Weights vs cardio?

angv22908

So as you can see I was 300 lbs 6 years ago. I lost a total of 148 lbs over about a year with an Adkins lifestyle. I kept all that off for about 2 years. Then menopause and my sons first deployment hit and some health issues that I was malnourished with the amount of carbs I was at for so long and the running and HIIT workouts. I gained roughly 25 back and have bounce round with about a 7-10 lbs difference for about 2 years. I went from 300 to 152. Got up to 175-180 and stay there. I’m more comfortable around 165-170. I can’t seem to find good balance with movement. I currently only calorie count vs low carb as that don’t work for me my more. I was running 3-5 miles a day and that didn’t produce any weight loss. Currently I do a lot of weight HIIT workouts with small bits of cardio. The menopause is causing most of the problems trying to find what works for a crazy hormone body. Any idea?!?

ExpressoLove11

What are your goals? Are you trying to lose or maintain?

heybales

Welcome to MFP.

Sounds like just 10-15 lb loss desired?

Which means don't go extreme on the diet or the body will react extreme.

250 cal deficit would be best, off what you burn in total - don't make workout days bigger deficit, unless you want less benefit from the exercise.

But that also means with smaller margin of error - logging needs to be right on.

Or you can assume your current level of eating is maintenance if you've been there awhile - and just find a real 250 cal to cut from the diet somewhere.

For the weights you mean circuit training style, small rests?
Because HIIT is actually aerobic cardio workouts done in interval fashion instead.
Weights is interval by necessity since you aren't really going to keep going for an hour at a time anyway.
HIIT term just misapplied since it's a fad now.

If you got for improving the logging, remember that MFP accounted for no workouts initially - when you do them log them and eat more correctly.
But the nature of some workouts could be inflated calorie burn some find from the database.
Any HR-based calorie burn will for sure be inflated with your described workouts.
So start at 75% of stated, log food accurately, and in a few weeks see where you are at.

TeaBea

To lose weight you need to take in fewer calories than maintenance. People can lose weight without any exercise at all.

Cardio generally burns more calories than strength training, but strength training provides a host of benefits. For health and fitness a mix of both is good. Expresso is correct - what are your goals?

How are you counting calories in? Are you using a digital food scale to weigh portions. Are you logging everything - every taste, bite, or lick. Double check you entries. Plenty of entries is the database are wrong.

How are you counting calories out? Some forms of exercise are easier to estimate than others. There are tools, but they don't work for all forms of exercise. Exercise calorie burn estimates can be inflated.

This flowchart is helpful - https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10484320/why-i-am-not-losing-weight-flowchart

B_Plus_Effort

keep doing cardio it does work, simply walking works for two reasons

1. you are not at home and therefor eating
2. it's low impact steady state

running is only better than walking because it burns twice the calories in half the time

1 mile walking burns 100 calories in 20 minutes (con = time consuming)
1 mile running burns 100 calories in 10 minutes (con = bad for your joints, too much pounding)

an elliptical is great because it is low impact, swimming is great also

there is no silver bullet there is no magic sauce and it doesn't matter what you eat as long as you eat less than you should you will loose weight, no one is forcing food in your mouth, I am not being rude, all medicine tastes bad, ha ha so I am not going to tell you what you want to hear (because I see you can get sheet done) but what you should hear, loosing weight is one thing, maintaining is another, you did part one, now focus on part two, no excuses of this or that happened, again none of those things are shoving food in your mouth, everyone has issues

cut calories by 300 each day and exercise cardio for 30 minutes a day, rinse, lather, repeat

if you want a cheat day, eat less the day before and eat less the day after, plan and execute, weight management is not all or nothing, each day we start over, forget the bad days and start over

and yes you are smokin' hot

angv22908

Thank you all for the great advice! All stuff that is super helpful! Definitely able to put all this to use. I appreciate honestly and directness so thank you! I prob don’t track properly, I def don’t measure properly! I do eat the right types of food for sure, but honestly more than a serving for sure.

AnnPT77

angv22908 wrote: »

Thank you all for the great advice! All stuff that is super helpful! Definitely able to put all this to use. I appreciate honestly and directness so thank you! I prob don’t track properly, I def don’t measure properly! I do eat the right types of food for sure, but honestly more than a serving for sure.

Start with the tracking and measurement, then. If you have accurate personal data, it can be a powerful tool.

I spent the last year (year 4/5 in a healthy weight range after 3 previous decades of obesity) taking a 200-250 deficit most days, and having the occasional more indulgent day here and there, so averaging something like a 100-150 daily calorie deficit over the year. My goal was to lose a few vanity pounds in a low-drama way. As a result, I lost something in the 12-15 pound range (depends on which day you ask 😉) since around October 2019. It was easy, and virtually painless. The main reason it was easy is that at this point, I trust my process: I know my calorie needs with and without exercise, I have reasonable ways of estimating my exercise, and I know how to track my intake reasonably accurately.

I'm not saying there's no other way to do an equivalent thing (because I know there are many), but this data-driven method is really straightforward IMO, and works well for me. (I think heybales' advice is pretty perfect). Tracking and measurement for the win, in my book.

Best wishes!

briscogun

Lots of great advice above but I just wanted to say congrats on the amazing loss! What a change!