Need Advice

nomoreexcuses121

I have about 35-40 pounds that I still need to lose. I've been working out on either a treadmill or elliptical at the cardio level for 30-45 minutes about 3-4 days a week and do about two 45 minute sessions of strength training. My goal is to lose my weight as quickly as I can so I can just worry about maintaining. I need to know if it is better to just do cardio at this point in the game. If so, should I work out at cardio level, or fat burning, or alternate? It seems like a lot of people get to their goal weight and then they say that they are going to tone up. I'm losing about 0.5 pounds a week and according to my setup in mfp I should be losing 1.5 pounds. I'm hitting my calorie burn and eating my calories, so the only thing I can think of is that my work out routine needs to be changed. Any advice is much needed. Thanks in advance :-)

marycmeadows

NO if anything you should increase your strength.

first off, you lose muscle at an alarming rate when you lose weight - which is why it's so important to do strength.

secondly - muscle burns calories faster than fat - plain and simple.

thirdly - tone after you lose weight - but make sure there's muscles under there as you go along -- you don't want to be skinny fat.

riyahroyce

it needs to be changed in that you need to work out 5 - 6 days a week, not 3 - 4. it sounds like you're already working hard- just keep on keepin on and step up your game! best of luck

Scarlett_S

I went to a weight loss doctor and nutritionist for awhile. When I started doing weight training, my weight loss slowed. They advised me to stop and concentrate ONLY on cardio to "get the fat off." I agree that that probably works, but I was personally concerned about messing up my metabolism and losing more muscle, so I didn't follow their advice - I actually amped up my strength training AND cardio.

After losing 8-10 lbs a month for the first several months of my journey, over the last three, I've slowed to 4-5 pounds a month. BUT, I can testament that I have lost inches and clothes sizes that were totally unexpected. That last fifteen pounds, with the strength training, has taken me from a size 14 down to a size 10 and mediums in shirts. ( I am 5'10 and 173 lbs at the moment). I never expected to be a size 10 at 173 lbs, and I can't feel like that is a bad thing.

I would like to lose 20 more lbs or so and I've accepted that it will probably take me another 4-5 months if I continue at this pace.

Srbrosseau

Mary's right.

A strength training workout will continue to burn calories for 24 hours after the workout because the muscle is using energy in repairing itself.

Cardio workout calorie burning ends when the workout does. However, you should still do cardio because of the other health benefits.

Dayquasar

Well from what I've been told you gotta do both cardio and tone, cardio helps burn fat/cals but when you tone and lift weights the muscle you gain helps burn cals/fat longer while at rest, cardio does it more just while your doing the exercise. Also switch up diff workouts so your body doesn't get used to it and plateau.

MrsWagz

Try doing some interval training. I like TurboFire HIIT training-- These are 1 minute drills that drive your heart rate up to the max. Training like this forces your metabolism to go into overdrive to compensate for the demand on your muscles and the need for repair.. You could use this method of cardio with simple things like hiking up a flight of stairs or jumping rope as fast as you can. Anything that forces your heart rate way up for short bursts.. I would continue weight training because muscle burns fat and when you put muscle in your body you burn more calories. I hope this helps! Have a blessed day!

tolygal

What are you eating? I've been trying to eat cleaner the last few weeks and I really think it's helping me!! I'm excited to see what's been happening for me with this, and I just keep trying to go cleaner and cleaner and pick foods that really punch the nutrition card. The last week or so I haven't even been counting calories all that strictly - I've just been eating 5-6 small "cleaner" meals throughout the day - having complex carbs and protein at each meal, and I'll tell you - it really seems to be helping me lose fat. Be sure to eat breakfast. Try to eat the bulk of your calories/nutrion (and carbs) earlier in the day and your dinner light (with fewer carbs). I know some will say that doesn't matter, but it helps me a lot!

Also - I wouldn't stop weight lifting every - and lift heavy. You want all the muscle you can get to keep your metabolism up (plus it's looks awesome). Remember you're buring more calories with all that musle (and the work it takes to repair them after you lift - and again - feed them muscle!). Make sure you're eating enough good foods - think nutrition. And definitly try more HIIT rather than longer stead-pace cardio. Make sure your intensity is HIGH during the intervals - no wussy stuff - remember you get to recover in between intervals (and when you're done)!

For HIIT, you can do 1 minute all out intensity and 2 minute recovery. This is really easy to do on the treadmill - and the time goes really fast like this. What I do is warm up first for about 5 mins, then I sprint as fast as I can (10 MPH right now) for 60 seconds (toward the end, I can sometimes only make it 45 seconds) and then I drop down to 4.5 - 6 mph for recovery. My first couple intervals I recover at a 6mph jog, but after that I have to walk at 4.5 in order to recover enough. I do jump off to the sides until the treadmill slows down cuz I'm far too tired to keep running while I wait!! I do this same idea on the elliptical too. Just increase your speed or intensity during the interval and then drop back down for recovery. It's hard work, but totally worth it!

You can also do this with other activities if you want - it doesn't have to be on the elliptical or treadmill - it just can be. When I workout at home, I sometimes use DVDs. You can find some HIIT DVDs if you want. I really like Cathe's Intensity workout - she's got a HIIT portion in there that I like to do at home.

This is all just my opinion, of course. Good luck!!!