Penguin's Exercise and Nutrition Log

[Penguin]

A few months before my lung collapsed last year, I started exercising. Naturally, I've been hesitant to exert myself ever since my hospital stay. However, since it's been over a year since I quit smoking, I'm going to ease back into exercise in 2025. To that end, tomorrow I'll be working out with my dumbbells at their lowest weight. Due to my disability, I can't always stand or sit "the way you're supposed to," so I've got to work out what is safe and effective for me. In January, I'll start exercising with actual weight.

 

Here, I'll keep track of my health. Just as keeping track of the data helped encourage me in my quit, I hope it will encourage me to stick with my exercise and nutrition.

 

Edited December 3 by Penguin
Added a ticker and changed the thread title to include "nutrition." Revised the ticker.

[Penguin]

Today I did some reading on how to exercise safely with dumbbells. The main takeaways I got were:

* Remember to breathe. A lot of us tend to hold our breath when we exert ourselves, and that can lead to hernias and other issues.

* Engage your core muscles. Bring your belly button toward your spine and use proper posture in order to prevent injuries.

* Lift and lower slowly, with controlled motion. Many of us tend to think of an exercise movement as the lifting part, not both lifting and lowering. We also may have a tendency to drive the motion quickly so as to "get one more rep" or what have you, but that can lead to injuries.  

[Penguin]

Given my ADHD, it's difficult for me to remember to exercise. All of the habits I've formed are all heavily steeped in dopamine. While exercise does feel good, it doesn't trigger the same happy buttons as, say, video games, for me. From what I've been reading I should probably start with one or two days a week, combined with my usual activity. I like going for walks to get a coffee in the evenings, so that gives me about a mile a day to begin with. I'm going to have to put up reminders around my apartment to take time to practice good form and posture this December.

[Gus]

Those are the basics Penguin. Very important to engage those core muscles. Helps with stability also and it’ll actually start helping those abs tighten up too. I have always enjoyed staying toned and have worked with free weights a lot. I can hardly wait to start seeing updates on your results!

[Gus]

4 minutes ago, Penguin said:

While exercise does feel good, it doesn't trigger the same happy buttons as, say, video games, for me

Hopefully when you start seeing real results it will be different for you.