In the first 4 weeks of the Secrets program the focus is on developing habits.
The nutritional changes will lead your initial weight loss because they make such a big impact on creating a calorie imbalance. The objectives of exercising in this first four weeks are to build the habit and increase your tolerance to exercise at a lower intensity. While you may feel stronger and fitter after only 2 weeks of fitness training - the tendons, joints and ligaments that hold your body together take around 6 weeks to strengthen. If in these first few weeks you push yourself too hard you risk injury and hence delaying your progress.
As a beginner start your exercise program with the mind-set of building a routine rather than burning fat. Lay the foundation by exercising 3 times per week. You will build this up steadily over the 12 weeks until you will be able to exercise for at least 60 minutes, 5 times per week. The longer and harder you are able to exercise the more calories you will burn and the more control you will have over your weight loss. All you need to do at this stage is increase your strength and durability so that this is a possibility.
Do your best to remain injury free by warming up before exercise and stretching afterwards and following the exercise program below. If you have a particularly troublesome area you may want to stretch this after warming up and prior to exercise also. Select key leg stretches from the stretches listed after the exercise programs.
Walking is a great form of activity to get you started if you are not used to exercising. (How much walking you need to do to burn your food intake? FInd out here) It is low intensity, easy to do and you don’t need any special equipment. If you could not walk for one hour pain free then you should start on the walking program in the table below.
If you are able to walk for 2 hours pain free then the Walk/Run Intervals program is for you. Intensity is important when it comes to burning calories and walking only takes you so far before you need to run to continue losing weight. The best way to begin to run is by incorporating short low intensity jogs into your walking routine with adequate rest periods in between. See the following table for the progressive changes in intervals.
If you can walk for 3 hours or run for 45 minutes pain free then the running program is for you. Running allows you to easily and continually increase your speed as your fitness improves so that you are burning calories at a maximal rate every time you exercise.