walking and exercising

[chrisscott66]

I will be trying to come up with a daily routine so i can stick to my diet and exercise. I work most of the day so i have to figure out what is best. So with it I have some questions. How much walking do i actually need to do each day to help get in shape and loose weight, I was thinking atleast 2 miles a day. I also need to know or come up with a exercise routine each day. Which ones should i do and for how long should I do each exercise...which ones are the best to do, so i do the same exercises each day or do i change it up.and if so which ones and how often...I have afew things i can work with at home , like the exercise ball, 5.b weights, pilate home gym. spri home gym set, rotating push up grips,  a wide resistance band ...i am just condfused on all this and i need to get in shape...HELP lol

[NellyG]

Hi @chrisscott66 Lots of questions (good on you!). I can only really speak for myself, but I have found that if I stick to my usual reasonably healthy diet I need to do around 20,000 steps a day to lose much weight. For me that is around 13km. But you need to experiment for yourself to see what works. Any extra activity is great! What is your step goal? Mine is 10,000 but I like to do more than that for at least half the month. 

You can repeat the same exercises each day, but I think it is better if you change it up a bit so you are targeting different muscle groups and reduce the risk of overdoing it.

[Baltoscott]

Welcome @chrisscott66 -- I really like your idea of shooting for 2 miles a day.  Maybe focus on that goal for a while. How's it going?  Are you trying to do that all at once, or are you breaking it up?

[emili]

so you have two things happening here- diet and exercise. weight loss starts in the kitchen and is supported by activity. You will lose weight without activity if you really put your mind to it, but it is for sure not as fun. To lose weight you need to figure out what your calorie intake should be, what deficit your are comfortable with and then eat to that number by weighing your food. As far as activity, if you have a tracker that calculates calorie burn and they all do, you will see how much each walk burns and it will help guide your decision about how much you should be walking per day. for muscle tone which is the rest of the activities you mention, a good option is at least three times per week alternating push and pull activities. This way you are working different muscle groups each work out. This helps two ways, better results and better recovery. You can look up all kinds of exercise to help you with this, but generally when you push you are working your shoulders, chest, bicep and triceps. If you pull you are working your back muscles. You can have one day as leg day, another as abs- mix things up so it doesn't get stale. 

[Heather-S]

Like what @emili said, weight loss is all about calories in vs calories out.  It's science and math.  The more you burn or the less you eat (or both), then you will lose weight.  Tracking it can be beneficial.  A lot of people who do not count calories severely underestimate how much they are really eating.  Getting a food scale helps track this.  Everyone's body is different.  Not everyone wants to track calories and sometimes it's dangerous to do so as it can lead to some disordered eating behaviors, but losing weight overall is science and math.  

For exercise, I'm a big fan of doing what you love.  Too many people will say that lifting weights is the best thing for your body or you aren't really into fitness if you aren't lifting heavy.  That's gatekeeping.  If you like walking and yoga, then do those things.  If you like to swim and ride a bike, do those things.  Do what makes you WANT to move every day and it won't seem like a chore.

I like what lifting weights does to my body (more toned) but I really don't enjoy lifting weights; it is so boring to me.  I prefer cardio (running, elliptical) and yoga.  I do mix in weights maybe 2x per week, but that's about all.  I just don't enjoy it unless it is in a group class setting to distract me (like a HIIT class or a Les Mills Body Pump class).  But just walking around my gym picking a weight machine or barbells really makes me hate being there.

So, do what gets you moving, sweating, and active!  Do what you love!  ♥

[DamOTclese]

2 miles a day may or may not be enough for weight management, it depends upon how much energy, how much exercise is needed to do those two miles. Two miles where one goes down hill for a mile and then up hill for a mile may be less calories burned than walking up hill two miles pushing a bicycle and then coasting down hill back home again. 🙂 It all depends. 🙂 There is no one correct answer.

[Heybales]

Walking makes me hungry - sometimes during the walk.

If I don't account for calories - I could easily eat more than the walk burned, which doesn't burn much.

Whereas I can go on a 1.5 hr hard bike ride and not be hungry for hours afterwards. But I know I better eat if I expect to get any benefit from the workout.

Ditto's to other comments to not confusing the 2 things of diet and exercise for weight loss.

Diet (eating less than you burn) is for weight loss - done right can it can focus on fat loss, done wrong you'll lose muscle mass (bad thing) too.

Exercise is for body improvements and heart health - done right can help fat loss, done wrong again help muscle loss.

Get in shape - does that mean cardiovascular (heart and lungs and other), or also include body shape outside what fat loss will cause?

Resistance training is great for having something to show under the fat once it's gone.

Some people just do cardio or no exercise and wonder why they only appear to be smaller versions of their fatter self after they reached goal weight - skinny-fat is term.

So what are your goals really? - that will determine everything else like best or frequency or duration.

Since you mentioned sticking to diet, I'm guessing weight loss - are you logging your food with accuracy - weighing everything?