Wont be able to work out as frequently

I just started exercising regularly in June. I was hitting the gym for 1.5-2 hours daily every day. I work at a school, so over the summer I have tons of free time. We are back in school now and I am so worried about gaining back everything I've lost so far (22lb since june) because I wont have the time I previously had. I'll be able to hit the gym for 1-2hrs on the weekend, and 35 minutes on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays when my kids are at an activity. But that's all. What can I do? If I keep my eating the same will I gain weight fast if I cut back a little on exercising? I'm thinking to try some things with free weights at home and try to walk every evening, and use my limited gym time for elliptical and stair master only to make the most of the time.

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    You'll only gain if you eat as many calories as you did when you were at the gym for 2 hours a day... though if that amount was a deficit you still might lose...
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,481 Member
    This is what I love about MFP and adding your workout calories.
    I know my basic calories, and how many I burn when I exercise, and can manipulate my intake accordingly.

    @Sweet_Misery_ , what has your daily activity level been while on the summer break?
    Will you be more active once you are back in the classroom and need to up your basic activity level?

    You can most certainly move your workout from the gym to home, just keep an eye on your actual calorie expenditure, and adjust your intake accordingly.

    As you can lose weight by a calorie deficit alone, work on your logging, and having a non-exercise deficit that you can live with.

    A good thing to think of is how you want to live long term. If 2hr a day exercise is only possible during summer breaks, and one hour during term time, work on a plan that takes those variables, and unknown variables, illness, vacations, etc, into account and don't depend on exercise for a deficit.

    Cheers, h.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited August 2018
    Are you tracking your calories and using your food and exercise diary? If so, you'll just burn fewer calories, and so you'll have to eat a little bit less to keep losing weight. You might have gotten used to that amount of extra calories in your diet so it might kinda suck at first. But you certainly don't need to work out 1.5-2 hours every day to lose weight and be healthy.
  • deputy_randolph
    deputy_randolph Posts: 940 Member
    edited August 2018
    We're going back to school in 2 weeks...no more 4 hour gym sessions (1.5 of that was talking).

    I spend 2 hours on Sat/Sun. I go in at 6am on Thursday before work, spend about 2 hours, dad sends kids on bus on Thursday AM.

    I also go on M/W for about an hour while my kids are at Tae Kwon Do in the same shopping center.

    I would cut back on calories by a small amount (maybe 100 calories a day) and monitor weight for a couple of weeks to see if you need to adjust calories to compensate for less activity.

    I'm not currently a full-time classroom teacher. I'm a full-time "extra person" (I run a lot of errands for the office, run several reading groups, cover primary para duties). I'm constantly moving...I found that I actually had to drop my calories during the summer, b/c I was less active.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,613 Member
    Can you workout before work? I do 30 min-1hr, (usually around 40-45 min) videos at home before work and then try to hit the gym after 2-3 days per week.
  • iowalinda
    iowalinda Posts: 354 Member
    I just started exercising regularly in June. I was hitting the gym for 1.5-2 hours daily every day. I work at a school, so over the summer I have tons of free time. We are back in school now and I am so worried about gaining back everything I've lost so far (22lb since june) because I wont have the time I previously had. I'll be able to hit the gym for 1-2hrs on the weekend, and 35 minutes on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays when my kids are at an activity. But that's all. What can I do? If I keep my eating the same will I gain weight fast if I cut back a little on exercising? I'm thinking to try some things with free weights at home and try to walk every evening, and use my limited gym time for elliptical and stair master only to make the most of the time.

    I was worried about this same thing, but so far haven't really seen much change weight wise in dropping some time off my workouts. For me, the workouts provide strength, toning, endurance, etc. but don't really make a whole lot of difference in my maintenance efforts. Of course, your experience may be different based on lots of different variables :)