Exercise regime....

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martin_leeann
martin_leeann Posts: 46 Member
in Getting Started
I've been on MFP for about 12 days now and have lost a little over a 1 lb. this whe week I've been doing a beginners cardio workout. My question is this....do I need to do specific exercises on certain days for certain areas...or is cardio enough? I'm just beginning so I'm wanting to start out at a pace I'm comfortable with...I'm just confused on what to do! Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks ya'll!!

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  • stuartm2015
    stuartm2015 Posts: 17 Member
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    Just keep doing it until you're a sweaty, horrible mess.
  • Daveysgirl2014
    Daveysgirl2014 Posts: 41 Member
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    Is there a particular problem area you are wanting to work on?
  • Emilia777
    Emilia777 Posts: 978 Member
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    The only thing you need for weight loss is a caloric deficit. Exercise is more for your health or increasing your caloric deficit so you can eat a bit more. As you can’t spot reduce fat, I’d just focus on maintaining the caloric deficit by accurately tracking your food (ideally with a food scale for all solids) and eating only about half your exercise calories back (because they tend to be really overestimated).
  • kaspatore
    kaspatore Posts: 95 Member
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    I'm a big fan of exercise videos- and I must say- the Beachbody programs are my favorite. My T25 would be good, or P90x3! I'm currently doing p90X3 and loving it.
  • Daveysgirl2014
    Daveysgirl2014 Posts: 41 Member
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    I'm currently doing Jillian Michaels' "Killer Abs".
  • martin_leeann
    martin_leeann Posts: 46 Member
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    @Daveysgirl2014 My whole body...lol. Arms, stomach, back and thighs.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Nothing is needed... but what do you want to do? What are your goals? Is it just to loose weight? Is it for cardiovascular health? Do you want have muscles? Be stronger fitter? Is this at home, or do you want to join a gym?

    This is where you start.. there is no recommended exercise.
  • Daveysgirl2014
    Daveysgirl2014 Posts: 41 Member
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    I feel like you can never go wrong with cardio exercise.
  • martin_leeann
    martin_leeann Posts: 46 Member
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    Thanks ladies...I appreciate it! I go to the track and do my cardio at home. I can't afford a gym membership, but that's no excuse. I have stairs I do at my apartment and have a beautiful park with a walking trail. My goal is to lose weight and tone up.
  • no_russian
    no_russian Posts: 893 Member
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    A mix of strength training and cardio would be ideal. Cardio is great for burning calories and strength training will boost your metabolism and help you get toned up.

    But just cardio and proper dieting will get the job done if you stay consistent.
  • FoxyLifter
    FoxyLifter Posts: 965 Member
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    If you care about body composition (maximizing fat loss and minimizing muscle loss), you'll need to do some sort of progressive resistance training (most popular option: heavy lifting) and eat enough protein (around 1g per lb of LBM).
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    I would personally look into a strength training program like strong lifts, new rules of lifting for woman, or starting strength …and continue with the cardio on off lifting days...
  • tziol
    tziol Posts: 206 Member
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    Cardio is enough but keep good diet as diet is the key. If you will combine cardio with other exercises, that will be even better for your body look improvement and health. The best is to do cardio 20-30 minutes (not too long) on an empty stomach in the morning before breakfast (some ppl may say that this is a myth but still many professional fitness instructors recommend this). And when burning fat its better if you do cardio at pace which doesn't make you feel totally exhausted. Gyms are very expensive, I'm thinking about quitting mine too :)
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    tziol wrote: »
    Cardio is enough but keep good diet as diet is the key. If you will combine cardio with other exercises, that will be even better for your body look improvement and health. The best is to do cardio 20-30 minutes (not too long) on an empty stomach in the morning before breakfast (some ppl may say that this is a myth but still many professional fitness instructors recommend this). And when burning fat its better if you do cardio at pace which doesn't make you feel totally exhausted. Gyms are very expensive, I'm thinking about quitting mine too :)

    OP ignore this bro science...
  • tziol
    tziol Posts: 206 Member
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    ndj1979 wrote: »
    tziol wrote: »
    Cardio is enough but keep good diet as diet is the key. If you will combine cardio with other exercises, that will be even better for your body look improvement and health. The best is to do cardio 20-30 minutes (not too long) on an empty stomach in the morning before breakfast (some ppl may say that this is a myth but still many professional fitness instructors recommend this). And when burning fat its better if you do cardio at pace which doesn't make you feel totally exhausted. Gyms are very expensive, I'm thinking about quitting mine too :)

    OP ignore this bro science...

    This "bro science" are words of many fitness instructors too. Let's ignore them :)
  • martin_leeann
    martin_leeann Posts: 46 Member
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    Thanks guys! I posted some before pics Saturday under "getting started". If ya'll get a chance, maybe take a look and see if what ya'll are suggesting will get me there. I'm new to all this and have been reading a lot on fitness and nutrition..but I'm so confused. Thanks ya'll!
  • lonerockz
    lonerockz Posts: 100 Member
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    Martin_leeann, looked at your pics and congrats your bravery to post them. Body shame's pretty hard to overcome.

    First, what works for you might not be what works for others. So take all advice with a grain of salt. If something doesn't work, while people are saying "its a sure bet", don't worry, just try something else.

    The "Bro science" that ndj1979 is objecting to is "on an empty stomach". For some people that makes them nauseous. For me its when I'm most energetic, so it works. I don't think it speeds weight loss though. The part that is NOT bro science is the 20-30 minutes; that is real science. Its been shown that to really get increased fitness you need to exercise for more than 20 minutes. 2 10 minute workouts is NOT as good as 1 20 minute. Your heart rate and metabolism don't kick in until about the 20 minute mark.

    Based on you're comments, you'd like to not only lose weight, but also tone and firm up. I'd recommend you approach this in 3 phases, light cardio only to start, heavier cardio and light weights, and then some whole body weights.

    You're pics look like you are in fairly good shape. By that I mean you can sit on the floor and then stand easily. You could probably walk for an hour or 2 and not be dying by the end of it. If thats true, then for the few weeks do some walking 5-6 days a week. 20-30 minutes to start. But on the weekend try to go for some nice long walks 1-2 hours. By week 3 you should be doing hills, and picking up the pace. I can't run, as I have bad knees that won't take the impact, but by week 5 you probably want to be doing some light running, just for 20-30 minutes. After 8-9 weeks of this kind of exercise your body is going to be really good at walking and jogging. Which will lessen the benefit you receive. So it will be time to add things that move other muscles. Planking, push-ups, squats, jumping jacks, etc. At 18-20 weeks you'll be needing weights to really get a good workout. Start with weight machines as its easy to get injured, but long term you need to hit the squat rack, deadlift, and bench press.

    If your in better shape you can accelerate these times. If you're in worse shape, then give yourself more time. But you need to ease into this, worst thing to to is get injured and then you can't even move as well as before you started!

    You mention problem areas, and the truth is that you can't target weight loss to any real extent. BUT, there are some things you can do to make things look more attractive. Many folks have the "bat wings", flab under the arms. Well, if you put on some muscle in the upper arms they will go away! Saggy butt? Time to hit the stairs and do squats! Put some muscle on that butt and the sag will fill out. Only bad thing about muscle, it does reduce if you stop exercising. So this is really a life long commitment to being in better shape, which is probably a good idea anyway!

    Good luck!
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
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    I agree with everything Lonerockz said. Although I do think you could speed up the time line he gave you just a little bit as you feel more energized and can take on more. I'm doing a combination of cardio and weights and it may sound funny but I like doing the weights more. I can actually see the results and I'm only on week 4 with weights. Just take your time and add more just a little bit each week. It actually does get easier the more you do it.

    I do 20-30 min of cardio and Stonglifts weight training plan.

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