help!!

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tasiac23
tasiac23 Posts: 48 Member
edited June 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so I really need to lose a few!The problem is I'm easy to busy to even have a weight training routine. I work, have two kids, and go to school three days a week. I like to run/jog so I do that when I have time, but I feel like it's just not enough. My gym sessions used to last about an hour and a half but with everything going on I don't have time to add that on. Can someone please tell me what I can do at home in the mornings before I go to work? I tried insanity and was doing pretty good but I sort of got out of it.ALL I WANT TO DO IS TONE UP!!! lol. .... I'm not too unhappy with my weight as long as I look toned and not fat!

Replies

  • peachyfuzzle
    peachyfuzzle Posts: 1,122 Member
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    Toning is a myth. There is no such thing. You can either build, or lose muscle, but you cannot tone it. You can make more muscle visible by losing fat by generally losing weight.

    In order to build muscle, you'll need to gain weight by eating more than you burn by daily activity + exercise, and get into a resistance program. This will cause you to gain fat, and muscle, but you can start losing weight again, and keep as much muscle as possible by continuing the resistance training.

    In order to lose fat, you just need to lose weight, so all you need to do is eat less than you burn through daily activity + exercise. You'll be losing both fat, and muscle at this time, so it's generally accepted as a good idea to do resistance training so you keep as much muscle mass as possible.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Eat less.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
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    Eat less.

    What about the part where she's more interested in "looking toned" (I'm gonna read that as "looking fit and lean") than she is in losing weight on the scale?
    Just eating less won't improve the body composition of someone who's happy with their weight.

    OP: If you can find a way to fit a few weight lifting sessions into your schedule each week I think you'd like the results. The idea of "toning" muscle isn't quite what people imagine (people think they have big soft muscles that would get tight and toned looking if they lift weights). The look you want comes from either losing fat so that the small muscles underneath are more noticeable... or by growing the muscle to make the fat less noticeable... or preferably both.

    Check out the opening posts of these threads. The first two, especially, should be very helpful for what you're looking for.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1
  • sofaking6
    sofaking6 Posts: 4,589 Member
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    Do you have weights at home? You can do a lot in very little time - Insanity won't help you tone since it's just cardio. You need a program that involves more resistance training. Check out FitnessBlender on youtube, it's a great channel with a lot of strength-based workouts.
  • tasiac23
    tasiac23 Posts: 48 Member
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    Carlos_421 and sofaking6 thank you so much for your suggestions! I'm getting ready to tag those posts and look up that channel on YouTube now :)
  • madhatter2013
    madhatter2013 Posts: 1,547 Member
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    I work 50 hours a week, go to school every day and have a husband and 4 children to cook for and clean up after. You just gotta make the time. When I started lifting, I told my husband that this was my plan and he'd just have to help me stick to it. Now, we've found a way to keep the kids occupied while we both work out. Usually they watch and learn.
  • tasiac23
    tasiac23 Posts: 48 Member
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    Well, I'm not saying that I don't have any time. I just don't have all of the time that I used to have. That's why I'm trying to find fast (30 minutes -1 hour) and effective workouts.
  • mantium999
    mantium999 Posts: 1,490 Member
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    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Eat less.

    What about the part where she's more interested in "looking toned" (I'm gonna read that as "looking fit and lean") than she is in losing weight on the scale?
    Just eating less won't improve the body composition of someone who's happy with their weight.

    OP: If you can find a way to fit a few weight lifting sessions into your schedule each week I think you'd like the results. The idea of "toning" muscle isn't quite what people imagine (people think they have big soft muscles that would get tight and toned looking if they lift weights). The look you want comes from either losing fat so that the small muscles underneath are more noticeable... or by growing the muscle to make the fat less noticeable... or preferably both.

    Check out the opening posts of these threads. The first two, especially, should be very helpful for what you're looking for.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

    These links have all your answers OP.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
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    tasiac23 wrote: »
    Well, I'm not saying that I don't have any time. I just don't have all of the time that I used to have. That's why I'm trying to find fast (30 minutes -1 hour) and effective workouts.

    That's the perfect time frame for a good strength training routine. :)
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Eat less.

    What about the part where she's more interested in "looking toned" (I'm gonna read that as "looking fit and lean") than she is in losing weight on the scale?
    Just eating less won't improve the body composition of someone who's happy with their weight.

    OP: If you can find a way to fit a few weight lifting sessions into your schedule each week I think you'd like the results. The idea of "toning" muscle isn't quite what people imagine (people think they have big soft muscles that would get tight and toned looking if they lift weights). The look you want comes from either losing fat so that the small muscles underneath are more noticeable... or by growing the muscle to make the fat less noticeable... or preferably both.

    Check out the opening posts of these threads. The first two, especially, should be very helpful for what you're looking for.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

    A person who loses weight will look more toned, even if they don't exercise more than normal, just because they won't have a layer of fat covering their muscle.
  • tasiac23
    tasiac23 Posts: 48 Member
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    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    tasiac23 wrote: »
    Well, I'm not saying that I don't have any time. I just don't have all of the time that I used to have. That's why I'm trying to find fast (30 minutes -1 hour) and effective workouts.

    That's the perfect time frame for a good strength training routine. :)

    I know :) A trainer at the gym I work at (I work in the nursery lol) gave me a routine to do in the morning that will only take about 30-45 minutes. I also checked out fitness blender on YouTube, like a previous person suggested, and they do have some good videos on there too!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Lift heavy things.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,074 Member
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    Eat less.

    Eating less does not create muscle.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Eat less.

    What about the part where she's more interested in "looking toned" (I'm gonna read that as "looking fit and lean") than she is in losing weight on the scale?
    Just eating less won't improve the body composition of someone who's happy with their weight.

    OP: If you can find a way to fit a few weight lifting sessions into your schedule each week I think you'd like the results. The idea of "toning" muscle isn't quite what people imagine (people think they have big soft muscles that would get tight and toned looking if they lift weights). The look you want comes from either losing fat so that the small muscles underneath are more noticeable... or by growing the muscle to make the fat less noticeable... or preferably both.

    Check out the opening posts of these threads. The first two, especially, should be very helpful for what you're looking for.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

    A person who loses weight will look more toned, even if they don't exercise more than normal, just because they won't have a layer of fat covering their muscle.

    Still missing the part where she's wanting to basically recomp without necessarily losing weight.

    And that's not necessarily so...maybe they'll look slightly more toned than they looked before but probably not as toned as they want. Most people who don't already strength train don't have enough muscle to really look toned just from losing weight by eating less.
  • tasiac23
    tasiac23 Posts: 48 Member
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    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Eat less.

    What about the part where she's more interested in "looking toned" (I'm gonna read that as "looking fit and lean") than she is in losing weight on the scale?
    Just eating less won't improve the body composition of someone who's happy with their weight.

    OP: If you can find a way to fit a few weight lifting sessions into your schedule each week I think you'd like the results. The idea of "toning" muscle isn't quite what people imagine (people think they have big soft muscles that would get tight and toned looking if they lift weights). The look you want comes from either losing fat so that the small muscles underneath are more noticeable... or by growing the muscle to make the fat less noticeable... or preferably both.

    Check out the opening posts of these threads. The first two, especially, should be very helpful for what you're looking for.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach/p1
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

    A person who loses weight will look more toned, even if they don't exercise more than normal, just because they won't have a layer of fat covering their muscle.

    Still missing the part where she's wanting to basically recomp without necessarily losing weight.

    And that's not necessarily so...maybe they'll look slightly more toned than they looked before but probably not as toned as they want. Most people who don't already strength train don't have enough muscle to really look toned just from losing weight by eating less.

    Carlos_421 gets it! I wish just losing weight was the answer! If that were the case, though, most people really wouldn't need gyms or exercise to shape up.
  • slaite1
    slaite1 Posts: 1,307 Member
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    If you liked insanity, have you tried P-90x or something like that? I'm not a fan of video series, but my brother loves them. He ate a little better, runs very occasionally and does P-90x as often as he can and he looks slimmer and more "fit".

    He has since outgrown them and now wants me to teach him to lift properly in a gym. But it was a great tool for quite a while for him.
  • tasiac23
    tasiac23 Posts: 48 Member
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    l
    slaite1 wrote: »
    If you liked insanity, have you tried P-90x or something like that? I'm not a fan of video series, but my brother loves them. He ate a little better, runs very occasionally and does P-90x as often as he can and he looks slimmer and more "fit".

    He has since outgrown them and now wants me to teach him to lift properly in a gym. But it was a great tool for quite a while for him.


    I haven't tried P90X yet but would like too. I'm just not sure how much out actually works. Someone gave me Insanity, so I didn't have to buy it lol. I just bought an exercise ball last night and I have weights at my house and the strength workout plan from a trainer that I know. So, hopefully I'll be on my way to looking and feeling better in no time. :)