Is exercise alone going to improve my look? (pic)

sunlay1
sunlay1 Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
http://postimg.org/image/799rbvnz9/

Heya!
I'm 20,in the past year i gained about 8 pounds and since i don't exercise at all i look pretty bad. I have all this flabbiness going on everywhere ( see pic,it's like that in the rest of my body as well : butt,thighs ) When i sit down or lay down i have this pregnant look alike belly popping out.
I tried going on a few diets but i barely lose anything. I end up starving, every time i weigh myself i get frustrated and my scale is an emotional rollercoaster. Even if i can fit in to my clothes i look so bad in them i just change in to sweats.
So here are my questions:
If i forget about losing weight and just exercise,will it help?
If yes,what kind of exercises?
If yes,how many times a week and for how long?

Replies

  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    OK, so most of what I see is normal for a woman. And a lot of it could be posture: if you aren't engaging the abdominal/core muscles there's a tendency for even a trim tummy to look a bit bulgy. (Proper posture, and engaging those muscles, is also important for your back, it shouldn't be doing the work of supporting all your weight).

    But if you want to exercise, I would say go for it! There are a lot of health benefits. If you like some sort of cardiovascular exercise, do that 2-3 times a week (walk, run, swim, bike, dance, kickboxing, etc). Also look into a good lifting program. New Rules of Lifting for Women and Starting Strength are both good. They work on full body strength, which helps your core as well as the other areas you seem to be concerned about. I would suggest lifting 2-3 times a week (non-consecutive days), and I think those programs give you about 40 minutes or so worth a day.

    Still track your calories, even if you aren't eating less than before. It's very easy to eat more when one starts an exercise program without realizing it, which is generally counterproductive to your goals (set MFP to maintain and eat back exercise calories from cardio)
  • larrodarro
    larrodarro Posts: 2,512 Member
    You can tone up with just exercise. But you can't out exercise a bad diet. Eating healthy, low calorie and high nutrient foods will make you look and feel better. You don't have to starve to eat right. Switching to real food from processed and fast food will make you feel fuller after you eat, and more like exercising.

    It doesn't take that long for your body to stop craving the bad foods. The more you eat healthy, the more you will like it.

    As far as what kind of excise, that would be determined by what you like. This is something you need to do for the rest of your life, so finding things you like will increase your odds of sticking to them. For me it is lifting, walking, biking and using a Gazelle.

    Good luck with your lifestyle change,

    Larro
  • sunlay1
    sunlay1 Posts: 3
    So i can't get fit and toned without losing weight then?
  • michikade
    michikade Posts: 313 Member
    You can drop inches from exercising without losing actual weight - body recomposition will do it even if the scale doesn't move down (and may actually move up because muscle is more dense than fat).

    I'd say start with core strength exercises (you never know how much your abs can hurt from basically lying there until you do a plank for 30-45 seconds, hahaha). It'll help with posture by tons too. But it's important also to not just focus on one thing, otherwise you could end up out of proportion in weird ways. I'd look into some full body workouts. If you don't have access to a gym you can do body weight training. If you look up the 7 minute workout JPGs on Google, that's 12 great workout moves you can do with just yourself and a chair (note: I don't think 7 minutes is really long enough to do that much for body recomposition but the exercise time can be extended into sets or just repeat the full 7 minutes 3-4 times).

    Now, as the others said, you can't outrun a bad diet and you'll have more energy if you eat primarily nutrient rich foods (lean meats, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, legumes, dairy and whole grain). But you don't have to "diet" in the sense that you're trying to lose weight to tone up. Now, if you are above a healthy weight for your height, it would be advisable to drop a couple pounds to get back into the healthy range.
  • sunlay1
    sunlay1 Posts: 3
    You can drop inches from exercising without losing actual weight - body recomposition will do it even if the scale doesn't move down (and may actually move up because muscle is more dense than fat).

    I'd say start with core strength exercises (you never know how much your abs can hurt from basically lying there until you do a plank for 30-45 seconds, hahaha). It'll help with posture by tons too. But it's important also to not just focus on one thing, otherwise you could end up out of proportion in weird ways. I'd look into some full body workouts. If you don't have access to a gym you can do body weight training. If you look up the 7 minute workout JPGs on Google, that's 12 great workout moves you can do with just yourself and a chair (note: I don't think 7 minutes is really long enough to do that much for body recomposition but the exercise time can be extended into sets or just repeat the full 7 minutes 3-4 times).

    Now, as the others said, you can't outrun a bad diet and you'll have more energy if you eat primarily nutrient rich foods (lean meats, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, legumes, dairy and whole grain). But you don't have to "diet" in the sense that you're trying to lose weight to tone up. Now, if you are above a healthy weight for your height, it would be advisable to drop a couple pounds to get back into the healthy range.

    I don't really have bad eating habits,i eat pretty healthy so adding a little more of the healthy things instead of the few not healthy things isn't going to be a issue. My issue is counting calories,i was on a 1400 for a month and didn't lose anything so i went down to a 1200 calorie diet and after 3 weeks still nothing. I'm just sick of it,it makes me feel so bad and i never get results. he only thing that worked was a juice diet for a week but i gained back that weight in a few days.
    I'm 5'3 and i weigh 125 so it is healthy i guess but i i looked much better when i was 117.
    I want to know if exercising is going to get me back to my old figure because i really don't want to set myself up for another failure,i really cant take that.
  • michikade
    michikade Posts: 313 Member
    I'm 5'3" also and 125 is lower than my goal weight so you are golden there. It does, at this point, come down to body recomposition -- your figure may not be 100% the same as it was before but if you build muscle and lower your body fat percentage (strength exercising and eating plenty of protein will do this) you may even like it better :)

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