Weight Loss

[purpleprincess71]

Hi everyone

I was just wondering if anyone could help me?

I have a special event on the 7th March for my birthday and I realllly want to lose a stone by then (on top of the 6.5lbs i've lost already) I have just over 6 weeks until then and at an average loss of 2lbs a week this means i would only lose 12lbs!!! I just really want to lose a stone, and maybe an extra half a pound to round it up to 1 and a half stone in total hehe

So anyway what I wanted to ask was how much exercise do i need to do to speed up my weight loss? Not drastically speed it up, but just a bit! I have a treadmill but I'm just not sure how long I should be spending on it and for how many days a week?

Any help would be great Thanks!

xxx Katie xxx

 

[Kate]

Hi Katie (great name)

How many calories are you eating a day and what sort of diet are you following?

Edit: sorry, I can see you're doing Weightwatchers. Do you always have all your points? If so, you can do quite a lot in terms of exercise. Do you use your treadmill at all at the moment? Running burns bucketloads of extra calories, although running on a treadmill is deathly boring. If you don't run yet, and you want to, you'd need to build up to it. Even walking briskly on an incline is still going to burn a good number of calories. You can walk every day, but if you're running you should have rest days in between, especially if you're just starting out. Do you have any other exercise equipment or facilities availalble to you?

 

[purpleprincess71]

Heya! Yeah I'm on weightwatchers at the moment and have 19 points a day, and use them all up

I do use my treadmill at the moment but not as much as I should! I don't run on it yet coz to be honest I'm not very fit (also I smoke so it makes it even harder!) I walk briskly for about 45 minutes, but only a couple times a week.

If i walk briskly on it should i do it every day then instead of having rest days? Or do you think I should do it every other day or something? Also about how much time should I spend on my treadmill each time?

I dont have any other major exercise equipment but I have weights and an exercise ball aswell.

xxx Katie xxx

 

[Kate]

You can do it every day. Go nuts! As long as you don't find it bores you to tears (can you tell I don't love the treadmill?) do it as often as you like. If you're doing 45 minutes a time, can you up it to 3 times a week and add some stuff with the weights and ball on alternating days?

You say you don't have any other 'major' exercise equipment but there is SO much you can do with weights and a ball. Are we talking dumbbells and a swiss ball? (Swiss ball is the big ball that you sit on)

 

[purpleprincess71]

Thanks so much for your help

I'm going to try what u suggested starting from tomoro! Yeah i have 3 sets of dumbells, theyre all different weights and yeah thats the ball i meant hehe

I used to use it to do stomach crunches on but kinda stopped doing it .... but i think i might start doing that again! I read on the forum somewhere about some really effective squats using dumbells so i might try that too

I never really get bored on the treadmill coz its pointed at the tv and i just put a DVD on hehe xxx

 

[little*red]

Hey,
ww encourages you to build up to earning about 28 activity points a week.

Walking briskly for 45 minutes gets you 2 points, so 14 points for the week if done everyday.

However you could up the workout to a power walk for 35min everyday which will earn you 4 points and get you to the 28 weekly total.

Good luck on going for your goal, you seem very motivated and determined.

 

[Kate]

Great stuff! If I were you I'd make sure half your exercise points come from some kind of resistance exercise, i.e. with the dumbbells (mostly upper body), the ball (mostly core) or just with body weight (mostly lower body e.g. squats, lunges, pressups etc.). Cardio is great because it burns lots of calories in the short term and raises your metabolism for the rest of the day, but resistance exercise builds muscle, which raises your metabolism in the long term and helps you keep the weight off. Plus, there are benefits to resistance exercise that you can't get from cardio.

I can give you all sorts of suggestions for simple and effective resistance exercises, but I'd recommend having a look at somewhere like Sparkpeople.com which has a great (and free!) library of exercises with instructions and demonstrations.

This is just general advice based on the assumption that you do not have any medical conditions or injuries. You should always consult your doctor before commencing an exercise programme.

 

[purpleprincess71]

Thanks little red, i didnt realise i should be earning about 28 bonus points a week! I sometimes forget to use the bonus points up that i do earn but is that a bad thing? I dunno! hehe

And Kate, that website is just what I've been looking for so thanks very much Just wanted to say thanks for your help overall aswell (and as u said in the first post .. great name) hehe xxx

 

[adele4415]

you could do some interval training on your treadmill, interval training is a short period of high intensity work out, eg 30 secs running, and then 60 secs walking, 30 secs running, 60 secs walking and repeat for as long as possible.

or if you don't want to walk you could do 30 secs running fast, then 60 secs jogging and so on


why don't you also do some strength exercises to tone up?

there is a girl called kim strother on youtube who has loads of exercises to do, and they really help tone up whilst still looking slender!!

 

[adele4415]

oh just read you don't like running on the treadmill, in this case you could maybe walk very fast, or fast for 30secs, then walk normally for 60 secs and so on.

 

[missrachyp]

hey you shouldnt hammer it each day as youre muscles need time to rest so id reccomend 4-5 times a week cardio on and do weights on the days off 3-4 times a week if u over do it your body doesnt have time to rest and then you become injured and tired x

 

[totty]

How are you getting on? Are you hitting your targets?