Found myself in a weird place. Would like advise.

RHachicho

Ok I have been on a rather aggressive diet for about 6 months now. Which was more than necessary since my starting weight was 338lbs. One day I just snapped. I had a trigger moment and I was off. I was gonna fix everything my ill health my weight my fitness all of it. Since then despite making too many mistakes to count I have had an excellent level of success. I have pushed my physical fitness to levels which, at least to ME are unbelievable. At the start of my program I could barely get through 15 minutes on an exercise bike without wheezing. Now I am walking 2 hours to and from the gym 3 days a week wherein I do 90 minute workouts. And I am about halfway through doing c25k on my off days.

However despite heavy resistance training I have seen little/no muscle growth. Until quite recently my strength was improving very nicely but it seems to have capped out in the last month or so. The odd place I am in is that at my current levels of muscle strength it has become quite difficult to raise my heart rate to decent levels outside of my runs And on Monday where my PT put's me through some pretty brutal circuit training. Which definitely do the job,

I find myself however stuck when it comes to the cardio machines. If I want to raise my heart rate these days I have to overtax my muscles. I can no longer find a balance where I can stay on the cardio machines for a decent amount of time and get decent results without my muscles feel like they've been put through the wringer.

Basically I plan to continue the diet until mid/late november. My target that I'm pushing for is 20% body fat by then. My question is this. Given that steady long term cardio is no longer really an option for me. (It's either brutal high intensity or way too damn easy and hardly exercise now) Is it still worth doing large amounts of cardio. Will that help me meet my body fat % goal even if It only gets my heart rate at about 86. Or should I simply focus on the stuff that actually makes me sweat and reduce the volume and focus on the weight training? Because god i am sick of the hamster-wheel machines. Much prefer to just run/walk outside and enjoy the outdoors. That being said if you think that such low level activity will still help me burn fat it's getting done.

Your thoughts

SueInAz

Here's my thoughts:

Doing things that make you crazy are more likely to make you quit. If I had to run on a treadmill or use an elliptical machine to do cardio I straight up wouldn't do it. Period. Do the things you like. Hit the road for your cardio continuing C25K and lift heavy for low reps on the days between running. Skip all the crazy hamster wheel cardio, you don't need it and it's not going to help you gain muscle.

SezxyStef

Muscle growth requires a lot...most of the time people are in a surplus of maitenance calories, watching macros carefully and lifting heavy.

The fact that your strength was improving says a lot but it will stop improving while at a deficit and deloads happen and you work your way back up..and you might have to deload again at some point...failure is success in my book as you hit your limit and with the deload you can get past your previous limit.

If you like cardio continue it..if you don't stop...

Cardio is not for weight loss it's for health...your calorie deficit is for weight loss.

sweating is not an indicator of a good workout...i hardly ever sweat when I am working out now...use to drop buckets of it.

For me I prefer HIIT, takes less time, burns a butt load of calories and if you like to sweat...it will get you sweating.

I do not get on cardio machines ever...if I am doing cardio it's a brisk walk outside or I am on my bike (now that it's summer) while it's snowy I do HIIT videos from fitnessblender.com.

RHachicho

I should clarify I am not after muscle growth I am quite aware that muscle does not grow at a deficit and my strength gains came from improved blood supply nerve coverage and muscle nuclei splitting. I know I won't get muscle gain until I go into a calorie surplus. I'm looking to the bulk of cardio to help me burn fat. But if it's really not gonna help me do that then I will just do the stuff I want to do to help me get fitter.

WalkingAlong

Last week you were ready to quit, so good job turning that around!

I don't think there is such thing as cardio being "either brutal high intensity or way too damn easy and hardly exercise now" with all the myriad of cardio options and levels. Does your gym have bikes? Rowers? Stairclimbers? Kettlebells? A pool? But if you can't find a good mid-level cardio activity and you don't enjoy it, for sure, do what you enjoy instead. No one has to suffer on a treadmill or other cardio machine to lose weight.

AsaThorsWoman

OP, you've lost 88 pounds!

That is so amazing. Congrats!

I'm someone who's lost quite a bit, 65lb, or so...

The best advice I can give is that what worked at first will not remain the same.

You may already know this, but I've mixed up techniques, workouts, macros, you name it along the way.

Sometimes the best thing is to just stay the course, sometimes it's to make a change.

I wish that one single technique worked for everyone, but as it turns out, we all get different mileage.

:drinker:

JidMarston

Muscle growth requires a lot...most of the time people are in a surplus of maitenance calories, watching macros carefully and lifting heavy.

The fact that your strength was improving says a lot but it will stop improving while at a deficit and deloads happen and you work your way back up..and you might have to deload again at some point...failure is success in my book as you hit your limit and with the deload you can get past your previous limit.

If you like cardio continue it..if you don't stop...

Cardio is not for weight loss it's for health...your calorie deficit is for weight loss.

sweating is not an indicator of a good workout...i hardly ever sweat when I am working out now...use to drop buckets of it.

For me I prefer HIIT, takes less time, burns a butt load of calories and if you like to sweat...it will get you sweating.

I do not get on cardio machines ever...if I am doing cardio it's a brisk walk outside or I am on my bike (now that it's summer) while it's snowy I do HIIT videos from fitnessblender.com.

I absolutely 100% agree about HIIT cardio (High Intensity Interval Training). You literally only spend 20-30 minutes doing cardio when you do do it. I love it. I do it on my lunch breaks.

As far as weight lifting goes, I would suggest lifting heavy, and hitting the big 3 compound lifts: Bench, Squat, and Deadlifts. Don't do them all in one day, obviously. Separate out your major muscle groups per workout. Also, separate your cardio and your lifts by 2-3 hours MINIMUM, so that way you have the energy to focus on either one.

As for lifting, to increase strength, find your maximum's where you can only do 4 reps of weight total. This will send your muscles into overload, where they will develop the most, and recover the quickest. Once you're able to do 6 reps in 3 sets of that weight, up it 5-10 pounds (depending on your lifts) so that way you're back down to a max of 4 reps per set. Repeat and repeat.

I should also state, that lifting weight increases your metabolism, and helps burn fat faster.

I learned all of this from the book Bigger, Leaner, Stronger by Mike Matthews. It is all scientifically backed information. You can find it on amazon for a really good price.

I'm on his program, and it's amazing the amount of progression I'm making. I'd highly suggest looking into it.

RHachicho

Last week you were ready to quit, so good job turning that around!

I don't think there is such thing as cardio being "either brutal high intensity or way too damn easy and hardly exercise now" with all the myriad of cardio options and levels. Does your gym have bikes? Rowers? Stairclimbers? Kettlebells? A pool? But if you can't find a good mid-level cardio activity and you don't enjoy it, for sure, do what you enjoy instead. No one has to suffer on a treadmill or other cardio machine to lose weight.

Yeah thanks I was in a crazy deficit and went kind of insane. I'm not doing that any more lol. And man it's surprised me too. It's like there really is no middle ground any more. I've gotten so fit that I've kind of hit a wall when it comes to how much my muscles can support me. Anything with enough resistance to tax my heart and energy systems results in unplanned muscle fatigue. I exercise a LOT so recovery between workouts is a real issue for me. It's not like I can just blast the machine at resistance 15 and just be ok muscle wise the next day. Over doing it and over taxing my muscles has become far more of an issue now. I know I should be proud of being this fit but I've been at a deficit and working my *kitten* of for so long that this weird problem has come up XD.

I have had quite a few days where I sit there with DOMS up the wazoo ... but feel totally energetic and wanting to work out more.

@ AsaThorsWoman

Thanks for the encouragement I'm not really dissatisfied with my results. It's just that I am motivated to maximize them. About November time I am going to go into a surplus for 3/4 months to let my body recover from the long term deficit it's been under and build some muscle. And I want to supercharge my fat loss results by then