Stage 1 - Concerned I'm Not Burning Enough Calories
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karenmi
Posts: 242 Member
I just started Stage 1 on Sunday and did my "B" workout yesterday.
I know we're not supposed to do any cardio but if I don't I'm not burning enough calories. I've been strength training for 2 1/2 years now and always start my workouts with 35 mins off walking on the treadmill at 3.2 MPH, 7 to 9% incline. That combined with my previous strength work (alternating Kettlebell and upper body workouts) would burn approx 450 calories per workout.
For my "A" workout I cut back to 20 mins on the treadmill and burned 325 calories. Yesterday for my "B" workout I did 25 mins of cardio and burned about the same amount of calories. I wear a HRM and my heart rate is definitely up there during the "lifting" portion, which is great. I am lifting as heavy a weight as I can but in the end I don't feel like I'm getting hard enough workout.
Has anyone else experienced this and if so do you have any words of wisdom for me? I've been doing MFP for over 2 years now, lost 50 lbs in the first year and kept it off for 1 year but have recently gained back 5 lbs of tummy fat which I would like to lose. My goal is set for 1350 calories a day, I eat all my exercise calories and then some (about 200 more) because I am usually pretty hungry. Am I not eating enough?
I know we're not supposed to do any cardio but if I don't I'm not burning enough calories. I've been strength training for 2 1/2 years now and always start my workouts with 35 mins off walking on the treadmill at 3.2 MPH, 7 to 9% incline. That combined with my previous strength work (alternating Kettlebell and upper body workouts) would burn approx 450 calories per workout.
For my "A" workout I cut back to 20 mins on the treadmill and burned 325 calories. Yesterday for my "B" workout I did 25 mins of cardio and burned about the same amount of calories. I wear a HRM and my heart rate is definitely up there during the "lifting" portion, which is great. I am lifting as heavy a weight as I can but in the end I don't feel like I'm getting hard enough workout.
Has anyone else experienced this and if so do you have any words of wisdom for me? I've been doing MFP for over 2 years now, lost 50 lbs in the first year and kept it off for 1 year but have recently gained back 5 lbs of tummy fat which I would like to lose. My goal is set for 1350 calories a day, I eat all my exercise calories and then some (about 200 more) because I am usually pretty hungry. Am I not eating enough?
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I felt the exact same way as you after my first two workouts (A1 and B1). I thought it was too quick and I didn't feel like I did anything. So I hopped on an elliptical.
I posted on the Stage 1 thread for advise and found that I wasn't lifting enough. I did A2 yesterday - upped the weights and found myself drench in sweat. But I still got on the elliptical for another 20 minutes. I just have to be at the gym for an hour.
I miss that part about the cardio. I don't see anything wrong with a little cardio after lifting. The trainers at the gym actually recommend it. So many opinions... just to confuse us 0 -
Hmmm....I don't think I could have lifted anything heavier, I was maxed out by the time I finished my sets and I too was really sweating, with my heart rate in the high 150's which is my 90% max. I was able to do 15 prone jackknifes each set, then realized afterwards I was only supposed to do 8!
I am used to working out for about 70 minutes at a time, so 20 minutes cardio & 30 minutes lifting seemed like a really short workout to me. I was sore after A1 but I'm not after B1.
I usually do my cardio first and thought if I cut it down to 20 minutes it would be like a warmup for lifting. Perhaps I should lift first, then do 30 minutes of cardio. At least for Stage 1.0 -
Are you concerned about the burn just because of your consumption? I didn't follow the meal guidelines of the book, I always adjust my intake by what my ultimate goal is at the time. When I want to add muscle I increase my caloric intake, when I want to lean out I decrease it. It's a program, whether you follow it or not to a T is up to you. The beginning session are shorter, but you'll find that in Stage 2 they're a bit longer and he incorporates HIIT. I never did the HIIT because I just didn't have time in my alloted 60 minutes. Stage 1 I felt the same way, it was too short, am I doing something wrong, why is this moving along so fast? But stage 2 put me in my place.0
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Hmmm....I don't think I could have lifted anything heavier, I was maxed out by the time I finished my sets and I too was really sweating, with my heart rate in the high 150's which is my 90% max. I was able to do 15 prone jackknifes each set, then realized afterwards I was only supposed to do 8!
I am used to working out for about 70 minutes at a time, so 20 minutes cardio & 30 minutes lifting seemed like a really short workout to me. I was sore after A1 but I'm not after B1.
I usually do my cardio first and thought if I cut it down to 20 minutes it would be like a warmup for lifting. Perhaps I should lift first, then do 30 minutes of cardio. At least for Stage 1.
I do a mile warm up and then lift. You don't want to do much more than 10 minutes of cardio to warm up because then you can start tiring your muscles. When you tire your muscles you can't lift as much, if you're goal is to get the most out of your lifting then you should lift first and run second.0 -
I go straight for the weights and go ahead with some cardio after. Trainer at my gym said that if I wanted to do cardio it was best to do it after weights because my body has already started to burn off the carbs and will actually be ready to burn fat . . . something like that. I don't pay attention very well.
Anyway, my point is, cardio after weights. But I ain't no expert! 0 -
Actually the book says no cardio in stage 1 (but I didn't listen to it):indifferent:0
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I do 10-20 minutes cardio warmup before I lift, and then moderate cardio on my non-lifting days, with weekends generally off entirely.0
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Thanks everyone, I will just be patient and do a little "warmup" cardio on lifting days and my regular cardio on the off days.
I have to do cardio first because I work out at lunch time, or rather my lunch time (11 to Noon) and the cardio equipment at my women-only gym is all full by about 11:30. There are way more women doing cardio than strength training. Perhaps I will try to hit the gym at 10:45 in hopes of getting on a treadmill at 11:15-ish.
My concern is that I sure could use that extra 100 calories, as I am often quite hungry some days, even when I am eating "clean".
Stage 2 does look much harder than Stage 1!0 -
Actually the book says no cardio in stage 1 (but I didn't listen to it):indifferent:
I rarely do0 -
I didn't do any cardio during Stage 1 and I was burning only around 150-170 calories per workout. But, I also took into consideration that by lifting, calories were being burned for much longer AFTER my workout. I started running again since ending Stage 1 and intend to incorporate it into Stage 2, limiting to maybe twice a week.0
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I agree with what Phoenix has said.
The only cardio i'm doing is walking to work and swimming once a week which is more for pleasure than anything else (and is gentle on the muscles). I'm definitely not doing any in the gym. I would never be able to get anywhere near my calorie goal if I did cardio as well!0 -
Yesterday I did 30 mintes of cardio after my lifting workout and had a nice burn of about 430 calories. That gives me about 1800 calories to work with which is plenty.
On two "rest" days I'm now doing 45 minutes of cardio (30 on the treadmill, 15 on the bike) followed by about 15 minutes of core work and stretching.
Thanks for all the advice everyone!!!!0
