Is This Exercise Sufficient?

  • Just wondering if this exercise will be sufficient for the first little while of my weight loss... I plan on doing the 2 mile WATP DVD 5 times per week, which is 30 minutes and also has some resistance added in with the stretchie band, as well as four 15 minute walks with my dog daily, which adds up to an hour.

    I did the calculations online, with my current weight of 280lbs
    2.5mph walking pace, 1 hr = 380 calories (that's walking with my dog 4 times a day)
    4mph walking pace, 1/2hr = 318 calories (the WATP DVD)
    = 700 calories total

    To figure out how much I'd burn weekly I did 700x5 (walking + dvd 5 days per week) + 380x2 (walking, no dvd, 2 days per week) = 4260/wk

    So I'd burn around 1lb per week through exercise alone, I know the online calculator's are only an estimate, but does this seem right/sufficient for exercise to start off with? I'm not big on exercising so I want to start off slow and work my way up without feeling too overwhelmed but still getting results.

    I'll also be sticking to calorie counting, I'm starting off with 1800 calories per day and I'm going to see where that takes me. Hoping to lose about 2lbs/wk, but I'll be happy as long as I'm losing.

    Hopefully I can stick to it this time, and not give up like my many many other attempts at losing weight.
  • This sounds like a totally reasonable place to start, but the important thing is to see how it goes the first few weeks. Just keep notes and see if :
    - you are in fact losing around 2 lbs a week (of course you're likely to lose more than that the first week or two).
    - you feel satisfied with that balance of food/exercise. you'll probably be a little hungry sometimes, but you shouldn't be feeling weak or light-headed or anything.
    - you've found a way to work the exercise you've listed into your schedule.

    Once you've taken a look at your time, energy, weight-loss patterns, etc, you can tweak the calories, the exercise, and the nutrient balance to suit. most of us here are frequently making little changes. But like I said, i think you've picked a good jumping-off point.
  • Yup. I agree with the above. It sounds reasonable but keep in mind that your body isn't a machine and it isn't as consistent as the calculations. Things like your TOM, what you eat, etc. will effect the scale. Expect some ups and downs in the short term.

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  • Welcome and good luck. Sounds like you have a good plan.
  • I think the best thing to do is to try it and see how it goes. Have fun. I like Leslie. She's has the only workout video I can stand.
  • Thanks everyone.