The FastDay Forum

OK, so I'm a pretty idle sort of person these days. Which is one of the reasons I ended up obese.

As a child I was always very active and slim, but come the teenage years, like many girls I became very self-conscious about my body and hated having to uncover it for exercise. There are a whole load of other psychological issues for me personally around this as I also started to comfort-eat in the late teens too. So the weight piled on, and I became more self-conscious so I did less exercise and on it goes.

Anyway, skip forward to now (a very long time after my teenage years). I do walk quite a bit in my daily life as I shop locally, and walk the kids to and from school and their various activities every day but that's about the only exercise I get.

I intended to start exercising when I started the diet, but I had a bad knee strain caused by all that lovely winter ice we had and it's taken quite a time to recover. I'm now on week 17 of the diet, and have been averaging just over a pound a week loss. It's nicely coming off my tummy and back, but I've always carried a lot of weight on my legs (tree trunks would be a polite way of describing their shape)

So now I want to start toning up the wobbly tummy but also try and kick start some loss off my legs. My fat legs also tend to gain a lot of water retention on hot days and my ankles really swell up so that makes me even more embarrassed about them in the summer months. I'd like to be able wear a dress when on my August holiday but right now my calves are just too fat to be seen in public (maxi dresses are not an option for me when I'm only 5'3")

I'm still too self-conscious to go to a gym or anything public, so I'm exercising at home. I also don't have the footwear or clothing, nor the money to purchase a decent set of trainers right now.

Here's the current plan, which I started on Monday:
1/ HIIT 4 times per week, on an exercise trampoline, mixing up running, jumping, twisting, skiing moves on it (I'm trying to avoid too much high-impact as I don't have the right footwear and I'm still cautious about my knee twinging, so I thought the trampoline would cushion the impact)
2/ 30 day squat challenge (google it, it's everywhere) to tone up thighs and bum
3/ Calf raises to try and get them a bit more toned - following a pattern of building the repetition up like the squat challenge
4/ Crunches to start toning up the abs, again increasing the repetition. I'm doing a mix of different types of crunches to work all the muscles.

There are 'rest days' built into the plan (every 4th day). I'm also body-brushing every morning.

Can anyone who's a keen exerciser let me know of any other targeted exercises that I can do at home and will help me tone those legs? I'd love to lose my 'cankles'

Hi Nomoremrsmichelin, it looks like you have a good exercise plan. I am doing the 30 day shred DVD by jillian michaels, I find it very good for toning all over . It has 3 stages so you can start from 1st stage and move on when you feel fitter. The good thing every stage is only about 25 mins long from warm up to cool down. I started doing it before the 5:2 plan and did all the stages, now I do stage 2 every morning, I found this stage suits me the best. I think you can find some short clips of it on you tube if you want to take a look before buying the DVD.

Hi if your looking for 30 day shred then look for Befit on youtube and they have it for free plus many more fitness workouts. Don't waste money when they are legally free.

I have hypermobility and so have to be very careful of impact exercise as my joints move out of position. I would add a word of caution about squats, they can really hurt knees and i see that you are recovering from a knee injury. I used to do bodyfit classes with weights and did lots of squats with no problem until my condition started to make itself felt in my late 20's.

I would suggest that you give the squats a go but pay attention to what your knees/joints are telling you. If they twinge then stop and if necessary apply ice for 10 minutes.

A low impact exercise regime I found success with was turbo jam. I could do the low impact side of it and it certainly toned up lots of different areas. I think you can get it on you tube but you can also buy the dvd on E-bay.

My current fitness regime is cycling. It feel wonderful to be able to exercise without my joints screaming at me for days afterwards. Takes a week or so for the seat to stop hurting your bum but after that it is great!

Good luck with your trials and let us know how you are doing!

Thank you for the tip andyblood

Thanks for the replies so far - some very useful advice. I'll have a rethink on the exercise plan to protect my knee and aim for more low impact stuff. I've been very careful with the squats so far and watched a lot of youtube videos to get the technique right, but I'll not go for the full 30 day challenge if it's too much of a risk - only done three days and my thighs know about it.

It's toning that I'm after with the exercise. 5:2 is taking care of the fat loss.

Mmm, I had an exercise ball that I used when I was pregnant. Wonder if it's still hiding somewhere in the garage after all this time...

I can definately recommend pilates for toning but it really is worth going to a class with a good instructor as you need to do it correctly. There are lots of DVD's out ther though.

There's so much nonsense floating around these days ... if your ambition is to be super-fit and you're going to do shreds or turbos or HIIT etc etc etc for the next 10 or 20 years then, sure, go ahead ..... however, boring and unfashionable as it may be, a simple program based around a few body-weight 'compound' exercises such as ball squats, step-ups, push-ups, crunches, back extensions plus some brisk walking is going to make you much, much fitter and toned than the average ... and probably much fitter and toned than those who rush into the latest fad exercise programs and fail to continue after a short period of time because of fatigue, disinterest, injuries etc.

I agree. I was a bit worried I wasn't doing the latest thing but I have been following a programme like this since January, just 3 times per week for 30 to 45 mins and I feel so different. I recommend doing the plank exercise if you can as your whole body has to put in a big effort and you see improvement quite quickly I have found.

The plank it is then! And a bit more stair climbing can easily be fitted in. Maybe if I do a few step ups at the bottom every time I go up the stairs that will help. I must run up and down our stairs at least ten times every morning just getting the kids organised. My office is upstairs too (I'm freelance) so as I fit in household tasks in the day I'm up and down then too. We live on a hill so I rarely walk on the flat but brisk walking doesn't happen consistently when you've got a four year old with you, more of a dawdle and then a trot.

I've done pilates in the past (and yoga too) so I know the essential techniques. Around 10 years ago I did have a phase of being fitter, but then children came along and trying to find a spare half hour to do the routine just fell by the wayside.

Once you get a little fitter, the rebounder does sound like fun and it's a tough workout. I always love when you get off it and try to walk and your body keeps trying to bounce.

Bodyweight exercises are great and once you get better at them (and get lighter), you can challenge yourself by adding more weight to yourself again (even if that's just a book on the lap during tricep dips etc).

Planks are so much tougher than they look at first but so worthwhile. And again, once you've got the basics down, they can be modified into stepping planks, walking planks etc. Helpful plank tips are to make sure that your bum is down so that you're not inadvertently doing a downward-facing dog. And when you progress to doing them on your toes, to push your heels back so that they feel like they are further back than your toes - it helps keep the bum down.

With stairs, if you can, try to put your whole foot on the stair and push from your heel. It works the glutes more than using the ball of your foot.