Workouts for apple shaped bodies

[Miters36 0]

Hello all!

So I was sleeved March 15th of this year and and lost 97lbs in 5.5 months...(I didn't lose anything in August...my own fault..kinda took a break). I've been walking for about 3-5x a week for exercise but haven't for the last 3 weeks or so due to rain and wind(yes i'm a woose),. I want to do something different but am not sure where to start and what exercises to focus on. I am apple shaped and carry almost ALL of my weight on my belly. ugh! My upper arms,thighs,and butt(what little butt i even have!) have become flabby and I have about 38lbs to go (almost all in the tummy).

What I want to know is ...What exercises should I now focus on? Cardio of course and strength training to tone up the flabby parts. But how much cardio? How often? When to throw in weights/bands? During the workout? Alternate days with strength training and cardio? What's a good workout?

(ps. I'd rather go to a gym than workout at home)

Please let me know what others have do/done that works/worked. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

[wannasleeve 10]

I was sleeved with dr kelly on 09/02 and like you I carry most all my weight in my stomach. My legs and arms are small, and my butt if you could call it that (lol) not really much there at all.

I remember when I wanted to tone up and lose weight I worked on the stair master and elipictical those were so good for toning. Plus I use to love to run on the treadmill and my belly fat seem to melt away.

I am just now trying to get back to the gym every other day, because I am in no way ready for running. I will have to work at that, but I have never seen the weight fall of so fast as I did when I got up to running.

Each day I would run for as long as I could and then rest and before I knew it I could run for an entire hour. Talk about over all toning that made everything tight.

At a year of working on the treadmill I was up to running at 7speed for an hour, wow that felt good. Then I became pg, had my son and haven't been back to the gym consistently in 4 years.

Also, gym people tell me to add 15 minutes of weights everyday from the beginning, but for some reason I just couldn't get into weights. All though they really do the body good. I just found it boring.

but seriously running will melt your belly. Let me know how it goes...

Good luck!

Laura

Hello all!

So I was sleeved March 15th of this year and and lost 97lbs in 5.5 months...(I didn't lose anything in August...my own fault..kinda took a break). I've been walking for about 3-5x a week for exercise but haven't for the last 3 weeks or so due to rain and wind(yes i'm a woose),. I want to do something different but am not sure where to start and what exercises to focus on. I am apple shaped and carry almost ALL of my weight on my belly. ugh! My upper arms,thighs,and butt(what little butt i even have!) have become flabby and I have about 38lbs to go (almost all in the tummy).

What I want to know is ...What exercises should I now focus on? Cardio of course and strength training to tone up the flabby parts. But how much cardio? How often? When to throw in weights/bands? During the workout? Alternate days with strength training and cardio? What's a good workout?

(ps. I'd rather go to a gym than workout at home)

Please let me know what others have do/done that works/worked. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

[RickM 1,753]

There is not a lot that one can do (outside of infomercials,) to target fat loss - it pretty much comes off in the same way it got put on. Walking, while still good for your circulaton, is probably not doing much for you anymore calorically; some docs don't count it as exercise after 2-3 months. I don't walk much anymore (at least as "exercise") simply because it has been too hot and boring around home. I still do when I travel to the central Cal coast where there are nice places to walk and hike, but I noticed somewhere in month 3-4 that when walking as fast as I could without breaking into a jog/run (which the knees still don't like) that I could barely get my heartrate over 100 while a couple months before a brisk walk would easily get it up into the 130 range where it should be for me for good cardio exercise (that typical 80% of max heartrate range.) This is something that can easily sneak up on you - it didn't "feel" like it was that much easier, but my cardio system could sure tell the difference! Swimming will still give me a good workout, but I do have to work harder at it than I used to.

Weight/strength training should certainly be part of the program. Cardio exercise will burn fat while you're doing it, while increasing muscle mass burns fat all the time by way of increased metabolic rate. Strength training typically requires a day of rest between workouts, so I usually alternate days of strength and cardio, though one can also do strength work on your upper body one day and lower body the next - so a shorter session along with some cardio each day is workable too, and may be less boring. I typically swim for about an hour (or hike, up hill, both ways!) on those days that I do cardio and work the weights for an hour to an hour and a half, mostly concentrating on toning/endurance routines rather than outright muscle building as I already mostly have enough muscle but want to preserve what I have and build endurance to improve specific functions and activities.

There may not be a lot you can do about the flabbiness that comes from the rapid weight loss - building some muscle underneath can help, but in most places there was a lot more fat than there will ever be muscle (particularly since muscle is denser than fat.) I don't think it is possible to build up one's abs enough to replace all the fat that was there! Unfortunately, a nip and tuck is what is usually called for to fix that problem for most of us.

On the other end of the equation, how is your diet holding up - sticking close to original weight loss levels or has it been creeping up? Our metabolism and calorie burning ability slows as we lose weight, particularly if we lose a lot of muscle mass with the fat, at the same time as the exercise gets easier and burns less and our intake tends to increase as eating gets easier and we get more comfortable with things - sometimes we can lose that calorie deficit that drives the weight loss (which you realize may have been what happened to you in August - or it may have just been a stall.)

Good luck with it - simply realizing that you have the problem is a big part of getting around it and continuing to your goal.