50+ lbs gone - before/after

Dmeraz wrote: »

Congrats!! Your story is inspiring. I'm curious, how long do you do cardio for every day?

Sam29a wrote: »

You look amazing! Well done. Just wondering, what was your exercise routine? Would you mind sharing what you did?

Thank you both! As far as my exercise routine: I usually use a stationary bike to get my cardio in, or an elliptical on rare occasions. The length/intensity of my workouts has changed over time. When I very first started and wasn't fit at all, I just did as much as I could (which was usually about 20 minutes of low-intensity cycling daily). I slowly increased the resistance and length of time according to how my body was feeling.

At my very-most dedicated, and when I was losing weight the fastest, I would generally do 2 cardio workouts on the bike per day. One would be higher-intensity, where I tried to keep my heart rate between 140-150 bpm (which is about 75-80% of my max HR). I would do that for at least 45-60 minutes per day, and then do a light-intensity workout (heart rate between 115-130 bpm) for an additional 30 minutes or so. Generally I spaced them out (one in the morning, one in the evening) but not always. According to my fitness tracker, which calculates calories burned based on exercise duration and heart rate, I would burn roughly 350-400 calories on the first workout and 150-200 calories on the second. I did that pretty much every day, including weekends.

After I got into a healthy weight range, I cut back a bit and started only doing the high-intensity workout. I often skip it on the weekends, but I try to do it for at least an hour per day during the week. On the weekends, I still try to be active but it's more low-key. For the last several months, my weekend routine has been to just to walk a couple miles with the dogs.

Hope that helps! There are some weeks where I'm less dedicated than others, but even on a slump I try not to let more than a few days go by without getting a good workout in. Good luck!

Ayesha0624 wrote: »

Well, congratulations! 120 looks GREAT on you. I'm very inspired since my goal is to lose 50lbs. You rock!

Did you incorporate any other types of work outs beside's cardio? Like weight training or workout dvd's?

Thank you for the kind words as far as strength training, I did some in addition to the cardio but it wasn’t super structured. I mainly stuck with planks, lunges, and push ups. When I started out I did as many lunges/push-ups as I could for 2 sets, and then just upped the # of reps as I got stronger. Same for planks - I held it until I couldn’t anymore, which at first was only about 30 seconds. Now I can plank for a full minute pretty easily, and usually shoot for 90 seconds.

One of my new favorite strength workouts is basically all planks; it’s tough but I think it’s a good one: https://youtu.be/FXDWtYsu1dQ (Take the video title with a grain of salt... I don’t think it’s necessarily a replacement for cardio )