Needing help!!

[Username.kris]

Hey everyone I had a shoulder reconstruction about 6months ago n put on a fair bit of weight, I have been running for about 7weeks now and am seeing okay results ( lost around 11lbs ) currently weighing 185lbs. Im eating pretty well, stopped drinking and am taking fish oil and a multi vitamin. My problem is I have a little gut now and lost alot of muscle in my upperbody and am unable to do lift weights for another 3months. Ive been doing sprints and stair climbs to try and build some muscle, any suggestions if other things in can to to lose some fat and build muscle?
Thanks.

 

[sarakopp]

A couple ideas:
You may already be doing this, but as far as the running goes, if you try to incorporate a couple key types of runs, it may help: 1) long distance runs - once a week, try to run about 20%-40% farther than usual, keeping your pace slow and steady. Long runs are great fat-burners. 2) "Tempo" runs - once a week, try to run at a "comfortably hard" steady pace - stay at a pace that will feel quite difficult by the end of your run, but something you know you can maintain. It's faster than what you would run if you were trying to maintain a conversation, and you'll definitely feel worked at the end of it. Hope that makes sense. Tempo runs are really good for getting your body to a higher level of fitness, and you will definitely see results if you maintain these runs for the next 4-6 weeks.

Another idea for losing fat, which maybe is obvious, is to cut down on portion size. Not knowing exactly what your diet is, it is a little hard to make a recommendation here - but certainly you'll want to follow the basic principles of "eat real food (not processed stuff), not too much, mostly plants". Since you're trying to build muscle as well, make sure you have healthy sources of protein (like lean meats or fish, nuts, beans, greek yogurt, etc.).

I hope this helps and is not too obvious!

- sara

 

[SamSam]

Lose fat = set the optimal energy deficit so that you lose fat without losing muscle.

According to this study, there's a maximum amount of fat you can lose each day which depends on your fat mass. Check it out here:

I found this calculator which helps you calculate your optimal energy deficit so that you can lose your max amount of fat without losing muscle here:

However, I couldn't see it on the sit, but I think you should update use the calculator weekly because as you lose fat, you have less fat stores to draw energy from. In other words, if you don't update your deficit regularly, you'll eventually start losing muscle.

Hope this helps.

 

[Albert Smith]

You should not push hard for anything right now. The joint of your shoulder would take certain amount of time to heal. I would like to recommend to you that cardio and a short weight training session would be the best option for you right now. Just don’t overdo anything. Read all of my advice carefully:

• Some form of cardio should be done 3-to-6 days per and alternated between longer, slow duration cardio, and HIIT cardio. Walking on a slightly inclined treadmill for 45 minutes is an ideal form of the longer-duration cardio which should be performed on weight training days (up to 3x per week) and sprinting outdoors, on a treadmill and/or cycling is an ideal form of HIIT cardio which should be done on weight training off days (2-3x per week). For the HIIT portion there are many different methods of implementing this.

I like to keep the work: rest intervals a little longer than most at 1:2.

As an example, after a 4 minute slow jog/cycle warm up perform 20 seconds of all out sprints followed by 40 seconds of jogging repeated for 8-12 sets with a 4 minute cool down of slow jogging at the end. If there is one key to HIIT cardio it is to keep it creative. Basically, the more you struggle with fat gain and/or loss, the more cardio and HIIT sessions you'll need to perform with 3 cardio and 3 HIIT cardio sessions being the max. Those somewhere in the middle of the metabolic continuum should perform 3 HIIT sessions and ditch the regular cardio sessions. Those with excellent metabolisms might find they need only 1-or-2 HIIT sessions per week.

• The actual content of your weight training sessions is not nearly as important as the timing. It is important for this program that your weight training sessions should be done sometime in the late afternoon/early evening to allow you to burn fat throughout the day. This is the time when you eat a lower calorie/low carb diet. Also make sure you schedule the weight training early enough in the evening so you are allowed a minimum of 6 hours between your weight training session and bedtime. This is the time you will overfeed to drive protein synthesis and replenish glycogen stores. Doing so too early in the day would halt fat burning for the rest of the day and put a damper on our training and fat burning economy.

Lastly I would like to alert you that you need to be careful while lifting anything heavy right now. It would bring devastating result. Just go with the follow and continue until you are comfortable.