Is this enough?

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I am looking to lose about 85-90 lbs. I am currently exercising 60 to 90 mts a day with 2 days Zumba, elliptical steady state for 60 mts or just walking in my hilly neighborhood for 60 mts if weather permits on the rest of the days including the days I do SL. I am just starting out with SL, so my weights are still 45 on squats, 25 on BP and OHP, 60 on DL. I eat around 1400 - 1600 (max) calories a day. I have been doing this diligently since Jan 5th and the past 2 weeks my weight has creeped up a pond a week. Do I need to add more exercise? I was thinking of starting 30DS each morning but feel quite tired after I started SL. I do 60 mt elliptical after my SL routine. I am worried about not working on arms, abs etc. Am I doing it all wrong?

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  • tameko2
    tameko2 Posts: 31,634 Member
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    Good lord, I think that's too much exercise honestly, combined with your huge deficit. Like, way too much. Try bumping your exercise down to max 60 minutes a day, and up your cals to 1800. There's a reason you're too tired to workout anymore -- you're not fueling your body for that amount of work. You're not giving yourself ANY recovery time either. I'd seriously probably drop to 2 days zumba, 2-3 days walking/elliptical for 45 minutes, and SL. And up your cals.

    Starving yourself and pushing yourself to exercise to exhaustion is not going to do anything but make you tired and exhausted, and it can cause your body to slow your metabolism way down to compensate. Exercise is great, but you need to FUEL your exercise with food.
  • sarahisme18
    sarahisme18 Posts: 574 Member
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    Good lord, I think that's too much exercise honestly, combined with your huge deficit. Like, way too much. Try bumping your exercise down to max 60 minutes a day, and up your cals to 1800. There's a reason you're too tired to workout anymore -- you're not fueling your body for that amount of work. You're not giving yourself ANY recovery time either. I'd seriously probably drop to 2 days zumba, 2-3 days walking/elliptical for 45 minutes, and SL. And up your cals.

    Starving yourself and pushing yourself to exercise to exhaustion is not going to do anything but make you tired and exhausted, and it can cause your body to slow your metabolism way down to compensate. Exercise is great, but you need to FUEL your exercise with food.

    ^ This
  • daoc1972
    daoc1972 Posts: 92 Member
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    ^^^ What tameko said.

    You are not giving yourself enough rest. When you lift, you build the muscle when you REST. Really, rest! After you increase LBM, you will naturally burn more calories at rest. Do you sense the recurring theme here is rest? I think I used rest in every sentence of this paragraph. :laugh:
  • wannalosew82
    wannalosew82 Posts: 97 Member
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    Thanks everyone. I was afraid I was doing too much. It is just that last year around this time I was doing the same but 30DS in the AM, 5 days of elliptical/Zumba/walk for 60 mts and eating around 1400 cals and was steadily losing 2 lbs per week. It is depressing to weigh in every week and enter a higher weight.
    Also what about toning abs, biceps, triceps etc. Will just the SL's be able to do those or should I be adding pushups, planks etc?
    One last question. Would 30DS with 2 days Zumba and 3-4 days walk or elliptical for 30 mts each + SL be an overkill? I would definitely be upping the calories here.
  • tameko2
    tameko2 Posts: 31,634 Member
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    Sl will hit most everything, the overhead press and bench press DO hit your biceps and triceps but the biceps are the least worked I'd say. If you care about having big biceps you could add a set or two of bicep curls, but otherwise I wouldn't' sweat it. I don't do any direct isolation arm work, personally, as its not a goal of mine to have larger arms, just defined ones.

    And - two things. One is that when you first start, it can be easy to lose that much and then suddenly it will stop working. Its totally normal to have that happen - It happened to me too, I was walking daily and eating about 1500 and suddenly just stopped losing. Upped to 1800 and did a lot better.

    The second is that when you first start SL, its pretty normal to gain water weight. 4-5 lbs seems normal, it could go as high as 10. Just relax and stick with it - you KNOW you're not overeating so its not like you're gaining fat - it might look like it though, when I bloat up it makes my stomach distend a little too. It *should* drop off after about 6 weeks.
  • jesspi68
    jesspi68 Posts: 292
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    Don't be discouraged about the scale. I have been right around the same weight for 6 months now, but after starting NROL4W and now the Strong Lifts program I have cut 3% body fat. I still have about 25lbs to lose, but when the scale isn't moving it's helpful to know that I am still looking better each day!
  • Will_Thrust_For_Candy
    Will_Thrust_For_Candy Posts: 6,109 Member
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    Exactly what Tameko said....in both of her posts (which rock as per usual!)

    I would also like to add that priority sequence should look something like this:

    1. Diet/Nutrition
    2. Weights
    3. Cardio

    And definitely EAT MORE!!!!!