Treadmill or Elliptical? What cha think?

Look at that cougar go, RAWR!

For about 2 weeks (even when I wasn't working out), I started to wonder and research which workout machine would one benefit from: the treadmill or the elliptical? I've worked out on both in the past and even now and I honestly believe that they both can whoop some ass and make ya sweat, of course depending on settings and whatever program the machine is set for. But I have also heard from other people say they do not get anything out of a treadmill workout and favor the elliptical and others say vice versa.



OkGo! Rockin' it out on the treadmill

I talked to my dad (the super duper weight-lifin', marathon running, whey protein drinkin' mofo) about it and he believes the treadmill is the thing to do for weight loss. When he got hired on at the jail last fall, he started at 217 and on his 54th birthday (May 23rd) he is now 180. He says that working out on the treadmill, your using more muscles and burning more fat, especially if your running.

From personal experience, I like the elliptical. When I first started this weight loss deal, I discovered it's hard for a 270+ big gal to truck it on the treadmill for 30 minutes and feel good after wards, hell naw! However, a friend of mine introduced me to the elliptical and found it was much much easier to workout on. The elliptical is easy on the joints and doesn't hurt the shins, as high intensity treadmill work does for an obese person (trust me, I know).

So, here's my plan... I'll try the treadmill training and see if I come along farther than what I have with the elliptical. I've actually started this 2 days ago and so far, I've gone from 275 to 270 as of today (along with plenty of water and lessened the fried food intake). At the end of the month, I hope to end up at 250. Welp, I'll leave you with this:

Never Give Up... I Almost Did.

It's been about 12 days since my last update. Been busy with work, getting ready to start classes at my new school, and did a lot of vacationing. With such a busy 2 weeks, I slipped away from my morning/afternoon workouts and got lazy like no other. My eating habits weren't too bad but I've could've stayed away from the McDonalds chicken nuggets and the easily accessible Coke. This week after work, I found myself tired, sluggish, regretful for not continuing to take care of myself and not in the best of moods. I couldn't get any motivation to get off the couch and forseriously almost gave up on trying to lose this weight... Until I read this article and found motivation all over again: . I started to understand that it's okay to mess up and I should just pick up from where I left off. So at 8:30 this morning, I got up, ate my cereal and hauled ass to the gym and told myself to just workout for 5 minutes and see how I felt. Got on the treadmill and 5 minutes turned into 30 minutes! After that, I worked on the exercise machines for 20 minutes and did a mile on the elliptical. I ain't gonna lie, after today's workout that crap hurt but my mindset was in a MUCH better place than where it was yesterday. Here are some tips from the article that helped me out, maybe it'll help you as well:

1. Try a short workout. Even five minutes is better than nothing.

4. Drink your water. Try to aim for 8 cups each day and you’ll feel the difference!

9. Exercise for 10 minutes. Jump rope, march in place, or do some crunches. Small amounts do add up to something big!

13. Go shopping for some healthy foods

19. Listen to an inspirational song. Better yet, make a playlist of them so you can turn to it whenever you need a boost. (I listen to a LOT of rock and rap so a mix of both definitely help!)

Just because you fall off the wagon for a bit doesn't mean all is lost. Just stand up and finish what you started!

Jam of the day, week, summer! I heard this in Atlanta last weekend: