Exercise, how much do we really need to look fab?

JessLLoser · June 2012

I`m no bikini model, I don`t want to be a skinny mini, yet I also don`t want to change my lifestyle so much that I should live like a body builder.

I`ve heard the talk, lift heavy, limit cardio, do HIIT.

30 min a day is recommended by the gov. (gotta love that my plate thing)

The more I learn and try the more frustrated I get when I don`t see results. I watch my hubby work around the house, walk the dogs and he has no fat on him.

I know, men and women, genetics, (he is japanese) but is there a reason I should be flabby when I work out and he doesn`t?
He has never lifted weights. Of all the people I know in my area, I live in Japan right now, none of them have ever lifted weights. They don`t drink protein drinks. Only people training for marathons do such hard exercise daily. Hard exercise (insanity, beach body, Billy`s boot camp) None of this stuff is new.

Many people maintain and or lose by just walking, is it really necessary to work out so hard?
Even though you can get through a pretty good circut in 30 min 3 days a week. It still seems like a lot of time to devote to something I really hate doing and can`t see myself doing forever. If it did give me results, or I did lose weight from it I`d do it.

I did Body for life, 6 mo. and Your best body now by Tosca Reno. Spent atleast 3 mo doing each, maintained my weight at it. But you surely couldn`t tell I was working out. I have also tried various other books. The Me diet.

All of them promote the same thing. Eat healthy. Lift weights.

I already eat healthy. But I never ate back my exercise cal. before. Now I started to to net my BMR. I`ve been dieting for about 6 years without success.

I am in the ETWL group. Now trying metabolism repair. Week 5.

But I am overweight. About 20lbs.
I walk about 3.7 miles on an average day. More to about 8 on weekends. I love being outdoors and never wanna give it up. I will always walk. And there will always be work to do. I feel good. I just don`t look good.

How much is enough?
What do we really need to do to lose weight and look healthy? All you who`ve lost on here, please chime in with your 2 cents. I`d love to hear how you did it. And how much you ate. Your ripped? Tell me how you did it? No carbs at all?
Sure we are all different. But I certainly am a complete fool at this. 6 years and nothing to show for it. This has to end!

usmcmp · June 2012

I don't know about all Japanese, but all my friends who are Japanese and live in Japan do daily exercises like crunches and push ups (just alone in private).

As far as how much exercise it depends on the person. Skinny looks good in clothes, fit looks good naked. Instead of focusing on not wanting to do it because you don't enjoy it, find something you do enjoy. Try new things. I hate running, walking takes forever and gets boring, hiking can be fun, biking is painful, lifting weights gives me pure joy.

If you don't enjoy working out and refuse to do it that's all up to you. No one says you have to be super skinny or a bikini model. I worked out for 6 months walking/running/a few other things with no results. I started lifting heavy (Lee Labrada's 12 week lean body trainer) and suddenly the fat started disappearing and I started looking better.

JessLLoser · June 2012

Sounds good. I like being active, I just don`t like working out to no avail. And I do work out NRoLfW just haven`t seen any results in stage one. Easy to lose interest that way.

What I really want to know is can I be ripped by just doing some crunches every day and some pushups. and walking? My hubby does neither of these. BTW.

Nansweetnan · June 2012

That sounds frustrating...I've worked out most of my life and never really changed my shape. I have a sibling that is religious workout zealot 5 days a week, weights & cardio--only eats protein, salads, nothing white, hasn't had a slice of pizza in ten or more years...she is skinny, like really skinny & six pack, but interestingly enough she had to have lipo on her stomach b/c of resistant fat..well she didn't have to... it was just the tiniest pooch, if you could even call it that...but...she did it and the surgeon said it is genetic fat resistant to diet & exercise. My opinion, society is carried away with the whole body image thing...it's all or nothing. Let's not just bike for fun, let's do 100 miles, enter a race, be the best. Or how 'bout the whole 5K business--I walk them, so many I know start out walking and end up having to do full-marathons or hell, even tri-athalon and iron man. I checked out of the competition business a long time ago, it's too stressful. I stay active doing what I like to do. I don't have a beach body, but I don't care, I didn't even when I was 18 and I'm certainly not going to have surgery to get rid of the genetic pooch--that is just too risky & kind of vain in my opinion. I see from your photo that you have a great smile & I'm sure your husband sees a lot more to you than just the exterior package. My advice as a 50 yo mom...be yourself, even if it means you are slightly overweight, be healthy and do what makes you happy. I think everyone who smiles is 100 times more radiant than the girl in the beach body anyway. Stay healthy!

Jbarbo01 · June 2012

Ive dropped 30 lbs before and kept it off for sometime, and I lost the weight without doing any exercise. Exercise has such a minimal effect when it comes to weight loss. What exercise does is that it helps with a ton of health issues, you can actually be overweight and be healthy if you exercise regularly. It can help prevent an insane amount of diseases, so its something really important to do. It can help your body look better in general, weight loss or not. However, you do not need to put it on a pedestal for weight loss. Its not going to make the scale move if that is your goal. 80% of weight loss is in the kitchen, 20% is at the gym. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat clean and eat ENOUGH of the right foods. My trainer told me the problem he sees most with dieters is that they eat too little not too much. You have to find your sweet spot, that calorie number that has you lose weight steadily. My money is that it will be more 1200 calories a day. Mine is about 1500-1800 calories a day and Ill lose weight if i eat that consistently. I found that through trial and error. Dont be afraid to eat. Eat really good for you foods, keep carbs at 150 grams a day and eat them only in whole form.

If you decide to exercise, just choose something you love. Who cares if its not as "effective" as HIIT or circuit training. Its more important that you enjoy it and look forward to it so that youre consistent. Exercise is for health and for feeling good, if it makes you angry and resentful at the process its not worth doing. Find exercise you love, and focus on eating clean and eating enough. Add some patience in there, especially if youre only 20 lbs over weight, and you may very well see results.

Lozze · June 2012

First question are you Japenese? If the answer is no then why would you compare yourself? People who are Japanese/Asian have Completly different body shapes and genetics to people from the European area. There is a reason Asian people have a different BMI.

What type if body do you want? If you want a ripped body then yes hounded to lift weights. If you don't you need to exercise for health but you don't have to do weights if you don't enjoy it. To lose weight it's mainly food. Having 'only' 20lbs it will be Barrera d slower. You'd luck!

JessLLoser · June 2012

How slow is slow?

I may be a bit of an impatient dieter.

My goal body is to look good naked. It`s a general goal.

-.2 lbs a week would be fine. Just a tiny little downward trend each month and I would stick with it harder. But working out harder invariably makes me gain weight.

I know it`s muscle right? Too bad my measurements go up and I look bigger, as in fatter instead.

How long does it take to see results from weight lifting?

One day? One month? 2? I also have to eat like a weight lifter too? do we really need to drink protein shakes? I know we could just eat yogurt or a chicken breast.

I am already strong.
I just want to look good.

Lozze · June 2012

I don't have the answers to that sadly. I do know that when you start weight lifting that your muscles retain water and therefore appear bigger.

How long gave you been doing NROLFW? How many calories do you eat? What are your stats? (height/weight/age) Are you taking photos?

I've been frustrated because I've been on a couple of months plateau courtesy of NROLFW. On 13/2 I was 108.6kg. I got down to 101.6kg but am currently 104.2kg. (that was alcohol related. My one weekend a year I get smashed) A lot of people in my sport haven't seen me since March. I weighed 103.3kg. I saw a lot yesterday weighing 1kg more (though that number is temp due to a week of hard exercise and grog) the comments I got were amazing. 'you're dusapearing' 'Youve lost so much weight!' 'I didnt recognise you!' and so on. As I said that is the responses when weighing one kilo more.

Have you taken photos? It's very hard to see it yourself day to day.

Jynus · June 2012

What I really want to know is can I be ripped by just doing some crunches every day and some pushups. and walking? My hubby does neither of these. BTW.

No, you cannot. the body you have is by and large a byproduct of the exercise you do. If you on'y do pushups and crunches, you will look like someone who only does pushups and crunches. Which basically amounts to looking like not exercising much at all as you're neglecting like 90% of your muscles and movements.

Here's a perfect blog about what different types of exercises caused in terms of body recomp for a lady. Notice the 'toned' body only came about because she was lifitng absolutely stupid amounts of weight. You want her look? Start lifting like a powerlifter, cause thats the ONLY way you're gonna get it.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

JessLLoser · June 2012

I think staci`s transformation is amazing!

I also see that she can never eat at a restaurant and survives on plain chicken breasts and vegetables.

I am not afraid of lifting, I have done lifting programs in the past. They have never stuck with me. I am not at my goal weight yet. I don`t want to start yet another road to failed weight loss.

As I said, this heavy lifting thing is the latest craze. I think you can get ripped but you have to eat a special diet and exercising a lot!

Sure, Staci doesn`t think waking up at 5 am to exercise is a lot. But I wonder if she can keep it up when she has a baby or life gets in her way.

Also some people are giving a woman advice to eat at her BMR while trying to gain muscle which scientifically can`t happen.
BMR is how much you use in a coma!

I want to live a full life, eat healthy food with my family and drink a healthy amount of wine.

It sounds like there is no one out there who has lost weight with just portion control and a sensible diet.

I want to be one of those people but if I read the forums too much, I really start to doubt myself.

ArroganceInStep · June 2012

From the sounds of it (and please don't take this as an insult, it's not meant as one) you're impatient but also don't want to dedicate substantial time to the process. I would advise picking one.

If you want to see results quickly, you need to bust your *kitten* to make them happen. That means hard strenuous workouts and a very careful and dedicated approach to your diet. It means analyzing process critically and often, and making smart adjustments as necessary. It means, to put it bluntly, damned hard work. Now you can do that, but it would have a significant impact on your life. That's the route I've chosen, because that's the sort of life I want to have. I've seen very rapid results (50 lbs in 6 months, across the board increases in lifting, improved cardio) but it's taken a lot of time and a lot of work.

You may not be able to make that kind of time commitment, and that's ok, but you have to be patient and accept slower progress. You like being outdoors, slowly increase that. Find active things you like to do, and do more of them. You like walking, try taking up hiking too. Consider rowing. Add small strength training workouts to your day. 17 minutes of squats, pushups, and inverted rows 3 or 4 times a week. Is it going to get you the same results as lifting heavy 5 days a week on a smart training regime? Of course not, but it's not bad for you. Change your diet slowly, and look at the small things you can do, little by little, to improve. In a more restrictive diet, you generally start from nothing, and build up a plan. It's a total transformation. This way you're looking at things you can take out or change, it's much more gradual (read: less painful). Maybe skip dessert twice a week, or switch from soda to tea once a week. Stuff like that.

And to answer your question specifically, yes you should be eating more than your BMR if you are exercising. You should, theoretically, always be netting over your BMR, that's just like a base minimum you can do and still try to pretend it's healthy. Strength training and cardio increase the calories you'd need to take in to net over your BMR though, so that's kind of covered assuming you can estimate your calorie burn accurately.

Good luck.

Pipergirl2 · June 2012

I've read the books that you mentioned and a few others, I take bits and pieces from each one and gear it towards my life. I started out with 5lb weights and have moved on to 8lbs and I walk at least 2 times a day and the change in my body is working for me....I'll admit it took about a month to see any change in arms, but now they are my favorite body part because they are toned, not bulky or super muscular, but just right for me. Incorporate small changes and don't get too discouraged...I'm not at my goal weight yet, but I will get there, it just takes time. Stick with it!!

Sharonks · June 2012

You can lose weight just making modest changes but it is slow. I lost 20 lbs 10 years ago and kept it off. I reduced portions and paid attention to what I was eating. Ate more veggies and less starch. My hubs is doing that now and has taken off about 30 lbs this last few months. He was about 80 lbs overweight though so it comes off faster.

You will never get ripped walking but if that is what you like then do that. Just don't expect to get a weight lifters body without lifting. Also, a lot of that look comes from having low body fat.

Have you considered that you don't really have any extra weight? Sometimes you stall out because you already are where you should be. When I started this round of weight loss I thought I had to weigh 105 to be thin. I have been building muscle and now am thinking more like 115.

Exercise, how much do we really need to look fab?

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