How to get the scale to move?

tulipzz

I am 5'4" tall and weigh 70kg. Absolutely need to lose 10kgs !!

I lost 6 kgs 1.5yrs ago by walking 3miles a day - 4 days a week. ZERO strength training. After 2-3 very stressful months and zero exercise, I put it all back on.

Im a workign mum, so time is very precious for me. I started 30 Day Shred (day 8 done). Can the wise people on this forum please advise:

1. how I can lose weight and build muscle? Is 30DS enough? or do I need to add more cardio in?
2. what are good 20mins cardio videos ?
3. What else do I need to do to get the scale moving? yes, I am eating sensibly.

RECowgill

I'm going to tell you some things that you may not believe but I'm gonna put it out there. I hope this helps.

0. I don't think you should do any of these short term programs. 21 day fix, 30 day shred, etc and whatever. They're scams because once you're done, you haven't made any real long term changes to your behavior. You might be controlling your portions on the program, and when its over you stop doing that. Maybe you won't, maybe you'll keep it off this time. But the odds are I think that you'll regain the weight. That makes them pretty worthless and not very good for your health.

1. How can you lose weight and build muscle? Do some kind of weight training routine 3 days a week for 45mins each. That should fit into your busy schedule I hope. Stop doing cardio, you're only burning calories with cardio, you aren't preserving lean mass. What does that mean? Cardio burns calories, it doesn't target fat. Those calories also come from your muscle, your lean mass. You want to get stronger and lighter? Do strength training, weight training, or resistance training. Whatever its called, something where you burn calories while moving weights. That will allow you to keep the muscle you have and burn fat.

2. There are no good 20min cardio videos, don't do them. It's a waste of your limited time.

3. What else needs to be done? It's diet, exercise and rest. That's it.

3a. Make sure you eat enough and not too much (knowing your TDEE and eating just under it).

3b. Make sure your exercise is some kind of resistance training (could be machines, could be resistance bands, could be dumbbells, could be all of the above), do it 3x a week covering all of your major muscle groups. You only need to do this for 30-60mins per workout. Don't wimp out on yourself either, really put in the effort. Resist the urge to add more days or add in cardio.

3c. Make sure you get plenty of rest. 8 hours a night, get naps if you can, re-center yourself, rest. No sleep, no improvements, increased risk of injury. This is very important!

4. If you really want to throw in some kind of cardio that's your call but I wouldn't waste my time personally. I do very little cardio and I've lost over 50lbs, dropped over 10% off my bodyfat. And believe it or not, weight training will improve your cardiovascular health. Anything that gets you breathing and blood going will improve your cardio health.

Cardio training is fine if you are a marathon runner, but its not going to help you achieve your goals of losing weight and building muscle.

Best of luck to you.

neandermagnon

I agree @ weight training. Your goal is to lose fat and build muscle:

I'd recommend Starting Strength or Stronglifts as a beginner's weight/strength training programme, and combine this with eating at a deficit. You only need 3 workouts a week, so it's not hard to fit into a busy schedule... if you're really limited to 20 mins at a time, you can do the squats part of the workout in 20 mins then the rest later. To begin with you can probably do the whole workount in about 25 mins, although as the weights get heavier you need longer rest intervals - if time is a factor you can split the workout in two.

As for how to eat:

to lose fat while preserving lean mass - do the above kind of programme, while eating at a small calorie deficit. You only have 10kg to lose so don't try to lose more than 0.5-1lb a week.

to gain muscle - do the above while eating at a small calorie surplus.

Alternate between bulking and cutting. If you have a lot of fat to lose, then do a cut cycle first, and because of noob gains you may build a little muscle in the process. This seems to be what you're looking for, so go with that, and see how it goes and if you want to gain a little more muscle you can try eating at a surplus for a while... but you don't need to if you're happy with how you look after you lose the fat - you can just switch to maintenance and carry on with the strength training.

Make sure you're getting enough protein, carbs and fat - especially protein. About 1g protein per lb lean body mass is usually what's recommended for keeping lean mass while eating at a deficit and for gaining muscle while eating at a surplus.

Ryan_Case

I am not sure what "eating sensibly" means. But if you want to lose weight, you need to log your food and run a calorie deficit.

Walking 3 miles a day, four days a week at your current weight burns about 500 calories a week. 0.15 pounds of fat. At a fifteen minute mile, that takes about three hours a week.

Eating a 500 calorie a day deficit burns about a pound a week. No extra time constraints needed.

To walk enough to burn a pound a week would mean 72 miles a week. That is about 18 hours of walking at a 15 minute mile.

This is why weight loss happens at the dinner table, not at the gym.

Don't get me wrong, the gym helps, and strength training definitely helps with perserving the muscle you already own, while losing the fat. You will also, most likely, be happier with the way you look after you lose the fat, if you follow some sort of strength training program while you lean up. Oh, and there is the advantage of strenous exercise having an appetite blunting affect thanks to the sympathetic nervous response, making it actually easier for some to eat at a deficit.

Cardio exercise does have its place. It helps with cardiovascular health. And improving your cardiovascular health will go a long way towards making your golden years more enjoyable. But, as was demonstrated with the math above, it can not be solely relied on for any kind of significant weight loss. Not without a calorie deficit anyway.

In fact. A person could do an hour of moderate cardio daily and eat an extra 1500 calories daily and *gain* fat. So even if you are going to try to use cardio only as your weight loss plan, bad idea, you still have to log calories to make sure you aren't just eating them all back.

FindingAmy77

cardio, strength training and eating at a deficit will get you to your goals. Try tae bo for a good workout from youtube as far as workout videos go. Go for jogging/walking intervals that does it for me.

tulipzz

ok, so its strength training/weights then.That explains a lot things...

I've NEVER done that before, it was always walking walking and walking. The only thing that toned up a little bit after the 5-6 kg loss was my butt. everywhere else just loose skin/muscle.
Im loving 30 day shred. I will finish it and alongside I will start a 20 min weights session.

I have no clue about strength training/weights exercies. Any pointers to a youtube video for a beginners sessions will be greatly appreciated.

meganb2506

This: http://stronglifts.com/5x5/