Failing! Support Needed.
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uwdawg07
Posts: 372
I am not doing well with the "eating more" part of this. For one week I ate a lot more because it was my fiance's birthday and he had three different parties thrown for him. The other days during the week I ate well, but I ate quite a bit (maybe 1800 cals) for three days out of the week, and had a few extra and tiny! slices of cake throughout the week.
Anyways, after 4 days of eating more I was up 4 pounds! I tried not to freak out, but I did, and immediately cut back down to 1200 calories. I felt horrible going back that low.
I've been eating at 1300 calories for the past week or so. I'm hoping to bump up to 1400 soon, but my brain, and fear, are really holding me back. My dietitian wants me up at 1500-1700.
How do you get over the fear of eating more? How do you just....do it?
I feel like a failure, but I know being honest and getting support will help me get out of this!
Thanks in advance
Anyways, after 4 days of eating more I was up 4 pounds! I tried not to freak out, but I did, and immediately cut back down to 1200 calories. I felt horrible going back that low.
I've been eating at 1300 calories for the past week or so. I'm hoping to bump up to 1400 soon, but my brain, and fear, are really holding me back. My dietitian wants me up at 1500-1700.
How do you get over the fear of eating more? How do you just....do it?
I feel like a failure, but I know being honest and getting support will help me get out of this!
Thanks in advance
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Replies
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Firslty, well done on deciding to make the change to eat more and fuel your body!
Secondly, you need to work out your BMR and TDEE. Visit this site: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ which works it all out for you and tells you how many calories you should be eating. Depending on how much weight you want to lose it is generally recommended to take no more than a 15% cut.
It is also recommended to change your macros to 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein.
Depending on how long you've been eating 1200 cals, a lot of people on here would suggest doing a 'metabolism reset' (i.e. eating at TDEE for say 8 weeks) before moving onto a cut. There's heaps of information on all this in the stickies.
I didn't do a reset as had only been on a low cal diet for a couple of weeks. I decided to increase my calories in June and I did it over night. Some people prefer to increase gradually over days/weeks.
I think doing lots of reading of the information in this group and on the www.eatmore2weighless.com website would be a good place to start. Realising the reasons for fuelling your body well and the science/maths behind EM2WL is a big step. It is a psychological hurdle that needs to be overcome. For me it required changing my way of thinking and forgetting everything I'd ever been told and thought about 'dieting'.
Good luck to you on this journey.0 -
First of all-do not feel like a failure!
It is not easy to overcome that old mentality many of us have to just eat 1200. It takes some time to wrap your brain around it.
I found it very difficult in the beginning as well, but when you are prepared and know what to expect, it will work out.
Weight gain is part of the game, especially, if you have been on low calories for a long time. I know it is a very hard part, but once you have accepted it, things will be getting easier. Just don't give up. You can do it!!!0 -
I really think, however, that it's what the calories are made up of that means the most with this plan. If I eat 1700-1900 calories a day of cake my body processes it as fat, but if I eat 1700-1900 calories a day of fruits, vegetables, protein and fiber my body processes it as fuel. I know it's sounds like common sense, but those weeks where there are birthday parties and we are eating cake we have to expect a weight gain. no two ways about it. get over that and move on.... I'm sure there are no birthday parties the week after, so get back to healthy eating again at the higher cal level and this will work. As I write this I am talking to myself as well, we all go through times when we are struggling, it's ok. It's human. And believe it or not failure is progress! Learn and move on! We must keep our goals in mind and remember that the food is FUEL.
I hope this helps! Have a great day!0 -
I'm just going to say it....
Our bodies are CRAZY!!!! I totally get what you are going through. Feel free to friend me and ask as many questions as you like and I will be happy to share my story, all the ups and downs (and there are a lot of them and i'm still working out the kinks) and maybe shed some light on your situation with more information.
However, what I can say is that it pretty much is a "suck it up and just do it" sort of thing. This is for life. For people who say there is no "right way" they are wrong....LOTS OF FOOD OF THE CLEAN VARIETY AND BALANCE between this and exercise are THE RIGHT WAY.
You will not be able to change your mindset overnight, in a week or maybe even a month, but if you make it priority to learn as much as possible about YOUR BODY ,health and fitness( from reputable sources)and stay consistant you will be happier than you've ever been in your entire life.
Know that saying "you've gotta get down before you can get up?" yep..embrace it. I wish you the best on your journey to a better life0 -
For me, in order to get myself to eat over 2,000 calories a day I had to order a fitbit and have it literally display to me how many calories I was burning. When it displayed 2,300 calories were burned, I felt okay eating over 2,000.0
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Good plan just doing 100 extra calories each day for a week at a time.
If you really plateaued with no weight measurement changes for 3 weeks, then you are eating at your maintenance.
Anything extra will be surplus for until body decides to increase metabolism, and that could take a few weeks of diminishing weight gain.
But if the first week is 500 extra each day, than that is 1lb for the week.
Anything above that is probably glucose stores finally being topped off, that'll max out at maybe 2lbs.
But no need to jump up high right off. Let your body see by means of 100 extra calories each day for a week that the insanity isn't going to continue.
How long did you see decreasing weight loss, when your metabolism was slowing down?
That may give an indication of maybe not even doing it weekly, but every 2 weeks.
Because here is case study, and I've seen others though not this extreme in slow metabolism and success of recovery. So I'm sure this lady through the year she gained weight was still eating too low, but every single splurge or vacation week was adding on fat because it was surplus.
A similar case study was published by Jampolis (2004).
A 51 year old patient complained of a 15 lb weight gain over the last year despite beginning a strenuous triathlon and marathon training program (2 hours per day, 5-6 days per week).
A 3 day diet analysis estimated a daily intake of only 1000-1200 Calories.
An indirect calorimetry revealed a resting metabolic rate of 950 Calories (28% below predicted for age, height, weight, and gender).
After medications and medical conditions such as hypothyroidism and diabetes where ruled out, the final diagnosis was over-training and undereating. The following treatment was recommended:
Increase daily dietary intake by approximately 100 Calories per week to a goal of 1500 calories
32% protein; 35% carbohydrates; 33% fat
Consume 5-6 small meals per day
Small amounts of protein with each meal or snack
Choose high fiber starches
Select mono- and poly- unsaturated fats
Restrict consumption of starch with evening meals unless focused around training
Take daily multi-vitamin and mineral supplement
Perform whole body isometric resistance training 2 times per week
After 6 weeks the patient's resting metabolism increased 35% to 1282 Calories per day (only 2% below predicted).
The patient also decreases percent fat from 37% to 34%, a loss of 5 lbs of body fat.
Jampolis MB (2004) Weight Gain - Marathon Runner / Triathlete. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 36(5) S148.0 -
For me, in order to get myself to eat over 2,000 calories a day I had to order a fitbit and have it literally display to me how many calories I was burning. When it displayed 2,300 calories were burned, I felt okay eating over 2,000.
THIS!!!! It helps tremendously having a device that confirms that you are a calorie burning machine. You could add calories slowly if that would help ease your mind. Personally, I would just jump in and toss the scale!0 -
Thank you SO much for all the support!!! I feel confused and I absolutely hate worrying about eating. That scares me! I do not want to be ruled by food.
I know this is a process, and one I'll have to keep working on. I think the other reason I feel so stressed about it all is that my wedding is exactly 8 months away, and I'm paranoid if I eat more and futz around with finding where I should be eating I'll put on weight and I'm still 5 pounds from where I want to be. I know the number on the scale is just that, a number, but dangit! I've lost 93 pounds and I don't want to see that number go up.For me, in order to get myself to eat over 2,000 calories a day I had to order a fitbit and have it literally display to me how many calories I was burning. When it displayed 2,300 calories were burned, I felt okay eating over 2,000.
THIS!!!! It helps tremendously having a device that confirms that you are a calorie burning machine. You could add calories slowly if that would help ease your mind. Personally, I would just jump in and toss the scale!
That's a good point. I wonder about getting a fitbit. I do use a Polar HRM for exercise, and usually burn between 800 and 950 calories a day through exercise.
Some days I only net 300 calories. Isn't that horrifying?! I'm horrified by it, but yet I can't stop doing it.0 -
Good plan just doing 100 extra calories each day for a week at a time.
If you really plateaued with no weight measurement changes for 3 weeks, then you are eating at your maintenance.
Anything extra will be surplus for until body decides to increase metabolism, and that could take a few weeks of diminishing weight gain.
But if the first week is 500 extra each day, than that is 1lb for the week.
Anything above that is probably glucose stores finally being topped off, that'll max out at maybe 2lbs.
But no need to jump up high right off. Let your body see by means of 100 extra calories each day for a week that the insanity isn't going to continue.
How long did you see decreasing weight loss, when your metabolism was slowing down?
That may give an indication of maybe not even doing it weekly, but every 2 weeks.
Because here is case study, and I've seen others though not this extreme in slow metabolism and success of recovery. So I'm sure this lady through the year she gained weight was still eating too low, but every single splurge or vacation week was adding on fat because it was surplus.
A similar case study was published by Jampolis (2004).
A 51 year old patient complained of a 15 lb weight gain over the last year despite beginning a strenuous triathlon and marathon training program (2 hours per day, 5-6 days per week).
A 3 day diet analysis estimated a daily intake of only 1000-1200 Calories.
An indirect calorimetry revealed a resting metabolic rate of 950 Calories (28% below predicted for age, height, weight, and gender).
After medications and medical conditions such as hypothyroidism and diabetes where ruled out, the final diagnosis was over-training and undereating. The following treatment was recommended:
Increase daily dietary intake by approximately 100 Calories per week to a goal of 1500 calories
32% protein; 35% carbohydrates; 33% fat
Consume 5-6 small meals per day
Small amounts of protein with each meal or snack
Choose high fiber starches
Select mono- and poly- unsaturated fats
Restrict consumption of starch with evening meals unless focused around training
Take daily multi-vitamin and mineral supplement
Perform whole body isometric resistance training 2 times per week
After 6 weeks the patient's resting metabolism increased 35% to 1282 Calories per day (only 2% below predicted).
The patient also decreases percent fat from 37% to 34%, a loss of 5 lbs of body fat.
Jampolis MB (2004) Weight Gain - Marathon Runner / Triathlete. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 36(5) S148.
Thanks for all that great information! I can't really remember when I dropped down to 1200 calories a day, but I'm guessing it's been at least a year. Over the past 19 months I've lost 93 pounds. The first 85 came off really fast, and the rest I've been struggling with. Here's my weight loss over the past few months:
April - 1/2 pound
May - 2 pounds
June - 3.5 pounds (nooo idea how that happened)
July - 1 pound
August - 1 pound
September - 0 pounds
The other thing is, I have a lot of muscle. A lot! The most I've ever had in my life (And before I got fat I was very fit). If my body was truly "starving," wouldn't my muscle be decreasing? Or I wouldn't have been able to build it?
I'm just so confused in all of this!
So do you think I should add 100 calories every 2 weeks then?0 -
I'm sorry you are struggling! I'm proud of you for admitting you need help !! You are not failing though. You are a fighter!! I'm gonna suggest something you won't wanna hear. Take the pressure of your wedding off of yourself. I know you want to look your best and be skinny. Everyone does. But that pressure will only hurt you. I'm sure your fiancée thinks you are beautiful no matter what! This is just a suggestion. I'm not sure I could do it. But maybe make peace with being whatever size at your wedding!0
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Thanks for all that great information! I can't really remember when I dropped down to 1200 calories a day, but I'm guessing it's been at least a year. Over the past 19 months I've lost 93 pounds. The first 85 came off really fast, and the rest I've been struggling with. Here's my weight loss over the past few months:
April - 1/2 pound
May - 2 pounds
June - 3.5 pounds (nooo idea how that happened)
July - 1 pound
August - 1 pound
September - 0 pounds
The other thing is, I have a lot of muscle. A lot! The most I've ever had in my life (And before I got fat I was very fit). If my body was truly "starving," wouldn't my muscle be decreasing? Or I wouldn't have been able to build it?
I'm just so confused in all of this!
So do you think I should add 100 calories every 2 weeks then?
If that netting 300 calories happened more often than not because you worked out so much, that is such an extreme deficit, you easily could have in essence done the same thing.
You are correct, and you smartly took advantage of the best time to lift, when you had the most fat to lose. You have best chance then of actually creating more muscle, not just making it stronger as will likely be the case now on.
And correct, if under-eating, hard pressed to build muscle then.
If you do decent amount of cardio, you may also have gotten your body so efficient with energy use, your resting metabolism is low not because it's suppressed, but you have great lungs and hearts and arteries, ect. Mine measured is about 200 cal less than estimated by lean body mass. My avg HR for a whole day at work and normal activity, no exercise, is 56, resting is 45.
So during those months, was there a lot of cardio?
Since you appear to have just lowered the metabolism, not stuck for like 6 months, I'd say 100 each day for 1 week.
Drop most of the cardio in those weeks and do mainly weight lifting, 3 x week if you can swing it. Make the cardio Recovery HR zone only the day after lifting if you just want to do it. No need adding more stress to your body, you need recovery.
Great job with progress so far. In fact, if that decent with muscle, don't even worry about trying to increase weight or such, or loading to failure. Just maintenance lifting, whatever gets you to your sets and reps tired.0 -
That's a good point. I wonder about getting a fitbit. I do use a Polar HRM for exercise, and usually burn between 800 and 950 calories a day through exercise.
Some days I only net 300 calories. Isn't that horrifying?! I'm horrified by it, but yet I can't stop doing it.
Have you ever setup your stats for HRmax and VO2max (if you have Polar that does it) rather than default values?
You have a great chance of being upwards of 30% inflated on that calorie count as a woman.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/459580-polar-hrm-calorie-burn-estimate-accuracy-study
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/466973-i-want-to-test-for-my-max-heart-rate-vo2-max
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/577839-hrm-s-with-vo2max-stat-improve-calorie-estimate0 -
Thanks for all that great information! I can't really remember when I dropped down to 1200 calories a day, but I'm guessing it's been at least a year. Over the past 19 months I've lost 93 pounds. The first 85 came off really fast, and the rest I've been struggling with. Here's my weight loss over the past few months:
April - 1/2 pound
May - 2 pounds
June - 3.5 pounds (nooo idea how that happened)
July - 1 pound
August - 1 pound
September - 0 pounds
The other thing is, I have a lot of muscle. A lot! The most I've ever had in my life (And before I got fat I was very fit). If my body was truly "starving," wouldn't my muscle be decreasing? Or I wouldn't have been able to build it?
I'm just so confused in all of this!
So do you think I should add 100 calories every 2 weeks then?
If that netting 300 calories happened more often than not because you worked out so much, that is such an extreme deficit, you easily could have in essence done the same thing.
You are correct, and you smartly took advantage of the best time to lift, when you had the most fat to lose. You have best chance then of actually creating more muscle, not just making it stronger as will likely be the case now on.
And correct, if under-eating, hard pressed to build muscle then.
If you do decent amount of cardio, you may also have gotten your body so efficient with energy use, your resting metabolism is low not because it's suppressed, but you have great lungs and hearts and arteries, ect. Mine measured is about 200 cal less than estimated by lean body mass. My avg HR for a whole day at work and normal activity, no exercise, is 56, resting is 45.
So during those months, was there a lot of cardio?
Since you appear to have just lowered the metabolism, not stuck for like 6 months, I'd say 100 each day for 1 week.
Drop most of the cardio in those weeks and do mainly weight lifting, 3 x week if you can swing it. Make the cardio Recovery HR zone only the day after lifting if you just want to do it. No need adding more stress to your body, you need recovery.
Great job with progress so far. In fact, if that decent with muscle, don't even worry about trying to increase weight or such, or loading to failure. Just maintenance lifting, whatever gets you to your sets and reps tired.
I do do a lot of cardio. This past week I actually cut back a little bit and focused more on lifting, just to see if it makes any difference. But I was doing 45 - 50 minutes of cardio 6 days a week, after doing weight lifting and cardio intervals for about 30 minutes. I also walk 60-75 minutes 6 days a week, at a brisk pace.
My resting heart rate has gone down from 75 (when I was skinny and in good shape before) to 45 or so, and my average heart rate throughout the day is around 60. I also rarely get out of breath when I'm doing cardio. When I had a chest ct scan they said my lungs are very large! I have no idea if that means anything haha. My blood pressure is also around 90/55.
I'll try what you suggested, increase by 100 a day for a week and decrease my cardio.
Thanks for the help!
oh - and I don't know if this will be helpful or not, but I'm 5'3" and my weight fluctuates between 120 and 121.0 -
That's a good point. I wonder about getting a fitbit. I do use a Polar HRM for exercise, and usually burn between 800 and 950 calories a day through exercise.
Some days I only net 300 calories. Isn't that horrifying?! I'm horrified by it, but yet I can't stop doing it.
Have you ever setup your stats for HRmax and VO2max (if you have Polar that does it) rather than default values?
You have a great chance of being upwards of 30% inflated on that calorie count as a woman.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/459580-polar-hrm-calorie-burn-estimate-accuracy-study
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/466973-i-want-to-test-for-my-max-heart-rate-vo2-max
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/577839-hrm-s-with-vo2max-stat-improve-calorie-estimate
Yes, I did set up my Polar with my HRmax and VO2max - I'm probably due to do it again though, it's been a few months!0 -
I do do a lot of cardio. This past week I actually cut back a little bit and focused more on lifting, just to see if it makes any difference. But I was doing 45 - 50 minutes of cardio 6 days a week, after doing weight lifting and cardio intervals for about 30 minutes. I also walk 60-75 minutes 6 days a week, at a brisk pace.
My resting heart rate has gone down from 75 (when I was skinny and in good shape before) to 45 or so, and my average heart rate throughout the day is around 60. I also rarely get out of breath when I'm doing cardio. When I had a chest ct scan they said my lungs are very large! I have no idea if that means anything haha. My blood pressure is also around 90/55.
I'll try what you suggested, increase by 100 a day for a week and decrease my cardio.
Thanks for the help!
oh - and I don't know if this will be helpful or not, but I'm 5'3" and my weight fluctuates between 120 and 121.
So, if all that exercise is for the purpose of weight loss, it's counter-productive.
It adds a lot of stress to a body that is already under stress from being on a diet, and stress and hormones will fight your weight loss effort very effectively. Especially if everything was done almost as hard as you could do it.
And since the deficit is going to be pretty close to the same no matter what (15% of 3000 TDEE is 450 calories, or of 2500 is 375), it's not a great addition to the loss.
If it's for purpose of training for an event, more understandable, but even then, probably not getting the biggest bang for your time and effort spent. Unless you are doing marathons and triathlons of long distance where endurance is needed, that amount of training time can be done smarter.
This is very full article, but skip over past thinking and on to current application, and you'll see that even for great endurance athletes, training smart is better, and what that means. Just in case that is direction you are wanting to go.
http://www.sportsci.org/2009/ss.htm#_Toc245522380
You have to ask right now, what will be focus of training?
Is weight lifting needing to support some cardio event you got coming up, or that you love to do, or you want to have more performance in?
Or should cardio support the weight lifting for weight loss and even more body improvement that way?
Because there is a difference to the cardio and the weight lifting depending on what you want focus on. Like you wouldn't do Stronglifts 5x5 for marathon training. Wrong muscles being improved.
If you want right in the middle and want to see improvements to both, doing some of everything every day is still not the best way to get improvement, not at the level you are at anymore. That will work at first when initial progress is being made, but you start getting less and less benefit from it, because initial improvement is easier, continued is harder.
You've heard the phrase, jack of all trades, master of none.
You'll be very hard pressed to see improvements then since you are well above starting stage, you'll need workouts that need to be specific and focused.
Let me know what your focus is right now, how much time you have available (sounds like a bit) on what days, and what you enjoy doing. Preferred rest day too. I've trained many at different stages of their journey, only the elite and professional level with daily hands-on has never been done - no time since I didn't go that direction for career, and better resources available.0 -
I do do a lot of cardio. This past week I actually cut back a little bit and focused more on lifting, just to see if it makes any difference. But I was doing 45 - 50 minutes of cardio 6 days a week, after doing weight lifting and cardio intervals for about 30 minutes. I also walk 60-75 minutes 6 days a week, at a brisk pace.
My resting heart rate has gone down from 75 (when I was skinny and in good shape before) to 45 or so, and my average heart rate throughout the day is around 60. I also rarely get out of breath when I'm doing cardio. When I had a chest ct scan they said my lungs are very large! I have no idea if that means anything haha. My blood pressure is also around 90/55.
I'll try what you suggested, increase by 100 a day for a week and decrease my cardio.
Thanks for the help!
oh - and I don't know if this will be helpful or not, but I'm 5'3" and my weight fluctuates between 120 and 121.
So, if all that exercise is for the purpose of weight loss, it's counter-productive.
It adds a lot of stress to a body that is already under stress from being on a diet, and stress and hormones will fight your weight loss effort very effectively. Especially if everything was done almost as hard as you could do it.
And since the deficit is going to be pretty close to the same no matter what (15% of 3000 TDEE is 450 calories, or of 2500 is 375), it's not a great addition to the loss.
If it's for purpose of training for an event, more understandable, but even then, probably not getting the biggest bang for your time and effort spent. Unless you are doing marathons and triathlons of long distance where endurance is needed, that amount of training time can be done smarter.
This is very full article, but skip over past thinking and on to current application, and you'll see that even for great endurance athletes, training smart is better, and what that means. Just in case that is direction you are wanting to go.
http://www.sportsci.org/2009/ss.htm#_Toc245522380
You have to ask right now, what will be focus of training?
Is weight lifting needing to support some cardio event you got coming up, or that you love to do, or you want to have more performance in?
Or should cardio support the weight lifting for weight loss and even more body improvement that way?
Because there is a difference to the cardio and the weight lifting depending on what you want focus on. Like you wouldn't do Stronglifts 5x5 for marathon training. Wrong muscles being improved.
If you want right in the middle and want to see improvements to both, doing some of everything every day is still not the best way to get improvement, not at the level you are at anymore. That will work at first when initial progress is being made, but you start getting less and less benefit from it, because initial improvement is easier, continued is harder.
You've heard the phrase, jack of all trades, master of none.
You'll be very hard pressed to see improvements then since you are well above starting stage, you'll need workouts that need to be specific and focused.
Let me know what your focus is right now, how much time you have available (sounds like a bit) on what days, and what you enjoy doing. Preferred rest day too. I've trained many at different stages of their journey, only the elite and professional level with daily hands-on has never been done - no time since I didn't go that direction for career, and better resources available.
My main focus is to lose all this jiggly fat I have over my muscles. I have built some impressive muscles, but I still have jiggly fat over them! That's my biggest thing. I'm not training for an endurance sport or anything like that, I just want to look good, be happy with myself, and get rid of this extra fat. I really want to work on my shoulders, upper arms and lower stomach.
Before I got fat I was 110-115 pounds and I looked great, I would love to get back there, but with more muscle this time!
Here are some photos of what I look like right now, it's hard for me to post these (so SORRY about my dirty mirror!! I Windex-ed it as soon as I saw these pictures!! haha).
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af318/kacybee77/IMAG0523two.jpg
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af318/kacybee77/IMAG0524two.jpg
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af318/kacybee77/IMAG0431two.jpg
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af318/kacybee77/IMAG0539two.jpg
I don't know why the pictures aren't showing up...at least they aren't on my end...I added the direct links.0 -
My main focus is to lose all this jiggly fat I have over my muscles. I have built some impressive muscles, but I still have jiggly fat over them! That's my biggest thing. I'm not training for an endurance sport or anything like that, I just want to look good, be happy with myself, and get rid of this extra fat. I really want to work on my shoulders, upper arms and lower stomach.
Before I got fat I was 110-115 pounds and I looked great, I would love to get back there, but with more muscle this time!
Here are some photos of what I look like right now, it's hard for me to post these (so SORRY about my dirty mirror!! I Windex-ed it as soon as I saw these pictures!! haha).
Lowercase was the problem on the img. And I hope dirty mirror is the only reason why you didn't want to post those, you've done amazing as I'd expect from someone at your fitness level.
So I'm glad you selected the easiest focus, lose fat.
So lifting should be at least 3 x weekly.
Whether you go for 2 sets x 8 reps, 3 x 20, or 5 x 5, the studies have shown it's the going until failure that provides the benefit.
You may not even finish the last set, you should still use proper form, but literally have no strength left right then. And only 1 min rest between sets. No cardio or running or jumping to keep the HR up, I know you, you want to. Rest.
Biggest muscles first, alternate between upper/lower and push/pull.
If you have 4 days and time available, you can do a split routine 2x a week, separated by non-lifting day.
Forget the intervals, which is just like lifting, but sport specific.
Any cardio done the day after, using the same muscles, should be Active Recovery HR zone only. You don't want to add stress to muscles trying to repair and recover, only blood flow to aid repair.
Any cardio the day before, using the same muscles you'll lift with, can be up to Aerobic HR zone. You don't want to wear them out too much and not be able to do the full lifting.
The cardio only needs to be up to 60 min on non-lifting days. And for lifting days warm-up and cool-down, no more than 20 total in Recovery zone.
So if you just love a good run, and did the 4 day split, you could say on Day 1 run a long distance, or intense, and do upper lifting on Day 2, lower lifting on Day 3, Recovery cardio on Day 4, upper lifting on Day 5, lower lifting on Day 6. Day 7 is rest day.
Whatever days that ends up being.
And use that spreadsheet to estimate that time and see what the TDEE would be for that new schedule you select, and slowly raise calories up to that.
Got a good lifting routine available? Most are going to recommend New Rules of Lifting for Women.
So with that routine, you could select the biggest deficit that involves lifting and no excessive cardio. Lifting burns less calories during the workout, but more fat during the recovery. And you don't need to replenish fat stores.
The walking, if during a different part of the day, would still be useful to help blood flow and recovery, if you have the time. I'd leave it at 60 min max, and use the spreadsheet description of the speed to see where it falls.
You've got a great schedule opportunity it sounds like, and while you can do a lot with it, it also allows pushing too hard while eating at a deficit.0 -
Thanks for all your help!! Hopefully I can meet my goals.0
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Thanks for all your help!! Hopefully I can meet my goals.
Uhmmm... you look amazing!!! I think you look great just as you are!!! What's your height and weight now? You look like you are at goal already!0 -
Thanks for all your help!! Hopefully I can meet my goals.
Uhmmm... you look amazing!!! I think you look great just as you are!!! What's your height and weight now? You look like you are at goal already!
Thanks!! When I look at myself all I see is fatness. Pretty sad, but I guess we are our own worst critics.
I'm 5'3 and 120-121 pounds. I'd love to get back down to 115.0
