One more question...

Newbie

Hey guys! Thanks for all your encouragement on my other post...one more question though...Since I am i very inactive person and probably have only worked out maybe once or twice every month or so for the past year, do you guys know what kind of changes I should expect in my body? I'm not overweight by any means, I just have all the normal things such as love handles, loose arms, etc. that drive me crazy!! What changes did you guys see in your body and over how long did those changes take place? Thanks so much again for all your encouragement!!
meagan

Frightened Inmate #2

It will depend on three things.

a) how much you exercise - Don't go crazy and start spending 20 hrs. a week in the gym. You'll either burn out or injure yourself. Gradually build up to your goals. Conversly, don't only hit the gym/run/whatever once a week and expect fast results.
b) how closely you watch your diet - Volumes have been written on this subject, so I'll just say that you'll see results faster with a balanced diet than you will with Snickers for breakfast and ice cream for lunch and dinner.
c) genetics - Women tend to store excess fat on their hips and butt. Men tend to store it in their gut. You can't spot reduce the fat, but you can reduce the overall fat. Genetics determines where the fat deposits are stored and which fat deposits are burned off first. No creme or ab-balster is going to change that.

PRESIDENT

Excelent

I agree with what has already been said.

It all depends on the time you put into your workouts

Member

I don't know about everyone but for me, some of the first changes I noticed were overall awareness, I just seem to be more awake and my reflexes seems to be a little quicker. The body started to firm up and I just felt much better after 1-2 months of running. I would think for each person it is different but that is what I saw.

Member

I never started running for weight loss, but i had abit off a beer belly. After about 3 months of running and eating less fat and sugars. I lost about a stone and a half..and noticed a general toning....escepically in the legs, i do a few sit up and press ups etc to tone my upper body.....but thats because im vain. Basically running and eating well will give you all u need to tone up, and small calorie deficiency each day.

Master of Prissface

Patience is really the key, too. I tried not to focus on the scale but more, like RB said, on how I felt, and of course the fact that my pants were getting looser without me stressing about it. Enjoy your new lifestyle for what it is, fun, healthy and good for you, and the results will show much faster than if you worry about them. Not saying you are, but just saying what worked for me. The times I was really looking for improvement I saw far less.

Administrator

I think PH sums it up best. Maybe another factor to throw in after genetics is age. Though not the same for all people, personally I find it harder to lose weight the older I get. I've got those spots mentioned above as well (love handles...sheesshhhh...who gave them that name. I don't love them)and finding they aren't going away too quickly. Over all body fat has decreased though, so that's a good thing. Too bad I couldn't tell my body which parts to start losing the fat... Wink

Member

I reiterate all the comments above. One thing which you should'nt do is expect too much. Don't look at your mirror everyday. Its not gonna work that way. If you run for a month or two and make sure you have an acceptable calorie deficiency you will definetely see a difference, both in terms of how you feel and look. Also remember that you will lose muscle with fat, its a fact how and much of this happens depends on your body.

I hate to say this in a running forum, I hope i dont offend anybody. I love Biking as much as Running and it can help too. Cross training can not only be fun but the nature of biking is that you usually bike over a longer time and your HR doesnt reach the highs of running unless you are doing hills. But beware that entirely different muscle groups are exercised, and you have to make sure your bike fits you. One thing that helped my psyche was that you usually do more miles of biking before you stop and it kinda adds to your running confidence saying 'hey if I bike that far I can run a lot more than I used to' wrt distance and time Wink

Good luck running.
-D

Member

Excelent

Member

Excelent

Member

Cool. Does anyone know what the distances are? Or do they vary between competitions?

Member

Well it is actaully Duathlon and not Duathalon... who said I couldnt spell
Wink

. Well Some of the ones I did were 3-10-3 the longest was a 7-18-6 miles. They vary depending on the event. It is a lot of fun. I do not know where you are, Mike G, but usually a lot of tri's do duathlons too.

Just as a prelude there are various adventure/fun bike-run races such as the muddy buddy. These are over a 10K course where you bike and run. This might give you more of an idea. check out muddybuddy.com. I did this a few weeks back and enjoyed it a lot.
-D