Maybe I am too overweight for BodyPump 3x a week?

JewelsinBigD

I have been doing BodyPump for almost a year. I started off doing it 1x a week, then 2x and now 3x per week. I enjoy it. However, my weight loss has really slowed and I have a lot to lose.
I still do 2 vigorous workouts a week in addition to 3 BodyPump. Usually 2 Zumbas or a Zumba and a Nike Training Club. I wear a heart rate monitor and will go run/walk until I hit at a minimum of 400 calories which is usually not a problem unless I have a lame Zumba instructor.
I see I am getting muscle under my fat - particularly in my arms and I feel it in my abs and oblique muscles - though still hidden by fat. With so much to lose - at least 60 pounds to get to my minimum acceptable loss and 80-90 to get within normal range I am wondering if I should concentrate more on cardio and cut back my BodyPump... I set my calories at sedentary and at 2 pounds per week to lose. I should be down 100 pounds or more since Jan 2012 when I started my weight loss journey but no such luck. I kept thinking eventually all this lifting would increase my metabolism and any muscle I would gain would taper off and the scale would start moving down but not so much...ideas?

brower47

I have been doing BodyPump for almost a year. I started off doing it 1x a week, then 2x and now 3x per week. I enjoy it. However, my weight loss has really slowed and I have a lot to lose.
I still do 2 vigorous workouts a week in addition to 3 BodyPump. Usually 2 Zumbas or a Zumba and a Nike Training Club. I wear a heart rate monitor and will go run/walk until I hit at a minimum of 400 calories which is usually not a problem unless I have a lame Zumba instructor.
I see I am getting muscle under my fat - particularly in my arms and I feel it in my abs and oblique muscles - though still hidden by fat. With so much to lose - at least 60 pounds to get to my minimum acceptable loss and 80-90 to get within normal range I am wondering if I should concentrate more on cardio and cut back my BodyPump... I set my calories at sedentary and at 2 pounds per week to lose. I should be down 100 pounds or more since Jan 2012 when I started my weight loss journey but no such luck. I kept thinking eventually all this lifting would increase my metabolism and any muscle I would gain would taper off and the scale would start moving down but not so much...ideas?

1. No, you're not too overweight for 3x a week.
2. If you are eating at a calorie deficit, you are not putting on muscle. That is a metabolically expensive process that requires a calorie surplus to attain. Bodybuilder undergo 'bulking' periods for this reason followed 'cutting' periods so they can see their muscle definition.
3. The best way to keep the muscle you have (highly recommended) is to continue with weight training. Cardio will not help you maintain your current muscle stocks.
4. Fat loss comes from a calorie deficit, not the type of exercise you undergo. If you are at a deficit, the weight will drop.
5. Weight loss is rarely linear. You may lose well for a long time and then experience a plateau. Do not let plateaus discourage you. I didn't lose for 1.5 months and then one random day, I was 4 lbs lighter.
6. It isn't wise to set weight loss goals for a certain date. It rarely works out that way and can lead to enough discouragement to make you change your new healthy ways (such as giving up weight training in the hopes of making something happen).
7. You've done great so far! Keep up with what you are doing, eating at a moderate calorie deficit combined with your exercise regimen and one day, you will achieve your goal.

LoraF83

I have been doing BodyPump for almost a year. I started off doing it 1x a week, then 2x and now 3x per week. I enjoy it. However, my weight loss has really slowed and I have a lot to lose.
I still do 2 vigorous workouts a week in addition to 3 BodyPump. Usually 2 Zumbas or a Zumba and a Nike Training Club. I wear a heart rate monitor and will go run/walk until I hit at a minimum of 400 calories which is usually not a problem unless I have a lame Zumba instructor.
I see I am getting muscle under my fat - particularly in my arms and I feel it in my abs and oblique muscles - though still hidden by fat. With so much to lose - at least 60 pounds to get to my minimum acceptable loss and 80-90 to get within normal range I am wondering if I should concentrate more on cardio and cut back my BodyPump... I set my calories at sedentary and at 2 pounds per week to lose. I should be down 100 pounds or more since Jan 2012 when I started my weight loss journey but no such luck. I kept thinking eventually all this lifting would increase my metabolism and any muscle I would gain would taper off and the scale would start moving down but not so much...ideas?

1. No, you're not too overweight for 3x a week.
2. If you are eating at a calorie deficit, you are not putting on muscle. That is a metabolically expensive process that requires a calorie surplus to attain. Bodybuilder undergo 'bulking' periods for this reason followed 'cutting' periods so they can see their muscle definition.
3. The best way to keep the muscle you have (highly recommended) is to continue with weight training. Cardio will not help you maintain your current muscle stocks.
4. Fat loss comes from a calorie deficit, not the type of exercise you undergo. If you are at a deficit, the weight will drop.
5. Weight loss is rarely linear. You may lose well for a long time and then experience a plateau. Do not let plateaus discourage you. I didn't lose for 1.5 months and then one random day, I was 4 lbs lighter.
6. It isn't wise to set weight loss goals for a certain date. It rarely works out that way and can lead to enough discouragement to make you change your new healthy ways (such as giving up weight training in the hopes of making something happen).
7. You've done great so far! Keep up with what you are doing, eating at a moderate calorie deficit combined with your exercise regimen and one day, you will achieve your goal.

All of this.

FreddyObrian

Don't get discouraged! I would look at your nutrition rather than your exercise. Enjoy the workouts! If you have the energy for it, do more! But all the exercise in the world will do you no good if you are not truly eating in a caloric defecit. Do not give up any sort of resistance training, it's good, but I'd think of the cardio as a tool to place you into your caloric deficit (ignore the health benefits). For example, burn 100 calories jogging or simply not eat the 100 calories? I'd also caution yourself on how many calories you lose by jogging. I go by a rule of 70 calories for every mile, regardless of what anything tells me (but I don't track cardio).

I started my weight loss journey last year at 260 pounds. I lost all that weight down to 183-185 (currently) with no cardio, just tracking my nutrition and lifting weights. It's all about the nutrition for weight loss

Also, perhaps 2lbs is too big of a deficit for yourself. 1lb is more than enough. This way you'll be able to eat more too

Also, above ^ :P

CallMeCupcakeDammit

Nonsense! Pump away, girl!

Francl27

Keep going! You might want to move back to 'lose 1lb a week' though, and make sure you eat at least 120g of protein a day (ideally, change your macros to 40, 30, 30).

Are you eating exercise calories back though? Because at the 'lose 2lb a week' and sedentary setting, if you don't, you're probably starving yourself and that's why your weight isn't bulging.

catio23

Are you eating exercise calories back though? Because at the 'lose 2lb a week' and sedentary setting, if you don't, you're probably starving yourself and that's why your weight isn't bulging.

I agree with this - exercising 5 times a week is not sedentary