should i continue with cardio?

Meg_78

I'm at the begining of my journey so I'm still trying to find my feet but I'd like some advice.

By all calculators I am considered underweight for my height 97lbs/5'4, my body fat percentage is around 16-17%. My goal here is to get in shape, cause though I am an active person, I have never actively worked out, i'm thin but have very little muscle definition. At the moment I'm doing 2 days x25min a week light cardio (Tue & Thur) burning on average 200cal each day, then on the weekends when I have help from my hubby I'm doing more strength training and weight training exercises. My net goal is 2140 cals, and i try not to go under by more than 100 Cal's. My first week here was a mess, as i lost 3 lbs cause the setting were all wrong for me, so my initial aim is to get up to 100lbs again, then go up from there.

So after all that, my question is, is the cardio doing me more damage than good? I'm doing it to increase my heath and indurance cause I'm not that fit, and very weak, but would I just be better of focusing on strength training and weights instead?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

meerkat70

Obviously, for your goals, weight training is the thing you need to be doing most.

In the short term, I'd focus on weights and eating, get your bmi up a bit, and *then* worry about factoring cardio in.

Cardio won't do you harm in the long term. However, you'll need to make sure you eat enough to compensate for it. And don't overdo the cardio. If you're keeping it to 3-5 times a week, and you're eating plenty, it shouldn't do any harm to your goal of not becoming even more underweight, but it will support your overall health and fitness profile.

Have you managed to personalise your settings now?

Also, given that you're already quite underweight, have you had a bit of initial specialist medical advice to support your goals?

Best of luck. One of my best friends really struggles to hold weight and muscle, and I know how hard it is to build up, rather than losing. Take very good care of yourself.

meerkat70

(I notice your ticker still seems to think you're trying to *lose* 100lb. That suggests you haven't got your settings quite right yet. I'd suggest use the 'customise goals' thing in the 'goals' section of the site.)

foxbat2828

When you say that you feel weak, are you saying weak in a sense that you can't lift much or weak in a sense like your stamina is not very high and you get winded very quickly? If it's weak as in can't lift much, then by all means, I think weight training makes sense as your focus item. If you mean weak in the sense that you feel fatigued often or that your stamina is down, then I think the cardio is something that moves more toward the forefront. I'm always of the firm opinion that you take care of foundation items first, like stamina and being at a healthy weight, and that makes it so much easier to then be able to do the other things that we want to focus on like toning, strength gain, etc.

I will say that I'm somewhat biased to cardio having just had heart surgery. I've always been more focused on strength in the past and not so much on stamina and endurance. I'm the kind of guy that can move the five-man blocking sled by myself, but couldn't run the wind sprints with the team at the end of practice. Seeing how much more important the stamina and heart strength is, I really wish I had focused more on cardio all of these years as opposed to strength. I guess we all live and learn and I'm just glad that I was given a second-chance to learn.

Meg_78

Obviously, for your goals, weight training is the thing you need to be doing most.

In the short term, I'd focus on weights and eating, get your bmi up a bit, and *then* worry about factoring cardio in.

Cardio won't do you harm in the long term. However, you'll need to make sure you eat enough to compensate for it. And don't overdo the cardio. If you're keeping it to 3-5 times a week, and you're eating plenty, it shouldn't do any harm to your goal of not becoming even more underweight, but it will support your overall health and fitness profile.

Have you managed to personalise your settings now?

Also, given that you're already quite underweight, have you had a bit of initial specialist medical advice to support your goals?

Best of luck. One of my best friends really struggles to hold weight and muscle, and I know how hard it is to build up, rather than losing. Take very good care of yourself.

Thank you. When I first joined I had myself set on lightly active and maintain weight (of 100lbs) but realised quite quickly that it was way way too low. Now I'm on active and gain 1lb a week, but if i don't see a difference with in 2 weeks I will up it to very active.

Medical wise, though I'm under, I'm still very healthy in that my periods are very regular and i had no trouble conceiving and having children, so they pretty much just tell me to try and gain with no real info on how. but it has been something I have struggled with for my whole life, which is why I though maybe muscle gain might be the way to go. So i think 1x25 min session of cardio should be enough too, and concentrate a few days with strength and weights.

Yeah my ticker, I don't know what I'm doing wrong with that lol, it ment to be gaining to 100lbs sso i need tto check it.

Thank you again for you advice.

Meg_78

When you say that you feel weak, are you saying weak in a sense that you can't lift much or weak in a sense like your stamina is not very high and you get winded very quickly? If it's weak as in can't lift much, then by all means, I think weight training makes sense as your focus item. If you mean weak in the sense that you feel fatigued often or that your stamina is down, then I think the cardio is something that moves more toward the forefront. I'm always of the firm opinion that you take care of foundation items first, like stamina and being at a healthy weight, and that makes it so much easier to then be able to do the other things that we want to focus on like toning, strength gain, etc.

I will say that I'm somewhat biased to cardio having just had heart surgery. I've always been more focused on strength in the past and not so much on stamina and endurance. I'm the kind of guy that can move the five-man blocking sled by myself, but couldn't run the wind sprints with the team at the end of practice. Seeing how much more important the stamina and heart strength is, I really wish I had focused more on cardio all of these years as opposed to strength. I guess we all live and learn and I'm just glad that I was given a second-chance to learn.

Weak as in low stamana, get puffed easily, which is why i thought it was important too. My strength is ok, not great, but i'm starting with 8lb dumbbells and hope to increase....now I'm confused, maybe 2 days a week is ok, they are such short sessions, and i eat back my Cal's. IDK!

mandylooo

When you say that you feel weak, are you saying weak in a sense that you can't lift much or weak in a sense like your stamina is not very high and you get winded very quickly? If it's weak as in can't lift much, then by all means, I think weight training makes sense as your focus item. If you mean weak in the sense that you feel fatigued often or that your stamina is down, then I think the cardio is something that moves more toward the forefront. I'm always of the firm opinion that you take care of foundation items first, like stamina and being at a healthy weight, and that makes it so much easier to then be able to do the other things that we want to focus on like toning, strength gain, etc.

I will say that I'm somewhat biased to cardio having just had heart surgery. I've always been more focused on strength in the past and not so much on stamina and endurance. I'm the kind of guy that can move the five-man blocking sled by myself, but couldn't run the wind sprints with the team at the end of practice. Seeing how much more important the stamina and heart strength is, I really wish I had focused more on cardio all of these years as opposed to strength. I guess we all live and learn and I'm just glad that I was given a second-chance to learn.

Weak as in low stamana, get puffed easily, which is why i thought it was important too. My strength is ok, not great, but i'm starting with 8lb dumbbells and hope to increase....now I'm confused, maybe 2 days a week is ok, they are such short sessions, and i eat back my Cal's. IDK!

I think you're current regime looks fine. you need the stamina as well as the strength by the sound of it at the moment. Keep doing what you're doing and up your calorie intake gradually if necessary (though your food diary looks fab as it is). Just be patient. if you have a tendency to be low weight, then it can be hard to gain, you just have to stick with it.

Meg_78

(I notice your ticker still seems to think you're trying to *lose* 100lb. That suggests you haven't got your settings quite right yet. I'd suggest use the 'customise goals' thing in the 'goals' section of the site.)

I think the ticker is off cause I haven't actually logged a weight gain yet and I started after I'd lost the 3 lbs. So hopefully it will be more functional if I manage to gain something this week. They are not really designed for gaining. So they don't work that well for it.

Meg_78

When you say that you feel weak, are you saying weak in a sense that you can't lift much or weak in a sense like your stamina is not very high and you get winded very quickly? If it's weak as in can't lift much, then by all means, I think weight training makes sense as your focus item. If you mean weak in the sense that you feel fatigued often or that your stamina is down, then I think the cardio is something that moves more toward the forefront. I'm always of the firm opinion that you take care of foundation items first, like stamina and being at a healthy weight, and that makes it so much easier to then be able to do the other things that we want to focus on like toning, strength gain, etc.

I will say that I'm somewhat biased to cardio having just had heart surgery. I've always been more focused on strength in the past and not so much on stamina and endurance. I'm the kind of guy that can move the five-man blocking sled by myself, but couldn't run the wind sprints with the team at the end of practice. Seeing how much more important the stamina and heart strength is, I really wish I had focused more on cardio all of these years as opposed to strength. I guess we all live and learn and I'm just glad that I was given a second-chance to learn.

Weak as in low stamana, get puffed easily, which is why i thought it was important too. My strength is ok, not great, but i'm starting with 8lb dumbbells and hope to increase....now I'm confused, maybe 2 days a week is ok, they are such short sessions, and i eat back my Cal's. IDK!

I think you're current regime looks fine. you need the stamina as well as the strength by the sound of it at the moment. Keep doing what you're doing and up your calorie intake gradually if necessary (though your food diary looks fab as it is). Just be patient. if you have a tendency to be low weight, then it can be hard to gain, you just have to stick with it.

Thanks, yes. Dairy is my go to food for sure. I forget that my diary is half Swedish so its harder for people to read. But yes lots of dairy also love wholemeal breads and love pasta. Trying to up my protein portion too both naturally and with shakes as I tend to fill up on veg otherwise. I also have a gainer powder for when I'm struggling to Reach my calorue goal on food alone esp on days when I exercise.

Meg_78

bumping up, would raally appreciate any more wisdom!