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Thank you so much, Meg, darling!
Such an excellent post... I hope everyone reads it.

i like it too! funny it's obvious that fat and muscle are 2 different types of tissue but i had never thought of it. oh well we all learn something new hehe

Thanx for the info... I knew some of them.. but the intensity? you mean I don't have to climb a mountain for two hours?? whew...

Thanks for outlining these points! It's especially helpful for a new starter like moi!

~Mande

Hello everyone!

I would like to ad something to the first point – spot reducing! I agree that you can’t loose weight only where you want but I also have seen that you can reshape your body totally. I am not saying this to argue but to encourage women that have week spots!

The example is from friend of mine. She had a big (forgive me, I am not English native) butt and skinny in the upper section. One summer she got a bike and was riding like a mad woman. When you see her today she is even up and down and you can’t notice that she has or had big butt. So, I think it’s possible in a way!

I am not sure what to do if you upper body is bigger (as mine is, after bicycling like a maniac with a friend!!!!) but I guess there had to be some way to reshape it as we did for our lower part. Bad news was that I was normally shaped before and now I am bigger in the upper part of body. Stupid me!

Ooh, that gives me hope. Bicycling is one of few exercises I actually really enjoy, but I always worried that my riding like a mad woman would make my lower body even bigger. This is encouraging!

Come to think of it, I was a lot better looking this summer when I rode my bike everywhere. I just didn't realize it until I had to get rid of my bike and got all fat

Anyway [to the OP] - excellent post! Some really good things to keep in mind.

I could be wrong but cycling is a cardio work-out and cardio burns fat, which could explain why your friend's bottom dwindled. Did she reshape her bottom or just burn the fat off of it? I can't find a way to write that to make it sound a little nicer!

I know cycling sure feels like strength training sometimes and it surely must help with development of leg and bum muscles, though!

I was under the impression that any excercise will build muscle. For instance if I on on the stairclimber with a higher resistance I will build some muscle in my lower body and get a cardio workout at the same time.

Lady TL, I'm sure you're strengthening your muscle as well as getting a good cardio workout on the Stairmaster. But in order to build muscle, you have to stress your muscles to the point of getting small, microscopic tears in them. Which is a good thing, not a bad thing because when the small tears heal, you build additional muscle.

In order to stress the muscle sufficiently, you need to be working with a load that limits you to 12 or maybe 15 reps before the muscle is completely fatigued and needs to rest (like in a set of weight lifting exercises). The time frame is around 60 - 90 seconds until exhaustion. Cardio, unfortunately, doesn't limit us to 15 reps at a time. Most of us can do the exercise for a half hour or so, and so it's good for muscle strengthening but not muscle building.

I read an article recently that said the best time to exercise (for your muscles) was early afternoon, since they were loosened up from your morning's regular activities, and most likely not to be worn out (since it isn't the end of the day for you).

That being said, I usually exercise after work, around 6pm. 12 hours after I wake up, and 4-5 hours before I go to bed. Meg's right, whenever I have time is certainly the right time for me!

yay! that was inspiring, about exercize. i used to think if I didn't work out hard for an hour, it was useless. now, if all i do is a stretching video, i'm inspired and have done Something. this actually limbers me and takes aches and pains away, and it inspires me to exercize more when i can....so i have been! i have gone from fearing exercize lately, to stretching which led to joyous jogging, biking and even tennis.

I've found that exercising in the afternoon is better, because frankly my endurance isn't that great at five in the morning. But that's more common sense than anything else.

I'm glad that you posted this. Now I know that I don't have to do a million crunches trying to lose the weight in my belly. I just need to walk and do aroebics and then once I lose my weight I can start to tone up.

interesting note about the muscle building. i didn't know it was due to tiny tears