2 Hours on Treadmill??

[Bdubedub]

Ok so my wife works 4 days a week until 3pm-5pm & Ive been doing 7 days a week for an hour a day. If I increased my treadmill time to 2 hours a day 3-4 days a week would I see better results or is that pushing my body too much? I already calculated how many steps I take at work and its between 5-7,000 everyday. So if I did 2 hours on the treadmill im looking at around 22,000 steps a day on 1200-1800 calories

 

[Ando3242]

Two hours might be too much. Instead of increasing the time, you might consider increasing the intensity. You will burn a lot of calories in two hours on the treadmill, but a more efficient way is thirty minutes a day at a higher intensity. Work on gradually increasing your overall speed, instead of your overall time. This will increase your metabolism even at rest. Also, you might want to replace some of the time you would typically be on the treadmill with some weight lifting. Building muscle will also help you burn more calories at rest.

Hope this helped and good luck!

 

[Lizabell1]

I agree with Ando. Bumping up your intensity will make you burn more, and you can be more efficient by burning more in less time. Two hours on the treadmill seams dismal to me, so I'd opt for working on increasing my intensity.

I also agree about the weights- you'll see greater improvement if you start doing weights 2-3 times a week.

 

[Jynus]

if your goal is fat loss, cardio is the worst way (outside of doing nothing).. So adding more is really just spending more time at inefficient exercise..

The best fat burners are the exercises that are a lot more intense. The ones that make use of the bodies ATP-CP and Lactic acid energy systems. By FAR utilizing exercises in your workout that mainly consist of those energy systems gives you the best bang for the buck.. Resistance training, sprints, jumps, anything thats power based, etc etc would be examples. Things that you can't do for more than 20-30 seconds before you're at utter failure..

Unless you're completely out of shape, cardio is best used at improving your cardio. But for fat loss, ditch the treadmill..

 

[biggestloser105]

Ok so my wife works 4 days a week until 3pm-5pm & Ive been doing 7 days a week for an hour a day. If I increased my treadmill time to 2 hours a day 3-4 days a week would I see better results or is that pushing my body too much? I already calculated how many steps I take at work and its between 5-7,000 everyday. So if I did 2 hours on the treadmill im looking at around 22,000 steps a day on 1200-1800 calories

You will definitely see better results from working out more. An hour on a treadmill buns a lot of calories. To tell if you're pushing yourself too much watch for pain and discomfort. The last thing you want is an overuse injury. If your body is handling it well and you have the time, then go for it.

I started out doing 2-3 hours of cardio every day, and as a 5'5" female I was eating 2000 calories every day and still losing 2-3 pounds every week. However, I ended up hurting my foot and my knee which ended up requiring me to switch to an unpleasant 1200 calorie a day diet to keep up the 2 pound a week weight loss. It's been 2 months and my knee is still not 100%, though I am able to walk for workouts. Granted, I started being very obese at 225lbs and coming off a completely sedentary lifestyle. Since you're not as heavy and are more active your risk is lower.

Make sure you get resistance training in there too to prevent muscle loss.

 

[summer123]

If you enjoy running on a treadmill for 2 hours a time go for it, but my sense is that maybe you don't.

I wouldn't use exercise as your main method of weight loss- it can only do so much, your body adapts, becomes super efficient and weight loss is hard this way in the long term. Watch what you eat if you want to lose weight.

 

[Bdubedub]

I am watching what I eat... low fat, low sugar & 1200-1800 calories a day. So your telling me working out on the treadmill getting my heart rate to 130-140 isnt going to help me lose weight?

 

[ocd]

I am watching what I eat... low fat, low sugar & 1200-1800 calories a day. So your telling me working out on the treadmill getting my heart rate to 130-140 isnt going to help me lose weight?

I can guarantee you this will make you lose weight. Since It is exactly what I did for the most part.

At the height of my treadmill experience I was running 6mph in 2 45 minute sets a day. Morning and evening. I lost 180 pounds in 12 months down to a low of 155 pounds.

However here comes the warning. You may not be as happy with the results as you have told yourself you will be. I too wanted to get the weight off fast fast fast and at all costs. I payed no heed to the people that told me to do resistance training to maintain my muscles. I opted to tell myself I could just put muscle back on later. Heres what happened.

I became a running machine at the height of it that is until my body consumed most of my muscle and I hit a brick wall at about 180 pounds. Likewise, I didn't have a body I was happy about still. I had told myself I will be happy if I can just get to 180 pounds. I wasn't, so I got right down to 155 pounds, and you know what? Still not happy, why? Because I became gaunt and bony in my upper body, very weak and lacking muscle mass, and I still had loose skin, belly fat, and a sagging chest. Basically There was nowhere left to go and I still had body fat. Yet I couldn't understand why I couldn't run hard anymore. It was a motivational killer.

I tried to transition to weight training as planned but let me tell you, when you run yourself down that weak it is really, really, really hard to start resistance training.

Now I have other problems as I try to transition but we won't go into that again, since this advice is for your benefit not mine.

My advice. Take the advice of others, do the resistance training on the way, I did full out cardio burn down in 12 months, and yes it burns fat, but it burns up your muscle mass too, it is not the best way to go about it, and I would not do it the same way if I did it over.

I understand your feelings on it fully, you want it off as fast as you can get it off, and I did too, but take my advice and learn from my mistakes.

P.S. Watch the low fat too, I went insane on low fat and it was the wrong approach. You need healthy fats, examples, olive oil, flaxseed, salmon. Avoid saturated and trans fats like excessive high fat dairy, and don't be fooled by low fat or fat free processed foods, (most notoriously yogurt) they just replace the fat with massive quantities of sugar, a very good way to make yourself insulin resistant and mess yourself right the hell up.

 

[Spinner19641]

OCD (& others) are giving you really good advice here. And OCD - thanks for being so honest and specific about really happens.

I love cardio training. I do an hour with resistance 6 days a week plus a weight bearing workout.

I like being slimmer as well so I eat a boring diet of fruit, veggies, meats, olive oil, low fat milk, nuts with a few weekly treats to keep my appetite up.

It really is about a healthy diet, realistic exercise programme that suits your lifestyle and the will to maintain both indefinitely.

 

[ocd]

OCD (& others) are giving you really good advice here. And OCD - thanks for being so honest and specific about really happens.

I love cardio training. I do an hour with resistance 6 days a week plus a weight bearing workout.

I like being slimmer as well so I eat a boring diet of fruit, veggies, meats, olive oil, low fat milk, nuts with a few weekly treats to keep my appetite up.

It really is about a healthy diet, realistic exercise programme that suits your lifestyle and the will to maintain both indefinitely.

Theres no point in lying to yourself is one of my motto's. And I found being overweight was something that was about lying to myself too early on.

People told me this advice about resistance as I was going and maybe it was me shutting them out and hearing only what I wanted to, or maybe they didn't make it really clear what will happen. I don't intend to place blame at all because ultimately it was me that chose to follow that path.

I did it because It was getting incredibly fast results, it was comfortable, I built it into an obsessive routine and focused on it and nothing else. In the 12 months I did this I can count on one hand how many times I missed a run, and it was only because of out of town trips for work.

I am still grateful for the fact that I lost the weight, but at the same time the pitfalls of doing it this way and the potential for weight gain rebound I am discovering to be extreme makes me want to make it abundantly clear to anyone wanting to follow the same path what might await them if they do.

 

[Spinner19641]

OCD your honesty and story really resonated with me...

Today I found out someone I know who is very significantly overweight and was working really hard to lose that weight has had a stroke. With his size this is very serious. The man could die.

He's a nice man, genuine and empathetic and I really warmed to his good nature. And he was working the weight loss - been to his doctor, his work started their own little weight loss club and he was doing well but possibly losing a bit too fast and pushing himself a bit too hard. (I know technically the stroke might not be related to his weight or his weight loss but I don't believe both those facts are zero in the equation.)

I'm upset for him. It's a major set back just as he was getting his head around what he needed to do.

But it also made me realise weight management is not a game. There can be serious consequences and your story (so plainly told) highlights again what I saw today.

I hope the OP is still listening...

 

[biggestloser105]

I am watching what I eat... low fat, low sugar & 1200-1800 calories a day. So your telling me working out on the treadmill getting my heart rate to 130-140 isnt going to help me lose weight?

Of course it's going to help you lose weight, probably an additional hour on the treadmill every day will give you an additional pound loss per week.

You just have to judge your body, your potential for injury, your potential for loose skin. If you don't do resistance exercises then any weight loss program will cause you to drop muscle mass, if you lose weight too fast and lose muscle mass your chance of having lose skin rises. Muscle is also harder to build from scratch and easier to preserve.

Ideally you want to be losing 1-2 lbs per week, while maintaining your muscle mass. That gives you a lower chance of loose skin and is generally better in terms of health. But obviously it might seem too slow and the temptation to lose weight fast is always there. I also struggle with this, but I think I would rather take twice as long to lose the weight than end up with loose skin that I have to have surgery to get rid of.

 

[ocd]

OCD your honesty and story really resonated with me...

Today I found out someone I know who is very significantly overweight and was working really hard to lose that weight has had a stroke. With his size this is very serious. The man could die.

He's a nice man, genuine and empathetic and I really warmed to his good nature. And he was working the weight loss - been to his doctor, his work started their own little weight loss club and he was doing well but possibly losing a bit too fast and pushing himself a bit too hard. (I know technically the stroke might not be related to his weight or his weight loss but I don't believe both those facts are zero in the equation.)

I'm upset for him. It's a major set back just as he was getting his head around what he needed to do.

But it also made me realise weight management is not a game. There can be serious consequences and your story (so plainly told) highlights again what I saw today.

I hope the OP is still listening...

I hope he is open to listening as well, because looking back to myself in those early days of starting out, I know I wasn't.

When I reflect on it now I know that more than anything I was fishing for validation in my methods. I would come out and post what I was doing looking for that validation that it was going to work and everything would be alright. I was avoiding the issue of what I feared the results would be. Burying my head in the sand in a way by just going all out on the belief that if I just got the weight off it would be magical.

In some senses that was true, because I am definitely still farther ahead in having the weight off than being morbidly obese. I do feel great in terms of physical fitness. But I was nowhere near where I thought I was perspective wise in "having it all figured out" so to speak. And I built myself into an eating disorder in the process which I am now trying to address.

It's easy to get a little crazy and lose perspective with weight loss. Especially if you are so sick of being overweight that you want it off so unbelievably bad. Many of us have been this way all our lives and the desire to be "normal" can lead us to do just as I said as far as lying to ourselves to validate our own emotions. In the long run though doing it the wrong way just creates other problems. But moving on lessons learned, all we can do is keep moving forward with the goal. That's where I am at, still struggling daily with that transition to this as a lifestyle and not something with a beginning and end.

 

[Spinner19641]

That's a hell of a journey OCD.

Thank you for sharing it.

 

[maverick2]

When I was training for the Air Force, I was working out two hours a day...usually an hour a day on the treadmill (walking the incline or jogging/running) and a half hour to an hour of weights and strength training.

Using that routine 7 days a week, I lost thirty pounds in 2 months. Like OCD, I was absolutely obsessive with this routine and scheduled my life around it (which was fairly easy at the time, as I was in college and could work an intense gym regimen around my classes).

Higher intensity gives you the same results in less time, but if you really have a significant amount of weight to lose, you need to take it slow and be nice to your heart while it adjusts to your new activity level. No point in trying to get fit if you accidentally give yourself an infarction or an aneurysm by pushing your circulatory system too hard before your body is ready to handle the exercise.

I suggest weight training. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn during normal everyday activities and standing rest. Building muscle helps to speed up your entire metabolism, and that WILL take the weight off faster.

 

[Bdubedub]

As far as resistance, what do I need to do? What excercises? I have really bad wrists (possible rhumetoid artheritis). I dont want the loose skin and I have a big build already so adding muscle would make me look like a body builder. Can I still have a goal weight of 200lbs even if I gain muscle? Say I lose 2 lbs a week thats 8lbs a month and I want to be 200 by next June so that wont be possible. Id be about 238 or so probably. Thats still good right? Better then 340lbs?Ahhh where to turn... Now im confused lol!

 

[biggestloser105]

As far as resistance, what do I need to do? What excercises? I have really bad wrists (possible rhumetoid artheritis). I dont want the loose skin and I have a big build already so adding muscle would make me look like a body builder. Can I still have a goal weight of 200lbs even if I gain muscle? Say I lose 2 lbs a week thats 8lbs a month and I want to be 200 by next June so that wont be possible. Id be about 238 or so probably. Thats still good right? Better then 340lbs?Ahhh where to turn... Now im confused lol!

If you have a lot of muscle already, don't worry about gaining more, just worry about keeping what you have.

You don't need to do an intense resistance training program to maintain your muscle, just make sure to exercise each muscle group 1-2 times a week. It could be something as little as doing 3 sets of 15 reps of sit ups, crunches, leg raises on Monday for your abs. 3 sets of 15 reps of tricep, bicep, shoulder exercises on Wednesday, and 3 sets of 15 reps of squats, lunges, push ups, leg raises on Friday.

I do this kind of an exercise program and my muscle seems to be intact, my stomach is actually rock hard under the layer of fat and I'm female. It takes me a very short time, about half an hour to do the workout. I do it without any exercise equipment except 7-10lb weights and a yoga mat in front of the TV. I also do about an hour's worth of yoga stretches every day, which has really improved my posture, range of motion, and flexibility. Maybe yoga improves muscles a little bit as well.

The thing you have to be careful about is lower body exercises. If you weigh 340, maybe doing squats and lunges is not a good idea because you could hurt your knees. Make sure you also do stretches because having flexible muscles and joints reduces your chance of injury.


I really understand your desire to lose weight fast. I lost about 50lbs in 4.5 months, and it still feels not quick enough for me. But I am making myself slow down now because I am really concerned about loose skin. When I look at my belly button it is slightly sagging, so I just have to make myself take it slower.

 

[ocd]

As far as resistance, what do I need to do? What excercises? I have really bad wrists (possible rhumetoid artheritis). I dont want the loose skin and I have a big build already so adding muscle would make me look like a body builder. Can I still have a goal weight of 200lbs even if I gain muscle? Say I lose 2 lbs a week thats 8lbs a month and I want to be 200 by next June so that wont be possible. Id be about 238 or so probably. Thats still good right? Better then 340lbs?Ahhh where to turn... Now im confused lol!

If you are going to be doing resistance in a calorie deficit the goal isn't to gain muscle. From what I understand that is an impossibility. The goal will be just to maintain as much muscle as you can. Chances are you are still going to lose some muscle as you lose the weight in a deficit, just hopefully not much. If you go on 100% cardio burn I guarantee you will discover what being physically weak truly is like. Most overweight people have quite large muscles too from packing all the bulk around, they are just hiding under that fat. I was quite physically strong when I was obese and so weak I couldn't even swing a golf club properly when I finished the burn down to 155 pounds.

The right way to do that is start with a beginners weight routine, which can come from the stickies in this forum, or even from other sites, I got one off of the about.com site. Also making sure you get a reasonable amount of protein to minimize muscle loss is important (another thing I didn't do and trust me I lost muscle mass like a champ.) I wont advise you on how much protein to get as I am an example of what not to do and far from an expert, but the stickies or other posters here will have that info for you.

And yes, I was exactly 340 when I started and 238 feels much much better than 340. I actually was at the peak of my running ability when I was 220 pounds, so you can and will feel so much better than 340 when you get even to 238. Your self esteem will increase steadily as you progress. You just have to stay that now now now mentality, trust me I know just how hard that is.

My best wishes on success to you, and in doing it the right way.

 

[summer123]

I am watching what I eat... low fat, low sugar & 1200-1800 calories a day. So your telling me working out on the treadmill getting my heart rate to 130-140 isnt going to help me lose weight?

It will go some way to helping you lose weight, but in terms of calories we think we burn, exercise doesn't do as much as we think. Often people become reilant on it thinking "I burned 500kcals on that run, I can eat x,y and z" when infact, their body may have become efficient, may have burnt less then that.

Exercise if you do alot of it can also make you hungrier and this can be a battle in itself. I exercise alot- hours a day and a stupid amount, its something I am working on bringing down as it has not lost me any weight. My intake of fresh fruit sky rocketed without me paying attention. I also noticed I was extremely fatigued after the gym making me wonder if maybe my bodies circulation and so burning of calories had slowed down, and what I ate would be stored rather then utilised. That and my stone(s) gain over 2 years of too much exercise (all of last year it was 12 hours cardio a week- this does not include resistance, stretching or warming up/cooling down) I can say my food intake went up, but not that much. (I have since dropped to 7-8 hours of cardio a week, same rules apply, I have infact lose weight but then I did drop a few calories from my diet- I keep tabs on the calories I burn in an exercise week, and I cut nowhere near what the difference my heart rate monitor tells me!)

So in answer to your question, yes exercise can help, but don't go killing yourself doing stuff you hate because you feel its the only way to control your weight- it only does so much. Sort of takes the edge off weight loss but exercise alone wont make you drop very much weight, what you eat matters more. I say this from experience.

Exercise is very important, and I strongly believe it helps with appetite control if you don't over do it. I also believe it has benefits in terms of circulation, muscle building and heart health so don't stop exercise, just don't think your tied to the treadmill for 2 hours because if you don't you will gain, you wont.

My best advice? Just do what you feel OK with, then add 10% extra to keep yourself on the ball.

 

[biggestloser105]

Exercise if you do alot of it can also make you hungrier and this can be a battle in itself.

That has been true for me as well. When I was doing 2-3 hours cardio a day, I was very hungry. But at the same time I was eating plenty and still losing weight.

I think exercise has pretty much limitless potential for dropping weight, you can run 10 hours a day if you want and lose pounds every single day the way the Tour de France guys do while eating 8000 calories a day during the race.

Of course to be able to pull those kinds of hours you have to have no life and you have to be in decent enough shape to be able to do something hardcore and not injure yourself.

It's kind of like what they do on the Biggest Loser to drop 10-15 pounds every week. But I just can't see how someone can go form a high weight to losing 10 pounds every week and not end up with bags of skin on their body, which would be the main reason why I wouldn't do this even if I had the time and the health for it.