How do you exercise?

[chouse]

What are you doing as exercise? I've orderd Tony Horton's 10 Minute work out. I figure I would start out w/ baby steps. Has anyone tried this workout yet? I'm still waiting on mine to be delivered! Another thing, should I let my body get used to Atkins for a week or so? Or start the workout as soon as it arrives? Believe it or not, I had a nutritionist (LA Weightloss) to tell me I should diet for a month before I start an exercise program. She said I might get discouraged if I didn't see a weight loss because of adding muscle from exercising. Opinions?

[IrishMom82]

Re: How do you exercise?

Well Dr. Atkins says that excercise is non-negotiable. I don't know why you would want to wait a month to start, that's just me. There are members here who are succesful even when they don't excercise.

I do the Couch to 5k program. It's a great workout cause you start out slow and you go at your own pace. It sounds like something you'd like. I'm on week 3 so far and doing great and I am in NO WAY a runner...yet

I also do P90X for strength training. That's a really rough workout. It's your call on that. I've read a lot of posts here saying how important and beneficial it is to strength train so that's why I started.

[Adena]

Re: How do you exercise?

I say to start it as soon as it arrives, and I think most folks here would agree. Atkins alone is great, but Atkins+Exercise yields even more amazing results. Don't cheat yourself of a month of potential benefits.

When I first started, I did the Walk Away the Pounds DVDs. They are just challenging enough to get a good workout, but not so hard you can't stick with it. You can get them pretty cheaply on Ebay (but first search the titles on Amazon to read reviews on which ones are the best. I like the 1 mile and the 2 mile for beginners.

Best of luck!

[chouse]

Re: How do you exercise?

OMG! You're doing P90X?? I bought it a yr ago and it's never made it to the DVD player. I read after i bought it that I'm supposed to be able to do a certain number of push ups and pull ups. I can do NEITHER!!! My hat's off to you!!

[colleenieweenie]

Re: How do you exercise?

I have never heard of Tony Horton - But go ahead and get your exercise ON! Why wait a week? Start now! It will help with any crummy feeling you might get while on induction...
The 1st time I "did" Atkins (7 years ago?) I did it and never exercised. I was a really skinny, fat person. Lost all muscle tone and my body felt funky. Once I started exercising this time around, I feel more compact, toned, alive and fabulous.
Congrats to you for making the choice to start exercising! I say go ahead and start now! Certainly can't hurt!!
Best to you!!

[carbless_in_seattle]

Re: How do you exercise?

oh god. pull ups? forget it.

I do intervals on the treadmill and my exercise bike. Intervals burn fat the fastest. also whatever you choose to do, its good to switch up your routine so your body doesnt get inefficient at whatever exercise you're doing. any exercise is good exercise .

Just push yourself a little bit each time. whether its a 5 minute walk, or a 2 mile run, make sure you're living up to your potential, it feels so much better when you do!

[sanoukee]

Re: How do you exercise?

I just do pushups, situps and curls daily and occasional leglifts and squats. I do like zero cardio though

[TheDogAteMyName]

Re: How do you exercise?

I would definitely start exercising. I'm with Colleen on this one...when I did Atkins back in 2004 and lost all the weight I ended up as a skinny fat person too! Exercise is vital. I wouldn't wait another day to start. I feel so good after a workout. To me it's my natural prozac.

As for pull-ups, if you cannot do a full one yet you can do a jump pull-up. That is where you jump up and then pull yourself up. I started out doing those and can now do pull-ups.

[IrishMom82]

Re: How do you exercise?

OMG! You're doing P90X?? I bought it a yr ago and it's never made it to the DVD player. I read after i bought it that I'm supposed to be able to do a certain number of push ups and pull ups. I can do NEITHER!!! My hat's off to you!!

Haha, don't give me that much credit! I'm not doing the whole program otherwise I would be over-excercising. I'm just doing a couple of the DVDs because I need something to tell me what to do since I'm new to strength training.

I use my treadmill as my pull up bar, so it's not techincally a full pull up since I'm at an angle...I saw people do it on the Biggest Loser so I figured it'd be ok if Bob and Jillian (the trainers) were having people do it.

[chouse]

Re: How do you exercise?

Ha! What a visual! There's no way I can get this chunk off the ground to do a jump pull up! Funny thought though! If you guys can't figure this out, I'm TOTALLY out of shape!!!

[eclectikat]

Re: How do you exercise?

Hey... I mainly hike... I have a great provincial park not far from me with fantastic trails. I have gone from barely being able to walk a km without losing my breath to walking 10k in just over an hour... I do the advanced trails... lots of hills... steep ones... I SWEAT like mad... I do this every other day followed by Kettlebells... look up Kettlebells on Youtube... It is the best...
I also bought a great bike before starting Atkins as a motivation for losing. I love riding. I have finally in the last 2 weeks lost enough weight so I can get on the bike and not injure myself. IT IS so great to be on road again...I try and ride 3 x a week a couple kms at a time... and will build from there.

[SugarFreeSheila]

When I find something I like, I always want to tell everyone about it!

For cardio, I walk around 4.2 mph (6.8 kph) on the home treadmill 20-25 minutes a day, 3-4 days per week.

Resistance: Lately for abs, upper-body, & lower-body training, I have been doing the new Jackie Warner workout; these workouts from the DVD are available via my DVR's On Demand. Each of the 3 segments is 20 minutes, & I just split them up (using 3-lb / 1.4 kilo dumbbells for upper-body, by the way), sometimes even squeezing one in right when I get up before coffee, or right before bed. I like her - she's great to follow and cues well.

I haven't been to the gym in forever; these workouts have been such a nice change, and it's been so convenient and time-efficient doing everything at home.

[chinadoll]

Re: How do you exercise?

Some folks find changing everything all at once overwhelming. They are really gung ho at first and put in a lot of hard work on eating and exercising--if the results aren't amazing, they might get frustrated and toss the whole thing out the window.

My two cents is to embark on an easy exercise program at first. Walk Away the Pounds or Curves would both be good places to start. You don't want something that is no fun and hard to do--it will either sit there or make you feel crummy that you can't get through it. And, if you are also just learning the WOE it can be a case of too much, too soon. But do start--just start with something fun and easy to stick with until you get comfortable with the changes you have undertaken.

[quotidianlight]

Re: How do you exercise?

I'm against the grain on this one. Lots of people are successful starting a new diet and exercise program at the same time. For me, it just sets me up for too many changes and failure. I think a good two weeks to a month of concentrating on diet and light walking for exercise until it becomes a habit and then starting an more formal exercise program gives you a better chance of not getting overwhelmed and quitting both. Now this is just my approach and worked well for me. I quit smoking over a month before starting atkins. Once it felt more or less normal and the cravings where gone I started induction. Once I no longer thought about sugar constantly and felt adjusted to low carb, I started walking (a little after induction). I finally started the C25K after walking felt like a habit. I approached it like building a house. I want to live in this house and have a solid foundation and make sure I don't get exhausted and blow all the fuses or have my walls collapse. Only you can know if you are the type of person who can concentrate and achieve many different life changes at the same time or need to break them down into phases.

[liv]

Re: How do you exercise?

I think Atkins says to concentrate on eating during the first little bit (induction) but for the long haul exercise is essential.

For me, a hopelessly unfit person, it has been all about being gradual. I have tried to find things I like and will actually incorporate on a long term basis and that is right for my level of fitness. I started with walking too. I have really enjoyed the Walk Away the Pounds videos and I still do Gaiam's Walking for Weightloss several times a week. But gradually I have experimented and tried out new things, yoga, pilates, tae bo, aerobics, weightlifting and recently running.