Hi all - Hoping I can find some answers!

[belle vale]

Hi everyone, my name is Belle. I'm an Australian woman living overseas & have recently moved to a country where gym access is once again available (8 months volunteering in remote India & Sri Lanka... not ideal for keeping a trim figure but worth it none the less!) and i'm keen to get my figure back on track. I need some help.


Here's my story - I'm 27 years old, back home I would always eat quite well (bar a few too many drinks on the weekends!) and actually enjoy keeping fit. However I also LOVE travelling & eating new foods overseas so my frequent long-term travelling always sets my progress back; I train hard and lose 7 kilos (15 pounds) in 2 years then travel for 3 months and gain 8 kilos. Then I get home, train hard, lose 8 kilos and now travelling again has piled on 8 kilos in 8 months. I'm now sitting at 68 kgs (150 pounds) and have a month before I get minor surgery to try and get my figure back on track (I by no means think i'm "fat" - I would just like to hit the gym again, feel great and fit into my jeans again!)


I always eat quite healthily back home, but for the first time in my life I plan to go on a slow-carb diet for the next few months & really try to hit this fitness goal from both sides - exercise and eating. I'm limiting carbs to once a week, eating 4 small meals per day and cutting sugar as much as I can. I tried this diet briefly 6 months ago and saw good results, so I am giving it one month before my surgery to try it again.


I have done so much reading lately on diets, and exercise programs which are ideal for fat loss for women but my head is spinning from conflicting information. My question is this - if I go to the gym everyday and do cardio training for an hour (which I can do no problem) what is the ideal heart rate I should be aiming for? I know the formula of 220 - my age = MHR (maximum heart rate) but at which percentage of that MHR should I be training at? i hear 40%, 65%... And I don't know what to believe.


I usually hit the cross-trainer or treadmill for an hour, and i'm happy to go as hard as I can for that hour - but I've read that the optimal range for fat burn is 40%. Can anyone shed some light on this?


It's fantastic that there is a forum out there for people to get these questions answered - I've been in foreign countries for so long where the P.T.'s don't speak very good English so answers are hard to come by!


Thanks in advance if anyone can help me out - it's much appreciated.


- Belle

 

[HyungJun1]

-Have no idea what you mean by slow-carb diet.

-Don't know how you are going to be limiting carbs to once a week as it is necessary to burn body fat and is required by the human body.

-suger = carbs, carbs = sugar.

-women and men's training should be similar. No such thing as in this works better for women. They just want a fancier workout to appeal to them.

-Who cares about HR(as long as you are not hitting max for an extended period of time). Just push hard which in turn will burn more calories.

 

[PLB]

In googling "slow-carb" diet, it seems that Tim Ferriss claims to have coined the term, but the post that I read doesn't say exactly why he calls it that. By looking at his outline of the diet, my guess is that he is focusing on eating foods that contain "complex" carbs, like legumes and certain vegetables, and avoiding foods that contain "simple" carbs, like breads, pastas, rice, potatoes, etc. So I guess "slow-carb" would refer to the fact that he's eating carbs that digest slower.


@ Belle - when you say that you're limiting carbs to once per week, do you mean carbs like breads, pastas, rice, etc? Legumes and veggies and other foods also contain carbs, but I'm assuming you're not trying to cut those out as well?


The question of target HR can be tricky, and there is a lot of confusing information out there about it. Lower intensity aerobic exercise has been shown to burn a higher percentage of fat than carbohydrate after about 30 minutes of constant intensity activity, but the workouts have to be longer, usually at least 60-90 minutes. Higher intensity aerobic exercise burns more overall calories much quicker, but the body needs to use more carbohydrate to keep up with the energy demand. This is where it gets confusing. Both types of activity may actually burn the same absolute number of calories from fat. Things just get confusing because people focus too much on the percentages of fat vs carbs burned at a certain intensity, and not the absolute number of calories from fat and carbs burned.


Keep in mind, the higher the intensity of your workouts, the more your body may need carbs, both for energy and for recovery. Otherwise, you may burn out very quickly.


As for % of max HR that you "should" train at... well I agree with HyunJun in that you shouldn't train at your estimated max HR for long periods of time (maybe 30 seconds in a bout). This is where interval training comes in. You would set yourself a target HR and a predetermined interval length (the "work" interval). For example, this might be 85% max HR for 30 - 45 sec. You would also have a recovery, or "rest" interval. For example, the rest interval might be 60 to 75 seconds, where you would keep moving, just at a greatly reduced intensity so that your HR starts to come down. If you did 45/75 sec work/rest intervals, it would take you 2 minutes for one cycle. You would repeat that 4-7 times, depending on your fitness level. Don't forget your minimum 5 minute warm-up and 5 minute cool down.


Because training at high intensity is so much more demanding on the body, I would recommend doing higher intensity 2, maybe 3 times per week when your fitness level improves. On the other days, do lower-intensity aerobic exercise, but for longer. If you need to have a target heart rate, just try to vary it, rather than always going for the same %. The lower the intensity, the longer the aerobic session should be.


I hope that all makes sense!


Are you planning on doing any resistance training?