What exercises did you do to lose a lot of weight?
Hi all,
At the gym near my house, I walk on treadmill everyday for 2.5 miles and then do a couple of classes - maybe 3 classes in a week. My classes aren't aerobic. With this schedule in place, I lost about 20.5 lbs so far since Jan 30 but I have to let know that I have never had the habit of exercising before that. Initially walking on the treadmill was by itself a challenge but these days it has become quite easy and recently I increased the speed to 3.5 mph.
I am, at this point, curious to know, what workouts did you all do to go down so much - 50 lbs, 80 lbs, 100 lbs -- oh my! Some of you have also reached your goal weight!
The reason I am asking is because with my workouts not seeming too challenging to me, I wonder if I am getting enough workout at all, because I haven't lost any weight for the past 2 weeks. So I am really wondering what exercises did you follow to achieve a massive weight loss. Did you keep going doing my kinda exercises - walking/pilates, etc, or did tremendous cardio and aerobic/weight training exercises like they show at 'Biggest Loser' episodes?
Edited because I don't think I answered the question and I wrote a bunch of other stuff that wasn't really related. Let me re-try.
For me what's worked is interval training...be it on the elliptical or Arc Trainer or running. Combined with any other form of cardio...biking, hiking, things like that.
Last edited by nonameslob; 04-14-2014 at 12:38 PM.
With me, there is something about jogging that just melts the fat off. On my jogging days, I always seem to go down on the scale as opposed to my other cardio / heavy lifting days. This has been a pattern for me for a while too.
Remembering that I lost a substantial amount while swimming laps many, many years ago, I got back in the pool more recently to do aquafitness (working with styrofoam barbells and noodles for resistance). I've actually enjoyed it a lot more than the laps. It also worked especially well throughout my pregnancy since it's low impact.
I don't have time to take off for the pool these days with a little baby, so instead I'm doing C25K in my neighborhood every other evening when the hubby's home to watch him. It's a running program designed for beginners, and for me it's the perfect balance between facing a challenge and feeling very accomplished. I'm currently halfway through and can run for 16 minutes per session, something I never thought I'd be able to do (at my highest weight I couldn't even walk across my own living room!). I actually got partway through the program last year, but dropped it the moment I found out I was pregnant and swapped it out for the pool (I'm considered high-risk and didn't want to stress the baby).
The program's only every other day, so on my "days off" I do Sweatin' to the Oldies at home (which is quite entertaining for the baby ). It's fun and gets me moving.
I'm extremely proud of my progress in the past two years; exercising used to be so intimidating! However, I've actually found that my eating habits are much more tied to my weight than exercising. Of course exercising is important for fitness, but eating right is more important when it comes to actual weight loss.
Good luck!
Last edited by Elladorine; 04-14-2014 at 12:41 PM.
I have done an enormous variety of exercise just to keep things interesting. Key though is to find the balance of eating and exercise. You can exercise hours a day and gain weight if your eating isn't at a deficit for the calorie burn.
And you can do almost any activity to different levels to get your heart rate up there. I get really irked by people at the gym who will say X class is too easy. Well, move more, bigger and it won't be as easy! jump higher, raise your knees higher, walk faster, swim faster, do water aerobic movements with more oomph to create more resistance, etc.
Last edited by berryblondeboys; 04-14-2014 at 12:37 PM.
Another vote for lawn mowing. My house sits on an acre with few trees and the only outbuilding is a shed. I mow the lawn with an old-fashioned, no motor, Amish-style reel mower. It works my entire body. By the end of 30 minutes, my legs are screaming, my arms feel like jell-o, and I'm breathing HARD. But I'm already starting to notice a difference in my biceps. By the end of the summer, I'm going to be a gun show.
Bignomore - good for you on increasing the speed. Believe it or not walking is a great exercise. The key is to make it brisk walking so your heart rate goes up.
The critical aspect to realize is dispite what you see via marketing efforts the reality is that exercise is good for your health but it is diet, not exercise, that will determine your results. You can burn 450 calories at the gym and a single bagle with cream cheese wipes out the effort.
Finally thing to think about. Small movements over time during the day add up to a lot of calories burned. I wore a gowearfit for four months. During that time I realized that sitting at my desk vs making an effort to get up from my desk every so often, taking stairs, parking further way and other small things added up to hundreds of calories a day. Any kind of activity tracker like this, even a cheap pedometer can really be helpful. There is actually a word for this. NEAT. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis.
I started with Jillian Michael's DVDs with 5 and 10p hand weights. At the end I took up jogging and that melted the last 10p off like nothing. I jog about 4-5 days a week, approx 15 miles to keep it off.
Of course I also eat in moderation...most of the time.
What exercises did you do to lose a lot of weight?
). It's fun and gets me moving.
