Exercising twice a day?

[innovis]

So I'm going to be coming into alot of free time and I'd like to lose weight a little faster than I currently am. Is it safe to exercise in the morning and afternoon? I'm talking 5-6 times a week. It will either be biking, eliptical, or jogging, and I'd like to aim for an hour and a half each time.
Thanks in advance.

[5757]

I'm not a fitness expert, but I highly doubt that working out twice a day is going to help you lose weight any faster!

One thing I do know for sure is that you need to eat healthy. Very healthy.

How old are you? M/F ? Weight maybe These are all important factors. You are trying to lose weight, so you should focus on cardio. I am 23/F/115-118 lbs I do 30 min. a day of cardio and that is all I need. That is the recommended amount of cardio a day for me.

You need to eat a lot of protien and try and cut out 'bad' carbs. Try to eat a lot of chicken. Stay away from deserts. It's okay to have deserts occasionally. Just limit them. The reason your diet is so important is because it help your metabolism out. You need to help your body burn calories by eating healthy. If you don't eat enough healthy food, and you work out twice a day, the extra work out will get you nowhere.

Drink ONLY water. Cut out juice, soda, coffee and crap like that. If you want to drink something with flavor, try Naked. They are 100% juice. Nothing added to them. You can replace fruit with a Naked drink. Try your local grocery store.

I hope I've been helpful. You know, Oprah works out twice a day but she has a personal trainer to monitor her. It just seems ridiculous to me.
I know over working your body is not good. Hopefully somebody who knows a little more than I do can help you out!

[Ganggreen]

another tip is to eat 5 small meals a day rather than 3 large ones, it's going to help speed up your metabolism. but working out three hours a day doesn't seem healthy. remeber, your muscles need time to heal.

[hrandani]

I really don't understand why most people are fervent diet-only.

A lot of people I know get by just fine exercising once a day and eating whatever they want, and my best friend even lost a good deal of weight while making no changes to his diet. My dad on the other hand couldn't lose any weight until he started exercising, and he was on an all-liquid diet for months.

I'm mentally contrasting this with friends of my mother who attempt to diet and get absolutely nowhere, but don't exercise.

Bottom line, as long as energy in < energy out you will lose weight.

Edit: I forgot to add that if you are just starting a program, start very slow, and don't rush it. There will be plenty of time to work up to something but it is very important that you not injure yourself starting out.

[dlish]

depends how long you have been working out for..

to go and do 2 x 1.5 hr sessions for a beginner is a no -no. you would make ureself prone to injuries like that. you need to ease into excercise for at least 6 weeks before you can increase intensity.

if its weigh you are concerned about, try getting up early and doing excercise before breakfast.

[innovis]

I'm about 213, 5'11", male. I've been working out/exercising since mid July, and I've lost almost 40 pounds since mid June.

I've been doing about 60 minutes of cardio, and some weight training 4-5 times a week.

The reason I want to lose more quickly is because I'm having to buy new clothes very shortly (most of my pants are 4" too big already), so I don't want to have to purchase alot of clothes in between now and when I'm at my target weight, which is either 180 or 170, depending on how I look and feel. I have to start work again in December, which means I have to buy business casual clothes, since most of my pants are 42" and I'm wearing 34" now.

As for my diet, as of Saturday I'm going with a mostly protein, fruit, and veggie diet, at between 1200 and 1500 calories. I drink water, and lots of tea (without sugar). I encorporate lots of lettuce, cabbage, bananas and celery into my diet, and I'm going to start adding in strawberries and blueberries(I have monetary restrictions). I'm cutting out all fried food, processed carbs, and ready made meals until after I'm done with my intensive weight loss and back to regular exersize and workout.

[highthief]

Originally Posted by innovis

So I'm going to be coming into alot of free time and I'd like to lose weight a little faster than I currently am. Is it safe to exercise in the morning and afternoon? I'm talking 5-6 times a week. It will either be biking, eliptical, or jogging, and I'd like to aim for an hour and a half each time.
Thanks in advance.

If you can, going twice a day can be very beneficial. It keeps your metabolism pumping at a high rate throughout the day instead of just for a few hours.

However, I'd mix up the exercises - weight train in the AM, run in the PM. Or eliptical trainer in the morning and swim in the evening.

[cyrnel]

I loved it. Used to do my 30min stretch + weights in the morning, then cross training or pure cardio in the afternoon. Wouldn't have doubled the same routine as both wiped me out in a different way. Total was 2.5-3hrs/day depending on activities. I'd been working out regularly for 6mo before the two session days.

Now I can't imagine having 2+hrs free any days but weekends. (envy)

[thingstodo]

Just go for balance. You can do as much cardio as you want, especially if you understand how to effectively use a heart monitor. You do seriously need recovery time when lifting. Also, your body does need to rest every few days. Even Tour de France bike riders have days off suring the big race. Plus, they have trained their bodies to recover effectively.

One word of caution, which is why trainers are good for this sort of thing...when you get tired, you stop using the correct form, etc., and then you are just wasting youir time or setting yourself up for injury.

And finally, in terms of weight loss, too much too fast is bad for yor body. Rome wasn't built n a day and neither was your gut. Most people rebound gain when they drop too fast. Long term balance is much more important that how many times you need to purchase new clothes!!

[5757]

Well I asked my fitness expert friend and he said working out twice a day will definitely help you lose weight faster. He said just make sure you eat healthy and continue eating healthy after you cut back the amount of excercise. Also. you should be eating atleast 2000 calories a day. Eat healthy calories... this will help out your metabolism as well.

[Siege]

Cardio - Yes, you can run all day if you like as long as your body can handle it in terms of energy. Be careful though, because the more you run, the more you are likely to injure yourself. I used to get shin splints from running too much (with bad form). Also, a common ailment of a runner that runs too much is losing toe nails (no joke).

Weights - I DO NOT RECOMMEND you do this twice a day. Your body probably won't be able to handle it. And if it can, it means you weren't doing it effectively the first time.

[BAMF]

Im luckying to get to the gym twice a week. But my weight is a constant 158 for the past year...Basically, I just dont eat fast food, fried food, and when I cook I never buy/eat pre-packaged food (frozen pizza, microwave dinner, etc...). And I dont eat ground beef because it is like eating 1500 different cows at the same time.

My diet consits of chicken, rice (curry), salmon, fish fillets, bananas, apples, peaches (now in season), cereal, sandwiches (ham, and branston pickle & cheese), yogurt, popsicles. Most snacks are fruit, yogurt, or a popsicle.

I do play volleyball and golf about once a week each, so maybe I exercise 4 times a week (3 not counting golf, but I walk the course and have to swing a lot).

I kindof gald I never had to diet, maintaining a weight seems a lot easier. Good luck hitting your goals, and I hope it stays.

[TopRamen66]

Originally Posted by 5757

I'm not a fitness expert, but I highly doubt that working out twice a day is going to help you lose weight any faster!

How could EXERCISING not help you lose weight? Diet alone isnt going to cut it, the only way diet alone will make you lose weight is if you starve youself to the point where your body starts using up its stores. Not healthy at all. It sounds like you (origional poster) have a very good diet going for you, although your kcal intake sounds a touch low for the ammount of exercise you are planning on doing.

While there is such a thing as over training, you are not going to hit it doing normal cardio for 1.5 hours a day. If you are doing intensive cardio (very high bpm's for 30 minutes or more), I wouldnt recomend doing that twice a day every day of the week. Dont go lift weights 2 times a day, the only way to build muscle is to let your body repair all the tears in your muscles from lifting weight, which takes time and rest.

I would recomend that you only take 1 trip to the gym a day. Do your cardio and lift your weights. Spend the rest of your time doing some activity you enjoy. Bike riding, jogging, hiking, swimming, roller blading, a round of golf, anything that is a moderate cardiovascular exercise This will keep you active, keep your metabolism up, keep you burning calories, and you will avoid getting burned out at the gym. The number one cause of over training is people trying to get results too quickly. With the amount of weight you've dropped, its obvious you've changed your lifesyle for the better. Keep this up, dont give up when you've reached your "target" and slide back to old habits. Be healthy for life!

[snowy]

Just a note: don't completely cut fat out of your diet. You need good healthy fats to keep your system running (think flax oil, olive oil) and to help you lose weight--otherwise you will plateau sooner rather than later as your body will start hanging on to fat. Don't cut your diet down so much that you force yourself into "starvation" mode. Your body will attempt to hang on to everything it has if it perceives it is being "starved."

Diet and exercise is best done in moderation over a long period of time in the interest of long-term weight loss. Otherwise, you're more likely to slip back into your unhealthy patterns once all the weight is lost and you switch to maintenance.

One tip: use a diet/exercise monitoring program, if you aren't already. I use DietPower. I've found it to be quite helpful in keeping track of my calorie intake/nutrition/exercise.

Good luck.

[innovis]

Thanks for all your posts.

-I don't plan on lifting more than once a day.
-I'm not cutting out fat out of my diet, but I am rationing carbs. I'm adding them before workouts, to the tune of about 100 calories worth (some taters or rice with a meal).
-As I posted earlier, I have already been maintaining weight loss and exercise for about 4 months.

[thingstodo]

Get some carbs after your workout as well to help your body recover. You'll need a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein within 45 minutes of finishing for it to be effective.

[Stompy]

Healthy weight loss would be prob 2 lbs a week. Anything more than that probably isn't such a good idea, although everyone is different and not all theories or ideas are consistent when it comes to weight loss.

A friend of mine, who was initially quite overweight, had gall bladder surgery and lost anywhere from 5-10 lbs a week for a while. Lost 140 lbs in about 6 months (about 1.5 years ago), she's doing and looking great to this day.

I personally lost a good portion in a short amount of time a few years back. While I've *heard* it's bad, I haven't really seen or experienced any negative side effects (esp muscle loss).

If you've been working out since June, then yes, you could work out twice a day. It'd be a good idea to do cardio for one session (like first thing in the AM) and weights later on in the day. 1.5 hrs each time though... I don't know. I'd work up to that.

Wouldn't hurt to try it.

[Titan_Uranus]

that's the way most pro's do it,it can only but work for you but do like 4 days instead of 5 ,split it properly ,your body needs time to recover, remember everything in moderation.

[mculbert]

Last year i was exercising close to two times if not three every day. I would go to a fitness class in the morning at 6. Work 8-4 and then id hit the gym 4-5 and another class at 5-630. I was pushing myself and it did help for a while but when i missed a day. I lost it from there. I was staying strong for a long time, but i did end up burning myself out.

I've done a lot of research on the whole weight loss subject. The best information i can share with you is this. Eat more smaller meals to speed up your metabolism, with low fat intake... NOT no fat. You have to familiarize yourself with the healthy fats since they are important in your diet. Keep drinking a lot of water. Hydration is extremely important when your trying to lose weight and it really helps you digest. When it comes to exercising, they say to keep a healthy weight, exercising 30 minutes a day will help maintain a healthy weight. But to lose weight, they say to do an hour to an hour and a half of good cardio and they are finding weight training is just as important and doing a good 15-30 minutes every other day seems to help people lose weight faster.

[digme]

I've heard that 2x 30 min cardio sessions is better than 1x 60 min, and 3x 20 min is even better. Each is a total of an hour a day, but greater frequency keeps your body burning fat.