<p>BCE, When I fell off the ladder last week, I think I scared the ‘stuff’ out of me. The next couple days afterwards I didn’t need to do it. </p>
<p>I am more regular now and ventured back on a borrowed ladder yesterday. The fall destroyed my ladder.</p>
<p>“I also thought it was odd that the breast enhancement thread OP received only kudos, while her surgery was completely elective and equally risky.”</p>
<p>No, as I read it, not all posts were in favor. EK chimed in with her own story, and there were posters who were clearly against this type of procedures. I stayed out of that thread becuse the procedure was already done, but I would not give any kudos to anyone doing it for reasons other than repairing the consequences of a mastectomy. I do not think that warning others about the potential dangers of medical procedures is talking in “superior tone” (although I see that my attempt at lighthearted humor did not go through as intended, and I apologize for that - “it is not what you say, but how it is percieved that matters”).</p>
<p>“Truth be told, no amount of dieting and exercise can completely remove that little fat pad.”</p>
<p>Again, I respectfully disagree. I’m not there yet age wise, I have some friends (of that age group) with amazing figures that were achieved without any surgeries. It also probably depends on the definition of the “fat pad” and how one sees it. To some, a six-pack abdomen is not flat enough, to others, a little flab that can be spandexed away is totally fine.</p>
<p>All you exercise gurus, I have a question. I seem to recall reading in various places in the popular media over the past few years conflicting opinions about short periods of exercise v. longer periods. Just starting out with this exercise thing, over the past few weeks I have been pretty good about walking on the treadmill for half-hour every day. I know that I will need to increase that time, and it would be much easier to find a second half-hour than to find one whole hour. But is two half hours close, in terms of exercise benefits, to one continuous hour?</p>
<p>I have thought of breast reduction surgery several times in my life. Not gonna happen at this stage of my life, though. Guess I will just keep buying expensive minimizer bras! ;)</p>
<p>A beautiful young neighbor girl who is a senior in HS has that little abdominal “fat pad”. She is a sz 2 and a dancer. She is very active and has been going to PT for core exercises for 2 years!!! She can not lose that “pooch” . She gets criticized by dance instructors and other girls make remarks. That’s the way she is made…some things can’t be reshaped through exercise and diet. I feel so bad for her.</p>
<p>Amesie^^ That is frequently discussed on the running forums and publications. For your purposes, doing 2 30 minute sessions will be as good as one 60 minute session. If you were training to walk somewhere for 2 or 3 hours, you would want to sneak in a continuous hour once a week or so, but for fitness 2xShort is just as good as 1xLong. In fact, there is one theory that the two short sessions allow you to work at a harder effort level in each.</p>
<p>I know of a couple of women - fitness instructors, in fact, who are over sixty and nothing but lean muscle, except for that abdominal pouch. For some, it’s genetic, but for more it is a result of menopause.</p>
<p>Amesie:</p>
<p>As a general rule, walking on a treadmill (and really walking in general) should be viewed as offering two benefits;</p>
<p>a) Getting a totally de-conditioned couch potato (like I was) to a level of basic fitness that allows them to begin more intenstive exercise.</p>
<p>b) Later, as an active recovery providing an enjoyable way of moving a little more on alternate days in between more intense workout days. You can’t (or shouldn’t) do the intense stuff (weights, bodyweight circuits, interval cardio) without a rest day in between. Walking, jogging, bike riding, swimming – those are all perfect in between day add-ons as you get more fit and ramp up the number of exercise days.</p>
<p>While I enjoy a nice long walk, from a fat loss or fitness standpoint, there is not much to be gained by stretching your 30 minute walk to a 60 minute walk. I mean, certainly go for it. Walking 60 minutes will burn more calories than walkng for 30 minutes. However, to maximize fat loss and fitness gains, it’s better to think about increasing the intensity of those 30 minutes as you are able, rather than simply slogging away for longer periods of time.</p>
<p>For example, as your fitness allows, start turning that 30 minutes into an “interval” workout. Increase the speed for 30 seconds and then slow it back down for 60 seconds. Or 1 minute and 2 minutes. Or whatever. The details don’t matter much. Better yet, crank the incline up so you are walking uphill and then vary the pace so that the fast bits really hammer you. The idea is to start incorporating short bursts into your workout that get you sweating and panting hard, then ease off to recover. Keep repeating and as your fitness improves, increase the length and intensity of the hard bursts and decrease the length of the rests.</p>
<p>Also, starting to incorporate some body weight and core exercise circuits into your workouts is almost essential for maximizing weight loss and fitness gains. You will progress much faster with less overall time invested than if you just walk (or run or elliptical or whatever) for longer and longer periods. In the early going, an intense 30 minute workout three days a week, along with some lighter walking or whatever a couple more days is probably all you can handle.</p>
<p>My standard walk is under 40 minutes. I’ve never been on the exercise bike for longer than 42 minutes. And I didn’t have my first one hour exercise circuit workout until I had been at it for six months, having lost nearly 50 pounds. My longest workout in the last eight days has been 44 minutes, except for one day when I went for a 5K walk that took me just over 50 minutes. So, don’t feel like you have to slave away for hours on a treadmill.</p>
<p>Here’s a great article that lays out the science of fat loss and how to best invest your workout time:</p>
<p>[Hierarchy</a> Of Fat Loss | Alwyn Cosgrove](<a href=“AlwynCosgrove.com”>AlwynCosgrove.com)</p>
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<p>I feel bad that some charlattan physical therapist or dance instructor has convinced her that doing ab exercises will reduce “belly fat”. She would, in all likelihood, lose it quickly if she started lifting some weights and thinking in terms of building muscle instead of dieting.</p>
<p>idad…she does lift weights! I see her at the gym and she works those weights along with extra cardio besides her dancing. She does an entire core routine to stay healthy/strong with all of the dance moves. She is very lean…except for that little bulge. I believe it is genetic! I can’t believe their insurance pays for her to see the PT that much!</p>
<p>What a surprise! I was just notified that I won a prize for the 90 day challenge I am in at my club! I can choose a month free of classes or two sessions with a personal trainer. I don’t know what to pick! I am leaning towards the personal trainer as I like my solitary workouts but the classes may shake things up for me and make me try something different. I am also thinking of doing a 5k run/walk they are having for 90 day participants on Octber 23. I think I can do that with my knee by now…I hope so anyway!</p>
<p>NM - congrats!!! Whatever prize you choose, you earned it and deserve it!</p>
<p>“She is a sz 2 and a dancer. She is very active and has been going to PT for core exercises for 2 years!!! She can not lose that “pooch” . She gets criticized by dance instructors and other girls make remarks.”</p>
<p>The last sentence makes me mad. Dance instructors have no business in telling teenagers this kind of stuff!!! It just sets the perfect stage for eating disorders, and encourages queen bees to make even more remarks! I known a normal, healthy, full of life teen who turned into a shadowy, bony zombie-like kid because her dance instructors made comments about her weight and encouraged her parents to curb her eating. It took years to bring her back from the abyss of her eating disorder…</p>
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<p>I agree. It’s hard to imagine a size 2 having much of a “bulge” or “pooch” anywhere. Poor thing is probably dieting against her body type as it is.</p>
<p>nminn:</p>
<p>Fanstastic! I agree. You’ve earned that prize. What are your options for classes? I’m not sure I’d go the personal trainer route unless you would be considering continuing on with one. Two sessions may or may not really benefit you much. On the other hand, if I had two sessions with a personal trainer, I would probably run down a laundry list of exercises and get him/her to check my form and coach me up on technique. That’s the one place I have be careful with iPod trainers – making sure that I’m paying attention to proper form.</p>
<p>COngrats NMinn! It’s a toss up. You would enjoy the classes (depending on how good the instructors are and what the clases are), but you could learn some new exercises from the personal trainer and, as idad pointed out, proper form.<br>
I just love when you see someone on the stair climber or even treadmill leaning so heavily on the support bars that they can’t possibly be getting much of a workout. They probably think they burned 1000 calories!</p>
<p>I won this prize for the mid-point of the challenge. Final weigh in is in November. My weight is coming off slower as I weigh less. Can’t really cut more calories as I am eating between 1100 and 1200 daily so I am trying to exercise smarter. I am moving away from the weight machines and trying to do more free weights. I have added vitamins for women and I am using the whey protein powder once daily and sometimes twice. It has made a difference in keeping me full and having energy to keep working out.Just can’t start the fish oil thing yet. My H was so proud when I told him a little bit ago! :)</p>
<p>The classes that have piqued my interest are a Team Fitness class and a Team Weight Loss class. You can also do swimming, Pilates, etc.</p>
<p>MoWC: I would love to have a long-distance walking goal someday–I think it would be really motivating to exercise for something, like a race of some sort. Right now I exercise so I can cross off “exercise” on my daily calendar (it is actually somewhat motivating–I do like lists).</p>
<p>Idad: I get your point about strength training. I am not sure I would trust myself to start that sort of thing on my own. If I have ever even held a barbell it must have been as part of some high school gym class. I had a herniated disc about 8 years ago and I definitely don’t want to risk doing the weights wrong. A class or trainer is on my list of long-term projects but I need to get more comfortable with the whole me-as-exerciser idea first. (And a small quibble with Cosgrove’s “fat is the enemy” approach. I am sure this works for some people but one thing I have read about back injuries is that they tend to happen when people lose touch with their bodies. This resonated with me as a pretty much completely sedentary person (I did do my PT exercises faithfully and have not had any recurring problems). The idea of being at battle with my body doesn’t seem like something I want to embrace. I will be happier when I am in better shape and I have lost 15 pounds (realistic goal) or maybe 30 pounds (within the realm of possible but would be less than I have weighed since I was about 12). But I am not sure it would help me to think of fat as the enemy.)</p>
<p>I would very seriously consider that Team Weight Loss (or maybe Team Fitness) class. That’s going to have a personal trainer/coach in a group setting and would almost certainly include some kind of exercise circuit during the classes. I’m guessing that it’s pretty much the group gym class version of the iPod nazi or like that video of the ladies doing the Spartacus workout in stations at Rachael Cosgrove’s gym.</p>
<p>If I’m right, I would probably sign up for whichever one is the entry-level program – probably “weight loss” first, graduating into “fitness”, with the fitness having more aerobic stuff like burpees and mountain climbers like I am just now graduating into. I can’t think of anything that would be impossible with your knee, although you could be limited on squats and lunges – but my knees are OK and I’m still limited (although improving).</p>
<p>amesie:</p>
<p>Just to be clear. The kinds of exercises I’m talking about don’t involve lifting heavy weights. I didn’t touch anything bigger than an 8 pound dumbell for the first six months. I would actually recommend starting out with a pair of 5 pound neoprene dumbbells from WalMart.</p>
<p>The exercise that you must avoid with a history of back problems is the ab crunch. Horrible exercise for the back and pretty much useless for fat loss anyway. Any exercise that rounds the back, bending forward, is one to avoid.</p>
<p>I think what Cosgrove is getting at with his “the fat is the enemy” message is that many people diet and exercise, lose weight on the scale, and actually become less and less fit. They are known as “skinny fat” with the shape of a skinny person, but the fitness of a fat person. This is ultimately self-defeating because their metabolism gets slower and slower as they lose weight and muscle, making it inevitable that they will balloon back up. The key is to lose fat while maintaining, or even increasing, muscle. Metabolism goes up and you burn more calories, even while watching TV, thus making it easier to maintain your weight. Plus, building fitness/muscle tone looks great and feels great.</p>
<p>Keep walking, though. I feel like my walking two or three days a week has been a huge factor in my gaining fitness and losing weight. After smoking for 38 years, I desperately needed the aerobic cardio capacity and endurance that I’ve gained from walking. I was a textbook case of someone so de-conditioned that walking was a essential step to get me up to a baseline where I could handle more.</p>
<p>Fantastic workout. I felt so ripped in my new Brooks workout pants that I was just full of energy. Plus, this is an iPod nazi recovery week so the workout is a little easier. I can do a hard 30 seconds of all the exercises. Two sets, plus four 60/120 intervals on the Airdyne which I did at an aggressive 65 rpms. When it was all over, I threw in three extras --working with some heavier dumbbells (two 19 pounders). Ten bench presses, ten shoulder presses, and ten dumbbell rows on each side. That’s after two sets of lunge walks with shoulder presses and squats with curl/press with two 15 pounders.</p>
<p>NMinn, you know I’ll vote for personal training! With your knee it would be helpful to have someone focus on your specific goals and limitations. My gym is always promoting personal training with special prices, which you can negotiate on renewal. I’m still paying the same really low intro price 7 months into it. Congratulations on winning the prize!</p>
<p>Has any one else tried the Green Giant refrigerated Butternut squash with cinnamon sauce that steams in the bag??? Had it for dinner tonight…Yummy! H and I really liked it! Great time saver.</p>