If you've got a toned, fit body, be real with me!

[TruffleMonkey]

Is it a massive commitment?

I'm a healthy BMI but near the top, I'd love to have a firmer, less wobbly body but I never seem to get there. I do 2 x body pump classes and 1 x spinning class a week, as well as walking for at least an hour with my dogs.

My diet I'd say is good, don't really do much takeaway or junk food but we eat 'normally things like homemade curries, casseroles, pasta dishes that kind of thing. Plenty of fruit and veg. All good... I thought...

I've not got the time or energy for any more exercise as I work full time and have a toddler. I like food so I don't want to just exist off chicken and greens like I see on Instagram.

Is it possible to have a body like this and just live a normal life, or does it need a 'step up' in terms of lifestyle?

Fuck me, and you have time to fuck about on MN.

Quite a commitment, yes. I exercise every day and am very mindful about what I eat. Lots of protein, fruit, veg, hardly any upf, or alcohol. Lots of water, lots of sleep.

Sone is, some isn’t. I spend an hour a day in the gym on my lunchbreak, and I cycle a 25 mile round trip three times a week when I commute to the office but don’t really see those as commitment because I’m just putting otherwise dead time to another use. I would likely spend an hour doomscrolling on my phone at lunch, and I would have to take the train to work anyway, so I’ve not really committed anything timewise. Can you integrate exercise and fitness in that way?

My running is a commitment because I do have to actively find ninety minutes or so out of somewhere else to do a decently long run; but it’s also good downtime.

I’m the lower end of normal bmi, fit and toned. I do four hour long sessions each week erging at full power - it uses more muscle groups than other machines and gives you a cardio workout at the same time. I listen to audio books with my eyes shut while I row, so in a bizarre way, it’s also really relaxing! Get one of the gym staff to show you how to use the equipment to best effect first, or you’ll end up sweaty with a sore bum. There’s an art to rowing well - you have to develop a smooth stroke and return.

I suspect what you're not doing is spending hours scrolling on your phone weekly, like a lot of people do. That's where everyone's time goes. You maybe parcel up those scraps of time into eg half hour to work out, when others spend those scraps of time checking social media for a few minutes here and there.

OP I eat when I'm hungry only and I eat small portions because that's all I need. I don't like feeling stuffed when I've finished eating. I eat junk but I limit it. If I want a small bag of crisps, a slice of cake and a handful of sweets all in one day then I'll have it, but I usually won't want it. It'll be one or the other that gets eaten as a snack. Other snacks are fruit, jammy toast and nuts. I try not to eat crap but I don't really cool so I can't avoid all processed food. Some of it has to be genetic. My dad was always underweight as a child as was I and my entire family have muscly legs whether we're fat thin or anywhere in-between and regardless of exercise level.

It’s not no. Always been naturally this way and never really exercised or dieted.

But then I do naturally intermittent fast- always have since a child so it’s no effort. Just the way I have always eaten.

What I will say though is post partum my body would just not go back. It took me a year to figure out what the hell was going on because it wasn’t weight.

It was my pelvic tilt. The only way to really fix that is reformer pilates 1-1. Once I had (only an hour a week of breathing excercises and toe taps) it changed everything. The way I stood, walked, breathed, digested food. Everything. And my body went back to its normal self and maintains itself with little effort.

I do believe (bar weight/ metabolism issues); it really all is in the posture / pelvic tilt and whether your corset muscles are engaging correctly (this is like a sleeve of thin muscle which is the centre of your body from diaphragm to pelvic floor and regulates everything from pressure on spine, to support of organs and limbs to engagement of abs and glutes).

I'd say I'm a generous size ten

I eat really healthily, the vas t majority of the time. Not just chicken and greens, but three food healthy meals a day. I don't exercise to high intensity, but I do move around a lot

I do a lot of low level exercise: biking, walking, ice skating

I am fairly solid and toned

I do think having exercised a lot in my youth really helps

Hey? Let pump is as heavy as you wanna make the weights. Don't you get to choose you own weights?

Weird typo there, not sure how. Sorry meant body pump

Heavy weights 4x per week for me, 20 mins of cardio thrown in after.

Well the DC do go to bed, and I don't study or go out every night. There's plenty of time to fuck about on MN evenings, weekends, and the occasional break from work. Right now I've done my workout and I'm having a small fuck about on MN while I blow dry my hair at the office.

The secret to maintaining an exercise habit is the same as the secret to getting anything done.

Yoga

Hmm. I am 5'3, weigh 7st10 and have a six pack. I run every day, do 10 mins of planks and push ups, and walk the dog 2x a day. I also have a demanding job and work 10-hour days routinely, sometimes with a 3-hour commute.

Many people would say that's commitment. I would say it's just my lifestyle. The running, workout and first dog walk are all completed by 6am, allowing me to shower and begin work or commute. So even with a long day, I still have evenings with my family.

I eat well and am never hungry, but it's a very clean, high-fibre diet based primarily on vegetables, lean protein and fruit and no UPF. Although I will also happily go out for dinner/order a takeaway and eat 'normally', confident a one-off is not going to derail things.

IMO most people vastly over-estimate how many calories they need and this has far more impact on weight than exercise. Even with my exercise routine my maintenance weight calories are only around 1400 daily (I don't routinely count but occasionally work it out). But it's amazing how much food that actually equates to when you make healthy choices based on real food.

I have viable abs and toned legs with a bmi of around 19. I do Caroline Girvan 2 hours a week at home with dumbbells. No exercise other than that as I hate cardio apart from 8k steps a day. My glutes could be more toned but I think I need a gym for that as am limited on dumbell weight at home.

I eat around 2000 calories but am strict on what they are, no upf or processed carbs, lots of protein, fibre, healthy fats. I find this easy now as I no longer crave the unhealthy stuff and don't even enjoy it when I eat it at social events

Are you going heavy with the weights in Body Pump? The only weights I do is two Body Pump classes a week and I have good muscles. You need to be using a weight that you can just about make it to the end of the track with.

Cardio will not help you build muscle in the same way resistance training does

I track calories and macros to stay in a deficit, train two to three times a week with weights, resistance bands and a stationary bike. I also have a horse, and four dogs that I walk every day. I have a PT session and a yoga session once a week. I swim outdoors twice a week in the warmer months. I can run 10k. I’ve been teetotal for almost five years.

My BMI is in the overweight category (27.7) and it looks like I have a cushion up my jumper.

Menopause? Genetics? HRT? SSRIs? Or just the Good Lord taking the piss?

Who knows? I feel well and strong though, so 🤷🏼‍♀️

Not me, but my friend who goes to the gym loads, as I do and was in reasonable shape has been doing reformer Pilates (1-2-1) for about 4 months. Amazing transformation. She’s looking so toned now.

A charity shop bike that turned out to have no working gears.. and living in a very hilly area 😂

Seriously, hill cycling is fabulous for abs, glutes and legs and I swim regularly for the rest.

I loathe the gym or weights with a vengeance.

Am absolutely not ripped, but am far more visibly toned than I used to be, far stronger, and even have some visible abs now (after 2 children).
BMI has dropped from 24+ to 21.
Mat pilates class once a week (sadly all I can fit in), strength-based exercise (actually given to me by physio for dodgy knees, so lots of lower body bodyweight exercises) 3x a week, and some walking.
But alongside that mainly stopped eating sugary things, and reduced snacking between meals, and I don't really miss that anymore. Didn't change the rest of my diet as fairly healthy anyway.
I don't think it's too much of a commitment, and I always feel better for doing it, even if I never want to do it in the first place!

How do you get in to weight training? Do you learn from YouTube or have a PT at a gym? Is there any of it that can be done at home?

Whatever the answer, I don't think "walking the dog" is part of the key to a toned body 😁

I do all mine at home with weights I bought online. I have used YouTube and online instructional videos to get a good posture and positioning, I will always watch someone else do the move a few times who explains exactly how to do it, slowly and how to position yourself and then practice so I don’t hurt myself then a few months in I had a rotation of movements I do to make up my own routines, so it might be arm day (Arnold presses, chest press, bicep curls) core day (Pilates moves) or leg day (RDL’s, squats) or a mix of them all in sets. So yeah I taught myself cos I can’t afford a PT and I slowly increased the weights over time. Depending on the move I either use my Apple Watch to set a timer or I count sets and reps

If I had the money I would say get a PT for some sessions

Well I don't have a toned body currently so shouldn't really be answering the question but... massive dog walks (lots of up hill) and yoga have kept me fit for years now.

Had a bit of a heavy Christmas / NY so am trying to get back to it now.

I am not super toned, but have very well toned arms and legs due to about 10 years of regular kickboxing and king fu practice (4 - 6 hours a week) in my 20s and 30s.

I do no longer kickbox regularly due to injury, but yoga and running keep things fairly toned and starting mat pilates recently has definitely toned up my torso more