Going to lessen weight training, bad idea?

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vventure23
vventure23 Posts: 13 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey, so I've been around the same weight (180 ish at 5'4") for the past year. I noticed a lot of change quickly in my body when I started lifting heavy, and even though I stayed the same weight I looked more toned and skinny so I kept up with it. I haven't been seeing much of a change in months and months now though, it's frustrating.

The last 3 weeks have been challenging to fit in workouts, with my full time job and part time grad school working around a 5 day vacation break. I haven't lifted much, but did a lot of walking on vaca and have been doing some cardio stuff... And suddenly the scale is moving! I went from 183 3 weeks ago to 177 this morning.

So I want to keep the trend going. I'm going to do weight training 2x/week and keep up with the cardio.

Thing is, I know most of the weight I've lost was muscle weight. I'm a size 8 at 180-185, so I don't worry about my BMI much, but the numbers coming down on the scale is a good feeling. Hopefully this won't backfire... Does anyone think it will back fire? I just wanna do something different because what I was doing isn't working anymore and that's frustrating :P I don't wanna maintain, I wanna get better!

Replies

  • RepsnSets
    RepsnSets Posts: 805 Member
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    It really comes down to trial and error. Cut back on your lifting and ramp the cardio up for a couple of weeks. Dont give up lifting fully it means you will have to start from scratch. I assume you were changing up your lifting routine every so often? Mixing reps and sets etc?
  • vventure23
    vventure23 Posts: 13 Member
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    Yeah my routine was always changing, I'd do different things on different days (one day of heavy/low rep, one day of lighter/high rep, that kind of thing) and would completely change up what I was doing every 2-3 months. I still want to keep lifting, but I want to lose pounds (I know I don't physically or internally look anything like a woman with a BMI of ~30, but I still hate that number).

    Alright, I'm gonna try it out for 2 or 3 months and see how it goes. At least then it'll be warmer outside and the gym will be less crowded lol.
  • jzammetti
    jzammetti Posts: 1,956 Member
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    I lift three days a week and from what I understand that is the perfect amount of heavy lifting. I used to run 4 days a week, but I needed to get stronger since long distance running was killing me. Now I run for warmups to my weight lifting and sometimes one logn run on a weekend day (an off day of liting). I am trying to do what is best for my body and since I am new to lifting I think I need to give my body rest days.

    My point is I think your new routine is perfect
  • seekingstrengthX2
    seekingstrengthX2 Posts: 771
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    My rx: 2 days lifting, 3 days cardio, 2 days rest. Sounds like you're doing great. Keep it up!!

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