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Weight loss plateau? Doing too much cardio?

xocaraox
xocaraox Posts: 3
edited February 28 in Fitness and Exercise
I lost about 10 pounds since the beginning of the year. A lot of the weight I lost came from running almost everyday, then I stopped running before summer started. I began going to the gym, and I started out doing just cardio. Then I added weight lifting in. Now I am pretty sure I hit a plateau because I am not seeing any physical changes in my appearance. I think I might be doing way too much cardio. When I do cardio I always do HIIT for about 45 minutes and I always have to burn at least 500 calories just to feel okay. Then I do about a half hour or a little more of weight training. I don't have a diet, I generally eat healthy without counting calories or anything. I'm afraid if I do cut back on cardio I'll gain weight that I've lost back. Should I start taking supplements to help out my workouts and exercises? I'm lost and out of ideas of what to do.

Replies

  • h9dlb
    h9dlb Posts: 243 Member
    I don't have a diet, I generally eat healthy without counting calories or anything.

    There's your answer - failing to plan, is planning to fail.
  • Upstate_Dunadan
    Upstate_Dunadan Posts: 435 Member
    Without tracking calories, how do you know you are eating enough to support all your activity?

    I was doing what you were doing up until recently. I lost about 30 pounds using Weight Watchers, but then go tired of tracking that way so started "eating healthy". At the same time I was going to the gym 5-6 times a week doing pretty intense workouts. I found I was not losing weight, just staying the same.

    I finally decided to bite the bullet and start tracking what I was eating to make sure I was eating enough, and the proper macros. After trying a few different tools, I found MFP and loved the tracking and food database. I did not use the MFP recommended calories or macros - they seemed way off - but I did start tracking everything I ate.

    I'm now pretty positive I was not eating enough before, nor the right type of macros. I was doing the low crab thing, with lots of protein. I never touched rice or potatoes. Now I get most of my carbs from them.

    I think by not eating enough I had forced by body to lower its metabolism. The way I think of it, my furnace was not raging hot. I think by eating more, I stoked my furnace, and now I'm back to losing weight (slowly like I want to avoid losing too much lean muscle).
  • xocaraox
    xocaraox Posts: 3
    Thankyou!!
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,865 Member
    When I do cardio I always do HIIT for about 45 minutes and I always have to burn at least 500 calories just to feel okay.
    I don't have a diet, I generally eat healthy without counting calories or anything. I'm afraid if I do cut back on cardio I'll gain weight that I've lost back.

    I think the key issue here is that you don't know what your calorie deficit is, and if your weight loss has stalled then it's likely that you're not in adequate deficit to lose weight.

    Notwithstanding that, HIIT is merely a mode of training, so it would be useful to know what you define as HIIT in this instance. What was your rationale for stopping running and using a hamster wheel to do CV work instead?

    I'd also be very surprised if you're really doing HIIT for 45 minutes. It doesn't sound like you built up a significant aerobic base, so it would be useful to understand what you see as the purpose of your CV work compared to the resistance training? Whilst HIIT is a very fashionable term it's neither the only way, nor the most effective way, to train for general fitness.
  • xocaraox
    xocaraox Posts: 3
    I stopped running because I was on my high school track team and after school got done I kind of gave it up and started going back to the gym. When I do cardio I will go at a fast pace on a high incline. My target is always 500 calories and to burn those 500 calories it usually takes 45 minutes for me to do. I'm not sure if I'm overdoing it and burning too many calories. Today I just started to track calories and I'm aiming to eat 1200 per day. Would that maybe help instead of not tracking at all?
  • thepandapost
    thepandapost Posts: 117 Member
    Tracking is key - not sure if you have a heart rate monitor but I would invest in one of those too.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,865 Member
    I'm not sure if I'm overdoing it and burning too many calories.

    If you're gaining, or not losing as fast as you forecast, then your deficit isn't as large as you planned, but you're not going to do too much CV work, what that gives you is more scope to eat and clearly stamina improvements.

    To put it in context, I'm generally in the 800-1200 calories per session range and I lose consistently.

    as your panned deficit reduces, so that you're losing more slowly, you need to be more disciplined about what you identify as intake and output. I'd also observe that it's unlikely that you're burning 500 calories, that's around 5 miles worth of running. Notwithstanding that, as long as your output measure is consistently wrong then you can work around that, since establishing a deficit includes a load of different approximations.
    Today I just started to track calories and I'm aiming to eat 1200 per day. Would that maybe help instead of not tracking at all?

    If you don't know what you're consuming then you don't know what your deficit is. 1200 cals isn't a huge amount, so as long as you eat the calories that you burn off so that you net 1200 then that's fine.
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