I need an exercise routine...thingy

elleynn

I've been taking weight loss very seriously the past three weeks. I've been diligent with logging, watching my snacking and 'exercising'. I work and take classes so I usually only have an hour per day for sweating but I've managed to put in 5 days a week. I always try to cut around 500~600 cals per session but it's always a combination of walking/cycling. I have no real idea what I am doing.

I've tried googling some beginner cardio routines but they've felt overly complex. There is also all this talk of muscle confusion and the importance of balancing strength/cardio.

HOW. DOES. ONE.

Getting fit is like some dark art to me. How do you figure out an individual plan?

CJD85

So 1hr per day 5 days a week...... good start.
What do you like doing? No point in exercising and not enjoying it.
If you really enjoy walking and would like to improve cardio then there are some awesome Iphone apps that cater to your needs and would help you form some sort of routine. Couch to 5K is a really good one and you can progress to Couch to 10K.
My exercise works around my work commitments. so I have an hour before work starts to go to the gym and an hour after to take the dog out.
As far as exercise diversity dedicate 3 alternate days to your running/ cycling and 2 for weights/strength.
My routine at the gym is monday , wed, fri full cardio and tues/ thursday abs and arms with a little bit of cardio

neandermagnon

for strength training, you can get beginner programmes like new rules of lifting for women and stronglifts. That's probably easier than trying to figure out how to plan your own programme from nothing when you're a beginner

re cardio, do what you enjoy. It's not absolutely necessary, and a lot of stuff out there makes things unnecessarily complex. You don't need to worry about "muscle confusion" (not sure it's a real concept anyway) and there's no perfect balance between strength training and cardio. Strength training will help you get results in terms of body composition (i.e. lowering body fat percentage) in combination with a healthy diet (enough protein) and a moderate calorie deficit (i.e. eating a little less than you burn off). Cardio is good for your heart and lungs but it's over-rated and you don't need to do hours of it, just do what you enjoy.

so:

1. find a good beginner's programme for lifting/strength training and follow that

2. eat enough protein and other nutrients that your body needs

3. have a moderate calorie deficit

4. do cardio that you enjoy... ftr I do very little cardio and I'm still seeing results

that's it.

Troublemonster

First thing's first, WHAT IS YOUR GOAL?

Is it just to lose weight? gain weight? get stronger? get all body builder shredded?

ONly after you establish a goal can anyone really offer you any real advice on what to try. Routines are malleable and it takes some trial and error to find one that s right for you. What's worse is that what is right for you now may change as you progress.

So how about it? What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

elleynn

First thing's first, WHAT IS YOUR GOAL?

Is it just to lose weight? gain weight? get stronger? get all body builder shredded?

ONly after you establish a goal can anyone really offer you any real advice on what to try. Routines are malleable and it takes some trial and error to find one that s right for you. What's worse is that what is right for you now may change as you progress.

So how about it? What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

My goal is to lose weight. I don't really want to build build muscle. I mean, I want some, but I'm certainly not looking to stock up.

for strength training, you can get beginner programmes like new rules of lifting for women and stronglifts. That's probably easier than trying to figure out how to plan your own programme from nothing when you're a beginner

re cardio, do what you enjoy. It's not absolutely necessary, and a lot of stuff out there makes things unnecessarily complex. You don't need to worry about "muscle confusion" (not sure it's a real concept anyway) and there's no perfect balance between strength training and cardio. Strength training will help you get results in terms of body composition (i.e. lowering body fat percentage) in combination with a healthy diet (enough protein) and a moderate calorie deficit (i.e. eating a little less than you burn off). Cardio is good for your heart and lungs but it's over-rated and you don't need to do hours of it, just do what you enjoy.

so:

1. find a good beginner's programme for lifting/strength training and follow that

2. eat enough protein and other nutrients that your body needs

3. have a moderate calorie deficit

4. do cardio that you enjoy... ftr I do very little cardio and I'm still seeing results

that's it.

I am under the suspicion I might be doing the calorie deficit thing wrong. Usually after I exercise I find myself with an added bonus of around 400~ cals. Should I eat all of them back so that I'm sitting at my recommended amount? I no longer feel like consuming small children after a trip to the gym because I've finally figured out what to eat before/after.

I really want my body fat to be lower so I'm developing an infatuation with strength training. I've signed up for a couple of e-exercise guides that're supposed to be super, super simple. We'll see how they work.

So 1hr per day 5 days a week...... good start.
What do you like doing? No point in exercising and not enjoying it.
If you really enjoy walking and would like to improve cardio then there are some awesome Iphone apps that cater to your needs and would help you form some sort of routine. Couch to 5K is a really good one and you can progress to Couch to 10K.
My exercise works around my work commitments. so I have an hour before work starts to go to the gym and an hour after to take the dog out.
As far as exercise diversity dedicate 3 alternate days to your running/ cycling and 2 for weights/strength.
My routine at the gym is monday , wed, fri full cardio and tues/ thursday abs and arms with a little bit of cardio

I don't mind cycling, swimming, jumping rope, aerobics etc but running is my nemesis. I haven't tried anything like yoga or exercises like lunges, squats, curls seriously. At work I'll break out a youtube video and limply imitate for 2~5 minutes about 3 times in a work day because I spend a lot of time sitting.

I think I really need some diversity, my routine is becoming monotonous. Alternation is a good idea.

Thanks for all the information guys :}

jacksonpt

No need to over complicate it.

Start simple... do what you like that you will work the hardest at. If that's walking, then so be it. If that's kickboxing, then have at it. If you have 5 days a week to workout, do cardio 2--3 days. Add in some strength training... again, whatever will get you to work the hardest. If that's machines, do machines. If that's free weights, go for it. If it's body weight stuff, great. Do that the other 2 or 3 days a week.

jacksonpt

I am under the suspicion I might be doing the calorie deficit thing wrong. Usually after I exercise I find myself with an added bonus of around 400~ cals. Should I eat all of them back so that I'm sitting at my recommended amount?

Generally speaking...
If you factored in exercise when calculating your daily calorie goal (as most TDEE calculators do), then no... you don't need to eat back those cals (nor do you need to log them if you don't want). If you didn't factor in exercise (as with MFP and most BMR calculators), then yes you should be eating them back.

But eating them back simply means increasing your calories for the day because of your workout, you don't have to eat the 500 cals you just burned immediately after you workout. The idea is that your body needs more fuel on workout days because you are asking it to do more than on rest days. Whether you give it that additional fuel in the morning, evening, or spread throughout the day isn't overly important.

neandermagnon

for strength training, you can get beginner programmes like new rules of lifting for women and stronglifts. That's probably easier than trying to figure out how to plan your own programme from nothing when you're a beginner

re cardio, do what you enjoy. It's not absolutely necessary, and a lot of stuff out there makes things unnecessarily complex. You don't need to worry about "muscle confusion" (not sure it's a real concept anyway) and there's no perfect balance between strength training and cardio. Strength training will help you get results in terms of body composition (i.e. lowering body fat percentage) in combination with a healthy diet (enough protein) and a moderate calorie deficit (i.e. eating a little less than you burn off). Cardio is good for your heart and lungs but it's over-rated and you don't need to do hours of it, just do what you enjoy.

so:

1. find a good beginner's programme for lifting/strength training and follow that

2. eat enough protein and other nutrients that your body needs

3. have a moderate calorie deficit

4. do cardio that you enjoy... ftr I do very little cardio and I'm still seeing results

that's it.

I am under the suspicion I might be doing the calorie deficit thing wrong. Usually after I exercise I find myself with an added bonus of around 400~ cals. Should I eat all of them back so that I'm sitting at my recommended amount? I no longer feel like consuming small children after a trip to the gym because I've finally figured out what to eat before/after.

I really want my body fat to be lower so I'm developing an infatuation with strength training. I've signed up for a couple of e-exercise guides that're supposed to be super, super simple. We'll see how they work.

There are two different ways to calculate your deficit, one is the TDEE -20% method (or -10% if you're really close to goal) and in this method, exercise calories are accounted for and you don't need to eat them back. The thread "in place of a road map" explains how to calculate your calories using this method, and it's the method I use because I find it a pain trying to calculate my exercise calories correctly.

The default MFP method, the calories are based on what you'd burn if you were sedentary, so you have to log exercise and eat back exercise calories (or at least eat back 80% of them). If you don't your calorie deficit may be too big and you could suffer problems caused by undereating, there are threads on here on here that explain about that in more detail.