HELP! Am I doing this right?

[kelli1714]

I recently decided that enough is enough. I used to be fit back in highschool when I was in weight training and other sporting activities. After high school I got married and started making babies. I am finally not nursing or pregnant - for the first time in several years. My kids are 4.5, 3, and 1.5 years old.

To get to the point. I need to lose weight (goal is 50lbs), but am limited to activities I can do at home. I have recently bought a treadmill and I am running/fast walking about 3-4 miles a day (average speed of a 15 minute mile) I also have a curl bar and 5 pound dumbells. I started doing 2 sets of 15 of bicep curls, butterflies, and triceps before running every couple of days.

Diet: We eat fairly well. Normally a single portion of healthy cereal or some fruit and yogurt in the morning after my run. Lunch is either a wrap, a healthy sandwich on wheat bread, a pita, or a meaty salad always with carrots or celery and a bit of fruit (dried or fresh). Dinner is fairly well proportioned with either chicken, beef, or pork - lean cuts (I Hate the fat!), a veggie or 2, a little of a starch, and sometimes another salad. I have just invested in a water bottle so I can make sure I am getting at least 8 glasses a day.

Any suggestions? What type of routine will work best with the limited equiptment I have? Can I run 6 days a week and alternate doing arms everyother day and stomach excersizes every other day? I feel good, I'm not over exerting and I stretch well before and after each routine. Is is better to walk fast on an incline or to run? is HITT good for weight loss? I have been out of the game for a while and really feel like I have no clue what I am doing. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[Dallen]

I think you're on the right path. Of course, for morning, maybe you should eat eggs, instead of cereal. After your morning run, you'll probably need protein. Also, mix in plenty of fruits and veggies into your daily diet.

For exercise, it sounds good. If you are doing 3-4 miles a day @ 15 minutes per miles, it's really better than nothing, in my opinion. However, you should be trying for 12/10 minutes per mile to get the most of it. That just means instead of walking for X amount of time, just reduce it by some so you can do 12/10 minutes per mile.

HIIT twice a week is extremely good for fat burning. If you can do 20 minutes of it for twice a week, you're going to be in shape in no time.

 

[kelli1714]

Thanks Dallen!

Today I stepped it up a bit and ran 2 miles at 5mph (12min mile) then did a brisk walk alternating with a run for an additional 2 miles. I changed my playlist on my iPod which helped a lot!

Just curious... what does having protein in the morning do? What constitutes a good HIIT routine? I appreciate the input so much!

 

[Dallen]

Well with a lot of cardio exercises, you tend to lose both muscle and fat. Losing fat is good, but at most you want to keep all the muscle you have. As you may know, muscle burns calories even when you’re doing nothing. So a person with a lot of muscle can eat quite a lot and not have to worry about it because their muscles pretty much burn it off (but that’s never an excuse to over eat).

With that said, protein helps build muscle as well as keeping any muscle you may already have. In your case, muscle will be kept with protein but you'll find it difficult to build massive muscles as you are in calorie deficit.

You should head over to the Nutrition section for help on how much protein you need based on your weight. I think for women, the numbers are a bit different per pound.

 

[Dallen]

What constitutes a good HIIT routine?

Keeping your heart rate up. There's a topic floating around here somewhere on what is a good HIIT session.

I personally do it for 20 minutes and have my HR at like 180 for like 1 minute, and rest like a minute or two before doing it again.

You can easily do HIIT on a treadmill by running really, really fast for like 30-45 seconds, then resting, then repeating it in some fashion like that.

I think HIIT should be built around you, so don’t follow any one person’s advice. Your age, amount of exercise you did before, and all sorts of stuff come into play so one HIIT for one person might be nothing or too much for another.

 

[kelli1714]

I will definatly look into the HIIT suggestions and try it out. Thank you so much for your input it has helped a lot!

I am definatly going to add more protein in the mornings and work on keeping my heartrate up for longer durations at least 3 times a week. The other 3 days I will try and do a HIIT circuit for at least 20-30 minutes.

How long does it typically take to see a difference if you are excersizing well and eating well? I am sure it varies person to person somewhat... but how long do you keep going before you realize it isn't working and re evaluate?
Thanks again!

 

[Dallen]

Typically, you lose 1-2 pounds per week if you are doing it right. In the first few weeks, you'll probably drop 3-5 pounds per week due to your sudden change in diet / exercise.

Based on my experience (I've been dieting/exercising for 2-3 months), I would say you should start seeing serious results in 3 months, but I haven't been eating right for the first 1 month, so you could see it sooner than that, probably (2 months). But you can see serious results, I lost roughly 40 pounds, my starting was 240ish, and your clothes will start to look like blankets over you. I'm seriously about to go out and buy a whole new set, but I'm still waiting to reach 185ish before I do.

But, I think it all comes down to genetics. You'll probably notice fat coming off your face first, then you'll probably start seeing fat come off your thigh last. Of course, don't worry if you don't lose weight. You just have to mix it up and work even harder to reach your goal. So don't pay attention to how fast someone else is losing, and just go at the pace you feel is right. I see people come and go at the gym all the time, and they're always wondering why someone else does better than them when all they do is run really fast on the treadmill for 2 minutes.