Fitness & Exercise Community

Think about using a personal trainer. Mine really helped me and was money well spent!

I wish I could afford one, or even a gym membership. But with only the hubby working and two babies...its kinda hard

Hi sroberts,

All exercise burns fat so it's not so much a case of which exercise is best, it's just that you need to exercise regularly, and you need to do resistance and aerobic exercise both. Do the aerobic exercise 3-5 days a week for 30 minutes and resistance exercise 2-3 days a week, 8-12 exercises, 2-3 sets, 10-15 reps. If you want to ramp up the exercise, try interval training 1-2 times per week. The idea is to set up work to active rest ratios (work:active rest), and as you get more fit, you decrease the rest time and increase the work time. A simple example would be the following:

If you currently run for 30 minutes at 6mph, try jogging for 5 minutes to warm up, then increase the speed to say 6.5mph and jog for 1-2 minutes (less time if you can't go that long), then jog again for a few minutes at your normal speed, then run again at the faster speed, and so on until you reach your time limit. The work:active rest ratios would be 2:3 if you ran for 2 minutes at 6.5mph and jogged for 3 minutes at 6mph. Over the course of the next few months you will get more fit if you continue with this type of training.

You can also get more specific and use heart rate. Your heart rate is an excellent indication of how hard you are working. For example, if your heart rate is at 70% of your predicted max when you jog at 6mph, then start at that speed and then either increase the speed or elevation, and increase it so that your heart rate increases to 85% or even 90% for 1-3 minutes to start, then back to your jogging speed at a heart rate of 70%. That's a starting recommendation. Over time, your conditioning will improve and then your heart rate will be lower at the higher speeds and you can spend more time at the work speeds and less during the active rest period. You can always vary the ratios if they turn out to be too hard or too easy. 1:3 is a good starting ratio.

If you need choices for resistance exercises, go to www.exrx.net for pictures of exercises for every muscle group. I will post a starter weight lifting program for you. The program is broken up by muscle group (chest, back, shoulders, arms, legs, abs) and is three days a week, but you can modify it if you like for more or less days.

Day 1: Chest (bench press with bar or dumbbell press, flyes, pushups), triceps (bench dips, kickbacks, )

Day 2: Back (bent over rows) biceps (curls, standing or seated)

Day 3: Shoulders (lateral raises, front raises), legs (squats, lunges)

Do 10-12 repetitions, 1-3 sets per exercise. That means select a weight you can lift 10-12 times to momentary fatigue with good form. When you can easily lift the weight 12 times, increase the weight.

You can experiment with different splits. For instance, you could try the following

Day 1: Chest (bench press with bar or dumbbell press, flyes, pushups), Back (bent over rows, pulldowns),
Day 2: biceps (curls, standing or seated), triceps (bench dips, kickbacks)

Day 3: Shoulders (lateral raises, front raises), legs (squats, lunges)

If you'd like to work on your exercise program and then post it back to the Community I'd be happy to review it for you.

See my next post for advice on weight loss.

Since you seem so serious about losing weight then I suggest all of the following:

1. Continue with exercise. It burns calories, it will keep you fit and strong, and it's the best predictor of keeping your weight off.

2. For the next week write down every single morsel of food you eat, and every ounce of beverage with calories you drink. Estimate the portion sizes as accurately as possible, and weigh and measure everything. Get a food scale and measuring cup to do it accurately.

3. Then go to the following site to figure out how many calories you are consuming
http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-food-calorie-counter

4. Then to this site to estimate how many calories you burn all day (called the 24-hour energy expenditure (24-hrEE)
www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-fitness-calorie-counter

5. Then here http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-metabolism-calculator to estimate your metabolic rate. Use the "Inactive" activity level for an additional cushion for underestimation of calorie intake.

Once you know your 24-hrEE, and how many calories you consume, you can modify your intake accordingly, and/or increase exercise, so that you burn more than you consume. For instance, if you consume 2000 calories in a day and burn 1500, then you know you have to either cut back on your calories and/or increase your exercise to turn it around.

If all of this is too confusing, then just do #2 and write down everything you eat. If you do just that you'll lose weight.

You can post your diet-related questions to the Diet Community:
http://exchanges.webmd.com/diet-exchange

Finally, weight loss can be difficult on your own. WebMD has excellent resources to help people lose weight. You can get all the support and expert guidance on your diet that you need by checking out the Diet Community and the Weight Loss Clubs. The support and guidance will be extremely helpful to you.

And you can select one of the Diet Clubs based on how much weight you want to lose.
http://exchanges.webmd.com/dieting-club-10-25-lbs-exchange
http://exchanges.webmd.com/dieting-club-25-50-lbs-exchange
http://exchanges.webmd.com/dieting-club-50-100-lbs-exchange
http://exchanges.webmd.com/dieting-club-100-lbs-exchange

Feel free to post back if you have questions.

Take care, Rich

Rich I cannot thank you enough for all this information. I am looking to lose 70-80lbs, the hardest part for me is getting the enery to do it. I know having two kids isn't an excuse but with my husband gone and working all the time its almost like I'm a single mom. As far as eating healthy. I really don't know how.. I grew up being overweight and only eating what tasted good. So when people say eat healthy I get turned off by it because I think it will taste gross. I just need to get my will power back and cut back on what I eat. Again Thank you so much for all your input. God Bless you!!

You're very welcome. Glad I could help. I understand what you mean about getting turned off when people tell you to eat healthy. First off, who likes to be told what to do, and second, one could eat "Healthy" and still consume more calories than they burn (which means no weight loss, or even weight gain). Recommending fruits and vegetables is always a good idea (but what other foods do they mean by "healthy") and I don't have any argument against that, but like I said, you can still gain weight eating "healthy" if you consume more calories than you burn. Consider the problems people who follow Weight Watchers are having with free fruits and vegetables. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/in-new-diet-math-subtracting-is-hard/ For example, a large banana has about 120 calories. Have 3 or 4 of them, and the calories add up fast (I know people who did exactly that with lots of different fruits when the new points system got started, and their weight loss slowed, or they even gained weight). Again, there's not a thing wrong with recommending fruits and vegetables, and people should consume some, but too many calories is a problem if you want to lose weight. As for you saying they will taste gross, you could probably find some fruits or vegetables that tastes okay to you, and so I do recommend you try some because vegetables can increase the volume of your food, which can be more satisfying and fill you up, plus when you cut back you want to avoid hunger and deprivation, and volume can help with that, so it might be worth trying some of them. But you're right, the bottom line is that you'll need to cut back on the amount of calories if you want to lose weight.

Feel free to post back if you need some support, and do check out the diet clubs for help.

Take care,
Rich

Hi sroberts!

I just wanted to give you a supportive (((hug))). I'm a working mom with two kids and I get it! I always put myself at the bottom of the list - right behind the laundry, the homework, the work obligations, and on and on.

One thing that motivates me is remembering that I'm setting an example for my little ones. I want my girls to grow up active and healthy! So far so good but it's been really challenging for me since school started. Uggg...the homework

Hang in there and please come back for more support!

Haylen

p.s. How old are your kiddos? Let me know and I can link you to some supportive Parenting Communities. Finding time and energy to take care of ourselves is a "hot topic" discussed frequently by busy (and exhausted) moms.

am 71 but still work part time as a trainer. you do not tell me your age, which does make a difference. you should get checked by a doctor before beginning a program anyway, then you know how rigorous a program you can do. treadmill is good for cardio. i would suggest walking a fast incline speed for 1 minutes, then slower for 4 minutes. do this for 30 minutes. if jogging does not bother you then jog using the same method. rubber bands are cheap workout accessories and usually come with a group of exercises you can do for strength training, but if used right can become not only great for strength but cardio also by utilizing circuit training and/or interval training. another great program you should incorporate into your workout is yoga/stretching exercises. workout at least 3 times a week, but for shorter workouts, i suggest 5 times a week with a minimum of 30 minutes each. my personal program is 15 minutes interval exercise cycling, 18 yoga/stretching exercises and 25 minutes interval strength training using jakes tower, dumbbells and kettlebells 3 days a week and two days of 45 yoga/stretching exercises and some dancing. i change up my work out about every 8 weeks. good luck

I have lost a lot of weight (50 lb ) following the South Beach Diet Turbocharged. Please chec out the book. It is very highly recommended as it has worked for me, and I have tried several diets over several years, and this is something you can live with.

if you're really serious about losing weight you should cardio 2x a week for 1.5 hours. 45 min on the elipitical machine and 45 min on the bike. the 3x a week do weights for 2.5 - 3.0 hrs each day. cut out all carbs and sugars in your diet. get on a high protein diet

You can do it. I put my life on hold when my first child was born. I gave myself 5 years to do nothing but help look after the kids and the house (plus I worked). 14 yrs later I finally got back into eating properly, sleeping properly and excersing constantly.

I now have 3 boys, but found time to train. Eating is 80% of weight loss. I dropped 19kgs in 6 months.

If I can do it you can too. Think positive and this will show through in your eating habits and training

Good luck Jamie

Work you way up to running 4 days per week and strength strain for 2 days. Keep mileage low and slowing buildup to 5 miles or more per running session