Walking / Jogging

[SanDiegoUbermom 1]

Hi all; I'm a mother of 4 (9,8 & twins @4). I have a gym membership and they have a kidcare area. I haven't had the chance to go back in yet with either me having a cold or them but it's going to cost $10 a kid on a monthly bases.

I only need to do this till Sept cause all of them will be going to school then. After that I can go and not worry about them or the cost.

I just need to find the energy to get started. That's my biggest problem.

I've tried to walk and have them w/me and that just doesn't work. DH gets home to late for me to do anything and the weekends are just to full of family things.

My surgery is in 9 days and I'm not sure how much I should start on or where.

:help: I need a push, I need encouragement!!

[puddin 7]

Telly, this is a good article, but it still doesn't talk about what's required (calorie-wise) to repair the muscle that you build and HOW overweight you should be to do this, ideally. It's general information that's good for the general public, but in our Quest for more information about how our bodies operate, it's far more complex than that. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're going to go wrong with weight training, but is it the ideal thing to do when you have 50 pounds or more to lose?

[Tricia K. 0]

Heather - I started jogging in spurts and now am up to a mile of jogging. I wouldn't necessarily time myself but would stop when I felt like my heart was going to explode from my chest...LOL...not really that bad. I would then walk until my heart rate slowed, but not to a complete rest, and would start jogging again. I thought it would take more time to get to the point of jogging 1 mile, but I surprised myself.

As far as weight training is concerned, I don't go full out but rather use lighter weights and lots of reps. I also use my body weight as resistance.

Remember, everyone is different and what works for one may not work for another. We should also not compare ourselves to others as we will most likely be let down. You're all beautiful and special in your own way. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

[Telly 4]

Telly, this is a good article, but it still doesn't talk about what's required (calorie-wise) to repair the muscle that you build and HOW overweight you should be to do this, ideally. It's general information that's good for the general public, but in our Quest for more information about how our bodies operate, it's far more complex than that. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're going to go wrong with weight training, but is it the ideal thing to do when you have 50 pounds or more to lose?

I don't always trust everything I hear or have been told. Have you spoken with your doctor or several doctors about weight training..(over 50lbs to lose), or several personal trainers?

I for one did start intensive cardio training in late March. Only 3-4 weeks ago did I start weight training/circuit training and I am ..according to my BMI based on my height, I am supposed to be 115lbs - 130lbs max to be Normal weight. Therefore I am 54lbs out.. Weight training is ideal to me because of my goals. (Body Composition).

I was worried that if I started weight lifting, I would build muscle on top of fat, making me look like a fat muscular person and I didn't want that. My trainer and a few online I've spoken to let me know that this would never happen. The muscle will continue to burn the fat off of me through weight training.

[Telly 4]

edited post 41..

[Fat2Phat 0]

Tricia,

Thanks for all of your kind words. I think you were referring to me. I will keep that in mind about the smaller weights with more reps. I hope that helps. I am feeling much better about myself. Even with the numbers that I have so far. I try not to compare myself to others because I know my case is different. But honestly, thanks for your wonderful words. If that was not directed at me... hehe.. I will be quiet now with foot in mouth.

Keep up the work

[Jachut 487]

Hmmm, perhaps the goal while losing lots of fat should be to "maintain" muscle - try to avoid losing as much of it as possible.

No doubt about it, when you lose a lot of weight, there'll be some muscle tissue loss in there as well. Its why I've resisted this Soup diet that everyone's having so much fun on and why I've settled for my moderately slow weight loss.

Cardio will maintain some muscle to a degree. The change in my legs and backside is testimony to that - the running (and I never run on an incline of less than 3) has really toned them up majorly - I dont believe that cardio just wastes your muscle away - well not at the level of an average casual jogger - marathon runners are a different story.

When your body is repairing itself from cardio it is in fact repairing a lot of minor muscle damange, making them bigger and stronger, exactly the same way it does after weight training.

I think I might just start with some body resistance stuff - abdominals, pushups, tricep dips, squats and lunges and my running for now. I just dont have the time or mental energy to switch focus to serious weight training - but for the first time in my life its my upper body that looks like it needs more work than my lower.

[HeatherGurl 0]

Thank you Jachut and Tricia... I will try to add the jogging in this week. I really appreciate it.

[lianna 3]

Walking/Jogging

Hmmm....I am still a walker right now. I simply cant jog for very long, lol. At this point, I am taking 45 minutes walks and there is no way I could jog for even half that amount of time. Yesterday we went at 8:00 a.m. and it was already 84 degrees with 87% humidity. Today, we only made 30 minutes becuase it was so miserable...its hard for your body to cool down naturally when the sweat just wont evaporate. It literally gets hard to breath in the humidity here, and we have to carry a bandana or sweat rag to keep the sweat out of our eyes. We walk at a very brisk pace, about as fast as I can walk and keep with DH without breaking into an actual jog. I dont think my body could handle sustained jogging in this heat. I am curious though......I read back through all these pages and have some questions. Am I better off, regarding FAT LOSS, doing longer periods of easier exercise (45 walks) or doing lesser time like 20 minutes at higher cardio exercise (16-20mph on my recumbant, which kills me, lol)? Should I throw in a few minutes of jogging in my walks just to get my heart rate up more, will that make much difference on calorie burn?

[Jachut 487]

Its hard to find consensus here and you can find scientific backup for both ways but I really believe that to push yourself, to add in some higher exercise so that eventually you can jog for 45 minutes is the way to go. That way, in six months time, you would have twice the calorie and fat burn in your 45 minute session that you have now. Jogging for me is no longer a "high intensity" activity in that sense, in that I can literally run for an hour and burn close to 1000 calories, without my heart rate moving out of my fat burning range.

If you just continue to walk, you will get fitter for a while, but you wont progress beyond that and eventually you wont have your heart rate high enough to benefit from it much. No matter how much fitter I have gotten, my top walking pace hasnt changed (believe me, I'll always be an endurance athlete, not a speed one) - I can run at a faster and faster pace but I still cannot walk faster than about 6 km an hour without needing to break into a jog, it seems to just be a physical limitation of my stride. And 6km an hour is not a fast enough pace for me (unless I'm doing an incline of like 10 on the treadmill) to even break a sweat.

Does that make sense? In a nutshell, if over time and as you feel able you start to add jogging spurts in your walk and build up to a level where you can comfortably jog for long periods, you will get far more benefit from your exercise session than just walking. But in the short term, you're better to walk for a longer period than just do a 10 minute jog. Your walking to you is probably just as intense as jogging is for me at this stage, but it will change over time.

[Telly 4]

There are advantages to exercising for 45 minutes v/s 20 minutes and at the pace in which you exercise. If you walk really slow for 45 minutes, sure you may burn a few calories but if you walked for 45 minutes at 65% above resting heart rate, you will burn ALOT of calories, at the same time condition your body and challenge your heart. There are too many advantages to name here but the previous articles I posted should tell you the reasons why.

[lianna 3]

I found out that I am not walking as fast as I though I was! I found a way to figure out at what speed you are walking by counting your steps for one minute. (it was in Prevention magazine) I have been walking around 3.5 MPH. I guess I will have to kick it up a notch and find a longer route to get my 45 minutes in! I did reread those articles and it makes more sense now. I will be better off upping my speed and keeping with the longer time.

[Telly 4]

I found out that I am not walking as fast as I though I was! I found a way to figure out at what speed you are walking by counting your steps for one minute. (it was in Prevention magazine) I have been walking around 3.5 MPH. I guess I will have to kick it up a notch and find a longer route to get my 45 minutes in! I did reread those articles and it makes more sense now. I will be better off upping my speed and keeping with the longer time.

You got it Lianna! 3.5 is really a good steady pace but.. say you can stay the same pace at 3.5 and if you up your incline to say.. 2.0 - 3.0 on the treadmill, you'll increase your resistance and up your heart rate, burning more calories. You'll feel the difference, so will your heart. You'd most likely get the same workout as a person walking hard at a pace of 4.5 - 5.0 with an increased incline.

Today, I discovered something really funny. After the gym, I took my little girl to the park. She was running to the swings and I walked at the pace she was running and as she got ahead of me, my strides became longer and we were at the same pace again. I realized that I was walking as though I was on a treadmill. Was really cool how it felt like my turbo boosters kicked in..

[Pinkylee 7]

I love Walk Away the Pounds. If I'm busy, I make beds, fold clothes and try to keep up with the routine. Sure makes time go by quicker. I've been giving myself lots of excuses for not being faithful to Leslie--but if you guys can do it--so can I. Thanks for the kick in the pants!!!

[avilla 1]

i have been using my gazelle for 30 minutes a day...Its almost like a ski/treadmill combined plus it works on the arms too...You can go as fast or as slow as needed with no impact what so ever on the knees...I started out at about 15 minutes and worked myself up to 30 within a week