Should I exercise more?

[CroMagna]

Today I ran a mile non-stop, then walked a five minutes. Then I did 25 minutes of ab work and leg work.

I'm planning to continue this for 2 weeks (switching body parts, so doing arm work etc), at which point, I'll start running 1.5 miles non-stop, then 2 miles non-stop and so on, building up to being able to run 10 miles non-stop.

Do you think what I did today is sufficient to lose a lot of weight?

[padawan in training]

Exercise is a must for healthy living, but people usually change their body composition (lose fat, gain muscle) depending on their eating patterns. How's your diet? That should be the main issue to focus if you want to loose weight. You cannot exercise your way out of a crappy diet.

[newmark]

It's sufficient if you continue exercising for the rest of your life and deal with any dietary problems.
I eat more or less what I feel like, and I exercise quite a lot. The exercise only allows me to eat what I want. It won't make me loose weight by itself. Exercise does make me feel good though.

[CroMagna]

I'm 85% fruitarian, 15% wild card meaning either veggies or lean meats and a glass of wine as a reward for eating like that all day.

[newmark]

Then your diet is good. But it might still be high in calories. If you need to lose weight then you do need to consider them as well. I eat what I want which is mostly natural (ie non-processed) foods, but many of them are high calorie foods too. Hence my need for exercise to remain at a stable weight.

[Bleicke]

Too much sugar. Get around 10% of your calories from carbs, 15% from protein and the rest from animal fat.

Also, distance running won't do much for your health except increase your endurance and maybe lose fat. You won't build muscle or improve strength. I recommend doing some bodyweight exercises and running shorter distances, but faster. More like sprinting. See RossTraining.com for examples.

[Benny21]

Running will make you lose weight and running 10 miles non stop is great too. You know what the bodies of long distance runners look like right? If you want your body to look like that, then long distance running is good for you.

[Holiday]

Hey-

You have to create a caloric deficit to lose weight- exercise won't do it because, while you burn more calories, you also get hungry and eat more food, and perhaps reward yourself for your hard work by treating yourself to something you wouldn't otherwise have eaten. So you have to control your eating, which is true whether you exercise or not.

[FazK]

exercise is always good for you even if you don't loose weight or build muscle you are still building up your discipline and willpower by getting up of your bum on a regular basis

[James81]

Originally Posted by CroMagna

Today I ran a mile non-stop, then walked a five minutes. Then I did 25 minutes of ab work and leg work.

I'm planning to continue this for 2 weeks (switching body parts, so doing arm work etc), at which point, I'll start running 1.5 miles non-stop, then 2 miles non-stop and so on, building up to being able to run 10 miles non-stop.

Do you think what I did today is sufficient to lose a lot of weight?

Hmmm...if you are able to run a mile without stopping (I can't even do that, I'm in decent shape), then I'm willing to bet that you don't need to lose a "lot" of weight.

But what you did seems fine. BTW, two things to help you drop the pounds:

1. Diet...this is the big one.
2. Cardio within in a certain heartrate

You can research these more online to get a feel for what you should do.

[GuideMySpirit]

I think being moderate in everything is the best way to go, don't over exercise or go extreme with what types of foods you eat, try to keep balance and your body will react in the same way.

[Aaron09]

It's sufficient if you back it up with a good diet plan. I follow circuit training and to get better results I use the Bistro MD diet plan. It is a low calorie diet plan prepared by dieticians, and it just makes my life easier when I don’t have to watch what I eat.

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by CroMagna

Today I ran a mile non-stop, then walked a five minutes. Then I did 25 minutes of ab work and leg work.

I'm planning to continue this for 2 weeks (switching body parts, so doing arm work etc), at which point, I'll start running 1.5 miles non-stop, then 2 miles non-stop and so on, building up to being able to run 10 miles non-stop.

Do you think what I did today is sufficient to lose a lot of weight?

If you weigh 400 pounds that is plenty of exercise to lose a lot of weight. If you weigh 90 pounds, you do not need to lose any weight.

[EPIC Supplements]

The American collage of sports medicine advices that the minimum amount of exercise that needs to be done to maintain health is 30 minutes of moderate intensity everyday. However a more realistic and more ideal amount of exercise is 1 hour of moderate to intense exercise 4 -5 times a week incorporating both cardiovascular and resistance based exercise.

[whatinspiresu]

CroMagna,

I immediately wanted to ask if you could stick to this regimen, but then i read you were 85% fruitarian and dropped it immediately

I'm definitely no expert, but when you run are you sweating (a lot)??? when you do your ab workout are your muscles burning? (25 minutes, i hope so!!!)

I have lost weight from exercise twice in my life. Both times, sweating was the common factor.

In college, my metabolism was tested at the brink of normal. I ate the tiniest portions, god I was starving by the end of the day. and power walked for 2 hours a day. For weeks, nothing happened until - after my walks, I went back to my dorm and danced for 15 minutes and SWEAT! a lot!

Later, I worked at UPS throwing boxes around. I sweat my butt off for 5 hours a night. I ate like a pig and my pants were still falling off.

And one time I had really nice muscle tone - when my son was a baby, Id carry him until my shoulder muscles would burn. I quickly was very proud to wear sleeveless shirts.

I don't know what your metabolism is like, but mine is pretty slow. While researching how to boost it, I found this method...

After a 5 minute warmup, do your running in intervals. Run for 1 minute, walk for 5. Again, run for 1 minute, walk for 5. Keep it up for 30 minutes. I dont know why it worked, but it worked. I lost weight fast. My muscle tone improved. and I felt great! Im not a runner, so it was so much better than what I felt like after 10 minutes of straight running.

About.com has a REALLY good calorie counter tool. Enter your info: how much exercise you get, your target weight, your target date. It tells you how many calories you need each day to reach your goal. Then head over to the daily log to count your calories, keeping them within your goals limit... I just did this 3 months ago with great results. I was so lazy, and I lost weight really easily just counting calories. Calorie Counter Database - Free Online Diet Program

All that exercise and such a good diet, id be surprised if you didnt lose weight! Yet, you never know until you try.

Best of luck to you!!!
Trisha