40+Club-Making it Work

And because of your decision to change up your routine, I'm curious as to how much time is a good amount to work out? I see many people on here who do 90 minutes or more on their workout days. I'm good if I get in 60 minutes...how much is too much or overtraining? I see people discuss that as well, and am unfamiliar with that concept. I can understand doing weight training at the gym and then going for a run later in the day, or something like that, just haven't gotten to that point yet, myself.

Some people talk about having an effective and efficient workout, vs working out longer times...it's all quite confusing to me. I'd be interested in everyone's thoughts on this.

cardigirl, there really is no quick, easy answer to this. Even those responsible for making exercise recommendations--and who study it for a living--can't seem to agree on how much a person should workout in terms of time. You'll see official recommendations from 30 minutes 3-4 days a week, to 60 minutes 5-6 days a week. I have not studied this, but I think some of the variations come from what the intent behind working out is for those doing the studies, etc.

So there are few rules when it comes to this. I happen to think the absolute best answer to 'how much should I workout' is 'whatever works best for you'. If that means you have 30 minutes a day, workout those 30 minutes a day. You just have to make whatever time you invest into working out works for you.

I usually workout between 45-90 minutes a day (with the average being 60 minutes) because this is a habit I got in years ago working out with DVDs. Generally speaking, that is the length of the DVDs the instructor I workout with the most (Cathe Friedrich--and I've been using her DVDs now for over 10 years) makes, so that's how long I workout. And I've always managed to work my schedule to allow for that (I'm very fortunate in that regard).

But I also know that I probably could get as effective of a workout for less time if I pushed the intensity a bit, which goes to your second paragraph up there. So I will give you an example. During a steady state step aerobic workout, my heart rate stays between 130-140 most of the time, and I burn about 300 calories in an hour. However, if I do a bootcamp/drill style workout, my heart rate will fluctuate between 120 and 150 (or more), and I can burn a similar amount of calories in less than 45 minutes. The second workout is a more effective use of time in terms of calorie burn (and there are other benefits to doing that type of workout which I won't go into), but that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with doing the 60 minute workout either. I enjoy different things on different days, and, for me, it is important for me to actually like the workouts I'm doing, so I vary my routine (especially with cardio) quite a bit. Days I want to push it, I do drills. Other days, if I'm not all there, a steady state is just better for me.

As far as overtraining goes, there again, there are no hard and fast rules. One of the things Jillian Michaels has brought up which I found interesting is that if you workout intensely more than 2 hours straight, the body produces more of the stress hormone cortisol, which can actually lead to putting on more weight (especially on the belly). So I think that is a good guideline to follow, and it actually makes sense that the body would respond to intense workouts with a stress hormone.

There are distinct signs of overtraining, though. One is fatigue in the legs (like you are walking through heavy mud all the time, not muscle soreness caused by the exercise itself). Another is having a higher resting heart rate, but are unable to raise your heart rate during your workouts. Another sign of overtraining is an increase in things like colds. Those are just a few examples. I did double workouts for a number of years, and never had any issues with overtraining.

But there are a couple of things to watch out for, especially if you are doing any strength training. Don't workout the same body part two days in a row. That's really important. Your muscles need time to recover. So if you workout biceps today (as an example), the next earliest day you'd want to work them out would be Saturday. Another thing to watch out for is to make sure you are varying your cardio routines (for instance, one day the elliptical, the next day the treadmill, the next day a kickboxing class) to prevent overuse injuries and to make sure your body doesn't adjust to whatever workout you are doing. The body can adapt to a workout in about two weeks, so you want to make sure you change things up as much as possible.

Hope that didn't muddy the waters further for you!!

Good to see you back, TexasMom. Thanks for your kind words. :flowerforyou:

kelligirl, that's kind of interesting what your friend said to you because I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about this change in lifestyle I'm going through. She is a few years older than me and has, quite honestly, served as a huge inspiration to me even though we now live thousands of miles apart. But she is a very clean eater, and in spending about a year living near each other, she put enough thoughts into my head that it is really her example I'm following in trying to clean up my diet.

Anyhow, we were talking on the phone the other day about this, and I told her that one of the reasons I feel it is so important for me to take charge of my health/nutrition/fitness right now is BECAUSE I'm in my 40s. It makes me sad that the attitude that being unhealthy or overweight or unfit is expected at this age is so pervasive (and it is). For me, it became paramount to make the change because it was when I hit 40 that I finally began to feel the ill effects of the lifestyle I was living, and I had the ability TO change it still. I certainly wouldn't want to kick this can down the road for another 10-20 years and then have some illnesses/diseases that I might not be able to change.

So enjoy your night out, but maybe if she ever makes a remark like that again, you can calmly look at her and say 'And that's exactly why I'm trying to create a new lifestyle for me'. It might get her thinking about her own situation. Just a suggestion!

Sorry this is so long. :blushing: Hope everybody is enjoying their day.

The comments and info on workout timing and efficiency was on my mind too - useful information. I workout at least 40 minutes 5 x a week with one day "rest" - and I do try to switch things around on a regular basis (also because it is just boring doing the same thing every day). I've thought about taking some tennis classes this summer - I haven't played for years - and am looking forward to getting out the badminton set in the back yard when back home.
In terms of age and fitness - I think it is even more important to stay in shape the older you are - I see people my age (in 50s) who have no energy, but working out & eating healthy really makes me feel energetic and able to keep up with my hectic life. There is a woman in one of the circuit training classes I take at the "y" who is probably in her mid to late 70s - and she keeps up and looks great!
Chao :glasses:

goodmorning to all here :flowerforyou:

annaliza, that's really a high calorie burn for a day. I would definitely say you don't lead a sedentary life. I've not worn my HRM for an entire day, but I did wear it for about 7 hours yesterday, including my workouts. And in that 7 hour period of time, I burned only about 800 calories, so I would estimate my average daily burn to be somewhere in the mid 2000s at most (to compensate for the time I'm sleeping, where I would obviously burn less) if relying on my HRM.

That being said, I'm actually not sure how much I trust the HRM to accurately assess what my body is burning when I'm not in an aerobic state. My resting heart rate is relatively low (between 40-50 beats per minute), and I do believe it is based on heart rate that the HRM is assessing how many calories are burned. In other words, it can't possibly take into account things like metabolism or body composition, which have alot to do with how many calories the body burns (for instance, if you are more muscular, chances are you are burning more calories at rest than somebody who isn't muscular).

My recommendation to you is to play with your calories a bit. If you feel like you are eating plenty, you may actually want to decrease your calories some to see if your body responds because, again, there is no guarantee that your HRM is actually totally accurate. But if you feel like you aren't eating enough (you are tired all the time, having difficulty completing your workouts, feel weak and light headed, etc), then you might want to up your calories. But listen to your body first because I know I have found that my body pretty much tells me exactly what it needs if I'm willing to listen to it. I just have to remind myself that the cravings for carrot cake are coming from my emotions and NOT my body :happy: when I'm doing that!!

I'm holding steady at 109.7 this week. Body measurements are pretty much the same (down a little in my waist but not much). I upped my calories to 1500 last Saturday. I'm going to increase them another 100 a day (to 1600) starting tomorrow and see how my body responds to that. I'm hoping that holding the weight steady this week at 1500 calories isn't a sign that 1500 is where I need to be sitting to maintain. I don't think it is because I was able to lose weight so easily eating 1400. So I'm going to keep increasing (slowly) until I start gaining weight right now.

Had a great week working out. One more week in the second cycle of STS and then I move on to heavy weights. Yay! :drinker: Today I'm going to do a combination of step aerobics and lower body conditioning for about 80 minutes.

Hope everybody has a good weekend. :flowerforyou:

hi robin,

don't know if it would work for everyone but i had terrible trouble with a shoulder (two years of therapy and only minor improvement) and arthritis in my knees and hands until i discovered bikram yoga (done in a very heated room). I'm pretty much pain free now. good luck.

ooops, forgot to post weight: 157 this morning. kept the pound i finally lost last week off and that's good news. Had a particularly challenging week with unexpected houseguest, lots of drama, and lots of unhealthy food around me all of a sudden. I managed to stay on my own program and the houseguest has moved on. whew.

Well I didn't work out as much this week and I'm pretty disappointed in myself but I have been so busy with other things along with the Yosemite hike killing my legs that I just didn't find the time. I'm gonna get back on track starting today and hopefully I will have some progress to report next week. I have to start walking on my treadmill on the steepest incline. Not so much for weight loss but I was informed yesterday that on my husbands vacation in July he wants to hike down to the bottom of the grand canyon. And of course when you go down you have to go back up right... I definitely need to work on my endurance going up those step hills.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and congratulations on all of your successes you had this last week.

Happy Friday Everyone!

It's been a pretty good week. As I mentioned (many pages back I think) I started my second round of ChaLEAN Xtreme. So this week finished up the BURN Phase which is the first 4 week phase. Will start PUSH next week. Loving it again and happy with the few inches that seem to be staying off. Worked out 6 days. I may weigh myself tomorrow a.m. and see how I've done.

Hope everyone has a great weekend ~ thanks for the great thread! I enjoy everyone's advice and words of encouragement. It really helps. I don't have workout buddies or anyone in my household that works out so sometimes a lonely process, thanks for being here! :flowerforyou:

Hello all and happy Friday! I weighed on Wednesday and am down 10 pounds from where I started. 7 pounds since finding MFP. I planned to work out every day this week but missed yesterday. We came home Wednesday night to a warm upstairs. The ac unit was out. (We're north of Dallas and Fort Worth.) Slept downstairs sharing the sofa bed with the dogs. Hubby slept in the guest room but we did not want the dogs to think it was ok to be in there. Repair man was supposed to come at 3:00 yesterday. Did not show up until 6:30! Did fix the unit in 30 minutes for $150. But it took a couple of hours for the upstairs where the treadmill and bike are to cool down. Did spend the time waiting by sorting through MOUNTAINS of old bills and household paperwork. More cerebral than aerobic but equally satisfying. After my dad died in November, no one else in the family had the heart to go through his papers, so I did it. I vowed to myself to do a better job with our papers but yesterday was the first day I felt I could tackle it.

In our picture for our 25th anniversary last September, both of us look rather portly. I told my husband the other day that we would take another picture this September and we would both look better! I am tracking his calories too because we have to turn them in to our trainer each week. I think he is not telling me everything he is eating so I am going to start adding things that I notice have "disappeared" to his food journal! The 100 calorie Hostess cupcakes are vanishing into thin air!

Mzaccardi: Congratulations on being able to give the toilet a good dose of Tamoxifin. Way to go!

Congratulations to all the successes! And tomorrow starts a whole new day!

My husband decided last night that he too wants to start counting calories so I made him a profile, not that he'll use it just to see what his calorie intake should be. I almost fell to the floor when it came up with 2090 calories!!!! Shoot all's he has to do is give up a candy bar once a week and he'll drop 20 pounds.
I guess if I want to keep up with him on this trip to the Grand Canyon in July I'm gonna have to train my butt off...

Hi!!! I have not eaten well at all today!!! :laugh: But the good thing is that I don't remember when it was the last time I "splurged" this way on the "wrong" foods. We celebrated my son's 16th birthday today at Peter Piper Pizza. That is his favorite food. So lots of pizza, cake and ice cream. Oh well...:laugh: I did workout this morning, ChaLean's burn intervals. I am planning on running tomorrow and doing push 3 in the morning.

Then on Monday my husband and I are going to Vegas for 4 days. Oh brother :noway: :noway: I really don't know how I am going to resist temptations at the buffets and all the drinking...any suggestions? I told my husband that we really did not have to eat at the buffets and we did not have to drink to have a good time and all I got was a dirty look and a "oh, now you are going to start with that now?" :grumble:

Tron, if I were you I would add all the weight I have lost on my ticker. Congrats!!!! :drinker:

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend!!!! :flowerforyou:

tron...I think that I would begin with my very beginning weight. The number will look so impressive. I know what you mean about husbands. Mine can lose weight just by not thinking of food. So frustrating when we are trying so hard.

alf...I have found that if I spurge occasionally that I do better. I however, really over-did it last night at a company reunion.

Tex...I love using a small plate. It looks like I am eating so much more.:happy:

tron, I echo everybody else in thinking you should give yourself credit for all of the weight you've lost. You've done great!

Swissmiss, I look forward to hearing from you more often. Isn't your surgery this week? If so, please take care of yourself.

I kind of had a bad food day yesterday, but not too bad. We had a day-long event that had me eating out both lunch and dinner. My major 'oops' was wine with dinner, but I couldn't resist. At least I managed to skip the dessert. But this morning.....I was down 1.3 pounds. Go figure. I actually am not trying to lose weight, but there you go. I'm sure it will find me again. I'm having 16 people to dinner tonight (ack!!), so I'm not so sure how good today is going to be either.

alf, my husband and I are going away next weekend as well. We're driving, so we have a little easier time managing food than I suspect you will since I imagine you're probably flying up to Las Vegas. But what I've decided is that I'll really manage what I eat for breakfast and lunch (probably buying food for our lunches from a grocery story and such), but then I'll enjoy the dinner meals (within reason, of course, but not as restrictive as I am during my non-vacation life). I figure that's a decent compromise. For me, no doubt, the biggest temptation is going to be wine....and I don't really plan on avoiding it :drinker:

:flowerforyou: Good morning stiring. Yep, I have more surgery tomorrow. I have been having trouble finding time to check in here with all of you since I went back to work. I get done with my eight hour day and then come home to a messy house which becomes like another job. It is even harder to get to the gym. I was going there rather regularly with my husband but then he injured himself at work and hasn't been able to lift weights.
I did really bad on Friday night when the company that my husband used to work for had a reunion. But I will go on.
:flowerforyou: alf...I hope you have a wonderful time away with your husband. I think that you know what you need to do to continue eating healthy. You will do fine.

tron...I measured myself yesterday. I lost one inch. Guess where....my bust.:laugh: