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want2befit2010

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O.K., so here's the short version of my story. A couple weeks ago I found out I have type 2 diebetes. The doctor put me on a low dose of Metformin, but she also said with diet and excercise I will probably be able to control my sugar levels without medication. Diet and exercise meaning she wants me to lose 50-65 pounds.

So I guess this is where I need your opinions. DH is VERY supportive. He bought me a stationary bike, a treadmill, dumbells from 2-35 pounds, a squat rack, and a barbell with 100 pounds in weights. I have STS and Chalean Extreme. I ordered Brazil Butt Lift and it will be here Wednesday. I know you must be asking by now what the problem is, right? Well, I'm not sure where or with what to begin.

Cardio's set, I'm going to start with walking on the treadmill and biking and work my way up to the C25K program.

So for the weight lifting should I do a 6 month rotation with STS and then move on to Chalean? Chalean doesn't seem as difficult as STS, but I'm afraid to start off lifting heavy like she recommends. I don't want to build muscle over the fat. Does that make sense or am I misunderstanding the whole concept of heavy lifting?

If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading. Any and all opinions are appreciated.
 
If your diet is in a good place, lifting heavy weight will help you burn fat. Don't be afraid to go heavy!

BTW, your DH sounds awesome!! :)
 
How long has it been since you've consistently worked out?

If you haven't worked out in a long time I'd say STS is too advanced for you right now. You need to start slowly and get into a workout routine. Get your body use to lifting again.

I don't know much about Chaleane Extreme or the Brazilian Butt Lift, but my guess is they probably aren't as hard as Cathe's STS. Maybe start there.

Can you give more details.
 
Thanks, Gayle! My husband is awsome.

So should I go with Chalean Extreme or STS. I think I just want someone to say, "Here's what you're going to do on this day. No questions just do it."
 
I've been working out off and on (mainly off) for about a year. Usually I workout on Monday and Tuesday and by Wednesday I'm sore and give up. Then by Friday my muscles aren't sore anymore and I tell myself on Monday I'm going to start again. This has been my rotating pattern for a very long time. It's very embarrasing, but there you have it!

I've done disc 1 and 2 of STS Meso 1 and really enjoyed them. The leg discs are way to hard, so if I were to do STS I'd have to find other things to do for legs.

I guess I should mention I have other Cathe DVD's too, I just thought since dh bought me STS, Chalean, and BBL I should use them.

Thanks for your help!
 
Well I'm not saying you shouldn't do STS, but I do know it was set up for advanced exercises. If you decide to do it, you'll really have to pace yourself and just go light with the weights until your body can handle more. You don't want to risk injury jumping into something to quickly.

If you have Cathe's Legs & Glutes or Butts & Guts, I'd suggest using them in place of the STS legs, although those are pretty challenging too. Just pace yourself and don't stop working out just becasue you are sore. Soreness shows that you've done something constructive. Drink lots of water, that will help your muscles.
 
Fitnessfreak,

So, in your opinion what do you think I should be doing then. Here's a list of the other DVD's I have:
Butt's and Gutts
Legs and Glutes/Kick Punch Crunch
Super Sets/Push Pull
Muscle Max
Gym Style (ALL 3)
High Step Circuit
Body Fusion
Bootcamp/Muscle Endurance
Low Impact Circuit
and Kick Max

I think my biggest obstacle right now is the fact that I hate to do legs so much. I really need to suck it up and just do it even if I don't like it.

OMG! You'd think with all the workout stuff I have I'd weigh about 100 pounds.
 
I would do Brazil Butt lift or Physique 57 instead of Cathe legs. Less dread factor and I bulk up on lower body if lift heavy. Use STS for upper body and substitute for legs. I also use the floor exercises from several of your Cathe dvd's for legs. The nonweighted ones (or just ankle weights) work for me. Unfortunately diet is the key.
 
I think you'd do well starting off slowly with total body workouts and cardio with a day of rest during the week. The first 3-4 weeks maybe do:

Day1: Cardio (bike or incline walk on treadmill)
Day 2: Push Pull
Day 3: Cardio (bike or incline walk on treadmill)
Day 4: Yoga (or Stretch segments of DVDs) or Rest
Day 5: Muscle Max
Day 6: Cardio (bike or incline walk on treadmill)
Day 7: Rest

After that, re-evaluate how you feel and maybe sub in split weight work (Gym Styles or Chalean Xtreme) for the full body workouts but make sure to get your cardio in (which will help with weight loss). HTH.

Kathy G
 
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want2befit2010 said:
Fitnessfreak,

So, in your opinion what do you think I should be doing then. Here's a list of the other DVD's I have:
Butt's and Gutts
Legs and Glutes/Kick Punch Crunch
Super Sets/Push Pull
Muscle Max
Gym Style (ALL 3)
High Step Circuit
Body Fusion
Bootcamp/Muscle Endurance
Low Impact Circuit
and Kick Max

I think my biggest obstacle right now is the fact that I hate to do legs so much. I really need to suck it up and just do it even if I don't like it.

OMG! You'd think with all the workout stuff I have I'd weigh about 100 pounds.
Click to expand...

I suggest you do a rotation like this for about 4 weeks and see how you do with it:

Day 1 - Total body workout (like Muscle Max or ME)
Day 2 - 30 minutes of cardio - your choice
Day 3 - Circuit workout like Bootcamp or HSC
Day 4 - 30 minutes of cardio
Day 5 - Rest
Day 6 - Total Body workout
Day 7 - 30 minutes of cardio

This might be a better way to start. Get your body use to the workouts, take your time and don't get frustrated. Pause the video if you have too, there is not shame in that. You will be sore and you will be tired, but if you continue the journey it will pay off. You will lose pounds and inches and your energy will come back. Just be patient.
 
If you haven't been doing lifting for a while, don't do Chalene Extreme. Her moves are tricky to get the form right and you are very likely to hurt yourself. I recommend going with full body workouts for a while, then moving to splits when it's time to get serious about strength work. Cathe always has better form than anyone else out there, so I would go with her. STS rocks and is meant to be worked at a calculation of your own 1RM, so I think it would work for anyone at any level, as long as someone was very careful to follow Cathe's form and tips.

I like Fitness Freak's rotation; I would just add in some regular pace walking every day to give you a solid foundation of low intensity movement.
 
Thank you so much ladies!

Can any of you explain the logic behind full body workouts first and then working into splits? I'm not sure if I'm understanding correctly. Are you using lighter weights when doing full body workouts and burning more calories, thus a beginner who needs to lose weight should do full body. Or is it that when you do splits you lift heavier which is bad for a beginner ?

Sorry for all the questions I'm just trying to understand the difference between when to use full body workouts and when to do splits.
 
I know! He's really an awsome guy.

I know it's stupid, but deep down he feels a little responsible for my weight gain. (His words, not mine) He's super skinny (6'3 170 pounds) and can eat whatever he wants, whenever he wants and doesn't gain an ounce. However, he hates to eat alone, so whenever he gets a craving for something we eat together. This eating pattern, along with my lack of exercise, led me to gain 60 pounds in 2 years and now diebetes.

Like I said, we both realize now that this type of life style has to stop in order for me to get healthy again. Hopefully, it's not to late and the diebetes issues can be reversed.
 
I just wanted to add that you should definitely focus on your diet. Most people agree that to lose weight, the attention you give to clean eating and healthy portions is even more important than exercise (though I would never sacrifice one for the other!).

And particularly with diabetes, what you eat great affects your blood sugar. If you haven't seen a nutritionist yet, I highly recommend that both you and your husband do. You'll really want to incorporate plenty of protein to keep your blood sugar stable, along with nutrient-dense carbs. (My daughter has Type 1, so I know a bit about this!) If you will live a healthy lifestyle, you'll avoid the complications that can come with diabetes, many of which can be avoided.

You can do this!
 
At the moment, you want to focus on calorie burn while being careful to not lose muscle when losing weight. Full body workouts, particularly ones that use a lot of exercises that work more than one muscle at a time, like squats, push ups and the like, burn more calories than splits. Using the larger muscle groups like legs and back burn more calories than smaller muscle groups than biceps and triceps. Putting them together burns more calories than just working muscles in isolation.

Circuit workouts are great for burning lots of calories and helping you maintain muscle mass - although you won't really grow much muscle with them. To grow muscle, you really need to focus on lower reps, higher weight and separate out your cardio.

I'm not saying this is the best way to do things over the long haul, but to lose body fat and not lose muscle, this is a better way to go for now. And of course, obsessing over your diet for a year or so is really helpful too.

One other note to say that exercise will really really affect your blood sugar and it will probably take a while to figure out how different types of exercise at different intensities will affect you.
 
hokypoky, I have an appointment with the nutritionist next week. In the meantime the doctor has me eating 30-45 carbs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 15 carbs for morning snack and evening snack and 15-30 carbs for afternoon snack.

Morningstar- thanks explaining why full body exercises are better than splits for those of us trying to lose weight. I've been doing more research and found a 12 week beginners program that fitnessfreak put together. Of course I'd be doing cardio on the bike or treadmill rather than Cathe cardio. Her moves are just to complex for me to get. Guess I'm not that cordinated!

Jennifit- Can't wait to get BBL in the mail. I'm going to try and add that somewhere in the rotation just not sure where yet without previewing them.

Thanks everyone!
 
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