Will 20 minutes on the elliptical make a difference?
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Replies
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You steps per day (regular activity) should count in your activity level. You may need to up your level but don't count steps per day as exercise.0
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Yes it is
Atleast its something
if you want to get that extra push try putting the incline at 10-15 and the speed around 2.5
it might be slow but it will make you sweat for those 20 mins0 -
Every minute you spend not sitting on the couch eating potato chips is a helpful minute. Keep up the good work. Exercise gets addicting. You'll find yourself doing more of it as you lose weight and pick up energy. Keep in mind of course, that it's the calorie deficit that causes the weight loss -- exercise contributes to the calorie deficit, but you still have to be careful about what you eat.0
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In - Out = Direction you are headed. so, yes... while you may not have made it turn around you've at least moved the needle that way.0
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In pure numbers, 200 calories isn't much. But it's something. And if you're counting your calories and keeping those within range, that's even more. But beyond that, I would never discourage any activity. It puts you in the frame of mind that you're doing something positive about it. And after a few weeks, you might find yourself itching to go a bit longer, or maybe even jump over onto the treadmill, or even hit the road and do some light running. Success breeds confidence. Confidence will make you do more of what won.
Just don't fall into the trap of, "Oh, I burned 200 calories on the elliptical, I can have a few extra slices of pizza!"0 -
all very good advice here. highly recommend an HRM. i found that after an hour on the elliptical, it would tell me 1,000 calories burned. got the hrm and it's more like 500-700 depending on effort i put into it. same thing on the bike. way over estimated. Or, don't buy an HRM, but be careful if you eat back exercise calories.
diet will be the biggest part of weight loss. add some strength training to increase muscle mass which will help your metabolism, but as someone else said, you can't out-exercise a bad diet if you are trying to lose. when you get to maintenance, you have a little more room for error, but if you are in loss mode, you need to be diligent on your calorie tracking.0 -
Thanks for all the positive comments! I'll give what I'm doing about a month and record what my results are
I've been attempting to eat healthy-ish the past 5 days! If anyone wants feel free to add me and check out my diary and recommend what I should be cutting back on.
My problem though is eating my calorie goal (1450.)
I seem to find that I'm well under most of the time.
add a hard boiled egg as a snack or some greek yogurt. handful of nuts, an apple with a schmear of peanut butter. lots of ways to hit your calories (and avoid the carbs you mentioned before).0 -
all very good advice here. highly recommend an HRM. i found that after an hour on the elliptical, it would tell me 1,000 calories burned. got the hrm and it's more like 500-700 depending on effort i put into it. same thing on the bike. way over estimated. Or, don't buy an HRM, but be careful if you eat back exercise calories.
diet will be the biggest part of weight loss. add some strength training to increase muscle mass which will help your metabolism, but as someone else said, you can't out-exercise a bad diet if you are trying to lose. when you get to maintenance, you have a little more room for error, but if you are in loss mode, you need to be diligent on your calorie tracking.0 -
I'm a 20-minute elliptical gal ... but as a SAHM with a home gym, I do it 3-5 times a day. Just got into the 20min habit because often that's only as long as I could fit in between mommy duties. Also, my feet fall asleep for anything longer! All exercise is good. I tend to take it pretty easy on my elliptical (it's my TV time) ... much depends on how much effort you put into that 20 minutes too!0
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You steps per day (regular activity) should count in your activity level. You may need to up your level but don't count steps per day as exercise.
I'll go try to fix that0 -
all very good advice here. highly recommend an HRM. i found that after an hour on the elliptical, it would tell me 1,000 calories burned. got the hrm and it's more like 500-700 depending on effort i put into it. same thing on the bike. way over estimated. Or, don't buy an HRM, but be careful if you eat back exercise calories.
diet will be the biggest part of weight loss. add some strength training to increase muscle mass which will help your metabolism, but as someone else said, you can't out-exercise a bad diet if you are trying to lose. when you get to maintenance, you have a little more room for error, but if you are in loss mode, you need to be diligent on your calorie tracking.
I do see a lot of people at the gym with HRMs and that's probably why lol.
Where do you suggest buying one?0 -
Thanks for all the positive comments! I'll give what I'm doing about a month and record what my results are
I've been attempting to eat healthy-ish the past 5 days! If anyone wants feel free to add me and check out my diary and recommend what I should be cutting back on.
My problem though is eating my calorie goal (1450.)
I seem to find that I'm well under most of the time.
add a hard boiled egg as a snack or some greek yogurt. handful of nuts, an apple with a schmear of peanut butter. lots of ways to hit your calories (and avoid the carbs you mentioned before).0 -
I'm a 20-minute elliptical gal ... but as a SAHM with a home gym, I do it 3-5 times a day. Just got into the 20min habit because often that's only as long as I could fit in between mommy duties. Also, my feet fall asleep for anything longer! All exercise is good. I tend to take it pretty easy on my elliptical (it's my TV time) ... much depends on how much effort you put into that 20 minutes too!
That's great. Have you lost any weight from doing that? If I had my own elliptical that's what I'd probably do, spread doing it throughout the day to hit an hour. Because for the moment it's quite hard for me too. Gotta work my way there
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Absolutely! Shoot, even 10 minutes if that's all someone can do is a start.0
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You steps per day (regular activity) should count in your activity level. You may need to up your level but don't count steps per day as exercise.
I'll go try to fix that0 -
Absolutely! Shoot, even 10 minutes if that's all someone can do is a start.
Such positive comments on here.
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all very good advice here. highly recommend an HRM. i found that after an hour on the elliptical, it would tell me 1,000 calories burned. got the hrm and it's more like 500-700 depending on effort i put into it. same thing on the bike. way over estimated. Or, don't buy an HRM, but be careful if you eat back exercise calories.
diet will be the biggest part of weight loss. add some strength training to increase muscle mass which will help your metabolism, but as someone else said, you can't out-exercise a bad diet if you are trying to lose. when you get to maintenance, you have a little more room for error, but if you are in loss mode, you need to be diligent on your calorie tracking.
I do see a lot of people at the gym with HRMs and that's probably why lol.
Where do you suggest buying one?
Weight and age doesn't matter. It's still inflated (as are the calories burned on MFP - talk about over-estimating!). At any rate, any sporting goods store will carry them. ****'s (MFP censored a store name - it's D*I*C*K's), Sports Authority, etc. all should carry what you are looking for. Or you can buy them online. I personally like the Polar brand, but there are tons out there. They go from pretty basic to really high end. I find the Polar fits in the middle. I've got the FT4 or 7. I can't remember. But it was about $80.0 -
Yes, of course!!!
You have to start somewhere. If you start doing a really intense/hard workout, you won't be able to continue with it. This is a great place to start and then gradually start adding time.
Another idea.......do intervals! I like to do 1min on a lower resistance and then 1min giving it my all on a high resistance. Doing intervals burns belly fat really quickly and I've seen much faster results with doing elliptical intervals/running intervals as compared to just doing it normally.
Best of Luck!0 -
Any exercise is great! Whatever you can do will help.
That said, most of your loss is going to come from you diet. BUT,... you will feel much better,.. you will look better. And keeping with your diet will be easier if you exercise.0 -
all very good advice here. highly recommend an HRM. i found that after an hour on the elliptical, it would tell me 1,000 calories burned. got the hrm and it's more like 500-700 depending on effort i put into it. same thing on the bike. way over estimated. Or, don't buy an HRM, but be careful if you eat back exercise calories.
diet will be the biggest part of weight loss. add some strength training to increase muscle mass which will help your metabolism, but as someone else said, you can't out-exercise a bad diet if you are trying to lose. when you get to maintenance, you have a little more room for error, but if you are in loss mode, you need to be diligent on your calorie tracking.
I do see a lot of people at the gym with HRMs and that's probably why lol.
Where do you suggest buying one?
Weight and age doesn't matter. It's still inflated (as are the calories burned on MFP - talk about over-estimating!). At any rate, any sporting goods store will carry them. ****'s (MFP censored a store name - it's D*I*C*K's), Sports Authority, etc. all should carry what you are looking for. Or you can buy them online. I personally like the Polar brand, but there are tons out there. They go from pretty basic to really high end. I find the Polar fits in the middle. I've got the FT4 or 7. I can't remember. But it was about $80.0
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