Am I thinking along the right lines here?
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catbrand
Posts: 227 Member
Hey everyone!
So I started EM2WL a while back, my journey so far hasn't been perfect as I've not been sticking to the rules very well. But I'm ready to do things right and just could do with a little guidance really.
I started the reset 3-4 months ago and if I remember rightly I only did it for 4 weeks as I hadn't really spent alot of time dieting before. However I did actually lose weight initially during the reset, I can't remember if I stopped losing or even gained though, but looking back at my profile I did get bored of eating so much and decided to move onto a 10% cut, which is what I am on now.
So I've been eating 2100 calories for about 2 or 3 months now but because I've started being rubbish and cheating at weekends, sometimes only a little, sometimes quite badly, I haven't lost anything for ages, weight or measurements-wise. Infact, I'll overeat, gain a few lbs, spend the week being really good and getting it off, just to blow it over the weekend and having to repeat the process. I never used to cheat at all while I was on the reset, so I'm wondering if my body wants the extra calories? My exercise hasn't been great either. I'm kickboxing twice a week for an hour on Monday and 90 minutes on Thursdays and over the last couple of weeks I've been so bad about doing other things, I'll chuck in a kettlebell workout here and there, but I can feel myself getting flabby where I haven't been working out enough. I have an active job and I walk alot, but it's not nearly enough.
So yesterday I pulled out the dumbbells (adjustable, up to 16kg) and did a little workout with those and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. So much that I'm going to read NROLFW again. I'm thinking if I alternate days of cardio and strength training and eat at TDEE, I'm unlikely to lose weight, but I should be losing inches right? Also that should give me more than enough calories to stop me picking at the weekends, hopefully anyway.
Does that sound like a good plan?
So I started EM2WL a while back, my journey so far hasn't been perfect as I've not been sticking to the rules very well. But I'm ready to do things right and just could do with a little guidance really.
I started the reset 3-4 months ago and if I remember rightly I only did it for 4 weeks as I hadn't really spent alot of time dieting before. However I did actually lose weight initially during the reset, I can't remember if I stopped losing or even gained though, but looking back at my profile I did get bored of eating so much and decided to move onto a 10% cut, which is what I am on now.
So I've been eating 2100 calories for about 2 or 3 months now but because I've started being rubbish and cheating at weekends, sometimes only a little, sometimes quite badly, I haven't lost anything for ages, weight or measurements-wise. Infact, I'll overeat, gain a few lbs, spend the week being really good and getting it off, just to blow it over the weekend and having to repeat the process. I never used to cheat at all while I was on the reset, so I'm wondering if my body wants the extra calories? My exercise hasn't been great either. I'm kickboxing twice a week for an hour on Monday and 90 minutes on Thursdays and over the last couple of weeks I've been so bad about doing other things, I'll chuck in a kettlebell workout here and there, but I can feel myself getting flabby where I haven't been working out enough. I have an active job and I walk alot, but it's not nearly enough.
So yesterday I pulled out the dumbbells (adjustable, up to 16kg) and did a little workout with those and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. So much that I'm going to read NROLFW again. I'm thinking if I alternate days of cardio and strength training and eat at TDEE, I'm unlikely to lose weight, but I should be losing inches right? Also that should give me more than enough calories to stop me picking at the weekends, hopefully anyway.
Does that sound like a good plan?
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Replies
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Hey everyone!
So I started EM2WL a while back, my journey so far hasn't been perfect as I've not been sticking to the rules very well. But I'm ready to do things right and just could do with a little guidance really.
I started the reset 3-4 months ago and if I remember rightly I only did it for 4 weeks as I hadn't really spent alot of time dieting before. However I did actually lose weight initially during the reset, I can't remember if I stopped losing or even gained though, but looking back at my profile I did get bored of eating so much and decided to move onto a 10% cut, which is what I am on now.
So I've been eating 2100 calories for about 2 or 3 months now but because I've started being rubbish and cheating at weekends, sometimes only a little, sometimes quite badly, I haven't lost anything for ages, weight or measurements-wise. Infact, I'll overeat, gain a few lbs, spend the week being really good and getting it off, just to blow it over the weekend and having to repeat the process. I never used to cheat at all while I was on the reset, so I'm wondering if my body wants the extra calories? My exercise hasn't been great either. I'm kickboxing twice a week for an hour on Monday and 90 minutes on Thursdays and over the last couple of weeks I've been so bad about doing other things, I'll chuck in a kettlebell workout here and there, but I can feel myself getting flabby where I haven't been working out enough. I have an active job and I walk alot, but it's not nearly enough.
So yesterday I pulled out the dumbbells (adjustable, up to 16kg) and did a little workout with those and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. So much that I'm going to read NROLFW again. I'm thinking if I alternate days of cardio and strength training and eat at TDEE, I'm unlikely to lose weight, but I should be losing inches right? Also that should give me more than enough calories to stop me picking at the weekends, hopefully anyway.
Does that sound like a good plan?
Correct.
Suggest that the cardio supports the weight lifting so you get the most out of that better fat burning workout.
So cardio day after lifting, if the same muscles, should be in Active Recovery HR zone only, or lower, like walking. This is also sometimes called the "fat-burning" zone.
More intense than that, and you won't get full repair from your heavy lifting, so you won't get stronger as fast as you could.0 -
Thats very helpful, thankyou! Unfortunately kickboxing does take my heart rate up into the 160/170's at times, but it's bursts of activity, similar to HIIT I suppose as we don't spar continuously for an hour at a time! But I can keep all the other activity I do a little less extreme.
So as of today I've increased my calories to 2300, it's only a trial but looking forward to seeing what happens!0 -
Thats very helpful, thankyou! Unfortunately kickboxing does take my heart rate up into the 160/170's at times, but it's bursts of activity, similar to HIIT I suppose as we don't spar continuously for an hour at a time! But I can keep all the other activity I do a little less extreme.
So as of today I've increased my calories to 2300, it's only a trial but looking forward to seeing what happens!
Since that type of stressful activity will waste your lifting efforts for the lower body, don't do lower lifting the day before kickboxing.
Make Sun and Wed your rest days, Tue and Fri lifting heaving full body. Saturday easy cardio up to 60 min. Wed can be walking if desired to assist recovery from Tue lifting.0 -
Thankyou! That schedule actually matches up with my work schedule perfectly as I work weekends, the only thing is I waitress on Saturdays so I wont do any extra cardio as I spend 6 hours walking backwards and forwards, carrying heavy trays (believe me, I weigh every day and I can go over my calories and still lose 2lbs in a day on waitressing days, I know it's not fat, but you know what I mean!!)
Wednesdays I have the school run and dog walk (unless someone else does it!) so I'll be doing a little walking anyway, but other than that it'll definitely be a rest day!
I spent today reading NROLFW, but I've been feeling achey and tired, I thought maybe it was overdoing it from my weights session and kickboxing on Sunday and Monday but I've got a slight temperature too, so I hope I'm not going down with something. I was really looking forward to getting started!
Thankyou so much for your help :flowerforyou:0
