Exercise Question??!!

Okay, so I'm back into the groove of exercising ... hoping to stay that way! I walk about 2 miles every lunch hour (30-45 minutes), and then 1-2 miles every evening (30-45 minutes) at a moderate pace! I'm out of breath, but can still hold a conversation. I try to do this 4-5 times a week and then 3 times a week after my walk I to arms (2 sets of 15 reps various exercises), abs (50 each crunches and side crunches) and leg (I dont know what the exercise I do is called, but I do 50 reps of it). Is that enough? Should I be doing more or rather run than walk? I stopped doing my treadmill since its so nice outside, but I get out of breath alot faster jogging outside than I do on the treadmill, so now I'm walking AND I can walk longer if I don't add in jogging. What do you think??

Anything you can do for exercise is great! The one thing I would ask you is if you are doing any weight-bearing exercise. Lifting weights and building muscle is a sure fire way to eat away at the extra weight. Muscle burns more fat. Other than that, girlie, you are doing great!! Keep up the good work. Nickie

Thanks for the advice Nickie!! I have started lifting 5 pound weights doing various arm exercises, but only do that 2-3 times a week. We have exercise TV through Comcast and browsing through that channel I saw that have some workouts that have weight training in them. I'm gonna try that as of next week and see how it goes. As always, I'm comparing myself so that's why I wondered by the exercise! BTW, your still looking awesome ... keep at it girl!!

Marlize- Sounds like you are dong great-- one question though-- are you sweating? Because you are in great shape, you may need to up the ante a bit. Switch it up -- It seemed to work for me. I was doing the elliptical religously and then to break a plateau I started incorporating spinning, dance classes etc. If you want to take advantage of the weather, up it to a race walk when you walking--- try to get down to a 15 minute mile when you are walking; or do a combo walk / jog. Or take the bike out. Remember, you want your heartbeat to be in the 'aerobic zone' You are younger than I am so your target is different, but for me that is 118-142 beats a minute. That is your weight loss target; higher and your anaerobic (building cardio conditioning) lower may not get you jetting higher. I also agree with Nicki

Hi girl, I sweat if I walk by myself during lunchtime, but there is a girl that walks with me 3 days a week and she is short so she can't keep up that much so usually I have to slow down and then I don't sweat much or at all. But in the evenings, you betcha and when I get home my feet hurt like crazy. I have been having problems with blisters and calouses (sp?) since I started exercising in March even though I bought new socks and some proper cross training shoes (New Balance). When the blisters start acting up while I walk, I gotta slow down though ... N e wys, I try to walk really fast and maybe I should try jogging outside for 2 minutes and walk for 5 minutes and so on until I can just jog. I dont have a bike so wont be able to do that. I heard my heart rate should be between 125 and 145 beats. I'll just keep on exercising and hopefully I'll be closer to goal by my 1 year anniversary ... 2 months and two weeks to loose 35lbs!!

Sounds good to me! C