in 40s- what is the best to get into a better shape? fasting/ gym? excercise?

[schooling123]

I have got a membership to the gym but wanted to ask general advice what si best to get to shape? fasting/ gym? excercise/ cycling/ running? I work full time so would need to do some at home and some in the gym. Please advise

Cut out snacks late evening worked for me to shed weight. Was just a silly craving habit.

Go a walk or short jog after work. The time it takes to get to gym and changed and started my not be best time management?
At gym group classes prob best for motivation.

In my opinion, the best thing for getting in shape is resistance training. Muscle is metabolically active, so it burns calories just by being there. Also, it creates shape, so you feel (and usually look) better.

As you're in your 40s, resistance training is really important for bone health - the growth of your new muscles will sort of pull on the bone, making it stronger.

Cardio is brilliant for heart and lungs and mental health, but resistance is the way forward for shape. Ask the gym instructors or a personal trainer to show you how to use the kit or have a look at online videos for exercises with weights. If you're exercising at home, there's loads of stuff you can do with resistance bands, which is very helpful as they don't take up a load of space.

I guess it all boils down to your current level of health and fitness.

I'm in my 40s and have worked in an office for the past 20 years. I never really paid too much attention to my health. Luckily this hasn't led to any major problems over the years (ignoring the bad teeth and eyesight ).

Anyway, fast forward to the present and a couple of triggers happened recently. The first was the death of my father back in February, the second was me finally inching out of the "healthy" weight zone, and creeping into "overweight".

Luckily my OH decided she needed to lose weight, so I joined in the "healthy eating" craze. Anyway, simply cutting out sugary cereal and snacks, then a short walk at lunchtime brought my weight under control.

Then a couple of weeks ago I got the crazy idea of taking up jogging, and grabbed an outfit. So this week I started the couch to 5k program (30 minutes per session, three sessions per week, over 8 weeks).

It isn't that difficult to fit in to my normal working routine, and I think that it will do me the world of good.

I was going to say get strong, but the poster above re resistance training has it spot on.

As we age it's slightly harder to build and maintain muscle but being strong really stands us in good stead for many reasons. If you can really get strong now, you will find you fare old age much better.

I became very weak last year due to a variety of reasons. Recovery at 39 has not been as easy as it was when I was younger (chronic illnesses). I do wish the general opinion towards bodies was not 'looking good' but 'how strong are they/ well they work'.

cordonbleu OP has started this thread twice and hasn't come back to either, so I'm not sure our advice is being noted or appreciated, but I just wanted say well done for getting and staying strong through adversity It's tough with a chronic condition, but it's still better than the alternative.