Newbie: running or elliptical?

W

wendy

Guest
Hi all. I'm new here, but I have a question for you. Before I ask, I will tell you a little about myself. I am the mother of three kids, ages 7, 5, and 2.5. After my 2nd child, I had trouble losing weight and had then gone on the Weight Watchers (WW) diet. I did great on that and was able to lose about 50 pounds. I got down to my (then) goal weight (120) and then found out I was preggo with #3. I was able to lose weight really easily after her. I had begun working out while doing WW and was doing the treadmill and running, etc. Also did an ab tape.
Now, I am 31 and right around 130 (omg...did I just type that????). I'm 5'3 and I'm so fat....I can't seem to stop obssessing. I see all the fat rolls and imperfections. I would love to join a gym, but I can't afford to. I bought a Pilates tape the other day but didn't like it, and I can't do some of the moves bc of a cyst I had on my tailbone...ever since then, I can't balance on my tailbone.
Right now, my workout consists of running and the elliptical. IF I can't run, I do the other. But which one is better for losing weight? What else can I do?? I know I should try weight training, but I don't know the first thing about it and I dont' have any anyway. Can anyone help me?? Give me ideas?
Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Hi there Wendy,
In order to lose weight (fat), you have to put your body in a situation where it is burning fat for fuel. You do this by elevating your heart rate during cardiovascular exercises. As long as you can get your heart rate up and maintain it for an extended period of time (really depends on your exercise plan). Your method does not really matter too much. Running is great, elliptical is great, stairmaster is great. If you can monitor your heart rate and maintian it steadily high (usually around 75% of your maximum bpm) you will be in the optimal zone. If possible, try to do this in the morning before you eat.
You want to burn fat, not calories.
 
Because running requires lifting your body off the ground, running is "better' as far as cardio and muscle building goes. However, since running requires you to lift your body off the ground, it is not good for joints if you have any underlying knee or ankle problems (and you will need a good bra).

That said.
The ABSOLUTE BEST cardio exercise for losing weight is the one you do!

If you prefer to do the elliptical (or bike ride or jump rope) and are more likely to exercise if you are doing something you like, then by all means a good elliptical workout is much better than a half a$$ed run.:)

if you have an idea of how many calories your eating and how many calories you are burning and the burning exceed the eating, you will lose weight. It may take a little longer doing an exercise that you like, but you are much more likely to continue exercising if you are doing and exercise you like 9thus, your chances of success are greatly increased).
 
Thanks for the advice. I do my working out (be it elliptical or running) first thing in the morning. Before anything else. And then, if stress is getting to me (like tonight - ARGH! :mad: ) I will get on the elliptical for a little bit to work some of it off. But then there is another question I have for you: I have heard that the cals burned on the elliptical aren't shown correctly. How do I know how much I have truly worked off? For example. I normally "work off" 650cals for every half hour I do. IS that true? So, if I only work off 650 cals, does that mean I can only eat say 600 per day?? And if it's less than 650, does that mean I have to cut down even more? I wouldn't have a clue as to how many cals I eat per day. I will give you todays menu:

Breakfast
nothing

Mid-morning snack
1/5 bag buttered popcorn
2 Werthers Hard Candies

Lunch
salad (lettuce, one slice of shredded ham, 1/3c of shredded cheddar cheese, Paul Newman's Italian dressing)
2 small choc chip muffins
diet/reg soda

Afternoon Snack
more popcorn
more soda
1 werther

Dinner
1 drumstick - shake n bake
chicken flav. rice (cooked 100% fat free chicken broth, then put in rice)
brocolli
milk

Now, can anyone out there give me an estimate of how many cals I would have eaten? (This is pretty much the norm for me, btw. I ALWAYS have a salad for lunch.)

Again, thanks for the advice. :)
 
600 kcals is way, way too few.

The best thing i was ever told was to eat more but watch what you are eating.

You are currently eating way too little and most of it is crap. Cut out the Werthers which do taste nice but are completely pointless, the popcorn is an ok snack but you need to vary it up a little.

People will tell you you must eat x number of kcals and x amount of fat etc etc and it will sound very daunting. However, its a science that you dont have to strictly adhere to but will learn as you get healthier.

But in truth listen to what other people (that are far better at instructing you than i could be) tell you and do it - you'll find that after just a couple of days you'll have the basics such as meal structure, quality foods, even good cheat meals. After a couple of weeks you wont even need to write things down and you will just know what is what without thinking too much.

You'll find that cutting out the muffins, sweets and soda and swapping the drumstick for a better quality cut of meat will let you eat more and more interesting foods.
 
Now see it's funny. I started drinking soda so I wouldn't eat. I try to fill up on that so I wont' be hungry. I used to be really good and drink my flavored water all morning, and then soda in the pm and I rarely snacked.
Someone...what can I eat? Part of my problem is I HATE HEALTHY FOOD. lol I love salads and like fruit. Not to mention that if I am going to stick with it, I have to LIKE what I eat. What are some options for me?
 
hmm this is a toughie!

always go for the diet soda - the regular is empty calories you really dont want. when i go out to the pub to meet friends i drink diet coke and although im not exactly chuffed with all the chemicals in it it is better than the calorific version.

do you not like plain water? if not you're going to have to learn to love it, its key to burning fat, keeping you energised and to stop you snacking. hunger is often mistaked for thirst so just keep yourself topped up with water and your halfway there.

in truth there is nothing you cant eat providing its real food but the tighter you are the better and quicker results will be.

Cut out all trans fats (bad bad fat, found in all fast food, anything greasy, premade pastries). If you look at the nutrition of a food and all the broken down fats (mono, poly) dont equal something like the total fats then leave well alone.

You can eat some saturated fat but minimise it to what you can stand. as a male i know i need some sat fats and i presume women would be the same although not to the same extent. i buy half fat cheese, love houmous, and eat nuts everyday, including wholenut peanut butter.

You have to find the balance between what you need to achieve your goals and what you can tolerate. If you balance out your meals into 5-6 smaller meals a day you'll find that you'll feel like you're eating too much, but as long as its real food and is well balanced you'll notice how much better you feel.

You say you dont like health food but love salads and fruits? they are both big steps to healthy eating. what would you class as health food? you dont need to be all white tea and pumpkin seeds.

unfortunately you wont always enjoy what you eat as that chocolate will always appeal more than a chicken sandwich - but you will find the cravings lessen as you wont want to ruin what you will achieve.

swap the soda back to food, but make it good food. Most people on here call it 'clean' food, there's plenty of post and recipes of such foods and you'll be suprised what you can eat.

personally i try to watch the amount of carbs i consume, increase the lean proteins, watch when i eat fruit (simply because of the sugars, so early in the day means i have more chance of burning them off), lots of water and regular meals.

good luck. read around and dont be scared by science - you can take it to the extremes but to begin with just have a play around and see what suits.
 
Try using whole wheat wraps instead of bread. It really cuts down on cals, and you can use light cream cheese as filling, which is only liek 30 cals in a tbsp. It's one of my favourites. (I hate eating healthy too. SO painful)
 
what cream cheese do you have? all the ones i see are lower in fat that the full fat version but are still full of fat and crap.

and there is nothing wrong with bread, just make sure its wholemeal/granary/oatmeal and dont be eating endless slices of it. keep it all mixed up and it'll keep you interested.
 
LOL I think I will go back to WW. I could still have chocolate everyday and would lose weight. LOL (jk - I know, I need to change my eating.)

But that's just it. Ok, so 5-6 small meals per day. God, where do I start? Breakfast:
toast with pb
lowfat milk

Snack:
couple small apples
water plain - blech

Lunch:
salad

Snack:
more fruit
water - blech

Dinner:
????

God, now I'm REALLY stressing!
 
benelson101 said:
what cream cheese do you have? all the ones i see are lower in fat that the full fat version but are still full of fat and crap.
Click to expand...

Well, Philly probably does still have a significant amount of fat in it.
 
Your following weight watchers right! Which is a really good diet! Also slimming world I like as I follow the principles of eating of slimming world. The think to remember is eat well look well and you will see the weight drop off especially as you are also excersises.

Back to your original question I would do both run and elliptical. Try and run teice a week and elliptical twice a week and you should see teh difference but you need to be at a speed which is making you work. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

I also noticed you don't have breakfast you naughty girl. That is what kick starts your metabolism. So you must have brekky and try and eat as much fruit, nuts and wholegrain as possible instead of white bread, white pasta etc.
 
wendy said:
So, if I only work off 650 cals, does that mean I can only eat say 600 per day?? And if it's less than 650, does that mean I have to cut down even more? I wouldn't have a clue as to how many cals I eat per day. I will give you todays menu:
Click to expand...

No, no, no, no!

Ok, you have a Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR). That is how many calories you burn just by moving around in your daily life.
(See: )

The exercise is additional calories you are burning about your BMR.

For example: If your BMR is 1200 and you burn an additional 600, then anything over 1800 will cause you to gain weight and anything under will cause you to lose. Therefore if you eat (in this example) 1300 calories per day, you should burn a pound a week (500 cal x 7 days = 3500cal = 1 lb of fat).

However, if you figure hey, I'll only eat 400 cal/day so I can lose 3 lbs a week, your body will go into starvation mode and your metabolism will go way down and you body will fight to store fat and start burning muscle (a bad thing).

is a great FREE program that will give you an excellent idea of how many calories you are eating and burning each day, so you can adjuster your eating/workout schedule accordingly.

Good luck and happy running.
 
LikkleMissAlive said:
Your following weight watchers right! Which is a really good diet! Also slimming world I like as I follow the principles of eating of slimming world. The think to remember is eat well look well and you will see the weight drop off especially as you are also excersises.

Back to your original question I would do both run and elliptical. Try and run teice a week and elliptical twice a week and you should see teh difference but you need to be at a speed which is making you work. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

I also noticed you don't have breakfast you naughty girl. That is what kick starts your metabolism. So you must have brekky and try and eat as much fruit, nuts and wholegrain as possible instead of white bread, white pasta etc.
Click to expand...

No, I'm not following WW right now. I was but stopped a while ago. What is slimming world? Guess I will have to look that one up. :) I guess I always thought I was eating too much. Maybe it's just that I'm eating crap. I bought strawberries and blueberries today. YUM YUM. I will buy more fruits when I do the big shop this Friday.
And for the most part, I do eat "brekky". It's usually toast with pb on it. Two slices even! LOL And a glass of milk. And as for the werthers and soda, I use those to try and avoid eating.
 
dont use them to avoid eating, just eat! make sure you're eating your 5-6 meals and you shouldnt be going hungry much.

if you are snack on fruit or nuts. the sweets and soda will always affect you negatively no matter what else you eat.

For what its worth, i dont believe that WW or Slimming World work as such. I think they encourage healthier eating but

A - they promote their own products, WW puddings that are low in fat but full of crap.
B - they sell the idea that eating to within a rigid structure equals weight loss - when in fact they offer little in terms of exercise programs and are so regimental most people are put off within a few weeks.

Yes there are those who have benefitted (cue stretching of waistbands) but i willing to bet that that had more to do with personal determination, balance and common sense than someone with a set of scales once a week.

Plus, scales make people miserable. Judge gains of waistbands and how you feel. There's no short term answer, a long sighted, well adjusted plan will make you healthier and fitter now and in the future.
 
benelson101 said:
dont use them to avoid eating, just eat! make sure you're eating your 5-6 meals and you shouldnt be going hungry much.

if you are snack on fruit or nuts. the sweets and soda will always affect you negatively no matter what else you eat.

For what its worth, i dont believe that WW or Slimming World work as such. I think they encourage healthier eating but

A - they promote their own products, WW puddings that are low in fat but full of crap.
B - they sell the idea that eating to within a rigid structure equals weight loss - when in fact they offer little in terms of exercise programs and are so regimental most people are put off within a few weeks.

Yes there are those who have benefitted (cue stretching of waistbands) but i willing to bet that that had more to do with personal determination, balance and common sense than someone with a set of scales once a week.

Plus, scales make people miserable. Judge gains of waistbands and how you feel. There's no short term answer, a long sighted, well adjusted plan will make you healthier and fitter now and in the future.
Click to expand...

When I was on WW before, I basically had this to eat...everyday:

Breakfast - nature's way granola bars, flavored water, gum
Lunch - Lean Cuisine entree, diet soda
Snack - popcorn, diet soda
Dinner - made soemthing "healthy" for the family (i.e. chicken, potatoes, veggie) and milk

That was pretty much my standard, along with working out. And I lost 50 lbs. I can honestly say it works. When I was on it the first time, there was NEVER a week where I gained. I either maintianed or lost. The second time around, I wasn't so successful. Then again, I figured I Could cheat....and I did.

Todays consumption was as follows:
Breakfast - 1/5 bag of buttered popcorn
Lunch - french fries, milk, small apple pie (the ones sold in the store - very bad for u! lol)
Snack - 1/4 bag of popcorn, diet soda
dinner - tuna melt, french fries, milk, handful of BBQ chips, small bag of reces peices. (I know, I know....REALLY bad today. lol)

For my workout, I did my buns tape and ab work - about 40 mins. Tomorrow it will be running and elliptical and abs. 30-35 mins worth.
 
RedT said:
is a great FREE program that will give you an excellent idea of how many calories you are eating and burning each day, so you can adjuster your eating/workout schedule accordingly.
Click to expand...


WOW, what a great resource! Using that, I figure that I'm eating about 1700 - 1800 cals a day, and expending about 2500 - 2600. I thought I was eating more than that (around 2200). Makes me wonder why I don't weigh less (I'm 5'6", 142 lbs, 25% body fat)...

:confused:
 
benelson101 said:
dont use them to avoid eating, just eat! make sure you're eating your 5-6 meals and you shouldnt be going hungry much.

if you are snack on fruit or nuts. the sweets and soda will always affect you negatively no matter what else you eat.

For what its worth, i dont believe that WW or Slimming World work as such. I think they encourage healthier eating but

A - they promote their own products, WW puddings that are low in fat but full of crap.
B - they sell the idea that eating to within a rigid structure equals weight loss - when in fact they offer little in terms of exercise programs and are so regimental most people are put off within a few weeks.

Yes there are those who have benefitted (cue stretching of waistbands) but i willing to bet that that had more to do with personal determination, balance and common sense than someone with a set of scales once a week.

Plus, scales make people miserable. Judge gains of waistbands and how you feel. There's no short term answer, a long sighted, well adjusted plan will make you healthier and fitter now and in the future.
Click to expand...

I agree I don't believ in diets but if you read the slimming world principles then they are the guidelines for healthy eating. So i do not limit my portions of veges or fruit I eat as much as I like and fill myself up. So if she wants to use the principles of WW or Slimming world I think its great. Education about eating is done great by WW and Slimming World that doesn't mean you buy only there products!
 
LikkleMissAlive said:
I agree I don't believ in diets but if you read the slimming world principles then they are the guidelines for healthy eating. So i do not limit my portions of veges or fruit I eat as much as I like and fill myself up. So if she wants to use the principles of WW or Slimming world I think its great. Education about eating is done great by WW and Slimming World that doesn't mean you buy only there products!
Click to expand...

Absolutely! Keep the principles. That is the biggest key. To get you started counting calories may help you to learn just how bad some things are for you, but in the long run will just discourage most people. Watch the types of foods you eat and stick to a rigerous excercise routine.

Try adding a fruit smoothie in with your breakfast to give you a boost in the morning and really kick up your metabolism. I have two kids of my own and hate using the blender when they are asleep, so I will make one up the night before using what ever fruit we had with dinner, a single serving cup of yogert or kefur (a yogert type dairy product with lots of active cultures, good for the GI tract), and some ice. Just pop it in the fridge then enjoy in the morning.
 
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