Advice for a newbie

Attol

Hey.
I'm new to this exercise and fitness thing. I was being stupid and thinking "I can lose weight just by eating less". I came to my senses when I was reading through advice being given to people so I want to thank all of you for getting me motivated. My goals now are to tone up and lose 1 stone. I've started to reduce all the junk in my diet and I drink about 2 litres of water a day.

My exercise of choice: fitness videos and jogging. Also I don't own a car so I walk most places. I know the fitness video thing sounds lame but I have a really good one. It really makes me work. It contains a warm up, medium intensity dance/aerobics section, a high intensity dance/aerobics section, bums and tums section and a warm down section. I also have a yoga one but I prefer to move around more so the dance one is more in use atm.

I just have a couple of things I was wondering about.

1. Is it better to exercise every second day than every day? At the moment I'm trying to do the full dance vid one day and then on every second day only doing one of the dance parts as I find my muscles can be slightly tired after a full session of the vid. I don't want to damage anything and I want to know what the most efficient exercise routine would be.

2. What would be encouraged - food wise - before and after exercising? I was reading through previous threads and someone said complex carbs and water 40 mins before. Could someone give me good examples? Other than white meats, what other protein rich foods would be good afterwards? This is a really stupid question but do white fish count as white meat?

3. What would be a good breakfast? I tend to skip breakfast so I'm not too sure what would be a good choice. Someone said that breakfast should be your biggest meal and meal sizes should decrease as the day goes one. If I do have breakfast it's usually one of those mini boxes of cereal straight out of the box. I don't eat red meat sp pther than eggs what are good sources of protein to have with breakfast?

3. I don't have access to a gym so I'm a bit limited equipment wise. I have a skipping rope, some light dumbbells somewhere(mum's old ones) and am going to get an exercise mat. Are there any other things you could suggest so I could vary my workout a little more?

Thanks!

Chucky the tree

LadyLotts wrote:

Hey. I just have a couple of things I was wondering about.

1. Is it better to exercise every second day than every day? At the moment I'm trying to do the full dance vid one day and then on every second day only doing one of the dance parts as I find my muscles can be slightly tired after a full session of the vid. I don't want to damage anything and I want to know what the most efficient exercise routine would be.!

I would recommend every second day. Since you are only new to training you muscles wont be used to all the stress so it will take them time to get into the idea of being worked out. They should be given a days recovery anyway.

LadyLotts wrote:

2. What would be encouraged - food wise - before and after exercising? I was reading through previous threads and someone said complex carbs and water 40 mins before. Could someone give me good examples? Other than white meats, what other protein rich foods would be good afterwards? This is a really stupid question but do white fish count as white meat?!

Pasta is probaly the best source for carbs. DOnt havea breeze if white meats are counted as fish.

turkey, chicken, fish,eggs and steak are all good sources of protein.

LadyLotts wrote:

3. What would be a good breakfast? I tend to skip breakfast so I'm not too sure what would be a good choice. Someone said that breakfast should be your biggest meal and meal sizes should decrease as the day goes one. If I do have breakfast it's usually one of those mini boxes of cereal straight out of the box. I don't eat red meat sp pther than eggs what are good sources of protein to have with breakfast?!

Oatmeal is a very good breakfeat. Will give you a good kick-start to the day.

LadyLotts wrote:

3. I don't have access to a gym so I'm a bit limited equipment wise. I have a skipping rope, some light dumbbells somewhere(mum's old ones) and am going to get an exercise mat. Are there any other things you could suggest so I could vary my workout a little more?

Thanks!

A bench is the only other thing i can think of.


i am sure others will chip in with some very useful advice aswell.

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

As regards point number three, with a decent bench and some dumbells you've already got loads of stuff for the abs and some weightlifting. Some people swear by exercise balls, some despise them - they're fairly cheap so it's worth spending the cash even just to see if you find them useful. A high elastic band could be worth a look too.

Actually, just saw this in the Argos catalogue... think it's about 30 euro: http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=3801&productId=154182&Trail=C%24cip%3D28405.Sports%2Band%2Bleisure%3EC%24cip%3D28467.Home%2Bgym%2Bequipment%3EC%24Brand%3DYork.York&categoryId=28467&clickfrom=name

Basically everything I've just mentioned and it's very reasonably priced!

Good luck!

padraigcarroll

to tone up and lose 1 stone.... easy,
give up all dairy products and go jogging 3 or 4 times a week medium intensity for say 35 to 45 minutes outdoors ( as opposed to a treadmill),

When i changed my eating habits, ie. gave up dairy and meat, i lost 2 stone of fat in 2 months. no excercise bar walking, at the time.

Attol

padraig: That sounds pretty good but I can't give up dairy products because I need extra calcium atm. I only have semi skimmed milk and fat free yoghurts though. I may try doing the veg thing again. It does seem to keep my weight down.

Bob: I may give an exercise ball another go. I tried one once and didn't really know what to do with it. What is a high elastic band?

Thanks for all the help so far!

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

'Tis basically like a big bungee cord, you affix it to something - door, wall, your feet, whatever - and it can be used to add a small bit of relatively safe resistance to your workout.

A good article on it from Men's Fitness (but equally applicable to women ).

Again, bands seem much like exercise balls in that people seem to either love or loathe them. Worth a shot though...

Edit: another article, with pictures!

padraigcarroll

There's plenty of other ways to get extra calcium than dairy!

padraigcarroll

if changing your eating habits is out, the best other way to lose weight and tone up fast that i have experienced is boxing training.
the cardio work is pretty intense and will have fat falling off ya.
find a local club and join, u dont even have to spar, cardio, jogging bag work focus pads etc
best type of fitness training going.