Will this be enough?

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ChristyMomx3
ChristyMomx3 Posts: 176
in Fitness and Exercise
I currently work 4 days a week. 10 hour shifts but I am gone 12 hours total. I walk 15+ miles a night. I have used a pedometer to find out exactly. Actually went over 20 miles one night. Anyways, I have no time or energy to work out on those days so that leaves me with 3 days a week to work out. I recently lost 20lbs because of this job and changing my eating habits. My question is will working out 3 days a week be enough? I feel as thought my body need a break though too? I am stuck at my current weight and in fact it is trying to fluctuate up instead of down. Suggestions?

Replies

  • inge88
    inge88 Posts: 184 Member
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    I was going to reply a sensible answer.. but all I can think is: 15+ miles a night?!?!?!?! Do you do that besides your shifts?? Or do you do the walking during your shift?

    3 days a week of working out is good. Definitely if you walk that much on the other days.. I would definitely take at least 1 day of rest a week though, especially if your body tells you to.

    Just log everything you eat and everything you exercise. Don't go in too much of a deficit. That way you will lose weight!
  • imjessly
    imjessly Posts: 140 Member
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    It will most definitely work if you've got good nutrition to back it up
  • ChristyMomx3
    ChristyMomx3 Posts: 176
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    Haha, I walk that many miles for my job. I work for Amazon's warehouse and we have to run all over this huge 3 story mod to pull the items. I figured that up and that is close to 3k calories a night that I am burning. I can't possibly make that up in food so I wonder if that is why I have stopped losing. I am kinds stuck because I walk so much but I always heard that you should exercise more then just what you do in your normal routine. Does that make sense? It is early lol.



    I was going to reply a sensible answer.. but all I can think is: 15+ miles a night?!?!?!?! Do you do that besides your shifts?? Or do you do the walking during your shift?

    3 days a week of working out is good. Definitely if you walk that much on the other days.. I would definitely take at least 1 day of rest a week though, especially if your body tells you to.

    Just log everything you eat and everything you exercise. Don't go in too much of a deficit. That way you will lose weight!
  • jeepzilla
    jeepzilla Posts: 201
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    If it was me I would get a hmr and wear it to really know what your burning.. the adjust your workouts accordingly..
  • ChristyMomx3
    ChristyMomx3 Posts: 176
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    I totally want to do that but we are not allowed to have any thing back there. We have to go through security and metal detectors. If they make them without any metal parts then I totally could.
    If it was me I would get a hmr and wear it to really know what your burning.. the adjust your workouts accordingly..
  • inge88
    inge88 Posts: 184 Member
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    Okay, yeah now I understand. That's a crazy amount of walking! Not so sure what to advice, but yeah try and eat more (you must be really hungry when walking around like that all the time?)
  • ChristyMomx3
    ChristyMomx3 Posts: 176
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    I am not actually. The biggest thing I have got to stop doing is grabbing something out of the machines. There is no healthy choices but oh so tempting.
    Okay, yeah now I understand. That's a crazy amount of walking! Not so sure what to advice, but yeah try and eat more (you must be really hungry when walking around like that all the time?)
  • seph_house
    seph_house Posts: 101 Member
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    you can totally do it with only 3 "proper" workouts a week, even two would be fine with a complete rest day. there are people here who are managing with little to no "proper" workouts through injury etc (and i'm slightly in awe of them, i use exercise to bump up the cals i can eat so i feel full:)

    two things spring to mind:
    - if you do the same "exercise" all the time, the body is very good at doing it efficiently, especially women's bodies for some reason. so don't expect to kep on burning the same amount at work for the same level of activity, as you get fitter the cal count will go down. How you could measure that, i don't know but be aware and don't just grab MFP's walking estimate.
    - all that zipping around at work is great cardio so if you do add other workouts, i'd aim for the strength end of the spectrum to complement it. strengthening your muscles will also help you protect them when you are picking/lifting stuff at work & avoiding injury is ++good :)

    (my personal favorites are, if you are not already super-aware of how you hold your body/posture, something like pilates or yoga will help you learn strong safe ways to move. i did a couple of years of pilates years ago and coming back to exercise/weights now i realise how much that improved the way i held myself)
  • ChristyMomx3
    ChristyMomx3 Posts: 176
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    That is really a good idea. I have been thinking of doing some strength exercises because even after 3 months of this job I am still sore all over. I figure I would have adjusted by now but I think I need to build up some muscle. I would love to do yoga but it keeps my butt and I can never finish a work out. I am still really heavy and it is so hard to hold my body in those positions.
    you can totally do it with only 3 "proper" workouts a week, even two would be fine with a complete rest day. there are people here who are managing with little to no "proper" workouts through injury etc (and i'm slightly in awe of them, i use exercise to bump up the cals i can eat so i feel full:)

    two things spring to mind:
    - if you do the same "exercise" all the time, the body is very good at doing it efficiently, especially women's bodies for some reason. so don't expect to kep on burning the same amount at work for the same level of activity, as you get fitter the cal count will go down. How you could measure that, i don't know but be aware and don't just grab MFP's walking estimate.
    - all that zipping around at work is great cardio so if you do add other workouts, i'd aim for the strength end of the spectrum to complement it. strengthening your muscles will also help you protect them when you are picking/lifting stuff at work & avoiding injury is ++good :)

    (my personal favorites are, if you are not already super-aware of how you hold your body/posture, something like pilates or yoga will help you learn strong safe ways to move. i did a couple of years of pilates years ago and coming back to exercise/weights now i realise how much that improved the way i held myself)
  • seph_house
    seph_house Posts: 101 Member
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    ... I would love to do yoga but it keeps my butt and I can never finish a work out. I am still really heavy and it is so hard to hold my body in those positions.

    i know the feeling :) i was very lucky that we started a pilates class at work so we all started out at the same level and were mostly all on the rounder side so we all looked silly together. we did have two "skinny" people in the class but they both had joint/flexibility issues so that didn't help them either. we all looked silly, weak and unflexible together and didn't feel pressured to go further than we could do. problem is, you never notice the improvements when they are so small and slow in coming, but they are real!

    i have a mat & a bunch of saved youtube yoga vids at home, i really should get back to using them :/ however currently i'm in love with lifting weights which i picked up for the first time 5 months ago & seem to suit me really well.
  • Martucha123
    Martucha123 Posts: 1,093 Member
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    i would treat those walks as cardio
    and add steightning exercises on top of that

    as you said you have already lost weight due to new job, that comes from all that walking

    so you'd probebly even lose without work outs, but adding sth for your mussles will be a healthy choice
  • jeepzilla
    jeepzilla Posts: 201
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    I totally want to do that but we are not allowed to have any thing back there. We have to go through security and metal detectors. If they make them without any metal parts then I totally could.
    If it was me I would get a hmr and wear it to really know what your burning.. the adjust your workouts accordingly..

    i have a polar and use the watch in work i havent used the strap yet and i have to go through a metal detector too.

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