Frequency of exercising?

[tatt]

My gym closed down and I am now back to my own resources. I have a cheap vibration machine, exercise bike, some light weights and wii fit and will be getting an exercise band from the Times Health club.

After a year of gym 3 times a week I'm fit enough for something more than wii fit, which makes me feel fitter but isn't enough for me to lose weight.

Any comments on how long each day / how many days per week its OK/ best to use this lot?

Are you exercising for weight loss, cardio fitness or general health Tatt?

really keen to lose weight now. I've been improving my general fitness/ building a bit of muscle for the past year but haven't managed to make much change to my weight.

aerobic activity is good for losing weight. So dance or step or similar. May one of them cheap fitness dvds - often in charity shops.

The yoga on wii fit isn't bad if you do it daily for toning.

with the money that you are now saving on your gym membership why not pay for a session or two with a good personal trainer to assess you, the equipment you have at home and provide you with some programmes to follow?

Exercise can help weight loss a bit but not as much as people think - it's much easier to address your diet - a mars bar takes about 30 seconds to eat and about 30 minutes to burn off on an exercise bike...

By which I mean that if you've been going to the gym 3/week for a year and you're not losing weight you're either not exercising hard enough or you're taking in too many calories.

If you can get into the weights more and build some muscle (don't worry, you would have to do a serious amount of training to look butch), it will raise your basal metabolic rate.

Btw, once I left my gym and got stuff at home I turned into a lazy git- so if you are up for motivating each other, it would be great to have a thread to whupp butt!

For good aerobic exercise you'll stick to, running or biking or swimming is probably better than stuff you do at home.

Absolutely. Need to get out and get some mileage going. Bodyweight exercises at home - press-ups, crunches, squats and lunges all good too, but you need to do them properly and enough.

I have pcos so have to exercise a lot to improve my insulin resistance. If I ate sweets, which I don't, I'd be obese not overweight. I get really tired of those who think because they only gain weight if they eat badly everyone who is overweight has to be eating junk. There is very little pleasure left in my diet.

Unfortunately for medical reasons I can only do a limited amount of weight bearing exercise so running or even walking more than a few miles on alternate days is out. There is no swimming pool within 20 minutes drive so it's not something I can fit in often. I'm doing a mix of yoga, aerobics and muscle training on wii fit and trying to do it before breakfast. But if I do 30-40 minutes of that I can't do other weight bearing things.

BitOfFun I am finding it harder to keep motivation at home than the gym, I miss the crosstrainer but don't have room for one. I'd just started to do some interval training on the bike and am trying to keep to that. Wii Fit is good for motivation but it's pretty gentle exercise.

I am going to increase the weights I've been using, I know I should have done that already.

Is it normal to have one leg with a higher percentage of fat than the other?

I'm disappointed to hear that wii fit isnt that great, as I'd love to have got that altho I suppose its good to find out before hand!

Having been in your position after ds2, I found the only thing that got me going was an aerobics class in a hall 5 mins from home. Prior to kids I'd been a very lone runner and never done any kind of classes. But this was what I needed to keep me motivated.
I used to run 6 days a week, and went down to zero. Now I do between 6 and 8 hours of aerobics and toning a week, and 3 or 4 small runs of 5-7km. But I agre with the other poser that you do really need to look at food honestly; I'm sure you're not stupid, but you might genuinely find a change for the better somewhere...

As you've got the wii but want something more strenuous, I've heard that My Fitness Coach for Wii is supposed to be very good. It doesn't use the balance board, unfortunately, but it is more like an interactive DVD which tailors your exercises according to how you're doing them and gives you the variety a DVD could never do. It's on my list of things to get once I've outgrown the Wii Fit.

At the moment I go cycling 3 times a week and use Wii Fit on the other days or if the weather is crap, so the Wii Fit is "good enough" for me at the moment.

What's the medical problem? Is cycling an option? (I know it's kinda weight bearing.)

Are their exercises you can do to make weight baring exercise more of an option?

Oh, and exercising every day, or six days out of seven, is best for you, from what I know. I bike five days a week (getting around, but it's at least 40 minutes per day), and try to run most days, too. And swim a few times a week.

I can't run every day. I get such aching joints. I know I should do more gentle stuff on my off days but time is the problem. I rarely manage more than 3 runs a week. And occassional yoga.

Are you running on hard surfaces, OrmIrian? I am always on grass or mud or whatever, never on tarmac, and have Very Good Shoes.

I have good shoes NQC but yes I run on roads or pavements. I have weak ankles and am terrified of running off road. It's Catch-22.

Ah, there are things you can do to strengthen your ankles, mostly they involve standing on one leg. Say, while you're brushing your teeth.

Off-road is deffo better for your joints, mine hurt while I run on pavement, but they're fine on grass etc.

Yes I know NQC. Beleive me I have tried but it's partly in my head. I can turn them so easily and then I can't run for ages. And we live in a small town with no large parks. So grass running is hard. I suppose I could investigate country footpaths. I run out in the lanes so I could at least run on softer ground part of the way. I'd just need to convince myself I won't go arse over tit straight away

Sorry, but I'm loving the image in my head of NQC brushing her teeth on one leg

I use a wobble board, actually. :-P

weight bearing problem is more than one thing but a weak ankle is part of it and as several of the wii fit exercises involve standing on one leg maybe that will help. The nearest grassy places to me are so rough you need to run slowly to see the tussocks. Tarmac seems safer

mustrunmore OH is managing to lose weight with wii fit doing less exercise than I do. It's better than nothing and you can vary the exercises to help boredom or do step while watching TV. So it has its uses but pcos makes it much harder to lose weight so for me it's not enough. I've asked for My Fitness Coach as a birthday present.

hi! Im new to this site and an older mum with older children, 3 teenagers! I used to be a very active mum but due to a lot of changes in the last few years, I have lost the gym habit. Im really needing some support and inspiration to get me going. Any help or motivation skills? please pass them on if you think you can help...

Hi, you'll probably get more responses if you start a new thread asking your question
What sort of exercise do you enjoy doing, are you looking to go back to the gym or fit things in at home?