Rowing for Weight Loss

[trevor.richter]

The single most frustrating thing for my wife is that despite needing to lose about a third of her body weight ... she hasn't lost any significant weight

Hope she keeps it up -- this has also been an issue for me, particularly for motivation -- after 3 months, I have lost basically zero weight, however I can see definite improvements in muscle tone, especially in my upper abs, which I last saw 10 years ago!

[Sevenfeet]

A update...my wife is nearing the end of 3 months on the vintage Model A rowing machine. But it's not been 3 solid consistent months. As stated earlier, we had a vacation week for July 4th where she did find a local Y and get in a couple of workouts. But the big setback was getting her hammer toe fixed by the orthopedic surgeon at end of July which put her out of commission for a week (this toe problem got her out of running for exercise years ago). She tried to row again and shortly thereafter threw her back out, which required days of recovery. So all in all, she did about 2 ergs in 3 weeks, which caused her to regress a little.

She was doing about 7000 meters in 40 minutes...she's back to about 6000 meters in 30 minutes. She's also learning that it's better if schedules are difficult just to find 20 minutes and row then rather than skip days at a time just to get the window she really wants. But she is getting back into it...she just finished a session today and has done 3 sessions in 4 days. I'd still say that she probably hasn't reduced any weight but her body shape is beginning to improve, but slowly. She wants to wait to measure and weigh in at the end of this month, which is 6 weeks from her last measurement instead of the usual 4.

[TexasShannon]

A update...my wife is nearing the end of 3 months on the vintage Model A rowing machine. But it's not been 3 solid consistent months. As stated earlier, we had a vacation week for July 4th where she did find a local Y and get in a couple of workouts. But the big setback was getting her hammer toe fixed by the orthopedic surgeon at end of July which put her out of commission for a week (this toe problem got her out of running for exercise years ago). She tried to row again and shortly thereafter threw her back out, which required days of recovery. So all in all, she did about 2 ergs in 3 weeks, which caused her to regress a little.

She was doing about 7000 meters in 40 minutes...she's back to about 6000 meters in 30 minutes. She's also learning that it's better if schedules are difficult just to find 20 minutes and row then rather than skip days at a time just to get the window she really wants. But she is getting back into it...she just finished a session today and has done 3 sessions in 4 days. I'd still say that she probably hasn't reduced any weight but her body shape is beginning to improve, but slowly. She wants to wait to measure and weigh in at the end of this month, which is 6 weeks from her last measurement instead of the usual 4.

Tell your wife I feel her pain- it is harder to loose fat as a woman, and we tend to be a little fixated on the scale. BUT- I know girls who are fat at 5'5 and 140 pounds, and I know girls who look incredible and are pro models at the same weight. Adding muscle is the most important thing she can do for her health long-term, and it's so hard to get women to understand that.

One of my best friends is a Dr. who works at a lot of nursing homes, and she says the best indicator of mortality- i.e, how long is this person going to last- for women, is how strong they are and how much muscle they have. Most women just never pack on the muscle they will need when they are elderly to keep healthy, and it has all kinds of downsides when you hit 80.

I know this. Yet still I'll get a little twerked a the scale when it's not moving.

[natty dread]

I dont count what I burn in a day, or a week, more like a month. If I consistently workout every other day for 30-45 minutes, and eat reasonably, then at the end of the month I've burned alot of excess calories and continue to lose weight, albeit slowly. That approach has help me stick with my plan for 2 yrs, and ive lost about a pound a month. More importantly, it seems to finally be a permanent life change.

[Teresa]

Download ergdata, it's a free program. You do need to purchase a cord and cradle for (in my case) $10.00. It uploads to your online log. I also had to update my erg, so you might have issues with that. The ergdata/phone worked, but I couldn't use the monitor with it until I updated it. But the program worked, so it should be usable.

http://www.concept2.com/service/software/ergdata

I haven't lost anything yet. )c: I'm also trying to avoid gluten now to see if that will get things moving.