If I work out at least 3 times a week for around an hour-how long will it be before I see noticable results?

Question

I am doing at least 20-30 mins of cardio (treadmill, elipticle, etc...) and some weight training. I'm about 10-15 lbs overweight and really just need to firm up mostly. (I'm 5'4" and about 137 lbs, I would like to be 120-125 on wedding day, but am more worried about not being flabby and being more toned-lookin the best is more important than the number of lbs...muscle weighs more!) I am hoping to be in a lot better shape for my March 24 wedding, any hope? How long will it take for my body to show the "fruit of my labor?"

Answer 1

for weight training you see strength results each week. They become visible in the mirror after about 6 weeks. Otherwise you see results at the scale each week or when your pants fit different each week.

Since you are only a little over weight, if you lift weights every week until march, you will be buch firmer and sexier by then. Just make sure you slowly increase the amount of weight you are lifting. Don't worry about getting too buff. It takes years over very intential buff seeking weight training for that to happen.

Answer 2

This such a loaded question :) Your results are going to be based on several different factors. Your age plays a huge role, your overall condition, and how long you have already been working out, what kind of routine are you currently on and last but not least, your nutritional intake (type and amount).

Obviously the younger you are the quicker it is to tone up. At 25 I could slim down, tone up and look like a million in few short months, however, at 45 that is a whole different story.

It has been my experience that you begin to see results with in the first few weeks. The best way to messure your success is to take your messurements at the beginning and then every two weeks take another set of messurements. You will notice I did not say weight. By the end of March you could lose a couple of dress sizes, look like a Princess, and never meet your "15" pound goal. Muscle weighs much more than fat and looks much better too.

I am 5'4" myself and have worked out off and on my whole life. You will look a thousand times better at 5'4" & 130 buffed, than you will at 120 skinny & drawn looking.

Cardio is great and is needed, however, it is the weghts that will do the job you are looking for. Weight bearing working outs will burn calories long after the work out, much longer than Cardio. Weights will tone and define faster than Cardio as well. Free weights are much much better than weight mechines. Free weights also tone the stabelizer muscle better and faster than mechines.

Don't forget your food intake. Eating is essential. If you are not eating enough you may find it difficult to lose the unwanted pounds. The type of foods are as important and the amount.

would suggest to invest in a personal trainer to get you started on the proper track to a beautiful body for your big day. If money is an issue, take a little from your wedding budget that you would have spent on non-necesseties and spend it on the main attraction, YOU. You may say "But I need the money for the cake!" Your husband-to-be will say "You are the Cake!".....on your wedding day.

God bless and best wishes for your wedding. Hope this information helped.

Answer 3

The most amount of pounds that anybody should lose per week is 2. Anymore, and it is considered unhealthy, and will most likely be brought right back. You have 11 weeks until March 24, so you should be fine is you want to lose 17 pounds. However, 17 pounds comes up to a total of 59500 calories lost total. That means you have to lose around 772 calories a day (this means extra calories). Go to this link, (http://primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/jumpsite/calculat.htm) enter you weight (in pounds) and the how long you exercise, and it will give you an estimate of how many calories you will burn in that time. (hint: I would try over an hour of exercise to try and burn an extra 772 calories). Then I would pick an activity that you like, and stick with it. It may not necessarily have to be 772 calories burned or above, because you are already working out, but I would say you would definitely have to work a little harder to get into that toned shape. It's hard, keep at it!

Answer 4

Good for you for working out! The benefits are amazing. Your best results come from a combination of aerobic exercise (cardio) and resistance training (weight lifting).

I walk 8-10 miles a day, every day. I also kickbox 3 times a week. I lift free weights 3 times a week. And I do Pilates 3 times a week. Yes, it's a lot of time & dedication. But the results are well worth it.

Your diet should consist of lean protein, whole grains, fruits and veggies. Plenty of water to drink.

Your results will vary. Some people see noticable results after 8 weeks or so. Others sooner. Others take longer. Just keep going and never stop :-)

Answer 5

well i wanted to loose weight to, and so i worked out everyday but fri-sun. and i walked on an incline on the treadmill for 30 mins, then did5-10 mins on the elipticle..then did lifting for my arms and legs and of course abs. That all worked great, but the most important part is having a great breakfast, like oatmeal, eggs, something healthy cause whatever you put in your mouth first thing in the morning is what goes right to those fatty cells. So eat healthier and hit the gym and you will see great result, trust me i have been doing it for 4 years now, but i did start out just like you, but i was 140lbs. Good luck

Answer 6

Took me only a couple weeks. Lost 25 lbs quickly, then settled in on a good weight. Holidays came, with the goodies that come with them, and 10 came back on.

Back to the battle!

Answer 7

with or without exercise!!

standard weight female 1"=800gms=1.76lbs
Fat%-Male for you age group -female:26%
Replacing with two meals with optimum protin,low low sugar, lowfat, low carbohydrate nutrition with other essentail supplements, and having one meal of your choice ,along with one liter of water for every 44lbs would give the desired results -1 to 2lbs per week weight loss.

Answer 8

if you are seriously eating right, you should see results in 4 or 5 weeks.

Answer 9

I'd say about three months - so should just about be OK.

Congratulations!

Answer 10

You seem to be doing the right thing in terms of exercise. How's your diet?

Let's start by clarifying a couple of things:
1. weight is not the best indicator of your health (because muscle weighs more than fat, two people of the same height can weigh the same and be drastically different in terms of health).
2. Body fat percentage is a true indicator.
3. Fat is burned by reducing overall caloric value.
4. If you burn more than you consume, you will lose fat (lower body fat percentage)
5. If you exercise and strength train, you can burn more calories and replace fat with muscle which will allow you to burn calories even when you rest.

If you are trying to lower your body fat percentage there are literally hundreds of ideas out there. In my opinion, the best way, which has been proven time and time again, is a two part method: Eat right and exercise. First, exercise is a no-brainer. You have to burn more calories than you take in for exercise to be considered exercise. How you do it is worth another answer all to itself and besides, you are already doing it! So, that brings us to the Eating Right part. If you understand how your body works, you've got a head start on the world. Food is fuel for the body. Once you've accepted that concept as more important than the idea that food is entertainment, then the rest will be relatively easy. If you are American, and I assume you are, the Nutrition Facts label that you find on all foods bought in the U.S. are the next thing you need to understand. Go grab something from your kitchen (i.e. jar of peanut butter or a bag of chips...anything with a nutrition label). OK, yeah you need vitamins and minerals and all that. But focus on these three items: FAT, PROTEIN, and CARBOHYDRATES.
Let's take these one at a time:

FAT is basically divided into good fats and bad fats. The body needs good fats (mono- and poly-unsaturateds). You'll find these in stuff like olives and avocados where the bad fat is minimal if not nonexistent. The bad fats are your saturated and trans fats that you'll find in meats and oils. If you are trying to lose weight, keep these to an absolute minimum. My suggestion (based on a 1500-2000 calorie diet) is to limit yourself to no more than 15g of saturated fat per day. This is hard to do if you're used to eating fast food. It's also hard to do if you drink whole milk, eat cheese (even the 2% variety), and eat fried foods. All of these are high in bad fats. The good news is that you can substitute your diet to eat the very things you like to eat but with better ingredients. If you eat cheese, buy fat free. If you drink milk, buy skim. Slowly take yourself down from whole milk or 2% to 1% before going skim/fat free if the transition is too radical to do all at once. If you eat a lot of ground beef, use the extra lean variety (96% fat free/4% fat), or substitute lean ground turkey instead. Do whatever you have to do to get the bad fat grams down to less than 15 per day.

PROTEIN: The building block of nutrition (aside from your vitamins and minerals) is protein. You need it strengthen your muscles and it will be essential with your exercise routine. Without protein, you can't build muscle tone or lean body mass. And guess what? Just having lean body mass (muscles) allows your body to burn more calories even when you are sleeping. Therefore, you are able to lose weight (bad weight, that is) just by sleeping. But, you have to exercise!! Don't forget that. You can find foods that are high in protein but also high in saturated fat, so be careful. Stick to poultry (chicken, turkey), fish (tuna is a great source), and beans. Don't fry your meats because if you do, you just added a bunch of bad fat to your otherwise healthy protein filled meal. Instead, grill, broil, or bake. You can do this! Don't forget to exercise to exponentially reap the rewards of consuming protein.

CARBS. In my opinion, the no-carb diet is crap, because you need carbs for energy, especially because you are exercising! That's right, you can't forget you are supposed to be exercising. The trick is choosing the good carbs. You'll see on your nutrition label Total Carbohydrates and Sugars. Sugars should be kept to a minimum and should be avoided within hours of going to sleep. The calories associated with them get stored (for energy) but are not easily burned when it comes time to burn them. Therefore, it's harder to lose the weight associated with them. That's why it's not good to eat lots of candy, cookies, and ice cream that have a lot of sugar. The other kinds of carbs (complex carbohydrates) are essential. You can get these from grains and potatoes. Good stuff!!

Now that you have a brief understanding of these three nutrition components, time to get to it. Not as easy as it sounds? That's because, you're human. If you treat your body right (and I mean very right, by limiting your saturated and trans fats, limiting your sugar carbs, and eating plenty of protein), then you deserve a day when you can eat whatever you want. The body has cravings and you should be able to fulfill these cravings IF you can stand to wait until the end of the week. I call this one day of decadence your cheat day. After 12 weeks of exercising and eating right in this manner, you'll get to the point where you don't even crave the bad stuff anymore.

For more on this method, I encourage you to check out www.bodyforlife.com. The principals I wrote about are spelled out in greater detail there. Consult your doctor before drastically changing any diet or exercise routine. Good luck!