Eating low cal is easier than exercise!

foxygirlact · January 2012

Hi all

Just wanting some input on the next stage of my goals.

So far I have been here for a bit over 3 months and have made my goal weight of losing 10kg. Everyone has commented about how thin I look which is great, and I'm down a dress size, BUT I'm not there yet. So I extended my goal by another 5kg and am now wanting to "tone" up my wobbly bits

I am a pear shape so would love to trim down my thighs, that said, my arms and tummy could also do with some work too!

The main thing I struggle with is exercise. I've lost the weight basically with just the calorie reduction as I couldn't exercise for 1 month after some surgery, AND to be honest cause I am lazy.

So now I am looking at adding exercise to my routine, but I need to be able to stick with it, which means I would exercise for say half an hour about 3 times a week after work at home (no way will I stick to a morning routine). At the moment my plan is to use my hand-held weights twice a week plus maybe use the treadmill that I have at home.

My question is - is there a way I can make these short periods more effective??

And what is better to do on the treadmill: incline walking or interval jogs (like C25k) ?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :-)

HonkyTonks · January 2012

IMO you should try HIIT - do 5 mins walking to warm up, then 1 minute on as hard as you can, 1 minute off at a moderate/high pace, and so on for 10 minutes.. this is a great calorie burner and metabolism booster.. also you can burn as many calories in 15 minutes as you might in 30 minutes of just walking

Also incorporate at least 2 strength training sessions into your routine. You want to work on building lean muscle mass.. and not just hand weights - you want to do heavier weights, 3 sets with about 10-13 reps

Of course you may have to eat more to refuel your body, so add a few nutrient dense/calorie dense foods in.. nuts, avocado, olive oil, etc

Cal28 · January 2012

Some people have 30 min DVD programmes? I'm lazy and find gym glasses the best way to go as I can't slack... x

melaniecheeks · January 2012

Short sessions of strength work sound like what you need - do 2 sets of 20 each of squats and push-ups. Add in some lunges for trimmer thighs and butt - use water bottles or cans of beans as weights.

1a1a · January 2012

I was lazy too, I joined a group doing the 30 day shred, it was brutal, but I hung in there, and by the end of it, I had made better friends with exercise, the next thing I tried was TurboFire, which is pretty full on, but boosted my fitness through the roof.

My advice, start small, like you say, commit to 3 times a week, or maybe do what I did which was take on a one week challenge of 10 minutes every day. Then build up to something like Couch to 5 k, or basic aerobics (all videos here), eventually, try turbofire, it's fun :-)

TriciaLB · January 2012

A few years ago I lost 40 pounds (unfortunately I gained most of it back after having kids). I had never exercised much in my life and hated it at first. I would do intervals - warm up on the treadmill for 5 minutes, then increase the incline and speed for a few minutes (at first I could only go for a few minutes, but eventually my stamina increased) and then drop back down to a slower pace. I also did strength training 3x a week, I don't think 2x/week is really enough to see a significant change. It's not so bad - get some handweights and you can do it at home while you're watching tv. You can get strength-training dvd's, or just look up 'easy strength training exercises' on the internet. Good luck, you can do it!

foxygirlact · January 2012

thanks for your suggestions,

with the weights I have two hand weights/dumbbells that are each 2.5 kg and have the capacity to add more weight onto the bars, so Im thinking I will be able to build up to bigger weights as I go

Eating low cal is easier than exercise!

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