Sincere advice required please.

highly1111

Hi

I'm hoping some of you might be able to help me.

I'm a mum of 3 kids under 5 and over the years I've piled on the weight. My youngest child is now 14 months and about 6 months ago I decided I better sort myself out. My weight now would be about 85kg and I'm about 5 foot 7. I'm quite board (always have been) and am a size 16.

over the past few months I started and completed couch to 5k and this brought my fitness from 0 up to something!! I never enjoyed running and I saw it as a starting point to improve my fitness and start the process of loosing weight. My pace would be very slow - about 8/9 minutes a km but I was able to do it.

Subsequent to that I joined the gym and I go 3 times a week. For the first few weeks I did a spinning class/went swimming/30 minute jog combined with some core work. I always seem to be under time pressure so really the maximum amount of time I can spend at the gym is an hour. Over the past few weeks the 30 minute run was just so so boring that I mixed it up a bit and I do a 5 minute cycle, 10 minutes on the threadmill, 10 mins on the cross-trainer, 10 minutes on the rower and then some ab and core work using the weight machines in the gym. We were then on holidays for 2 weeks and we're back now and I'm back at the gym.

I suppose why I'm looking for help is that I need to lose weight and my feel problem area is my tummy. It's where I carry most of my weight. I know that my diet is the main area that needs to be improved on and I've read a lot on the diet and nutrition forum. I've taken a lot from the advice there.

With the spinning and swimming I can definitely see an improvement with my arms and legs. I LOVE swimming and would swim about 40 lengths (1 km) and I enjoy the spinning class too.

However, am I spreading myself too thin? Should I swim 3 times a week or do 3 spinning classes or do 3 gym sessions? Am i doing too little of too many things? What exercise is going to help me lose weight around my tummy - or best for overall weight loss?

I'm sure you can see how green I am about this area but I would really appreciate any advice. I would love to get one of the personal trainers from the gym for a session but I don't have the money at the moment so I'm hoping some boardsies might be able to help me in the meantime.

TIA

Cuddlesworth

highly1111 wrote: »

What exercise is going to help me lose weight around my tummy - or best for overall weight loss?

They are both the same thing. You can't remove fat from a specific area, only overall. If the first place you put fat on was the tummy, the last place fat will come off will be the tummy.

I think there are two things to consider here.

If your current diet and exercise regime are working and you are losing weight, then if your not bored with it keep going. If things feel like they have stalled then eat less.

If your interested in maximizing your time in the gym, then start looking at free weights and compound lifting. And putting some actual weight onto the bars. Squats and deadlifts are great ways to burn calories and put on muscle. Most women have the impression that if they do any weights they will turn into this. When the reality is that if they try really hard, eat perfect and work out loads they might look like this. Without testosterone your not going to get big. You will just get toned and get a great butt too.

Windorah

I second the weights advice!

I'm the opposite to u, I love cardio but unfortunately weights is the only thing that makes any difference to my figure.

Have they got kettle bells or body pump classes at your gym? They are usually only 45-60 minutes so it would suit your limited time. TRX is another good class you could try.

You have already lost weight though so you must be doing something right!!

siochain

Firstly well done on making some great decisions and congrats on making the gym frequently with young kids. I know you haven’t said this but I know several mothers who feel guilty about spending time in the gym and every time I say investing time in yourself is investing time in your family.

Some good stuff mentioned already, keep an eye on your weekly calorie consumption and if you could learn how to squat, deadlift, press and bench this would really help things.

60 mins planned right is more than enough time.

Take a long term view on this and don’t always rely on the weighing scales to measure your results go by how your clothes fit and about how you feel.

Triceratops Ballet

Hi OP,

My stats are roughly simillar to yours (no kids tho!) I have to add my support to those saying free weights. I used to be all about cardio, but like that I got bored so I read the new rules of lifting for women, and I haven't looked back. I don't do the program from the book anymore, but I used it as a stepping stone to get out of the cardio habit. Strength training it really good in terms of self motivation too, as if you do it right you can really see yourself progressing. You get a little achievement buzz every time you can lift heavier or do more reps than you did before, which is something that I just don't think you get with cardio.

I'd recommend a trainer to get a program first, and make sure your form is good, if you can't afford that, have a look on bodybuilding.com (don't be put off by the name!) they have loads of programs on there that you can pick from.

Slydice

Over the past few years I got my belly down a good bit.

The general lessons I feel I've learned are:
- calories are the fuel we use (everyfood tends to have KCAL in it's nutrition box)
- Roughly, I need about 2000 calories a day to break even.
- If I do exercise I need more calories to break even.
- If I don't take in enough calories, fat gets used by my body so I lose some fat.
- First the fat goes from everywhere except the belly. So arms and legs look very skinny first
- The last place fat goes from seems to be the belly.
- I notice fat going quicker when I miss the break even point by a lot. That can happen when I do running.
- Running seems to use a bunch more calories than cycling (my other exercise)
- I still have belly fat I'd like to try and reduce. I have it in my head that I'll need to do a few longish runs to get the calories used up to reach that goal.

Transform

all the classes and training in the world aint going to make a big impact until you sort your diet out.

Start with the basics - little to no wheat and sugar and work from therem simples

highly1111

Thanks to everyone for all their good advice. I appreciate it all and have taken it all on board. Thanks again boardsies!

marizpan

Hi op,
I was in the boat as yourself. Three small kids and excess weight and no time to look after myself.

I decided to change this about 18 mths ago. I did weight 72kg and I am now 54kgs (166cm).
I wanted a quick overnight fix but it has taken the whole 18 mths to get there.
I joined the gym for 6 mths and went regularly. I loved the 'me' time that it gave me.
The best thing I did was download the app 'my fitness pal' to track calories, macros and excercise.
I had a terrible terrible tummy. I would carry the most weight here and the skin was damaged from pregnancy.
I know have a lovely tummy that I am so proud of. Yes I still have slight stretch marks but the skin has back tighten up again and it's flat. I wore my first bikini in years this summer.
Unfortunately I also lost a lot of weight in my chest :-) but I guess you can't have it everyway.
I got a treadmill for home and I find it so handy regarding kids. I also have free weights that I use three times a week.
I would also go horse riding, hill walking and kayaking a lot during the summer months.

Mink

OP I had some similarities here. Small toddler, husband works 2 jobs & I work 1 so fairly impossible to set aside time to go out to a gym.

I had done couch to 5k and found it brilliant for bringing me from 0 to something as you put it, but I didn't tone up with it and my tummy muscles were still in a jock after pregnancy - which also affected my back.

So yeah I second the comments above re doing strength training (I started doing the 30 day shred as they are 20 minute intense works outs doing strength, a bit of cardio and abs).

I think there are many many classes/videos out there going over the same thing - High Intensity Interval Training, which I think is ideal for mothers of young kids where time is precious.

I did a lot of work on my abs and it did tighten everything up a huge amount, the muscles really had been banjaxed!

If I wanted the six pack I'd have to really go clean on the diet.