Is jogging 30 minutes a day and body weight exercise enough to get fit?

katroslyn
katroslyn Posts: 2 Member
edited November 27 in Fitness and Exercise
I’ve noticed that cardio really only makes me lose more weight, and skinnier. I’ve never been overweight, but I’ve always been some combination of skinny + stubborn fat. Basically a soft-skinny person. I’ve fluctuated with eating right to eating poorly or over my calorie intake, so I’ve never really seen the ultimate results, but I’ve noticed that my two-pack would subtly show more and more when I was on a streak of jogging and eating correctly. I’m trying to include body weight exercise like crunches, push-ups, squats, and explosive lunges. The reason I rely on body weight workouts is because I can’t really afford a gym right now. :/ So I just do what I can to tone out more. I just don’t know if this is enough. And because it’s much hotter during the summer, I don’t have the same endurance I did back in winter and spring. I used to be able to do 40 to 60 minute jogs, but now I’ve been sticking with 30 minutes. I just want to get more toned and lose body fat where I have stubborn fat.

Replies

  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
    You can definitely use bodyweight. Especially for upper body. Look into You Are Your Own Gym, Convict Conditioning, Gymnastic Bodies, Calisthenics Academy. You can do most in your home. If you have a pull-up bar even better. A pair of rings and you are rock solid.

    Lower body is a little trickier and you'll max out quicker.
  • Resistive
    Resistive Posts: 212 Member
    Coupled with eating sensibly, you will nail it.
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    Yes
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,282 Member
    Definitely. You're doing all good stuff. It's a great plan for your goal.
  • jshaw2025
    jshaw2025 Posts: 61 Member
    Absolutely! Great job. Stick with it!
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
    If you are wanting to add more strength training without breaking the bank, there are lots of videos on YouTube. I used 2 lb. dumbbells that I picked up at Walmart for $4 and the HASFit videos on YouTube this week. I felt it was a great beginner workout for me. I've also heard of people using water bottles in lieu of dumbbells or canned vegetables.
  • MelAb8709
    MelAb8709 Posts: 140 Member
    If you're on FB, check the marketplace for a set of dumbbells for cheap.
  • mamasara2
    mamasara2 Posts: 194 Member
    Fat person here, but really glad you posted he question.
    I do a lot of walking right now but working back toward jogging/running. Is 30 min three days a week good enough for a chunky monkey like me or would I have to step it up to daily? I've got between 30 and 40 lbs to drop.
  • divcara
    divcara Posts: 357 Member
    You can do a ton with bodyweight exercises! Also check out online Barre videos that you can do at home.

    Strength training and building up lean muscle mass will help decrease body fat. And building muscle helps burn those calories at rest - so you can eat more!
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited July 2018
    mamasara2 wrote: »
    Fat person here, but really glad you posted he question.
    I do a lot of walking right now but working back toward jogging/running. Is 30 min three days a week good enough for a chunky monkey like me or would I have to step it up to daily? I've got between 30 and 40 lbs to drop.

    I think the answer for you would be the same as for the OP: It depends on your goals.

    If your goal is to lose weight, that's largely a function of your diet. You lose weight by consuming less calories than you expend. If your diet isn't in line (i.e., you aren't staying at/below your calorie goal the vast majority of the time), you can't out-exercise a bad diet. Exercise can help create the deficit, but it's very easy to out-eat the calories you burn exercising unless you're doing a lot of very long, intense training every day.

    If your goal is to improve strength and body composition, some form of strength training would be more beneficial than cardio. But diet still matters a great deal. What most people call "toning" is actually losing body fat to reveal the muscles beneath, and you get rid of body fat by calorie deficit.

    If your goal is primarily cardiovascular fitness, then cardiovascular training would be most beneficial. Would three days/30 minutes be enough? It depends - what do you consider "fit"? If your definition includes being able to run a 10K, half marathon or marathon, then 30 minutes 3 times a week isn't nearly enough; if your definition is just to be in decent cardiovascular shape for your health and be able to run, bike, hike, etc. when you want to, 30 minutes 3 times a week may be enough.



    divcara wrote: »
    You can do a ton with bodyweight exercises! Also check out online Barre videos that you can do at home.

    Strength training and building up lean muscle mass will help decrease body fat. And building muscle helps burn those calories at rest - so you can eat more!
    This is a popular, but highly overrated statement. A pound of muscle burns about 6 calories per day at rest; a pound of fat burns about 2 calories per day at rest. So if you gain 10 pounds of muscle and lose 10 pounds of fat (which is a pretty significant accomplishment which will take quite a lot of time), you'd be burning 40 more calories per day.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    mamasara2 wrote: »
    Fat person here, but really glad you posted he question.
    I do a lot of walking right now but working back toward jogging/running. Is 30 min three days a week good enough for a chunky monkey like me or would I have to step it up to daily? I've got between 30 and 40 lbs to drop.

    I think the answer for you would be the same as for the OP: It depends on your goals.

    If your goal is to lose weight, that's largely a function of your diet. You lose weight by consuming less calories than you expend. If your diet isn't in line (i.e., you aren't staying at/below your calorie goal the vast majority of the time), you can't out-exercise a bad diet. Exercise can help create the deficit, but it's very easy to out-eat the calories you burn exercising unless you're doing a lot of very long, intense training every day.

    If your goal is to improve strength and body composition, some form of strength training would be more beneficial than cardio. But diet still matters a great deal. What most people call "toning" is actually losing body fat to reveal the muscles beneath, and you get rid of body fat by calorie deficit.

    If your goal is primarily cardiovascular fitness, then cardiovascular training would be most beneficial. Would three days/30 minutes be enough? It depends - what do you consider "fit"? If your definition includes being able to run a 10K, half marathon or marathon, then 30 minutes 3 times a week isn't nearly enough; if your definition is just to be in decent cardiovascular shape for your health and be able to run, bike, hike, etc. when you want to, 30 minutes 3 times a week may be enough.



    divcara wrote: »
    You can do a ton with bodyweight exercises! Also check out online Barre videos that you can do at home.

    Strength training and building up lean muscle mass will help decrease body fat. And building muscle helps burn those calories at rest - so you can eat more!
    This is a popular, but highly overrated statement. A pound of muscle burns about 6 calories per day at rest; a pound of fat burns about 2 calories per day at rest. So if you gain 10 pounds of muscle and lose 10 pounds of fat (which is a pretty significant accomplishment which will take quite a lot of time), you'd be burning 40 more calories per day.

    This is probably a stupid question re: the bolded and I'm obviously missing something... But why can body builders/very muscular people eat a *kitten* ton more calories than normal people. If all that extra muscle doesn't burn as much as we thought, then their massive calorie allowances doesn't make sense.

  • mkculs
    mkculs Posts: 316 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    mamasara2 wrote: »
    Fat person here, but really glad you posted he question.
    I do a lot of walking right now but working back toward jogging/running. Is 30 min three days a week good enough for a chunky monkey like me or would I have to step it up to daily? I've got between 30 and 40 lbs to drop.

    I think the answer for you would be the same as for the OP: It depends on your goals.

    If your goal is to lose weight, that's largely a function of your diet. You lose weight by consuming less calories than you expend. If your diet isn't in line (i.e., you aren't staying at/below your calorie goal the vast majority of the time), you can't out-exercise a bad diet. Exercise can help create the deficit, but it's very easy to out-eat the calories you burn exercising unless you're doing a lot of very long, intense training every day.

    If your goal is to improve strength and body composition, some form of strength training would be more beneficial than cardio. But diet still matters a great deal. What most people call "toning" is actually losing body fat to reveal the muscles beneath, and you get rid of body fat by calorie deficit.

    If your goal is primarily cardiovascular fitness, then cardiovascular training would be most beneficial. Would three days/30 minutes be enough? It depends - what do you consider "fit"? If your definition includes being able to run a 10K, half marathon or marathon, then 30 minutes 3 times a week isn't nearly enough; if your definition is just to be in decent cardiovascular shape for your health and be able to run, bike, hike, etc. when you want to, 30 minutes 3 times a week may be enough.



    divcara wrote: »
    You can do a ton with bodyweight exercises! Also check out online Barre videos that you can do at home.

    Strength training and building up lean muscle mass will help decrease body fat. And building muscle helps burn those calories at rest - so you can eat more!
    This is a popular, but highly overrated statement. A pound of muscle burns about 6 calories per day at rest; a pound of fat burns about 2 calories per day at rest. So if you gain 10 pounds of muscle and lose 10 pounds of fat (which is a pretty significant accomplishment which will take quite a lot of time), you'd be burning 40 more calories per day.

    This is probably a stupid question re: the bolded and I'm obviously missing something... But why can body builders/very muscular people eat a *kitten* ton more calories than normal people. If all that extra muscle doesn't burn as much as we thought, then their massive calorie allowances doesn't make sense.

    Their muscles are not at rest all day.
  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
    mkculs wrote: »
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    mamasara2 wrote: »
    Fat person here, but really glad you posted he question.
    I do a lot of walking right now but working back toward jogging/running. Is 30 min three days a week good enough for a chunky monkey like me or would I have to step it up to daily? I've got between 30 and 40 lbs to drop.

    I think the answer for you would be the same as for the OP: It depends on your goals.

    If your goal is to lose weight, that's largely a function of your diet. You lose weight by consuming less calories than you expend. If your diet isn't in line (i.e., you aren't staying at/below your calorie goal the vast majority of the time), you can't out-exercise a bad diet. Exercise can help create the deficit, but it's very easy to out-eat the calories you burn exercising unless you're doing a lot of very long, intense training every day.

    If your goal is to improve strength and body composition, some form of strength training would be more beneficial than cardio. But diet still matters a great deal. What most people call "toning" is actually losing body fat to reveal the muscles beneath, and you get rid of body fat by calorie deficit.

    If your goal is primarily cardiovascular fitness, then cardiovascular training would be most beneficial. Would three days/30 minutes be enough? It depends - what do you consider "fit"? If your definition includes being able to run a 10K, half marathon or marathon, then 30 minutes 3 times a week isn't nearly enough; if your definition is just to be in decent cardiovascular shape for your health and be able to run, bike, hike, etc. when you want to, 30 minutes 3 times a week may be enough.



    divcara wrote: »
    You can do a ton with bodyweight exercises! Also check out online Barre videos that you can do at home.

    Strength training and building up lean muscle mass will help decrease body fat. And building muscle helps burn those calories at rest - so you can eat more!
    This is a popular, but highly overrated statement. A pound of muscle burns about 6 calories per day at rest; a pound of fat burns about 2 calories per day at rest. So if you gain 10 pounds of muscle and lose 10 pounds of fat (which is a pretty significant accomplishment which will take quite a lot of time), you'd be burning 40 more calories per day.

    This is probably a stupid question re: the bolded and I'm obviously missing something... But why can body builders/very muscular people eat a *kitten* ton more calories than normal people. If all that extra muscle doesn't burn as much as we thought, then their massive calorie allowances doesn't make sense.

    Their muscles are not at rest all day.
    Exactly. I believe the 6 vs 2 calories a day thing only applies to BMR. So in AnvilHead's example, that 40 extra calories per day would end up being much more with increasing activity levels.

  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    mamasara2 wrote: »
    Fat person here, but really glad you posted he question.
    I do a lot of walking right now but working back toward jogging/running. Is 30 min three days a week good enough for a chunky monkey like me or would I have to step it up to daily? I've got between 30 and 40 lbs to drop.

    I think the answer for you would be the same as for the OP: It depends on your goals.

    If your goal is to lose weight, that's largely a function of your diet. You lose weight by consuming less calories than you expend. If your diet isn't in line (i.e., you aren't staying at/below your calorie goal the vast majority of the time), you can't out-exercise a bad diet. Exercise can help create the deficit, but it's very easy to out-eat the calories you burn exercising unless you're doing a lot of very long, intense training every day.

    If your goal is to improve strength and body composition, some form of strength training would be more beneficial than cardio. But diet still matters a great deal. What most people call "toning" is actually losing body fat to reveal the muscles beneath, and you get rid of body fat by calorie deficit.

    If your goal is primarily cardiovascular fitness, then cardiovascular training would be most beneficial. Would three days/30 minutes be enough? It depends - what do you consider "fit"? If your definition includes being able to run a 10K, half marathon or marathon, then 30 minutes 3 times a week isn't nearly enough; if your definition is just to be in decent cardiovascular shape for your health and be able to run, bike, hike, etc. when you want to, 30 minutes 3 times a week may be enough.



    divcara wrote: »
    You can do a ton with bodyweight exercises! Also check out online Barre videos that you can do at home.

    Strength training and building up lean muscle mass will help decrease body fat. And building muscle helps burn those calories at rest - so you can eat more!
    This is a popular, but highly overrated statement. A pound of muscle burns about 6 calories per day at rest; a pound of fat burns about 2 calories per day at rest. So if you gain 10 pounds of muscle and lose 10 pounds of fat (which is a pretty significant accomplishment which will take quite a lot of time), you'd be burning 40 more calories per day.

    This is probably a stupid question re: the bolded and I'm obviously missing something... But why can body builders/very muscular people eat a *kitten* ton more calories than normal people. If all that extra muscle doesn't burn as much as we thought, then their massive calorie allowances doesn't make sense.

    1) They weigh more than a lot of "normal" people.

    2) They work out a lot more than "normal" people.

    3) They're using anabolic steroids.

    4) They eat a lot more calories when they're bulking. When they're cutting, they eat a lot less calories - sometimes a lot less than the average "normal" person, while also doing a ton of cardio.
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