losing weight and exercising

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What exercises should I do and for how long to get the maximum results? I've heard too much cardio isn't good, and then some say just do cardio. BTW, I lift for at least 30 mins a day and would like advice as to what kind of cardio I should do and for how long. I'm stuck in a plateau. :s

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  • rockpoph1
    rockpoph1 Posts: 8 Member
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    Never do just cardio. Keep lifting as you continue to burn calories even after your 30 min session. I would highly recommend looking into Jillian Michaels dvds. She does circuit training that involves both cardio and strength training. Plus its fun and it just might get you out of your plateau.
  • ScubaSteve1962
    ScubaSteve1962 Posts: 609 Member
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    What is too much cardio?? Try the different cardio equipment, and find something that you will continue to do. For me it's the elliptical 5 days a week, strength 1 or 2 days. walk on the treadmill 1 or 2 days a week been doing this for 2.5 years. I lost 19 in the beginning, and 15 a few months ago. Also eat less calorie than you burn for the day.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
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    Walk three or four miles a day. Best exercise ever.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    For losing weight, that happens in the kitchen. You have to eat less than you burn.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
  • rockpoph1
    rockpoph1 Posts: 8 Member
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    This is what I am talking about with my above post. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/fat_loss_training_wars.htm
  • fishgutzy
    fishgutzy Posts: 2,807 Member
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    In short: Eat to lose weight. Exercise to eat more.
    My level of exercise more than doubles my allowance for the day.
    The consensus I have seen is that lifting heavy is necessary to maintain muscle while losing fact.
    Calorie cutting along results in muscle and fat loss.
  • M30834134
    M30834134 Posts: 411 Member
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    For the first months of my weight loss I only did cardio - 1 hr 6 times per week. Cardio burns tons of calories which assist with the caloric deficit and helps you lose weight - fat and muscles. Lifting burns less calories than cardio but helps you preserve the muscles. I think it's perfectly good to do only cardio when you just begining to lose weight. Then, incorporating some lifting to help your body preserve muscles. I found 30 min cardio followed by 30 min lifting as a good balance while losing weight.

    As far your plateau - you have not provided enough information to even guestimate why (weight, height, current daily calorie budget). Your profile says that you want to lose 45 lb. So, just for demonstration purposes:
    21 yo 5'5" female (assumed normal weight 130) who needs to lose 45 lb would have a BMR of around 1,700 calories. That's just BMR - the amount of energy needed for that female at complete rest for the entire 24 hours. If that female would eat less than 1,700 by a lot and for a prolong period of time - from what I've seen, the plateau is inevitable.

    For cardio - do anything that gets your heart rate up and something that you like as it would be pretty difficult to sustain an activity that you hate to do. Elliptical appears to be an effective machine, so is treadmill, stair master, stationary bike