WHOA! ICEBERGS AHEAD! HARD RUDDER!!!

vivaldirules

I've succeeded in losing 70 pounds and am nearing my high school graduation weight when I was a healthy, skinny kid (38 years ago). With about 5 more pounds of fat to lose, I clearly need to switch gears and that scares me to death because I hve no clue. I could use some serious advice, please.

CARDIO - I've been doing about an hour a day (mostly running) to lose weight and get heart healthy. It's worked terrifically well for me. But while I need to keep at it (I'm 55 and am in this for my health so have to keep it up), I obviously need to turn this down some. Should I back off to 30 minutes a day? 20 minutes? Maybe only every other day?

STRENGTH - I have the thinnest, weakest body for a "healthy" old man that you've ever seen. I've lost some of what little muscle I had probably from all the cardio. Obviously, I need to mix up my daily workouts. Should I now replace half an hour of cardio with half an hour of resistance every day? More? Less? If I do pushups, crunches, dumbbells, lunges, squats, and resistance bands, is that enough? I have no gym to go to. And, again, I'm just in this for my health, not for brawny looks.

PROTEIN - My diet has been fairly high on protein but if I want to now build some strength, should I increase to.....what? Would 100 grams a day be about right? More?

CALORIES - I've been averaging roughly 1900 calories per day as I've tried to lose weight. If I continue with an hour of vigorous exercise daily (roughly half cardio and half strength), should I now target 2500? More? What I definitely don't want to do is put fat back on my body (which scares the hell out of me right now as I think of horror stories of people who tried to go into "maintenance" mode but failed).

FLEXIBILITY - Aside from being agile at running, I have almost no flexibility. I was thinking of spending a few minutes adding maybe 10 minutes of Pilates or similar exercises as part of my daily routine. Would that do it or should I do something else?

I would be most appreciative of some constructive advice.

vivaldirules

bump..

maryrx59

I was reading thru posts and saw no one replied?? I'm not saying I have the answers you're looking for, but just wanted to comment that you will be successful in your transition to maintenance because you are already thinking ahead to what adjustments need to be made now!!!

From what I've read here in the forums, most people reduce their cardio to 3 or 4 times a week with heavy lifting on the other days. I would say to try and mix it up with activities you enjoy...kayaking, swimming,hiking,bowling, take the wife dancing? Buy a jump rope and a hula hoop and try to master them! Again, mix it up and enjoy the new body you have worked so hard to develop!

Diet-wise, calculate your TDEE and set a goal maybe 5-10% below that to slow your weight loss and once you reach your goal, slowly increase calories each week until you settle into your new set-point. Concentrate on "clean" eating to keep up your good health and don't forget to exercise your mind too! Now that you're reaching your physical goals, what spiritual or intellectual goals would you like to obtain? The sky is the limit!

Again, congrats on your progress.

Mary

vivaldirules

I was reading thru posts and saw no one replied?? I'm not saying I have the answers you're looking for, but just wanted to comment that you will be successful in your transition to maintenance because you are already thinking ahead to what adjustments need to be made now!!!

From what I've read here in the forums, most people reduce their cardio to 3 or 4 times a week with heavy lifting on the other days. I would say to try and mix it up with activities you enjoy...kayaking, swimming,hiking,bowling, take the wife dancing? Buy a jump rope and a hula hoop and try to master them! Again, mix it up and enjoy the new body you have worked so hard to develop!

Diet-wise, calculate your TDEE and set a goal maybe 5-10% below that to slow your weight loss and once you reach your goal, slowly increase calories each week until you settle into your new set-point. Concentrate on "clean" eating to keep up your good health and don't forget to exercise your mind too! Now that you're reaching your physical goals, what spiritual or intellectual goals would you like to obtain? The sky is the limit!

Again, congrats on your progress.

Mary

Thank you for that. That all sounds like good advice. And, yes, I've wanted to ultimately do fun, active things (and with my wife, too) and not just "work out". Hula hoops. Now, there's something I hadn't considered. I always wanted one of those when I was a kid! Thanks, again.