I'm a newbie....Kinda!

[leftsox]

I used fitday a long time ago and had a little success here and thought since my butt has grown again that I would give it one last go.

I am a SAHM of four boys, the youngest starts school this fall! (yeah!) and right now I do not get any exercise at all, the boys are too much to take to a gym and I just can't afford gas money to go to the trails yet, We also live right off a highway with no sidewalks and I am on the third floor meaning if my butt was to jump around the neighbors may complain!LOL we do have a gym on site at the apt, however we are right back to four boys in a small area, bored and hyper! Not a good mix, SO my husband fixed my bike tire and I go for a ride every Sunday for about 30min. After school starts I will be going everyday but Saturday (that's my hubby's football day).

The online program says I need over 1100 in calories to lose two pounds a week by Feb of next year. I am curious though to know if I should compensate for my weekly bike ride or not, they don't really give you the option of weekend activity only and since I won't be upping my activity until school starts in about five weeks. I will change the activity level after I can bike everyday I am just curious what to do until then. I don't want to enter into the storage mode! My mom and I both have weight problems except she eats way too little and I eat too much!

So do I eat a little extra those days OR let the calories drop off?

[GameGal]

If you are trying to lose weight, then you need to remember that 3500 calories equals 1 lb. So if you were to lose 2 lbs a week, you would have to find your basic metabolism ( how many calories you burn by just your daily routine) and then lower it by 1000 a day from that. You will then lose 2 lbs a week. Since that is just from your basic sedentary lifestyle, once you start biking, see how many minutes you do that and then on the day you do that, you can re-add those calories back into the diet if you want, however, if you are not starving I persoanlly wouldnt add it back knowing it would only help me lose the weight. Any exercize will help to tone and shape your body/behind in addition to losing those pounds.

[myrasalman]

I am newbie-kind of as well. i am really struggling to eat healthy as well. i don't have much time to do exercise in my life so I have started a very unhealthy lifestyle. I am looking to loose about 25 pounds.

[almeeker]

Let me get this straight, you have four boys, four, and you can't get any exercise? How is that possible? I have 3 girls and spend at least an hour everyday just cleaning up after them. It's not uncommon to find me wearing wrist/ankle weights and headphones, shaking my booty while doing all that blinking housework my kids left for me. I have a friend that gets her workout by imitating her kids, 15 minutes/kid x 4 kids = 1 hour. Her kids LOVE it, they call it "monkey mommy time", but hers are all pretty little. How about taking the kids to the park with a soccer ball and boot it around, heck pushing kids on the swing is a workout, or to the beach, skate park, swimming pool, believe there is a lot of cheap/free activity to be had out there. We actually walk all over the place, walking is really good exercise, not just for you but for the kiddies.

From my own experience you can't really get in shape with a single 30-minute workout/week. I used to go twice a week for an hour and never gained any ground on getting in shape, I had to up it to 60 minutes/day 6-7 days/week. My grandmother has a stand for her bike, that turns it into a stationary bike, she rides it all winter in her guest bedroom. Do you have any place where you can set your bike up and get that 30 minute ride in more often? If you live on the 3rd floor, you could run sprints up and down the steps. You might also post a sign in the complex, maybe another lady has the same issue and you could swap kids and each get in a workout at the gym. Just a thought. Good luck, I completely understand how hard it is to workout with children hanging off your legs.