Is this a healthy regime? Input, please!

mildcube
mildcube Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Current weight: 88 kg or 194 lbs
Goal weight: 60 kg or 133 lbs
age: 23
Height: 61.5 inches
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Food and exercise regime:

Currently, I am consuming about 1300-1500 calories every day except on Saturday and Sunday when i consume about 1800-2000 calories. (Going out to eat, moderate indulgences.) I eat enough protein from eggs, chicken and lentils. I am also balancing my carbs with fibrous fruits and vegetables.

I started exercising about two weeks ago. My regime is as follows:

Mon-Wed-Fri - Cardio
Treadmill - warm up at RPE 3-5 for 25 mins burning about 130 calories
Stationary bike - RPE of 6-7 for 30-45 mins burning approx. 380 calories
Elliptical - cool down at RPE of 5 for 25 minutes burning approx. 125 calories

Tue-Thur-Sat
Treadmill - warm up at RPE 3-5 for 20 minutes burning about 110 calories
Stationary bike - RPE of 5-6 for 22 minutes burning about 170-190 calories
Strength Training (full body workout) - 40 to 50 minutes

Today I started HIIT with 30 seconds of running at 6mph and 1 minute of walking at 3mph. I did 10 sets, lasting about 15 minutes. I aim to do it only on my cardio days. I felt an RPE of 8-9 when i was running at 9mph and slowly intend to push the interval by 5-10 seconds every week. I usually have a decent stamina but I was very tired after the HIIT session today and could only bike for 20 mins and do the elliptical for 20 mins.

I take care to hydrate myself so that's not a problem. I so sweat a lot, so I am wondering if i ran out of electrolytes or if a HIIT session is supposed to be so demanding that you can't continue on much longer with other exercises after that?
I also would like to know if I should step up my calories. I eat when i am hungry and I certainly do not feel starved at 1300 calories/ day. It's been less than 2 weeks since I started this regime and I have seen my weight go up by 2 pounds in the first week and today, I am back to 88.4kg. Could this be water retention?

Any useful input will be appreciated. Thanks! :)

Replies

  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    First of all, take it easy on the exercise. Daily exercise is awesome, but trying to go from no exercise to 1 hour per day every day in a couple of weeks means you increase your risk of injuries. Take it slowly, do not focus on burning more calories, but on gradually getting stronger.
    Second, small weight fluctuations are normal.
    Third, be consistent. Try to use a scale and count calories by weight, and measure eveything you eat. If e.g. you have a 400 calorie deficit 5 days per week (random example regarding the numbers) and then you overeat by 400 calories per day on the weekend, on a weekly basis, you have undone a large part of what you tried to achieve all week.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    regarding the HIIT

    if you're actually doing it correctly (and not just intervals) then you shouldnt have much energy left to do 40 more minutes of cardio.

    HIIT is more like running at your absolute fastest sprint speed and honestly if you can do that for 30 secs then you are in better shape than allyson felix and usain bolt who are pretty much the best sprinters in the world currently

    also HIIT (true HIIT) effects the central nervous system the same way weights do, so if you're able to do them on your rest days then you're either not lifting enough or not stressing yourself out enough with HIIT.

    i go through cycles with HIIT and do sprints on the track and it's usually 6 weeks on and 6 weeks off (HIIT isnt something that you should be doing all the time) and i do HIIT and lifts on the same day, just separated by a few hours apart. usually sprints happen earlier in the day and lifting later


    in general i think you could be working more efficiently and spending 45-60 minutes in the gym instead of 90 unless of course you really love that elliptical that much.

    as for your food, if you really are working out as hard as you think you are, there's absolutely no way you'd be able to do all of that on 1300 calories a day.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Where did you get your numbers from? There's no need to eat so little, plus you don't need all the cardio on strength days.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    It's only been a couple of weeks but if you continue with that much exercise and that little food, expect to burn out pretty quickly.
  • prium01
    prium01 Posts: 306 Member
    Hi!!

    I am 60 inches and eat more than you about 1500-1800 cals! There is no point doing so much of cardio..Cardio could be 30 mins of your entire workout every altearnate day or everyday if you so much love it!You will lose most of your lean muscle mass as you are also not eating enough...

    Slow down for a while.HIIT session generally should kick your butt for you to do any more cardio that day...

    I do HIIT every alternate day for 20 mins followed by jogging for 10 mins to cool me down in the morning...I do heavy lifting 4 days a week in the everning...I eat more according to my exercise and fuel myself...You need to do this.(eat more to fuel your workouts)...remember this is a lifestyle change.Will you be doing so much cardio for next 5 years...
  • mildcube
    mildcube Posts: 2 Member
    Thank you! I will remember that. I used to bike outdoors every morning for 40-50 mins everyday. Since it is not feasible anymore, I have taken up working out at the gym. The past year has been riddled with some personal setbacks and I let both my diet and exercise go. Biking is something I've always enjoyed and I am really not a fan of the elliptical trainer. I would rather take it out of my regime altogether. Today after the (presumably) HIIT, my performance on the bike was barely 50% of what I usually can accomplish. Since I've always trained to walk uphill for my hiking/ trekking activities, I haven't started running yet. So 6mph feels like a good running speed for me but certainly not a sprint. I aim to push the speed up slowly week by week.

    I have only just started lifting and do most of them at 20reps x 2sets. I do take a break of 1-2 minutes between different exercises. I also do 10 minutes of circuit training once a week.

    I keep a food diary with MFP and I log every bite I take. Even if i over-estimate the log by 10-20%, I still can't be eating more than 1500 calories/ day. On the weekends, I still manage to keep it under 2000calories which is about 10 times my weight in calories.

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