Ok, I am going to start exercising tomorrow, what should I do?

[DontRecogniseMyself]

Apologies if this posts twice, I wrote a whole thread which then disappeared. I’d be grateful for any advice.

Main issues are:

1. I am feeling very unfit and have been pretty sedentary over the summer - 3000 steps a day or so.

2. I am apple shaped and would rally like to lose my gut / muffin top. I’m not sure what the best exercise would be for that. I am towards the lower end of normal BMI and really think my issues are ab muscle tone (or complete lack of it!) rather than fat, but perhaps I am kidding myself. I measured myself tonight and my tummy is an inch bigger than my bust and I think my waist to hip ratio is 0.9.

I have attached a picture - hope that’s ok. In the picture I am sitting up with my back straight but not doing anything to hold my belly in.

Verbena, yes that sounds very familiar! I didn’t have a huge baby but was overdue with my first and I think my stomach muscles never recovered. If Pilates can help a bit I may look into that. Sorry to hear you have long lasting problems.

I am also slim, but wanted to improve my fitness. Went to see a PT and he measured my body fat percentage using callipers - it was very high - even he seemed surprised given the size of me!

Anyway seeing a PT had been the best thing ever. I've never really been keen on sports of any kind, and the ones I did like just weren't easily accessible enough to do (riding and badminton). He taught me loads of techniques I could do at home, and I found as I got fitter, I started to want to do other things - running, cycling, exercise at home (I tend to use Fitness Blender, all free), tennis etc etc.

I still see my PT fortnightly (been about 5 years now), and exercise pretty much daily, even if it's just a walk. My PT was especially helpful in teaching me good form, so I'm less likely to injure myself at home - very important!!

I also bought a Fitbit a few years ago which was a good motivator. I upgraded to an Apple Watch about a year ago, and it's really made me aware of how much (or little!) I do, and has made me step up my activity loads. I'm linked with a few friends, so there's some healthy competition in there too!

Good luck, I now do weights/HIIT 2-3 times a week, a yoga class weekly, a circuits class weekly, PT fortnightly, and walk/cycle/tennis/whatever in between, and get quite angsty if I've not done some exercise - a total personality shift!

Wow carrie, that is amazing, I don’t think I can afford a PE but I am wondering if I could afford an initial assessment and a plan. I assume your body fat percentage has dropped too?

Yes body fat percentage has dropped too.

I don't belong to a gym, so I consider my PT costs to be my gym membership: £300 for 10 sessions.

Just start walking more. 3000 steps a day is incredibly low so rather than complicated gym classes and a complete overhaul of everything, aim to get up to 10000 steps per day in increments.

Has the benefit of costing hardly anything, not requiring fancy kit and being something you can build into your commute.

That’s an excellent point re walking and I’m surprised I didn’t think of it. I could definitely start walking more and already have with school and work restarting. I did do more quite a few days but quite a few days over the last 2 months I did around 2000 steps. Thinking about it I wonder if that is partly responsible for the general lack of tone?

It probably partly is dontrecognisemyself and the beauty of increasing your walking is that it provides loads of health benefits in addition to everything else and is easy to maintain.

True, I will start getting those steps up. Have done about 6000 today. Hadn’t quite realised how bad 3000 steps was.

Not sure if you have a gym membership or not but my local gym allows you to book classes online.

I’ve tried a few different ones in the past. For cardio I specifically recommend using the treadmill or an elliptical trainer. Anything which makes you basically sweat is cardio and there are lots of cardio workouts you can do at home.

www.verywellfit.com/best-cardio-workouts-1230830

Try it and see what happens.

Thanks, I’ll have a look at that.

Hi, I'm exactly the same as you. I'm slim, a size 8 but I also had the overhanging belly and muffin tops! I went on a mission to lose this a few months ago and got a fitbit. I increased my steps to at least 10k every day and started doing crunches, squats, planks, donkey kicks etc on the floor when the kids were in bed.

My DP (who is very, very in shape and knows all about this sort of thing!) assured me that I could be the most muscular person in the world but it would all be for shit if there was a layer of fat over the muscle hiding any definition. And it kinda made sense to honest, if he is trimming he has very defined abs but when he bulks up by increasing kcals his belly does go softer and he looks less defined. He still does the same 1.5hr gym session so the muscle is still there it's just hidden!

Anyway I quite drastically reduced my carb and sugar intake. So no bread, no potato, no pasta, no cake. I used to have 2 sugars in my tea and coffee I cut that to zero. This naturally reduced my appetite and I ended up eating a lot less for example lunch would sometimes be 2 boiled eggs which is incredibly heavy and filling for

Weights weights and more weights. Best possible way to tone up lose weight and get stronger and fitter is by going into the weights gym. It completely changes your figure and fitness. I have an arse for the first time in years. My legs and arms are super toned and I am on my way to a six pack. If you want any info on my routine just pop me a message be happy to share tips

@Thomlin, thanks, that is really interesting. Did you lose weight from anywhere else or just your tummy? The overhanging belly exactly describes what I have!

Changed, I might pm you then yes please. I have heard that weights is the way forward but am always but off by the cost / effort and embarrassment of going to a proper gym.

Body weight exercises will help more than nothing - you can do push ups without going to a gym, start on you knees if you can’t do them on your toes. Triceps dips don’t need you to go to the gym. Walking lunges, squats, inchworms, have a look on line. Increasing your steps is a great start, after a while you might be tempted to do c25k, running between lamp posts is an easy way to start.

Absolutley. I did it to actually gain weight and a better figure. It works a treat its a while body work out and like I say it's given me an arse I never thought I had. All in all a much more feminine figure which I never thought possible. I've been straight up and down for as long as I can remember. Also makes you feel oddly empowered. I can now deadlift around 70kilos . When I started I was a bit dubious and intimidated but it's definitely worth it

Thanks Big. I found this hourglass workout on fitness blender which seems to use body weight exercises. Is that the sort of thing that would be a start?

I’ve pm’d you Changed.

I think a full minute of mountain climbers will knacker you, try doing 30 first, the whole workout looks pretty tough to me. I think you’d have to make quite a few adaptations to that workout or you’ll do it once & never go back. I hope I’m not being negative & putting you off but turning up is the hardest part of a workout, even if it is a cliché.

Thanks Olives, to be perfectly honest I had had a quick look and assumed it would be ok. Now I look at it more closely you are right. I am very unfit at the moment and will never manage it!