Exercise questions

melissa112

Hi all,

I'm back to MFP after putting on 2 stone. I'm 154lbs, 5'2, and currently set my activity to sedentary at 1222 and eating back exercise calories. It;s my first week back and the only exercise I'm doing is walking my dog for 1.5hrs each day, and 4 days a week I walk my nans dog for an hour, usually doing 4 miles with my nans dog, and the same per day with my dog.

I don't know whether to start back at the gym, buy 30 day shred, or both! I have 36FF boobs so any chest exercise tips would be great, and carry a lot of weight round my stomach. How would I know what mix of cardio and strength training to do each day? And whats the best way of monitoring the calories from cardio so that I can eat them back? I heard you don't eat back strength training?

Any advice on the best way to get started would be really appreciated, do I do cardio everyday? Strength training every day? But not the same muscles? I'm still walking the dogs on top of this so would have to try and fit in the other stuff around work.

Pangea250

Other exercise people will give you better tips than me. But I just wanted to tell you not to think that you "only" do that exercise that you are doing now. That's a lot of walking, and it's really great!

Oh, and get a GREAT bra. Go specifically to a bra/girdle store and get a fitting. Good luck!

melissa112

Thank you At the moment the walking I do seems second nature, apart from walking my nans for the hour in the morning, I've started that this week. But I've been walking my own dog each day for a few years so I think my body is used to it? Though I still log it as I've set my activity to sedentary.

I've just been looking at the 30day shred before and after pics, they are fab! Hope someone can help

melaniecheeks

Why don't you have a go at the 30 Day Shred? See how you get on after a week or so.

weffie11

You can get 30 day shred for free on YouTube. What about trying a running programme? You shouldn't really be doing cardio and weight training on the same day when you are just starting.

DancingMoosie

I think adding 30 day shred to your walking would be great. You don't even have to do it everyday. Also, could you try to up the intensity of your walks? If your body is used to walking 4 miles, try jogging for a minute at the end of each mile.

You can do cardio everyday. If you do an extremely intense workout, do an easier one the next day. Weight training should alternate muscle groups per day, or skip a day if you do all muscle groups in a workout.

thebzax

I'm the same height and bra size, but a LOT heavier, currently 219lbs. I'm doing 30 day shred among other home workout DVDs (almost entirely jillian michaels DVDs) and loving it. 30ds is amazing for inch loss and toning, I feel smaller and 'tighter' for lack of a better word, but the number on the scale isn't moving as dramatically so if its about weight loss for you, then this might not be the way.

I do cardio daily and try and get some strength stuff done 3 times a week. The walking you're doing now is already good! As for monitoring, MFP definitely overestimates, so if you can get a heart rate monitor that monitors calories burned, that could be useful.

melissa112

I've been using runkeeper set to walking, this has my height/weight/age etc and I halve the calories it gives me as I don't want to overestimate. I've just found the 30 day shred on youtube, but realised my sports bra is at my nans house (I sleep there in the evenings). Will pop over and may give day 1 level 1 a go, eek!

It's definitely not about just the numbers on the scale for me, I learned my lesson last time when that's all I cared about. Is 30DS good enough on its own with walking? Or should I be doing more? It's my chest I'm worried about, I don't mind losing the weight off there, but just don't want them to sag, they already were less pert after my last weight loss!

I would like to up the walks but my own dog (German Shepherd girl) has hip and elbow dysplasia with arthritis too so I don't up the pace much as I don't want her to feel she needs to keep up with me. My nans collie is quite overweight so I want to start her off with 3-4 miles a morning and see how she goes, she's a bit nutty so trying to run with her may not go well haha.

I was doing a running program when I last lost weight, the C25K, I got to doing 15 min running, 1 min walking x 2. But I did find it boring for some reason. I think if I did this I would also want to do some strength training and on top of dog walking, 30DS I may find it hard to get it all in.

Thanks for the tips, I will get started on 30DS and see how I get on!

friggie

I did one round of 30 Day Shred and I had great results. I lost inches everywhere and built up my strength and got some muscle definition. I am currently going to start another round of it but have to figure out my schedule first, it may mean waking up at 4:30am on my work days to fit it in, but it's only just over 20 mins a workout and a great calorie burn.

HaysYear13

This morning I ran 8 miles on empty!! I can't stand eating in the morning before I run, mainly coz I get hit with chronic stitch & wanting to be sick, but I make sure I drink plenty the night before & through the night so my hydration is maintained!!

Brenda4105

You could pri drop 40lbs by having a breast reduction. It would also make it easier to run and exercise. Just a thought.

HaysYear13

Sorry somehow put this message onto this post!! Xxx stupid IPad

HappyKite

You could pri drop 40lbs by having a breast reduction. It would also make it easier to run and exercise. Just a thought.

Why would she want a breast reduction? She's probably got great breasts!
I started off as a 34G, I'm now a 32FF, also same height and I have EXCELLENT sports bras and I did shred, I've done C25K and I weight train. My boobs have never got in the way or been a problem.

OP, 30 day shred is great, so give it a go. I have a whole collection of Jillian Michaels DVDs and like to mix them up a bit. I did C25K and, surprisingly, loved it, but if you found it boring, you are better off doing something else you enjoy.
Good luck.

melissa112

Well I've just done day 1 level 1 of 30DS. Arghhh, I wanted to die! I actually got tired just doing the warm up jumping jacks haha! But I did persevere even though my initial thoughts were 'please just get through circuit 1 and you can turn it off'. The push ups were the worse, I realised I have no upper body strength, though apart from the jacks I found the cardio ok. I'm now bright red, and feel like I can't move again, though I'm off for a shower and need to walk my dog again soon argh!

I found my sports bra, and it really does hold things down! It's a shock absorber so hopefully it will help keep things firmer if I do some chest exercises and lose weight slowly.

melissa112

I did one round of 30 Day Shred and I had great results. I lost inches everywhere and built up my strength and got some muscle definition. I am currently going to start another round of it but have to figure out my schedule first, it may mean waking up at 4:30am on my work days to fit it in, but it's only just over 20 mins a workout and a great calorie burn.

Please tell me it gets a tiny bit easier after day 1! Did you do round one consecutively each day or did you have any rest days?

c1aireee

when I did it last I found it got easier after day 3 & 4!!! stick with it!!!

HappyKite

I could hardly walk after day 3/4, but it then got easier after that.
Keep going, it'll be worth it.