Okay, we have a bus and a bar -- why not a gym?

And we'll take our inspiration from the big, loathsome fat guy we love to hate -- Dale the Whale. (There's a rumor he's losing weight)

But here's the place where Monk fans who are either trying to take off a few pounds, or just trying to get or stay in shape can come to share goals and accomplishments -- and cheer each other on.

So I'll go first --

In 2000, I took off exactly 100 pounds over the course of the year. (Yes it was rather Monkish, wasn't it?)

But as Adrian said to Dale, "The hardest part is keeping it off." This is true. I've put some of it back on -- and I need to stop that, and take off what I've gained back.

So, I've hopped back on the treadmill and have been visiting a gym -- I have this week free.

I did my treadmill time today.

Anybody care to join me?? (I know from experience that accountability increases the success rate.)

Just a word of encouragement. One foot in front of the other!

So where's the fanfic challenge?

YOU GO GIRL!!!!

I went out walking at lunch today! And it is my goal to get back into my yoga routine.

Why not a gym! Sounds like a great thread to me...a place to encourage and support each other.

I don't have a treadmill but there are a lot of hills around here to walk up and down. I absolutely love to go for rides on my bike.

BTW...congrats on the weight you lost in 2000!

this sounds like a great thread, I'm not trying to loose weight, I just want to get in shape and loose a couple of inches. I ride my bike to work most days (Not today, I had a wisdom tooth pulled earlier, so I won't be working out for at least another couple of days). Congratulations on those who are losing weight though!

My Dad had a heart attack in March. He was never in bad health, just needed to get more exercise and he has a really stressful job. Since then he goes to the gym everynight and works out for an hour. I am able to go with him most nights and work out. I find doing it with someone helps keep me accountable.

Hey, it looks like this thread is catching on! -- I wasn't sure.

Thanks to all those who just popped in to give some encouragement -- it's nice.

I had a pleasant surprise when I was walking on the treadmill this morning. I popped in one of my new Mission Impossible DVDs and there was...

Stanley Kamel -- It was great to see him -- well bittersweet really.

But those eyes -- wow -- electric blue!

I can't believe how many TV shows he guest starred on. I see him pop up on old shows all the time. It's always a great surprise. He would definitely get you motivated on the treadmill.

I've lost 33 pounds since March of 2007. Lee's MonkFest inspired me. Or to be honest, seeing myself in a video someone shot there horrified me and I got motivated finally to do something. I don't excersize much. I am lazy and I have a difficult time making myself excersize. I do ride an excersize bike sometimes and I recently bought a real bike. Haven't used it much!

I cut back on food, stuff like bread, potatoes, cheese, most sweets. I practically existed on soup and high fiber cereal. I lost that way. I'd like to lose more but it's been very hard to get past the weight I'm at now.

I like this idea. Does Wii Fit time count? Because I did 80 minutes of Yoga and aerobics on the Wii Fit, walked a mile and a half in 20 minutes, and played tug of war for fifteen minutes with an American bulldog.

What? Most of it may seem like playing, but it made me tired. I think it's pretty good and I only had to use the nebulizer once. Oh, and I have a regular evening walking date with my daughter and the dogs tonight, another mile and a half.

I started walking regularly in March, and at the end of May got Wii Fit. I started walking to try to lose weight, hoping it would help my breathing. It hasn't helped the asthma much, and I have only lost about 6.5 pounds since the end of May, but I'm pretty sure that part of that is due to muscle gain since parts of me are shrinking and I obviously have more energy. But I'm not telling anyone how much I weigh, still.

Of course Wii fit counts -- everything counts.

I won't tell anyone how much I weigh either. I will simply designate my beginning weight as 'X'. When I lose 2 pounds, my weight will be X-2. I'm more likely to give people my social security number than I am my weight.

I just spent a couple hours walking around the mall with my teenage daughter -- that counts too. Great to have some more on board -- this could work out really well.

Awww! Nice! This sounds like a great idea. I read it this morning and got so hysterical about the name Dale the Whale Fitness Trail, that I couldn't concentrate. I am back. I have lost 15 pounds since Jan.1. I am losing v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. But I am not dieting. I am eating right.

But the excercise: does carrying boxes up and down stairs count? Some days right now my legs feel like rubber by dinnertime.

Yes -- carrying boxes is weight training, and stair climbing is aerobics -- you have to pay good money in a lot of the gyms to be able to do this -- and you can do it for free!!!

Aren't you blessed?

Well gang I did really good yesterday until.... about 8:00 last night. Then I broke down and ate like 6 cookies. I actually baked them last weekend and my reasoning was "well I don't want them to go to waste". So I guess that walking I did at lunch yesterday was cancelled out by the cookies.

Or maybe the cookies were cancelled out by the walk? It's better than eating cookies and NOT walking, right?

Anyway -- today's a new day.

My feet are really sore -- I wore the wrong shoes to walk around the mall last night -- and I'm supposed to be off to the gym sometime this morning -- and now there's a storm coming in, and I really don't want to go.

But I will -- I think.

That's right, I like that perspective! The walk cancelled out the cookies. Yeah that's it!

Weather is not a good reason to put off going to the gym. You must go ahead to the gym. Go on. Are you going?

That is a better way of thinking about it.

I'm going to imagine that every pound one of us loses is a little bit of Dale that disappears. The only thing is I don't know if there is 900 pounds of extra weight distributed among all of us on all of the USA boards to get rid of Dale completely. Wouldn't it be nice if we could get enough people involved to safely melt Dale out of existence?

As of this morning, I have made 10 pounds of Dale disappear in about two and a half months!

Oh, I like that idea! Let's try to burn off Dale the Whale! If we can't make him disappear completely, maybe we can make a dent in him, anyhow. I've just weighed myself, and my beginning weight is X.

Liv, you don't happen to know of a screen cap of Dale we could place in this thread for inspiration, do you?

Yes, I am going to the gym -- anyway, I'm showered and dressed for it. The storms should clear out in a little while -- but if it's not over in the next 20 minutes, I'll leave during it.

I can get one. Which Dale do you want? I can get the first and second one right now, and maybe a kind of cruddy one of Dale the third, but hopefully, today I will get my Monk Season 6/Psych Season 2 DVDs in the mail, and can get a better one of DaleIII.

Wait! Woot! The just came!!! Which Dale?

And you could work out at home instead of the gym couldn't you? I mean if the weather is really bad and it's not that safe to drive. We get some pretty bad sudden storms here that really aren't safe to drive in.

I don't own a scale. I'll have to go over to my mother's house and weigh myself. *shudders* We will have those pounds melted off in no time, we can do it!

I just got back from the gym -- when I was driving there, the worst had passed through, and there was just some lightning off in the distance. When I came out, it was bright and sunny, the birds were singing, and everything was right with the world -- or it could have just been those exercise endorphins.

Pick your favorite Dale, I guess --whatever picture you think would work best. Just some motivation --

Liv, just a thought, and if you don't know how or if it is too much work, tell me -- but how hard would it be to do a disappearing Dale? -- meaning, when people lose weight crop off a certain percentage of the picture.

me too!!! lets see if we can't at least put a dent into Dale the Whale. hmmm, I wonder how much weight we can all loose by the end of the series, when Monk finds out who Trudy's killer is.

Get one of those long extension ladders and lean it up against your house. Climb up and down it several times. (While you're up there you can clean out your gutters.)

I do this regularly (clean out the gutters, I mean) and for the next few days afterwards my rear and thighs *hurt*!

Ladders are good, so are stairs. This is what I did after I had the immune system meltdown. It was the dead of winter and I couldn't go out walking so I started climbing the stairs, not a short flight, a regular flight. I started with 3 trips up and down in a row the first week, then I added two more flights up/down the second week until I had reached a total of 10 trips in a row. After climbing the stairs your legs and butt will really hurt so walk it off, I did circles around my central staircase until the cramps left.

When you can do 10 flights with complete ease, grab a can of veggies, 1 in each hand and start climbing that way. You may not be able to do the full 10 at first...keep adding cans of veggies, put them in a bag, egual weight in each hand. It's good for toning the thights and butt but it's also good for the heart.

My goal was to gain weight, at 5'7" I weighed 119# and looked like a gaunt scarecrow. I've put on 11# and have reached my ideal weight...yesterday my blood pressure was 105/53 which is down from l44/88. I don't do a lot of walking because of my asthma so this was a routine I could follow and didn't require me to leave the house or spend money I couldn't afford to spend.

Good luck everyone...I'm here pulling for each one of you.

Maybe a chat room where everyone lists what they ate each day would help curb the desire and keep those extra calories away. It's just a thought....

A Dale the Whale exercise video... Hmmmmmmm.

*funny wavy video effect*

And stretch, and stretch, and grab the remote, and channel, and channel, volume up and volume down and channel, and channel...

FEEL THE BURN YET? KEEP IT UP!

Harass the nurse, harass the nurse, and snacktime, and snacktime, remote control! and channel, and channel ... let me hear you sweat, people!

Call the lawyer, call the lawyer, speed-dial, speed-dial, and call the broker, call the broker, speed dial, speed dial... Put your fingers into it! No pain, no dial tone!

And plot a felony, and plot a felony; aid, abet; and plot a felony, and plot a felony... Okay, let's stretch it out, people! Wind it down, now... Feel that burn? Wasn't that a work-out? Okay, let's taper off with a lemon meringue pie...

LOL! I love Dale's plan.

Problem is I don't want to look like him. But you make it sound like fun.

Wow, I'm really happy for you. I know the struggles on weight. I'm up and down. I love riding my bike in the neighborhood, the smell of fresh air and loving life. I have discover the rower. Have you ever tried one? I join a gym with one over a year ago and I can tell you it's done a great job for me. It tone everything but I love to eat, so everyday is a battle. Good thing is my husband the same way except it doesn't affect him:)- We just purchase a rower for our home and I'm getting my 4 kids on it. Thanks for setting this up. Not only can I share my love for Monk, but now I can give a shout out for support. Donna

Hey it's great to see those jumping on to share fitness goal or just offer encouragement (or pie)

Let me just say for anyone who's ever lost weight -- don't you love that initial big weight lost that can happen when you first start on a diet or exercise program:

<drum roll>

X-4

Which is my fancy way of showing that my obsessive/compulsive daily weigh in said I lost 4 pounds. Yay!

I'll be hitting the treadmill within the hour.

congrats on losing the four pounds! I definetely think we can be successful this way if we have people encouraging us

Woo hoo!! Congrats! Keep it going.

I went out walking last night in the 90+ degree heat. STUPID!

Oh, be careful of that heat -- it doesn't sound healthy.

I just got off the treadmill -- 2 miles today.

Now, I'm going to do some housecleaning. (Stopping to check the board in between tasks, of course)

WOW! You are really showing me up. 2 miles?!

Yeah I wouldn't recommend walking a lot when it is 90 degrees and 200% humidity. I came home and collapsed on the couch. My cats even looked at me like I was a dumb a**. I'm staying indoors tonight.

Yeah, but 2 miles is a lot easier with an air conditioning unit blowing directly on your face, a cold bottle of water in the cup holder, and Mission Impossible playing on the television. Although no Stanley today.

When I lost my 100 pounds I was doing 3 miles a day -- 6 days a week on the treadmill, and sometimes an additional walk in the evening.

But I wouldn't think about doing that -- it's warm here today too -- with an air quality advisory. As an asthmatic -- that's not a good combination. So I have my air cranked, and I'm staying in the house. Even then, I'm sensitive to ozone -- if that's high, I'll get a headache.

LOL Out Loud! Don't forget to breathe!

Yes! though my weight loss was a little slow to start showing on the scale. I'm one of those people who always gains a bit of weight first from muscle for some reason. But I have lost over three pounds in the last two days, and I've done an hour and five minutes on the Wii, and a 25 minute walk.

BfloGal, I have been trrying to find a way to do a disappearing Dale picture but haven't really come up with one that I could easily do percentage wise. There's a lot of Dale to lose and if we do this in a healthy manner, even all our combined weight loss together it will take a while for it to make enough of a visible dent in Dale's considerable bulk. Two pounds for me is a big deal, but it's like trimming his nails or blowing his nose.

Congratulations on the three pounds! Together that's seven -- surely that worth like a hand or at least a few fingers or something. But I guess we can just estimate and verbally make him disappear.

I still like the idea.

I have lost another 1.3 pounds!

And metacomet is diabolical!! She sent me chocolate! I'm fighting the urge, trying to think of a way I can eat at least some of it, or places to hide it from my kids so that they won't eat it, but... It's so hard to say no.

You found my other weakness... There are two, Teddy Bears and chocolate.

I'll try to stay strong.

At least cuddling a bear won't make me gain weight.

Hey, can you translate something for me? I'm trying to figure out how many carbs and how many grams of dietary fiber are in these things. Which of these words would be which?

Hey Liv, when I was dieting intensely I allowed myself one Hershey bar a day! I still lost weight. And congratulations on the progress you're making!

Yay! Congratulations!

I just got back from the gym a while ago -- so I did my exercise.

And came home and made a nice big salad, with homemade dressing, homemade croutons, and grilled chicken. Yum! (Okay, I would have rather been eating pizza, but this wasn't bad.)

Went to the gym today

Didn't lose any more weight, but I maintained the four pound loss -- anybody else?

1 - 2 - 3 exhale, 1 - 2 - 3 inhale...

Hi BfloGal, I thught I had this place all to myself, just blowing off some steam here...

I had pizza tonight, I would rather have had that salad you made for yourself, it sounded so yummy but all I had in the fridge was an onion and a green pepper...dang work schedule has my hours all goofed up.

Well, gotta go, keep up the good work....marching to the beat of a treadmill

Hello everyone

Well done to all those who have lost weight and to those who are trying.

I lost a load of weight several years ago by a change of diet and becoming more active...silly me, I allowed some weight to return with the thought that I could lose it easily whenever I wanted...unfortunately, my motivation did not return until three months ago..since then with just dietary changes I have lost 19lbs...I now need to bring more activity into my day...which, hopefully will assist the weight loss.

Still have a way to go with my weight, but I feel far more positive about life..far healthier...and happier..it really is like magic.

I feel Dale the Whale disappearing as I write.

Speak soon and keep on with the good work.

Quinnie

PS Gassius says he will call around to anyone who needs any food finishing off...he is always hungry.

I tried to post to this thread yesterday, several times but I kept getting an error, and it was only this thread.

Anyway, I have hit a speed bump with my weight loss, I ate something that I was allergic to (I didn't know that one of the things I am allergic to was in it) and swelled up and was really sick for a couple of days. So not only did I gain four pounds in a matter of hours, but I was too sick to do my full work out for a couple of days, too. But I'm back up to my full workout now, most of the lingering after-effects are over, and my weight has gone back to almost normal. I did an hour of aerobics this morning and I have gotten up to a mile and three quarters in the evening, as long as I can breathe. And I have to go suck on that nebulizer now. I hate my body for reasons that have nothing to do with the size and shape of it.

Hello Liv

Glad you are feeling better..look after your self..getting your self in trim is a long term effort..the weight loss often hits dips even if you have been pounding the gym and keeping to the diet...I like you...no matter what..please do not hate yourself for any reason...smile and the whole Monk world will smile with you



Quinnie

Thank you Quinnie, but I don't hate me as much as I hate my body because of the asthma and allergies and other stuff that go with it. I guess I should say I hate the allergies and stuff rather than my body. Because even though the scale says I have only lost a little less than a pound from what I was before I ate the food that triggered the allergic reaction, my waist measurement says I have lost an inch and half since I measured a week ago. I guess being sick at your stomach is good for toning up, but so not worth it! But the inch and half kind of makes up for the sudden four pound weight gain a few days ago.

And this morning I did an hour of aerobics and walked one of the dogs for 1/4 mile, and will be walking at least another 1.6 miles this evening.

BTW, Quinnie, I love your avatar picture, Hector looks so nice in that shot. Very nice lighting, too.

Hi Liv

Sorry got the wrong end of the stick... glad there is a "t"in this word...asthma is the pits. plus all the allergies that seem to go with it...your exercise regime makes mine look a bit puny.

Hector looks good in all my picture collection...Hey he looks absolutely great..no matter what

Quinnie

Howdy! Big congrats for those who went in for sports and keep their body healthy and I wish a great willpower for those who are thinking of doing so!

I absolutely love many kinds of sports. I'm not keen on losing weight, but boosting my immune system and general health of my body. You know, it feels just great when after doing some sports you're all sweaty and tired, but keep saying "I'll thank me later" and it's absolutely true!

I was keen on martial arts a couple of years ago - it's a really interesting kind of sport, but now as I haven't got much time, I just go outside and run... running circles around you, that's how fast I am!

But my weakness is my running regime. It's all messy and sometimes I just don't have enough willpower to excersise regulary. I go running usually in the morning, but as Adrian Monk one time said in Marathon Man while lying all tired on a couch: "I think he took a nap..", I say: "I think all runners are taking some extra sleep today, and so am I", and so my whole running goes off.

So, all you good people, don't do like me, the most important thing is to keep it regulary! Keep it on!

This is a great thread!! Congratulations to everyone trying to better their health!! I'm trying to get inspiration from your successes!!

No weightchange today, but I did a total of 74 minutes on Wii Fit and had an asthma attack in the middle of it.

I don't know about anyone else, but I think having an asthma attack should count as part of the workout, it should be considered an exercise in it's own right, because it makes me sweat, my heart pound, and makes me really tired afterwards. I just don't think it should be considered a healthy or reccomended part of your daily workout.

Something else that should be considered an exercize is playing tug of war or fetch or frisbee with an American bulldog. He doesn't like to let go of things; he'll pretend he's gonna give you something, then at the last secind, he'll yank on it and you have to scramble to get you balance. Or he'll run after something and run right into you, it's like being tackled by a line backer. All he seems to see is the frisbee or toy he wants. And because he's deaf, he can't even hear you when you scream or yelp as you are trying to get out of the way, or hear you yell 'Ow!' when he knocks you down. Thanks to playing with him yesterday, I have a twisted ankle and sore knee.

Oh, and also because he's deaf, you can't take him outside to play unless he's on a leash, so I have a 20 foot training leash, which is great for letting him have some room to run a little bit, but bad because he gets a really good running start before he hits the end of it and dislocates your wrist, elbow and shoulder, and gives you whiplash. But he learns hand signal commands really really fast, just as long as you can get his attention to see you give him the command.

I'm running a canineasylum.