Hi! I've been reading these boards for awhile and I decided to start the WATP program. I've been doing it for about 3 weeks now, at least 5 days a week. I started at the 1 mile and have worked up to the 3 mile this week. My question is does anyone have a success story about this program they could share? I've seen an improvement in my endurance, but not in my weight loss and I'm a little depressed about it. I've lost about 3 pounds since beginning to exercise.
Jamie, I have used WATP as my main source of cardio since I've started and I've lost 151 lbs. But even more importantly than exercise is your food plan. If your calorie intake is more than your calories expended, you still won't lose weight. What is your food plan like? Oh wait, I see you've lost 3 lbs in 3 weeks. That's a good start, particularly if you don't have a lot to lose. There is also a WATP monthly thread with lots of other successful losers.
I've been doing Weight Watchers since February and lost 12 pounds just doing that. Then I hit a plateau so I started exercising. I just thought by now I would be seeing serious results. I'm still following the WW plan, but not as closely, so I probably need to work on that.
Well I guess it depends on how closely. IMHO, weight loss it mostly about what you eat, and exercise is an added benefit because it allows you to eat more calories and can help up your metabolism, your endurance, your muscle mass, etc. Doing a 45 minute fast walk (like WATP) still only burns about 250 calories at my weight, so if I don't watch what I eat very closely, I could easily negate the calories I have burned from my 45 minute walk.
Nonetheless, I still love WATP and would recommend it to anyone. It has been something that I could stick with and that could grow with me. It was also do-able for me when I first started exercising, when lots of other things were too advanced or too difficult.
Hi! I've lost over a hundred pounds as well, and I credit a lot of my getting started with WATP. At 245 pounds, I certainly wouldn't have been able to start off with Tae Bo, Firm, or Turbo Jam. WATP was a GREAT "gateway" into exercise. For the first six months, I did WATP faithfully until it was no longer a challenge for me.
I've lost 50 lbs using the WATP tapes. Aside from the weight loss (due to the exercise and sticking to the program), I've been losing a lot of inches off my thighs and rear. As with doing any exercise on a regular basis, my endurance and energy are up and my stress is way down. Plus, Leslie Sansone is so encouraging and affirming - I need to hear those messages!
I am a member of Leslie's website and that question has come up several times. Basically, they told us it's about 100 calories per mile if you don't use a booster (weights, stretchie, etc) and about 125 per mile if you do. Of course, that's just an estimate since it's based on your weight and effort.
I also used WATP and lost weight my first three months. I set goals and made sure that I met them. My legs trimmed down. I think the strechie band and small weights prepared me to go onto other things. It helped my coordination (which I admit was really bad) so that I could follow harder routines. I still do it as a low impact cardio workout. I did it yesterday because I could stick it in the middle of a busy afternoon and not be exhausted.
It does not wear me out now-but in late January I could not complete a three mile 50 minute DVD.I would stop in the second mile. I was around 231 pounds. I had two three mile tapes and I switched between them until sometime in March when I got my 5 mile tape.By then I was heading towards onederland (199). The five mile tape has it so you can do either a five mile walk or three similar three mile walks (they are a little over 30 minutes long-so they are intense). This was my only advanced tape, but there is another one out on the market. I got my money's worth out of it because I used it six days a week for two months.
I can tell you that it works. I have no gym membership, no expensive pieces of equipment and no personal trainers visiting my house. It was me and the DVDs for the first couple of months. I don't have a sitter to come in and watch my toddler and the track at the school is 15 miles away. There are no sidewalks here-just acres of wheat. I walked with Leslie and logged everything I ate with Fitday.
Again start slow and build up. I did the "Powermile" when I pregnant with DD2 at age 40 to help me keep my pregnancy weight gain from escalating. I agree with the others. It is a gateway to other forms of exercise. It's hard to figure a set amount of calories burned as you have so many different levels of Dvds to choose from. It's more about getting yourself into shape. You can't do very many jumping jacks when you weigh 231 pounds and sit-ups are really hard if your gut was as big as mine. I had a knee sprain last summer so anything I did when I was large would have to be low impact and get my muscles in shape to help support the knee joint.
The ladies over in the WATP thread are a bunch of gems. They are supportive and very good at checking in. They are some of the most cheerful I have found on the board.
I have four other people around me doing the five mile. One of them is my daughter, who I bought a five mile DVD set for in late January. She's finally getting with the program now that I have lost over 50 pounds.
WATP Success
But even more importantly than exercise is your food plan. If your calorie intake is more than your calories expended, you still won't lose weight. What is your food plan like? Oh wait, I see you've lost 3 lbs in 3 weeks. That's a good start, particularly if you don't have a lot to lose. There is also a WATP monthly thread with lots of other successful losers.
