The Exercise Enigma - both genders

[atomic sagebrush]

It depends on how much weight you have to lose. If you need to take quite a bit off, sooner is better. Otherwise, 6-8 weeks should ensure that you're losing some muscle before you sway.

[Callmecrazy]

I have a question about Pilates. I need to lose weight but don't feel that I can jump into an extreme cardio workout. Would Pilates hurt my girl sway?

[janie]

atomic, what about losing muscle? how long should i not be exercising before i am comfortable swaying and not have it be useless? i have been a hard core exerciser for 10 years now, but i dont know how long until i am flabby enough to lose the testosterone
thanks!!

[pink carol]

Doesn't Pilates build muscle? It certainly works your core muscles and legs! Besides, Pilates isn't cardio.
What about elliptical machines? Should we drop the arm work with the row? Would that arm workout build muscle?

[atomic sagebrush]

I have a question about Pilates. I need to lose weight but don't feel that I can jump into an extreme cardio workout. Would Pilates hurt my girl sway?

Pilates can build muscle and so I don't recommend it.

[atomic sagebrush]

Doesn't Pilates build muscle? It certainly works your core muscles and legs! Besides, Pilates isn't cardio.
What about elliptical machines? Should we drop the arm work with the row? Would that arm workout build muscle?

As long as you're losing weight, it's hard to be building muscle per se, but you CAN be preserving more muscle than you'd be losing otherwise.

I actually think an elliptical might be an option for those who are SUPER fit and may have to add in some arm motions (when I was in my best shape, I had to do something with arms or I didnt' get enough of a workout.) Just be sure you're losing weight.

[atomic sagebrush]

atomic, what about losing muscle? how long should i not be exercising before i am comfortable swaying and not have it be useless? i have been a hard core exerciser for 10 years now, but i dont know how long until i am flabby enough to lose the testosterone
thanks!!

There's no way for me to know, for certain, but as long as you've lost at least a little weight and stopped exercising, your T will be lower than it was. Your muscle mass starts shrinking almost right away once you stop exercising, and weight loss will only speed up the process.

[pink carol]

As to the cardio thing, is it better to do, let's say 60 minutes of elliptical at the same pace, or could we also alternate with one of the cardio dance dvds which are so much fun but, of course, problem is that the 60 minutes include warming-up and cooling-down, that is the pace is not so steady? I hate cardio!!

[atomic sagebrush]

You need to be exercising hard for the full 60 minutes. What I used to do when I was an insane exerciser (was not TTC at this time) was that I would have two DVD's at the ready, and then pop in the second DVD when the cooldown started on the first one and skip the second warmup, so I could get in the full 60 minutes of intense exercise before I cooled down.

[pink carol]

Atomic, I definitely hate cardio. Can't quite consider the option. Some girls have swayed pink successfully as couch potatoes. But I am not quite the sedentary type. I walk ten minutes to take my boy to school, ten minutes back home, sometimes twice if another mum doesn't pick him up. I walk up and down stairs all day as I go about the homework. I do my yoga routine (about one hour), trying to stick to yin yoga (mostly stretching) and avoiding kundalini which works the muscles (especially abs). I do my shopping on foot, and walk about town with my boy now and then. Is all that some sort of moderate activity or would you call that couch potato?
Also, if I lose a lot of weight with the diet alone, should I include the crazy cardio routine or do they sort of exclude each other in case of important weight loss?