Need Advice For Fitness Schedueling

B

Beginner

0
Hello,

I am a beginner at this, so please overlook my lack of knowledge. I am a single mother of two who also stays at home for now. We've recently began walking one mile every morning and doing an hour of Tae Bo every evening. I'll admit to being very out of shape. I'm a tall woman with a weight of around 300 lbs. Now, I didn't post that for laughs. I figure you may need my weight in order to make recommendations.

We've been watching our diets, trying to eat a lot healthier than we used to. We drink only diet drinks and water. I use splenda in anything I make that requires sugar. We've started eating wheat bread and cut down on some starches. Our diets aren't perfect, but they're a lot better than they used to be.

I basically need to know how much I should exercise as a woman of this weight. I've been striving to complete both the mile walk and an hour of Tae Bo exercises 6 days a week. I plan to rest on the seventh day and eat what we want. My question is, is that enough exercise for a person who's not very active throughout the rest of the day? I'm a homemaker and run errands, clean house, etc. Aside from that, I don't work at the moment. I still want to raise my children as healthy as possible and lose weight to feel better about myself. This has basically changed our whole lives in the short amount of time we've been working on it.

Any suggestions would be completely welcome and appreciated.
 
Thats definately an adequate it may even be a bit much just starting out. One suggestion I would make is that you just completely cut out all soda and drink water. Even diet soda.

Good on you for getting started, its all easier after the first couple of weeks.
 
Beginner said:
Hello,

I am a beginner at this, so please overlook my lack of knowledge. I am a single mother of two who also stays at home for now. We've recently began walking one mile every morning and doing an hour of Tae Bo every evening. I'll admit to being very out of shape. I'm a tall woman with a weight of around 300 lbs. Now, I didn't post that for laughs. I figure you may need my weight in order to make recommendations.

We've been watching our diets, trying to eat a lot healthier than we used to. We drink only diet drinks and water. I use splenda in anything I make that requires sugar. We've started eating wheat bread and cut down on some starches. Our diets aren't perfect, but they're a lot better than they used to be.

I basically need to know how much I should exercise as a woman of this weight. I've been striving to complete both the mile walk and an hour of Tae Bo exercises 6 days a week. I plan to rest on the seventh day and eat what we want. My question is, is that enough exercise for a person who's not very active throughout the rest of the day? I'm a homemaker and run errands, clean house, etc. Aside from that, I don't work at the moment. I still want to raise my children as healthy as possible and lose weight to feel better about myself. This has basically changed our whole lives in the short amount of time we've been working on it.

Any suggestions would be completely welcome and appreciated.
Click to expand...

Congratulations on coming out and setting a goal of becoming healthier, which will be a good example for your kids as well.

As for my ideas, cutting back on the diet sodas as NBS already recommended is a good first start. Need to go heavy on the water.

Second, do as much exercise as you can handle, but don't set overly optimistic goals. It sounds like you are struggling to complete the mile walk. Keep at it! Once you can complete it, then set another goal of knocking 1 minute off your previous PB (personal best). Then another. Then, add another mile. Then, add a quarter mile of a slow jog. Later, do half mile at a slow jog. As you exercise, you will lose weight (assuming you don't overcompensate by overeating), get better cardiovascular fitness and muscle tone.

Third, don't blow all your gains on the seventh day. Watch what you eat every day! Do a search for some of Chillen's posts (forum member) if he doesn't contact you first and see what he recommends for diet. He will advise you on your daily caloric needs, then you need to WRITE down everything you eat and end up with a deficit. 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat.

Fourth, this must be a longterm commitment. If you run a deficit of 500 calories a day, which won't kill you, and you will lose 50 pounds in a year. In 3 - 3.5 years, you will be in a size 4 little black dress. Also, do as much as you can whenever you can. If you start off with doable goals, you will be able to achieve them. Then, set higher goals and achieve them.

Finally, you must have it in you to do this. I see new folks join my gym every week, stick around for a month and then I never see them again. (OTOH, the staff at the front door know me by my first name when I walk in). We're talking lifestyle change here girlfriend!
 
Thank you very much for the quick response. I was afraid that it wasn't enough seeing as I don't have an eight hour per day physical job.

I've had someone else tell me that I should only drink water and cut out diet sodas as well. Would you mind telling me why please, as I'm curious. I recently checked the label on a can of diet mountain dew and it has 0 calories, 0 total fat, 50 mg sodium, 0 total carbs, 0 sugars, 0 protien.

Thanks in advance!

Thank you g8r80! I find all this so confusing. I've been told so many different things to do when it comes to eating. I've been told to eat 6 times a day if I am exercising. It all varies so much, I have no idea how to go about doing much of anything when it comes to our diets. I don't really eat that much, to be honest. I generally eat twice a day. I skip breakfast (which I know is a bad thing), eat lunch, and eat supper because I have to cook for the kiddies. I've never snacked that often and don't at all now. I don't think the amount of what I eat was the problem. I think it might have something to do with what I've been eating and a lack of physical exercise. I'm trying my best to correct all that, but I don't really know how to go about doing it correctly.
 
Last edited:
Water helps your internal organs do their job of flushing toxins from your body - diet soda is a lot of chemicals which become the toxins you need to flush! So you do your body a really big favor by taking in water and leaving out the stuff that is 'foriegn' - and the sodium adds up and makes you retain fluid - it seems king of counter-intuitive, but drinking a lot of water actually reduces fluid retention.

For eating, I worked really hard to get to the point where I eat multiple protein based meals throughout the day. I work with a trainer, and for a long time, I told him that I couldn't eat breakfast, I would just throw up - finally he told me that he didn't care if I threw up - that I needed to eat breakfast and after a few days I'd get used to it (this makes him sound uncaring, which is very far from the truth). I started with yogurt for breakfast, and although I was a little queasy the first few days, I was never actually sick...and it did become not just easier but a habit. Now I usually have oatmeal, which I mix with protein powder, and I look forward to it.

I was a little self-delusional about eating, thinking that I 'never' ate before lunch. When I started a food journal, I found that at least 2 ot 3 days a week I went and bought a muffin or scone - so I began to bring a granola bar to eat at 10:00 - saving a lot of calories. I've switched this now to a protein bar so I have a healthy snack. I have salad with some kind of protein for lunch, fruit @ 2:00, yogurt with protein @ 4:00, a protein shake @ 7:00 (post work out), dinner at 8:00, another shake at 10:00, and a bowl of cheerios when I go to bed...I never have a chance to be hungry so I am never craving crappy food. and my body doesn't have to wonder where the next meal is coming from, it knows that there is food coming pretty soon, so it is never trying to hold on to what it has.

I do eat more leniently on the weekends, but still within guidelines. I don't think of this as a 'diet'. I think 'I eat on a plan' and what I eat is 'on-plan' or 'off-plan'. When I get off plan, I just try to get back on plan and eat the next planned thing. This helped me stop what used to be a scavenger hunt of eating at night.

I have lost @70 pounds with this method, although it has taken four years.

So my advice to you is
- water
- food journal
- work towards many small meals
- give it time to make the changes and see the results.

Best wishes!
 
What wonderful advice. I appreciate everyone's help. I'll start keeping track of what my kids and I eat. I've been denying them snacks since we started all this. Seems I was wrong! I just need to keep them healthy. I was told to stay away from processed foods and snacks that claim to be low fat/calorie. So, I bought wheat crackers and unsalted peanuts just to see how they do with things like that for snack. I've tried fruits but it's like pulling teeth to get them to eat the fruit. It usually just sits and ruins. I'm not buying any more sweets, so they'll either have to eat what I have on hand or go without. I have a feeling they won't let themselves starve, heh. I've also started buying ground turkey instead of beef after I read somewhere that it's healthier. I tend to do a lot of baking with chicken and other foods. That cuts down on fats. Seems I might be on the right track. I just need a little guidance.

One quick question. I use splenda in tea and such. How healthy is that to use in cereals, oatmeal, etc?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top