kind of energy! (More on that later).
2. Excersice. Do any sport that you enjoy! Also here. don't over do it! To do it regularly gives much more effect than to do it excessively or just sporadically. (more on that later)
carolyn_in_ga: yes, I tryed to low carb diet and it worked well for a few weeks and somehow I just eased away from it. Some people say it isn't healthy. What do you think?
mags_magnus:
Stay away from "express diets", you need long term balance!
And last point, 3. Rest. When you do excersice you will need to let your body relax and recover after each session. Therefore don�t exhaust yourself several times each and every day. Elite sportsmen can workout every day. But then they have a VERY detallied schedule and training different muscles each time.
mags_magnus: OK - those were the three parts. To put it in brief:
1. Correct and sufficient food.
2. Excersice
3. Rest
mags_magnus: Those are my Cornerstones...
carolyn_in_ga: Yes I have found in the past, I would overdo it at first and then stop doing it when it was getting to me because of that. I have to go now, have an appoinment to keep. Great talking to you. I will let you know how things are going and would love to hear from you anytime. I enjoy having friend from all over and learning about different places. Bye now and thanks for adding me to your friend list. Your friend in Georgia, Carolyn
mags_magnus: Then you will have to find what I call a balance between these three parts. It is very individual. Do NOT experiment with express diet cures. It will just worsen things. Search for balance and continuety:
mags_magnus: Yes, I promise to keep track on you progress. I really enjoy seein my friends getting fitter and happier!
mags_magnus: Talk to you soon! MagS
carolyn_in_ga: thanks so much for the advice. I promise to let you know bye
Yahoo! Links
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Chat
Yahoo! Games
Yahoo! Auctions
Yahoo! Finance
Yahoo! Travel
Related Links:
www.reebok.com
www.nike.com
www.saab.com
www.stockholm.se
www.telia.se
www.davos.ch
Further Contacts - Carolyn's Progress reports
carolyn_in_ga (Sat Apr 15 22:35:03 2000): Hi! got your message. Been real busy, but working faithfully on my diet and started walking also. I am starting on a light exercise routine so I don't overdo it. Have lost 12 lbs. Real proud of myself. your friend, Carolyn
carolyn_in_ga (Tue Apr 18 21:42:03 2000): thought I would let you know I have lost 18 lbs and still working on it. I am walking, and just beginning an exercise routine to get me motivated to workout. I have checked out a couple of gyms in my area and chosen one for when I make up my mind to go. Your friend, Carolyn
carolyn_in_ga (Fri Jun 16 13:26:44 2000): Hi, Good to hear from you. Gee, hope the hand gets okay. My husband broke his wrist a couple of years ago and went through three surgerys, know how that is. I am proud to say I have lost 38 lbs, I walk everyday, even starting to get A LITTLE running into it, and I go to the gym whenever my schedule permits. Wish I could go more. Let me know how you are doing with the hand, hope it wasn't too serious. Your friend, Carolyn
carolyn_in_ga (Fri Jun 30 03:08:07 2000): Hi, good to hear from you. I would be glad for you to write the article about me on your website. I am proud of what I have done. I have lost 40 lbs now in less than three months. My husband went on the same program last month and weighed in today, 26 lbs in one month. He went from 236 to 210 and is planning to get to 185. My weight loss is slowing but my shape is still improving so that is good, eh? I do alot of reading to encourage me. I think the walking is the main key to losing it for me. Glad you hand has improved so well. Look to hear from you again soon, your friend, Carolyn
Summary of the Answers - The Road to Success - for the Entire Family!
MagS_Maggnus: Hi Friend! Right, walking is great since the risk of getting hurt is at a minimum. Yes, you are rigth, at one point the weight loss will slowdown, but keep it up. It is simply so that the most "unnecessary" fat will be burnt first and then the body sort of adjust slowly to the new level. The pace will decline. But as said, keep it up, the last pound will demand the most time and you might not even need to loose that last pound. Take it slow, as you did so far, the effect will stay longer then, all your life probably when you made healthy diet and excesice a part of your life. Also, don't chock your body with any "express cures" now when it goes slower with the weigth loss. They will only make the body belive it is going into a period of starvation and start building up fat reserves instead.
Also, muscles burn fat even when you are asleep so working out in a gym is not a bad idea at all. Muscles will make your body look good but they weigh more than fat so this is also a fact that will add to your feeling that the weightloss stops at one point. It is not bad, it is just a fact. Keep it up, walking also builds muscles so this also implies on your weight. When you have lost all the "unnecessary" fat you will start trading in fat weight against muscle weight. This means that at some point must stop looking at the weight as a reference but instead start looking at how you look and how you feel. I have seen many persons, especially females, who have been staring too much at their weight and forgotten that their new body, full of larger muscle mass will actually in some cases weigh more than their "old" one with more fat on it. Hence stopping to eat completely and thus turning their "new" muscles back into fat again (the "ooh no, I am starving effect" from the body again).
I must emphasise that weigth is of less importance at this point. What you want to achieve is a great looking body with which you feel comfortable!
Therefore, remember my three corner stones that I mentioned the first time we chatted:
1. Work out
2. Eat (a lot if you do a lot of work out, not only burgers and cakes though:))
3. Rest, you don't build muscles in the gym, you train them there and they will grow only if properly "fed" and "rested".
Good luck to your husband too, let me know if you need advice on diet or machine gym excersises. I think you are soon ready to into "tougher" training (you are apperently already running, just take it easy with the running and make sure you do a proer warm up and cool down since it the risks are considerably higher by running than by walking) All the best, I am with you guys all the way!!!! Your fitness friend in Europe, MagS
Stay tuned for more on Carolyn's and her husband's progress!
(c) eMagS and Magnus Svensson 2000