Complete exercise newbie. Where to start?!

lemonsurprise

I'm sure like a million other posts on here, I want to avoid excess skin like the plague. I'm 23, put on 5 stone when I was 18,16 stone now and want to drop 5. Never properly tried dieting before (as used to be able to stay fairly slim without any), but since I started calorie counting im finding dieting a breeze, I guess I just never really realised how much I was eating.
ANYWAY, I've read you need to tone to have the best chances of avoiding saggy skin. What do you do to tone?! Is this just sit ups, crunches etc?
How many do I do and where do I start?! And I hear people mentioning lifting a lot. Is this just solely for arms? And I assume tiny weights? A can of beans, two?!
Is there any websites someone could recommend that would have a weekly plan set out with details?!
Sorry for sounding like such an exercise amateur, I iust don't know where to start as I don't want to bulk out with muscle.

loribethrice

I row every day. Rowing is an awesome exercise that uses a ton of different muscle groups and really helps you tone. I am up to 39 minutes on the rower and I will be doing 40 minutes my next row. I also do the assisted pull up machine and other weights to tone.

_Zardoz_

If you have loose skin or not is more down to genetics and your age /condition of your skin and the amount you have to lose than anything else. Exercise has many benefits though but your main aim should be to find something you enjoy and can keep up. There is little point doing something you hate and will give up after a few weeks.

If you wish to try strength training there are many knowledgeable people here. Or running you could try the C25k program. I would suggest just get active open your front door and go for a walk. Walking is a great exercise.

TavistockToad

I don't want to bulk out with muscle.

this will NEVER happen by accident....

lemonsurprise

I'm a dog walker so I walk anywhere between 1-3 hours every day and only have a couple of days off a year. Would you say this is enough? It sounds like a fair bit but definitely doesn't feel like that.
I get on the wii everyday for 30 mins, which I assume does more of my arms, then when I take the dogs out, I assume this is more my legs but I need the middle toning!

LiftAndBalance

'Toning' (as commonly understood in fitness advertised to women) doesn't exist. Women also don't just 'bulk out' by accident. I suggest looking at the pictures and success stories of, for example, ILiftHeavyAcrylics and Sarauk2sf. Both lift heavy and look fantastic. Lifting with low weights for high repetitions is cardio (as it builds endurance), not strength training.

I'd say walking the dogs is a pretty good amount of cardio. What women want to achieve when they say 'toning' are the results they would get from lifting heavy. There are several good beginner's programmes out there (in no particular order: New Rules of Lifting for Women, Strong Curves, Starting Strength, StrongLifts 5x5, AllPro, Nia Shanks etc.).

taunto

You are only 23, even if you do get excess skin it will bounce back. It might take some time but with your age, I don't think it will take too long.

If you want to "tone up", I would suggest you try weight lifting. "Stronglifts 5x5" is a good program and something I personally recommend. It will workout your entire body. You do NOT get muscular like a man with lifting. Check out a thread I made show casing these amazing women who lifting weights but do not look manly at all

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/987513-lifting-is-the-most-horrible-thing-to-a-woman-since-twiggy

You basically have to take drugs etc for becoming "manly" as a female while weight lifting.

If you however don't enjoy lifting, you can always do other calisthenics like crunches, squats without weights, lunges etc.

GillianMcK

Lifting builds the underlying muscle so would probably help with saggy skin, however when they talk about lifting they're talking about more than can's of beans, see the thread at the top of the board about 'I am the woman in the freeweights section of the gym', not just arms, legs are very important, compound lifts are the best (once you've got the technique), I've been going to a woman's weights class that my trainer does and we do pretty much every free weight lift there is.
Don't worry about bulking muscles, it takes a LOT of work and effort for women to bulk up, but staying light won't get the results your looking for.

njmark72

Couple of things... First of all you will NOT gain muscle weight if you are eating less calories than you are burning. Secondly if you are out of shape do something easy like walking. You want to do something that you can do continuously without getting hurt. If you get hurt even blisters or very sore muscles it may make you want to skip a day. If you skip a day you may want to skip another day, etc etc.

Make sure you are in calorie deficit. Stick to your calorie goals. Exercising will increase the amount of weight you lose.

Good luck!

Mark

MeanderingMammal

How many do I do and where do I start?!

First off you need to be clear about your objectives. You've mentioned a specific weight loss goal, that's quite significant, but many people find that the scale numbers alone are a challenge to keep motivated against. it helps to be a bit more specific, and to put some time boundaries around your goals.

Equally once people start training the scale number becomes a lot less meaningful in terms of what it tells you.

I started weight loss about 18 months ago, and ran as a method of achieving a deficit. about two months into that I recognised that for me my running performane was more important than the weight loss per se, so that's taken a back seat. As I work on running performance, whilst maintaining a deficit, the weight continues to come off and the training is leading to a reduction in bodyfat percentage, so improving muscle definition.

In all honesty the most effective training to do is the one that you'll do, rather than something that you don't enjoy or won't motivate yourself to actually continue with. That might be something like running, cycling, swimming or it might be some form of resistance training, either with weights or bodyweight alone. It might be dronning away on the hamster wheels in the gym, as many whose main objective is scale weight tend to do, although for me the main weight loss from gym machines is the brain melting from boredom.

Different types of training have different effects, as mentioned upthread at your age your skin still has a lot of elasticity so whilst you'll have a transitional period you won't be left with significant loose skin. Notwithstanding that there are other benefits from both cardiovascular (CV) training and resistance training that you'll benefit from.

As you have a fairly generic goal I'd support the suggestion above about a mixed programme of CV and resistance training. three days of each and one day of rest. Once you've started that you'll get a better idea of what you enjoy, and what you want to take forward, that might involve more CV, like running or cycling, with less resistance training, or it may be more resistance with less CV work.

Quite a few religious nuts on here will advocate one way r the other, but until you have more experience there isn't a huge amount of value there, aprticularly if you don't enjoy the approach recommended.

In terms of my own programme, I started using a Couch to 5K running plan, swimming and doing bodyweight resistance training on my off days. I now run four or five times per week, a couple of cycling sessions per week and one or two bodyweight resistance sessions. In 18 months I've lost 30 or so pounds, reduced my bodyfat percentage by a third and improved from struggling to complete 8 runs of one minute each to a sub 2 hr half marathon.

fwiw I stick with bodyweight work as it helps my running performance, and I find training indoors to be incredibly boring. Bodyweight work I can integrate with the other training and have confidence that I'll actually do it.

lemonsurprise

Wow thanks for all the replies.
So am I right in saying deficit is burning off more calories than you're eating? And if so, am I the only one that thinks this is loads of excersise?! I was eating probaby between 3000-4000 calories a day with just mindless eating. Now it's 1,200 or under with 30 mins more excersise than usual. So if I'm not burning off over 1,200 cals a day.. What will happen?! Surely if I was burning off over 1,200 cals a day the weight would come off way too quickly?

lemonsurprise

Just worked out it was in fact more like 5,000 a day I was consuming!!! have no idea how I didn't put on more weight than I did. I used to think I had a really slow metabolism but now I realise I must have an incredibly fast one to be able to maintain rather than gain weight over the last 3 years with eating 5000 calories a day and having no idea about exercise!