Short vs long exercises

Monna2

Hello
I'm a very sedentary person. I try to go on a 1200 cal. diet but still I'm not losing weight, probably because of me being sedentary and sitting or sleeping all day. I think my metabolism is sooo slow. And I always find it difficult to stick to an exercise routine that even involves just 20 minutes.
So, I thought : why not I just do five minute workouts every now and then throughout the day?
Let's say in the morning I do some warm ups and a little cardio...In the afternoon I can work on my abs, legs and arms in three separate workouts and in the evening I can stretch . All workouts should take five minutes max.
MY question is : will this help me ? will it boost my metabolism?
And is there a difference between long and short workouts when it comes to burning calories and metabolism?
I am 116 kg 5'5".

Thank you

heybales

The problem isn't your metabolism is slow, you need to move.

Your metabolism is probably right on for someone your age, weight, height and bodyfat %.

But your daily burn is well below average - and average ain't all that great anyway.

It won't boost your metabolism - you'll just burn more, if you can do those workouts.

I think you are confused as what the metabolism is - it's the basic functions of life, and a fewer high level ones, that the body spends energy doing.
Unless you can do a really hard anaerobic workout long enough that requires your body to repair itself for upwards of 24-36 hrs thereby increasing metabolism - no you won't be doing little 5 min jaunts. As soon as you stop your metabolism is back to where it was basically.

If you aren't losing on 1200, then either you are very short (you aren't), or your food logging leaves a lot to be desired. Considering you have admitted to being more than sedentary, perhaps examine the latter.
Do you weigh all the food that goes in your mouth?
Calories is per gram, not per cup or spoonful.

But your plan can be good enough to increase your daily burn. 5 min at the start of every hour awake is how one lady got her exercise. Every even hour is jogging in place, every odd hour was pull-ups, pushups, dips, squats, ect, using bigger muscles. Situps are using little muscles, won't burn much from them.

The difference between long and short comes in to improving your heart health basically, need longer then.

Neither is needed for weight loss. You merely must eat less than you burn to lose weight.

Exercise is for changing the body, plus since it makes you burn more, when you eat less you would get to eat more than no exercise, and adhere to the diet better perhaps.

Megabot

First, all of what the above commenter said is good.

You will see a difference by adding more excercise to your day, yes. That's the whole idea behind things like fitbit, checking if you get enough excercise through the day, with just walking more, taking the stairs, taking an extra couple laps around your building at lunch.

Remember that'll go away if you start thinking "I'm working out" and eat more. So definitely agree with the above commenter regarding logging food, too - make sure even if it's a teaspoon of sugar, you log it.

Lastly, though, is a question on how you approach weight loss. If you can't make yourself do a 20-minute workout daily, why do you think you will stick to several a day? That to me seems like you'll be just adding more pressure all day, giving yourself a goal of MORE WORKOUTS and it will be just as hard to stick to, if not more. Is that really what you need? Maybe you just need to be really consistent and hold yourself to a tough 5-minute workout every day, and slowly add a minute until you *can* do a 20-minute workout every day.

mrsKOrtiz

1200 is so low!!

Cherimoose

Monna2 wrote: »

Let's say in the morning I do some warm ups and a little cardio...In the afternoon I can work on my abs, legs and arms in three separate workouts and in the evening I can stretch . All workouts should take five minutes max.

Not sure if i'd count stretching as a workout. But yes, short exercise sessions work well for fat loss (according to studies). You probably should add more cardio sessions though, since you're so sedentary. Humans are meant to be active.

Why do you sleep all day?