I'm a newbie. I've had 2 kids. The eldest is 12 and youngest is 8 and I never exercised after giving birth. I now wish I had. I've got a big flabby tummy and at least 20kgs overweight.
I am 43 and a housewife, a desperate housewife who needs to lose weight and tone up.
At home I have got a Reebok Step, a Stepper, Abs cradle, hand weights, skipping ropes and a Pilates Ball.
Can anyone help me please to put together a programme where I can use all these things effectively so I can start exercising gradually without doing myself an injury and also see benefits of toning up and shedding a few kilo's that I drag about with me every day.
I can't afford to go to a Gym. But I do have a puppy who needs walking daily so I've started walking regularly.
I just feel like a frump and a lost cause. Can anyone help please?
- Supine Bridge alternated with Swissball Wall Squats 2 x 20
- db rows (depending on how much wt you have maybe need to get some heavier one's) alternated with push ups either from an elevated surface (best) or knee's 2 x 15
- static lunges alternated with step ups (highest step you can safely) 2 x 20 each
- rest 30secs between exercises (time rest)
- do this mon, wed, fri
- can add in some skipping and stepper for interval cardio on for cardio on other days but have 1 full day off a week
- for intervals try 90secs easy than 30secs as fast as you can x 10mins increasing to 20mins gradually
Thank you swanso5 for your advice. I will start using this programme straight away and let you know the results.
I do suffer from high blood pressure and take medication for it so are there any exercises I should not attempt?
diet is varied - I do eat a lot of vegetables but hardly any fruit. I try to have low fat foods and sugar free drinks. I do eat a lot of rice or pasta. I hardly have any milk in daily intake of fluids. But I do drink fizzy water. I eat a lot of yoghurts and I do like cheese.
main pitfall it chocolate. I am addicted to the stuff. I rarely drink alcohol.
Good Calcium intake has been shown to assist with Fat excretion, though I think that's just Saturates in diet, not Unsaturates and not excretion of . So you're doing a good thing, having Yoghurts and Cheese. You need around 1,200 mg's a day anyways, I'd say minimum 700-800 mgs. You can have more than 1,200, but I'd limit to no more than 1,500-1,600 mgs Calcium a day.
Rice and Pasta. Quite high GI, White Rice especially, so keep portions low, and / or use Brown Rice.
Pasta, again, keep portions low, or cut weekly intake, and sub Carbs for another source.
- blood pressure shouldn't be a problem
- for optimal results cut out pasta and bread
- drink water, not sugar drinks and not sugar free drinks which are full of artificials which are just as bad
- maybe cut back on dairy a little (cheese and yoghurt) maybe rotate every second day??
The main thing with Calcium is Tonks, is you can get Calcium from other Sources E.G. Soybeans, Almonds etc etc, but Dairy is a natural source of Calcium, and Vit D, which is needed to assist Calcium.
Swanso referred the other day to Calcium in relation to insulin.
Whilst Calcium supplements, may have some kind of connection to Insulin levels, Dairy itself, can actually cut the likelihood of Insulin Resistance, especially in obese people, by over 70%.
The cut in less overweight would be less significant, but to understanding, Dairy is not responsbile for any major Insulin problems, os there shouldn't be any need to rotate it.
I always thought Rice and Pasta were better for you than potatoes so that is why I've been having them instead of, for the past couple of years.
I have been cutting down on bread and butter.
I've stopped buying crisps for the kids as they are a dreadful snack to have in the house so now we have rice crackers and the kids hate them so I have them for lunch instead of bread.
I also make a salad tortilla wrap - but I suppose now wraps are the wrong thing to have too because they are made from wheat flour?
How bad is pate? Is that full of carbs too or worse?
You know I did wonder about these drinks that say sugar free or reduced sugar.
I do drink flavoured fizzy water all the time. So I suppose I'll have to find an alternative now and see if that makes a difference.
I've never checked the yoghurt pots on the shelves in the supermarkets before today but I have read a few this morning and was horrified that some are just so full of fat or calories.
I will have to review yoghurts now as favourites are full of calories. I did find some yoghurts today that were 0.1% fat but I haven't bought any yet. I have a shelf full to eat of favourites in the fridge that I bought on Saturday!
- potatoes are probably better but it's more tha portions that all 3 are eaten in, ecspecially when bought from shops so all 3 are all right but in moderation like everythuing else
- crisps are probably the worse thing on earth besides pies
- totrilla's are the same bread ingredient wise i think but they're heavily processed so no thatey're not great
- don't know what pate is
- at least with regular soft drink you can actually use the sugar from it if you need it but sugar free has artifiials and such that are empty caloreis meaning you can't use them resulting in fat storage and mineral deficiences
- for yoghurt you want one that has actual ingredients in it with the big one being acidolphius...it may have more carbs in it than others but if you time when you have it there shouldn't be a problem as it's mostly low gi anyway
Yoghurts work best Tonks, with things like Probiotics and Prebiotics, as they have what's known as "friendly bacteria", that assist things gut function and health.
As for Potatos, Rice and Pasta, this is a brief skinny.
Red and White Potato, are quite higher GI than Sweet.
White Rice is higher GI than Brown, about the same as Red and White Potato.
Pasta is reasonably high GI, but not too bad.
Portion control and frequency come into play.
If you eat a large portion of some of those, then maybe do it infrequently, if you want them more often, the key is to cut portions, and therefore cut Bloodsugar elevation response, and therefore Glycemic load.
gylceamic index is an indication of how quick the sugar from certain foods enter the blood stream...the higher the number the quicker it does...if this sugar isn't stored in the muscles or used for energy than it will store as fat...the problem here is that kost people have little muscle and perform little exercise so if you wre to eat cerial, rice, pasta, potatoes and maybe some cake in 1 day, than you will have easily filled up your muscle storage and without exercise you have far too much spill over resulting in fat gain...this sort diet going on for years at a time which happens to a lot of people can result in a lot of health problems besides obesity
Rice cakes are not too bad. Carbohydrate is about 23 grams, so maybe have them now and again, but not too bad.
Plus some bodybuilders use them in contest diets, and when you're cutting, high Glycemic Load is not preferable.
Watermelon is okay for you. Not brilliant.
Plus points.
Watermelon contain a Carotenoid called Lycopene, which can destroy skin aging Free Rdicals, and possibly like other Carotenoids,assist with optical health in the eyes.
Watermelon however is about 73 GI, and about 1,300 calories per Watermelon.
Realistically it doesn't provide a massive Glycemic load, as nobody eats huge portions of it at once, but it is problematic, in that unlike most other Fruits, for some reason, it has a very bad intolerance to other foods.
How this manifests itself I don't know. Most other fruits usually require a small time period, before consumption of other foods, in order to enhance Fruit digestion, and prevent putrifaction, (kind of like rotting), in the Gut / Intestines.
Watermelon therefore is not too much of a problem when consumed in small portions, and given sufficient processing time, (probably twice as long as other Fruits before consuming anythng else), though Lycopene is also available, in things like Tomatos, Tomato products, I.E. Paste, Sauce, Puree, and in things like Apricot, Pink Grapefruit, and Pink Guava, so in reality, one of the easiest way to get some is from say a Tomato, as Tomato whilst being a Fruit, seems, (based on biological / scientific reasearch), to be more agreeable with other foods, particularly leafy Veggies, and Proteins, with no apparent need for a staggered eating regime, like with other fruits.
So Watermelon in conclusion is okay, but I'd say with alternatives out there, plump for one of those more often, and if you still want it, maybe have Watermelon now and again.
I will start using this programme straight away and let you know the results.