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[bluemomma]

Ok so I'm new here... hi everyone . I had a baby 13 months ago and I"m a mess. There's just no other way to put it so I'm going back to body for life.... worked well for me before. During my pregnancy I gained 80 lbs and becuase of that I am now miserable. My approach will be BFL with some slight modifications (like working out 5 days/week as oppose to 6).

Anyway today was day one back..... felt good but rushed. I didn't get all the exercise in that I had wanted (45 mins as oppose to my planned 1-1.5 hrs), but it's better than nothing. Did 20 mins HIIT cardio and then hit the weights for 20 or so minutes. Legs..... got a nice lactic acid burn. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. I need to lose about 50-60 lbs. I'm also planning on having a tummy tuck at the end of my weight loss journey if I need it. I refuse to walk around looking like an onion for the rest of my life. I'm depressed enough as it is LOL.

Cheers,
bluemomma

PS -- who's doing what plan and what's working for ya'll?

 

[MAR1984]

PS -- who's doing what plan and what's working for ya'll?

I'm doing my own plan I lift weights and do cardio only when I feel like it. My weight lifting routine is inspired by the Ripptoe Starting Strength 3x5 routines. I lift three times per week alternating between 2 different sets of exercises. Set A is Squats, Bench Press, and Seated cable rows. Set B is Squats, Standing overhead press, and assisted pullups/pull downs. I'm lifting only to maintain muscle mass while losing fat, so I don't believe I have to overdo it, just hit as many muscles as possible with a few full body exercises, and keep trying for progression.

My cardio includes the occasional (now maybe 2x per week or less) workout on the recumbant exercise bike, golfing, playing DDR, and hiking with the wife and dog. Cardio isn't essential for fat loss, and I hope to prove that over the next year. Its more about controlling intake and holding on to muscle mass.

My Diet consists of first estimating my BMR through the formula Kara provided in the "How many calories should I eat" sticky, and then subtracting 1500 from that number to lose 3lbs per week. For me, losing 3lbs per week is a good goal because it is less than 1% of my body weight. I can then pretty much eat whatever I want (within reason) as long as I stay within my allotted calories. I used to just try to eat less calories and more healthy stuff, but I'd see inconsistant losses. Sometimes I wouldn't lose or I'd gain some, other times I would lose a bunch. I recently started counting my calories using a droid app, and I can't believe I've ever been able to lose weight without counting. It opened my eyes to see that a lot of days in my attempt to eat healthy, I was eating way too little, and other days I was eating much more than I thought. The overall effect was inconsistent weight loss. I also developed gall stones, probably from eating way too few calories for 10 months. Counting allows me to know exactly how much I'm eating, and allows me to properly adjust if I'm losing weight too fast or too slow.


In the past, I've seen huge weight losses doing moderate to high intensity cardio 30min per day 5x per week and eating what I now believe was a very low calorie diet (didn't know any better). First time I lost 100lbs, then gained over 200lbs back. Second time I lost over 150lbs and developed gall stones, and gained 40lbs back when I was sidetracked by the gall bladder removal. This time, I think I'm doing it the right way to lose weight in a healthy way, hold on to whatever muscle I still have left, and set myself up for long term maintenance. I don't need to change anything to move to maintenance except up my calories. I've already lost about 10lbs this month.

So, thats my "plan"

 

[bluemomma]

WOW!! That's fantastic! You've really got a system down pat.... excellent . I hope I can stay on track as well as you.

Cardio and fat loss -- the ever burning question (pun intended). I'm not convinced that cardio is the end all be all for fat loss, but I do think it's useful. For example, cardio, used properly could be used to burn up stored glycogen and thus, make your weights portion of your routine tougher and force your body to use *other stored energy* (ie- fat). Alternatively, if you do moderate cardio for longer than 20 minutes, your body (in theory) will be forced to use stored fat as the energy source as you'll have depleted your sugar reserves (again, in theory).

Great job on the weights! I am also doing cardio adn weights... starting light this week as I have tendonitis really badly and I've got a pinched nerve in my leg. I'll be happy when I finally start seeing some fat-loss.

TY for sharing

Cheers,
bluemomma

 

[5KFreak]

Cardio isn't essential for fat loss, and I hope to prove that over the next year. Its more about controlling intake and holding on to muscle mass.

I am very interested in this concept. I had some issues a while back while being under the same impression. I am curious as to how this ends up working for you. Would you keep us updated??

My Diet consists of first estimating my BMR through the formula Kara provided in the "How many calories should I eat" sticky, and then subtracting 1500 from that number to lose 3lbs per week.

Has this worked for you so far? Are you losing the 3lbs per week by subtracting that 1500? Is that how you originally lost all the weight?

In the past, I've seen huge weight losses doing moderate to high intensity cardio 30min per day 5x per week and eating what I now believe was a very low calorie diet (didn't know any better).

So would you say (considering the above statement about cardio) that the initial weight loss was solely from your low calorie diet? May I ask how many calories you were consuming at this time?

Sorry for all the questions

 

[Kayshiz]

Cardio is definitely not a necessity in losing weight, however, there are several benefits to aerobic exercise that you don't get from strength training.

Among the recognized benefits of doing regular aerobic exercise are:

* Strengthening the muscles involved in respiration, to facilitate the flow of air in and out of the lungs
* Strengthening and enlarging the heart muscle, to improve its pumping efficiency and reduce the resting heart rate, known as aerobic conditioning
* Strengthening muscles throughout the body
* Improving circulation efficiency and reducing blood pressure
* Increasing the total number of red blood cells in the body, facilitating transport of oxygen
* Improved mental health, including reducing stress and lowering the incidence of depression
* Reducing the risk for diabetes.

As a result, aerobic exercise can reduce the risk of death due to cardiovascular problems. In addition, high-impact aerobic activities (such as jogging or jumping rope) can stimulate bone growth, as well as reducing the risk of osteoporosis for both men and women.​

And before anyone says it, yes, this came from wikipedia, lol, but it is pretty basic stuff.

So yea, not important for weight loss, but awesome for health.

 

[Harold14370]

I agree with Kay. Your heart is the most important muscle in your body.

 

[MAR1984]

5KFreak:

I am very interested in this concept. I had some issues a while back while being under the same impression. I am curious as to how this ends up working for you. Would you keep us updated??

Sure, I'll keep everyone updated. I post in my journal thread pretty regularly and in various other places. Keep in mind though, I'm not ignoring cardio altogether. As Kayshiz said, there are lots of other benefits. My comment about it not being essential was specifically related to fat loss only. And by hoping to prove it, I mean that instead of doing 5 organized sessions of moderate to high intensity cardio (heart rate sustained >150bpm) per week for 30-45 min each day, I'll be doing more random cardio - 20 minutes lower intensity on the exercise bike after lifting, walking with the wife and dog, playing DDR... I'll try to do maybe 2-4 "cardio" sessions per week. Stuff like DDR is still pretty intense, 'specially when we go for an hour plus!

Has this worked for you so far? Are you losing the 3lbs per week by subtracting that 1500? Is that how you originally lost all the weight?

When I originally lost weight, I didn't know about BMR or counting calories or anything. I thought "burn more than you eat" meant "if you burn 500 calories working out, you got to eat 500 calories for the day" lol. I wasn't that bad, but I probably went 5 days a week eating 1500 or less calories, and maybe as much as 3000 per day on the weekends when I let myself cheat a little more. And I did lots of cardio. I never felt light headed or anything when I was working out, but one night after drinking a glass of wine, I did pass out while taking a whiz at the toilet lol. Not the first time I've woken up on the floor next to a toilet, but for an entirely different reason! lol. I also developed gallstones and had to have my gallbladder removed last christmas day.

So far, I'm having a lot of success counting calories. Only after 5 days, I lost 3-4lbs. So I have to adjust and up my calories a little more. All that means is I didn't estimate my BMR just right - tough for me because I'm a sloth at work all day, but I lift weights and do some cardio, and some nights all I do is sit around being lazy, but other days I play DDR or go for a hike or go walk a round of golf. But I have every confidence that this counting and keeping track method will yield great results, and if I ever truly stall, I'll be well equipped to figure out why. Before I started counting, I was shooting for a random calorie number based on a shortcut, and then eating a bunch and hoping I was around that number. I'd lose a little, then I'd go a week and lose nothing, then I'd lose a little more... too inconsistent for my liking. I figured I was either shooting for the wrong number, and/or not hitting the number. I figured it was time to stop guessing and turn it into a simple math problem. Energy Out - Energy In = calorie defecit = fat loss. Thats really all there is to it. If you know the numbers, weight loss is just math. Taking emotion and guess work out of it makes it easy, at least for me. Food is fuel, nothing more. Eat because you have to, not because you want to. <<< My new motto I think

So would you say (considering the above statement about cardio) that the initial weight loss was solely from your low calorie diet? May I ask how many calories you were consuming at this time?

Given that there were probably days where I ate <1000 calories per day, I would say that diet had the biggest part in my previous weight loss. It wasn't healthy at all though. I cringe every time I think about how much muscle I probably lost, and the $4000 hospital bill for the gall stone problems is another reminder that I did things the wrong way. I'm sure cardio played a small part, but if I was creating on average probably >2000 calorie per day defecit at least, how much credit to weight loss can you really put on 300-600 calories of cardio 5 days per week? Likewise, if I want to lose 3lbs per week, which is cutting 1500 calories per day, I'm not going to get there through cardio alone - its going to take major diet changes. And thats assuming I was at a stable weight and input to begin with. All indications were pointing to the fact that I was still gaining weight pretty quickly before I made the decision to lose, so if i had kept eating what I was eating, at best the cardio would have only slowed the gain - I was gaining more than 1lb per week for sure. Someone who has a stable weight and eating pattern and not much weight to lose might be able to lose up to maybe a lb per week with cardio alone.