just as good? | Imamother

Ima2NYM_LTR

Wed, Jan 05 2011, 2:02 pm

Just had a wake up call recently re: my weight and restarted my exercise program. The difference from the last time I tried is that now I have a 1.5 year old and a 6 year old and it makes my life a bit more difficult in terms of finding time to exercise.

So my question to you is, is it just as good to exercise (my exercise of choice is the recumbent bike I got from my sister) 3 times a day for 10 minutes as it is to do 1 time a day for 30 minutes? In other words, does breaking up the workout session negatively affect my results?

chocolate moose

Wed, Jan 05 2011, 2:05 pm

Well, you're not getting the heart rate up. You need 20 minutes minimum to burn fat.

I'm not saying it's not a good idea to squeeze in execise, all movement is good. I just don't know what kind of results you can expect.

If you have very little time, why don't you lift weights instead? Save the cardio for when you have a block of time to devote to it.

Ima2NYM_LTR

Wed, Jan 05 2011, 5:08 pm

thanks.

Part of it is that last week, when I started, I was having trouble getting back in the routine and 5 minutes was hard for me, so I did 5 minutes when I went to check my laundry (laundry and bike both in basement), which was 2-4 times a day id be downstairs.

After a few days, I said to myself 'if I can do 5, I can do 5 and a half'. Each day I increased. Then this week I increased by 1 minute each day. yesterday I did 3x 9 min., today 3x 10 min.

Yes, the 10 minutes is hard but I'm sure I could do 3x 11 tomorrow and so on (although Id probably start doing 11/11/8, 12/12/6 13/13/4, etc to keep me at a 1/2 hr mark) The issue is that I cant always take that much time away from my daughter. I do it when she naps (and I have a million other things to do then as well) or when shes eating and strapped into the highchair, which I really cant do for too long. This is why I want to keep doing the 3x 10 thing for a while.

amother

Wed, Jan 05 2011, 5:16 pm

I agree with what Choc Moose said, though it's good you're easing into it slowly.
Just want to add that in my opinion, based on my personal experience, and what I've seen among my friends, diet has a far greater effect on weight loss then exercise. Which is not to say don't exercise. You should. It's good for your overall health and it will burn some calories. I'm just saying, if you're turning over a new leaf, with the goal of losing weight, be even more mindful of what goes into your mouth. Exercise alone doesn't seem to make an impact for most.