Cardio question!

breakyoface

I have been doing MFP for about 6 months and I normally run on the treadmill for 60 minutes 5 days a week. When I first started out I was 224 and I was losing weight like crazy. Now I'm 172 and I seem to not lose weight as easily. I know once you get closer to your goal(mine is 150-160) that it slows down..but it seems like the cardio isn't working anymore when it was working wonders before.
I recently upped my calories to 1700 from 1430 because I seemed to be at a plateau possibly and last week I dropped almost 4lbs on a 3 day break from working out..now I'm back to it at I've gained .6 in 2 days.
I've read that cardio can make you fat, but also that cardio is good for you. I've also added in some pushups, squats, and a couple arm work outs but nothing crazy on weights since I don't have that ability to use weights.
Any advice on cardio or anyone else experience this??

berkayaliulker

start lifting weights

breakyoface

Yea, but I just said that's not possible for me right now..

yopeeps025

I've read that cardio can make you fat,

When they say cardio makes you fat they mean that cardio can get to the point of burning too much protein which can have muscle loss.

I can recommend upping protein and weight training might be able to push you into some more weight loss.

wkwebby

Cardio isn't making you fat...it is just NOT building any muscles. The gain could easily be explained by water retention (since you started the push ups and such) due to new regimen. Have you recalculated your caloric needs? Have you kept up with protein numbers to help retain the muscle you do have?

Most important, we are all assuming you have measured your food correctly. Especially since you are so close to your goal weight.

TAsunder

What's your workout like on the treadmill? Have you been increasing your pace, doing intervals of increasing difficulty, etc.? Your body will acclimate to steady running over time and do it more efficiently while burning fewer calories. Have you checked your heart rate over the 6 months?

breakyoface

I always log my food and measure and everything. I have myself on sedentary and it puts me at 1430 a day and so I eat about 1700 after working out and 1430 on weekends when I don't work out.
I pretty much run for 60 minutes at the same pace except the last 10 minutes I up the pace to as fast as I can go. I've been doing that for 6 months or so now, it's just recently my weightloss has slowed and it seems to gain little amounts when exercising and I lose when I don't..so it's driving me crazy when I'm so close to my goal.
I don't have a gym membership or weights so I can't really do weight lifting, and I have messed up shoulders due to a 4 wheeling accident so weights are rough for me. I have 5lb weights though that I've been using the past few days just for something and then the pushups, squats and crunches.
Since the treadmill is really my only option..I'm hoping I can figure out a way for it to keep working for me.

Health_Temple

TAsunder wrote: »

What's your workout like on the treadmill? Have you been increasing your pace, doing intervals of increasing difficulty, etc.? Your body will acclimate to steady running over time and do it more efficiently while burning fewer calories. Have you checked your heart rate over the 6 months?

TAsunder wrote: »

What's your workout like on the treadmill? Have you been increasing your pace, doing intervals of increasing difficulty, etc.? Your body will acclimate to steady running over time and do it more efficiently while burning fewer calories. Have you checked your heart rate over the 6 months?

This you need to vary things, also you can strength train with your own body.

kdiamond

I agree, you need to vary your routine.

arditarose

I actually stopped running to lose weight. Running 3 miles at a kind of slow pace did nothing for me. Working for a shorter time with tough intervals, and weight training did it all. I'm just going into maintenance this week for a little, and I will go back to running.

hearthwood

Cardio doesn't make you fat eating too much does. If you're eating back burned calories, and because MFP, and your treadmill is telling you that you burned XYZ calories, you could very well be overeating your workouts which will make you bigger or fatter as you put it. All of these devices including MFP have a history of overestimating burned calories. So as an example, my treadmill told me I burned 720 calories, MFP had me at 540, and my UP had me at 326. That's how inconsistent they can all be. So I take the lowest number and eat back half of those just to make certain I just didn't overeat what I just worked so hard to accomplish.

MeanderingMammal

vancurenmama wrote: »

I pretty much run for 60 minutes at the same pace except the last 10 minutes I up the pace to as fast as I can go.

You'll get best results from varying your sessions a bit, intervals and tempo sessions for shorter periods, or slightly longer runs. Equally I'd suggest getting outside, the level of stimulation is much higher.

I don't have a gym membership or weights so I can't really do weight lifting, and I have messed up shoulders due to a 4 wheeling accident so weights are rough for me

Try bodyweight work, equally it's very complementary to the running. You Are Your Own Gym is a good system, Convict Conditioning gets a good reputation. Alternaitvely try Yoga to improve your core.

While the running is weight bearing, and you should be retaining muscle in your legs, you're not balancing that out with retention in the core and upper body.

sijomial

You seem horribly confused! How can cardio possibly make you fat? Too many calories and not enough exercise will make you fat. You have recently increased your calories but you are blaming "cardio not working any more" for your weight loss slowing. It's your calorie balance that determines whether you lose, gain or maintain weight and at what speed. I've just come off an intense cardio training period (6000 exercise calories most weeks) and can lose, gain or maintain weight by varying my calorie intake.
I will say that your exercise routine sounds deadly dull though - can you not mix it up? If you can't do weights due to injury how about adding some resistance based cardio like rowing or cycling into your routine?

breakyoface

I got the Biggest Loser yoga dvd and added that into my routine 2 days a week with running up and down my stairs for 12 minutes..can't go much longer than that..it's terrible, and then running 3 times a week. I actually enjoy the running though!

RGv2

What are you doing with exercise calories?

jeremywm1977

There's two different things I am looking at. When you say that you are on a treadmill for 60 minutes, 5 days a week.......at what speed, at what incline?
Also, what some people alluded to but didn't precisely state is that there is a drawback to only doing treadmill, or only running, or only doing the elliptical..........you're going to get damn good at doing the treadmill/running/elliptical..........at that's it.

Your body is adjusting to becoming a more efficient treadmill runner/runner/elliptical user, and in doing so, your body is adapting. In adapting, any movements that are necessary are refined, and wasted movements are eliminated, with muscles not needed being eventually atrophied. Less muscle = less fat burning potential, hence the term "skinny fat".

tulips_and_tea

Yep, it's already been said, but add some weight training and cut down the cardio. I understand your limitations with your shoulders and no gym membership, but some of the best strength exercises to do use your own body weight only. Do some searching online for examples of these types of exercises.

For me, once I started doing all the squats and lunges and deadlifts my cardio performance improved greatly. The two go hand-in-hand. (I also do upper body work, but didn't mention that as you said you can't.) Change it up and add intensity - it works!

JoRocka

vancurenmama wrote: »

Yea, but I just said that's not possible for me right now..

what does that even mean??

meridianova

JoRocka wrote: »

vancurenmama wrote: »

Yea, but I just said that's not possible for me right now..

what does that even mean??

i would guess it means the OP has some kind of injury or condition that would prevent weight lifting, but doesn't hamper cardio efforts.

pregnant women can still jog or run, but they shouldn't be lifting weights.

_Waffle_

vancurenmama wrote: »

last week I dropped almost 4lbs on a 3 day break from working out..now I'm back to it at I've gained .6 in 2 days.

Working out requires a bit of extra water for your body to rebuild muscle and joints. That's all your seeing. When you stopped you didn't need it. Now that you're working out again you'll gain some of it back. Ignore this and keep doing the right things.

vancurenmama wrote: »

I've read that cardio can make you fat, but also that cardio is good for you. I've also added in some pushups, squats, and a couple arm work outs but nothing crazy on weights since I don't have that ability to use weights.
Any advice on cardio or anyone else experience this??

Sounds like you're doing the right things. Just make sure you're accurately logging calories in and calories burned from exercise. That's the only possible thing that will keep you from losing.

JoRocka

meridianova wrote: »

JoRocka wrote: »

vancurenmama wrote: »

Yea, but I just said that's not possible for me right now..

what does that even mean??

i would guess it means the OP has some kind of injury or condition that would prevent weight lifting, but doesn't hamper cardio efforts.

pregnant women can still jog or run, but they shouldn't be lifting weights.

Sure they can.