3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

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- 100 lb. Club (https://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/100-lb-club-55/)

- - What is Enough Exercise? (https://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/100-lb-club/117638-what-enough-exercise.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Get n healthy (Post 1771745)

WOAH, i am absolutely sorry that you were offended by my typing "for your weight", honey...take a look at my weight. I am in the same neighborhood. I would NEVER in a million years say that in a bad way. I am just not good at candycoating i guess. But realistically, someone who weighs what we do has a totally different exercise/calorie range than someone who is 140 and wants to be 120. But again, sorry doesnt even express my emontions. I honestly just meant that our weight requires different things than the weight of a 150 pound person.

This is definately a place of support, but it is also a place for honesty. If you ask a question about what is best for *you* then i am going to answer what i think is best for *you* and unfortunately, someones weight is the major factor in regards for what is best for them....calorie and exercise wise.

But what i was saying is that at your weight, you might be better off taking it slower, so you dont do too much too quickly and get burnt out. Everyone is different. But for me, i am at a weight that it doesnt take that much exercise for me to lose weight. I dont need to do 90 minutes of cardio to lose 2 pounds a week. BUT the important part is that i might need to do 90 minutes of cardio as i get closer to goal. So if i start out doing 90 minutes, then i stall about 40 pounds into it, that doesnt leave me much room to increase exercise to get the rest of the weight off.

So looking at it that way, if my highest weight is 150 and i wanted to get down to 135, then i would probably have to do a lot more than 30 minutes of cardio to get going. But at our weight, we dont need to do what the 150 pound people do. Yes the more exercise we do the more weight we lose, but i, personally, would rather have wiggle room as i get closer to goal. I want to be able to add another 30 minutes without it being a huge deal. If i am already doing 90 minutes, then an additional 30 minutes is a big deal.

So all i was saying is be careful of burnout. Too much too quickly burns me out. I have lost 100 pounds before and by the time i got there i was SO SICK of exercise, i gave up...gained most of back. At my highest weight i was 308, all i needed to do was a brisk 20 minute walk 3 times a week. Now i am down to 260 and i have to do 30 minutes of intense cardio to get the same amount of weight loss. When i get down to 220, i will probably have to be doing an hour of cardio, etc. Does that make more sense?

Stacy, thanks for your apology. I appreciate it. And I'm sorry for my knee-jerk type of reaction as well. I do understand what you are saying. And yes, it makes sense. I guess part of the reasoning for asking my question was, a lot of times, once I am through with a WATP tape, for example, yes, I feel tired, and I'm usually sweating. But I don't feel "wiped out" like I used to. Maybe that means the times I tried before I went at it too hard and that's why I always fell off the wagon, so to speak. I'm still adjusting to the whole attitude change and realization that it IS more than just "oh, I'll diet for a while and then be good." I think what I'm doing now is ok for me. I just need to keep reminding myself that I am in this for the long haul, otherwise it's just going to be a waste of my time.

Hi Christy,

You might try monitoring your heart rate to get an idea of how beneficial your workouts are.

You can buy a heart rate monitor from a lot of web sources or fitness stores, or you can calculate it yourself by exercising for 10 minutes, then taking your pulse (I use the pulse point in my neck just below my jaw) for 10 seconds.

Multiply the number of beats you count by 6, then check to see if it is within your "target heart rate" zone. There is a calculator at this link:

http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstools/l/bl_THR.htm

The formula is 220 minus your age, multiplied by 60 to 80%. I'm 51, and I've been exercising (aerobics and weight training) for 9 months, so I am using "average fitness". I get a target heart rate of 101-135. If my heart rate falls below 120 while I'm doing aerobic exercise, I step it up a little.

Checking your heartrate sounds like a pain, but it really isn't hard. I'm lazy and would stay at the same level forever if I don't get a little reinforcement that it's time for me to do a bit more work.

In the beginning of a new exercise program, just do what you can do. When I started exercising again, I was wiped out by 10 minutes on the treadmill at 2.0 mph. I am talking EXHAUSTED. However, the body is amazing and quickly gains fitness if we just stick with regular workouts. I'm not running yet, but I just knocked off 45 minutes of incline intervals at 3.4 mph, so I've come a LONG way in a short time. And like I said, I'm an oldie -- if I can do it, so can you.

Just start moving! It's working for me, slowly but surely.

Whew, so glad we got that cleared up.

I would have wrote, "at your weight" to someone that weighed 450 pounds AND to someone who weighed 150 pounds... to me, that is just a place to go from. I dont know your endurance level or anything like that, so all i can base it on is your weight, since that is what i know. Hope that still makes sense.

Anyway. For me, tired and sweaty is perfect. To have that warm blood flowing feeling in my legs and my heart still a bit raised even after i have stopped exercising...that is my sweet spot. If, like you said, i do it until i am "wiped out"...i will get burnt out after a few months. But it does sound like you are doing great. It is normal for that exercise to get easier. I have done Leslie sansones walk and kick this week, and it completely kicked my butt in the beginning but last night, i was perfect. So that just shows i am building endurance and my body is adjusting, it doesnt mean it is time to move on yet. For me personally, i will move on when i stop losing weight, or get bored with this video.

It is so important to realize this is a lifestyle. It took me 30 years of dieting to finally have the aha moment...this is for life. While i could do 5 dvds a day of exercise and get the weight off real quick like i did last time. But will i be able to do that much for life? No way. Maybe some can. But for me...i will fall off the bandwagon and have to start all over again. So this time, i am doing it different. I am taking it slow with the understanding, this is what i am doing for life...there is no race because there is no finish line. of course i could look at maintaining and getting to goal as a finish line...but that is what got me in trouble last time. You dont stop when you get to goal and that is a big concept for me to get through my own head.

It is all a work in progress. If you are comfortable doing what your doing and your losing 2 pounds a week, (after the initial few weeks) then you are right where you need to be is all i was saying. Geeze, i sure took the long way around bend to get that out huh?

This thread has made me feel better about only being able to do 30 minutes of cardio at a time. I have been trying to increase that for a while, but by the time I get to minute 30 on that elliptical, I am completely exhausted and have already bargained with myself like "8 more minutes...you can do anything for 8 minutes!" Once I did 45 on the elliptical and once I did an hour at 3mph on the treadmill, but those are out of the ordinary, and on days I guess I ate my wheaties. ;) I have increased the resistance, so I guess that is good, but I felt I should be going for 45 minutes to an hour every time and my body just will not do that right now. I get so tired my knees would buckle and I would fall before I could stay there an hour.

I like the point about increasing the time as I lose weight. Right now I have plenty of time to go to the gym for 1-2 hours a day (though I can only do 30 mins of cardio, I also do strength training and use the sauna so I'm there for a while), but I teach and once school starts, I know it will be tough to make it any longer than that.

Maybe this is none of my business, but I wanted to "weigh in" on this discussion. Christy - I respect that you spoke up when your feelings were hurt. It is something that is incredibly important for us to do. But, honestly, I was astonished that you found Stacy's comment to be insensitive. You asked a question where your weight was a key factor in the answer. If you had been asking at 150 pounds looking to move to 135 pounds, I think Stacy's answer would likely have been framed in an identical way, and I doubt you would have been offended. Likely, the only reason you were offended by the "at your weight" reference is because you are incredibly sensitive about your weight. I don't blame you for that. I think we've all been trained to be sensitive about references to our weight because, so often, those comments are negative. When you come to be more comfortable here and understand that these straight-forward comments are not intended to offend, I think your sensitivity will decrease. Stacy's comments were kind and helpful, and spoke about weight in a matter-of-fact way. The inability to speak this way will only harm us as we try to gather and give information. "For a beginner" and "since you are just starting out" are not adequate ways to express what she was trying to say. The number of calories we burn in a day is directly related to the number on the scale, and her pointing that out does not mean she is judging you negatively for the number on the scale. I hope that, soon, you will feel comfortable enough to appreciate the supportive tone in which the answer was intended.