Suggestions for HIIT for 65 yr old to help me lose weight?

wfmiller13
wfmiller13 Posts: 8 Member
edited November 25 in Fitness and Exercise
I am a 65 yr old male weighing today 198.8 and 5'8". I have been on Jenny Craig for 5 weeks and this week I actually gained .8 lbs!! I was told two things. Number one i am not eating enough and number 2 I am exercising too much.
Looking at number one I went off my 1500 cal diet to a 1200 cal diet last week, although I had been eating some extra protein every day like maybe a 1/4 cup of chicken or a protein shake.
Number two, my daily cardio workouts consist of doing 1/2 hr. of elliptical followed by 1/2 hr. of power walking on my treadmill. Also later on in the day I will either go out and do a 38 minute walk or will do another 1/2 hr on the treadmill.
Three times a week Mon-Wed-Friday I do weight training for an hour or so.
I was given an article from a PT from MAXWORKOUTS entitled "Why Doing Too Much Can Keep You Fat" By: Shin Ohtake, Fitness & Fat-Loss expert. The bottom line in the article suggests that instead of long cardio I should be doing high intensity workouts and to keep the workout less than 30 minutes.

This week I am going on a 1700 calorie diet and am going to eat extra foods suggested like cruciferous veggies and more berries vs melons.

I have been working out constantly all year just about every day. I do notice that I have lost inches in the belly, thighs but also put on inches in my chest and arms so that's good.

Any suggestions for a good HIIT routine using treadmill, Exercise bike or weights even?

TIA!!

Replies

  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    Your treadmill probably has a HIIT program, usually titled "fat burning." Anything that varies the intensity, with the highest being close to as hard as you can work and the lowest allowing you to catch your breath a bit.

    Please don't do HIIT with weights, as trying to move weights around very fast can lead to injury.

    1200 calories with two hours of exercise seems pretty ridiculous. I am a shorter female with metabolic issues and I eat a little more than that and do less exercise.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Unless you're overtired or the amount of time you're exercising is interfering with happy life balance, your current routine is not "too much".

    Weight loss is all about calorie balance. If you burn more calories than you eat, you'll lose weight. The best exercise calorie burn comes from doing steady-state cardio for as much time as you can comfortably sustain (with good life balance), at a challenging intensity that has you leaving your workout feeling energized, and coming back to the next day's workout feeling energetic and ready to go.

    HIIT is seriously overhyped. It doesn't burn many calories at the time, and the afterburn effect is exaggerated. True HIIT is terrible for people new to exercise: Higher injury risk, exhausting, fosters the idea that exercise should be unpleasant.

    HIIT is a tool that certain types of athletes use a couple of times a week (not daily) in the weeks leading up to a competition, to increase VO2 max. It can also be helpful for already conditioned people to do occasionally when workout time is short, to keep up their CV fitness. For some reason, some trainer/sites have seized on it as what the cool kids do, misunderstood the implications of the research, and started hyping it as a cure-all. It isn't.

    I think your current routine sounds great, if it isn't blowing your time budget.

    You should be losing weight, on current intake (minimum for men to get sound nutrition is considered to be 1500, and I'd lose crazy fast on 1200, despite being female, 62, 5'5", 130s). How are you measuring your intake? Food scale? Logging every bit, down to condiments and cooking oils?

    It's possible, if you've been on very low calories for a long time, to have some stress-related water weight fluctuations. Those should drop off eventually, but it might be time for a maintenance break if youve been at this for a while.

    Just my opinion.

    Best wishes!

    Perfectly said! This should be a sticky regarding HIIT.
  • wfmiller13
    wfmiller13 Posts: 8 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Unless you're overtired or the amount of time you're exercising is interfering with happy life balance, your current routine is not "too much".

    Weight loss is all about calorie balance. If you burn more calories than you eat, you'll lose weight. The best exercise calorie burn comes from doing steady-state cardio for as much time as you can comfortably sustain (with good life balance), at a challenging intensity that has you leaving your workout feeling energized, and coming back to the next day's workout feeling energetic and ready to go.

    HIIT is seriously overhyped. It doesn't burn many calories at the time, and the afterburn effect is exaggerated. True HIIT is terrible for people new to exercise: Higher injury risk, exhausting, fosters the idea that exercise should be unpleasant.

    HIIT is a tool that certain types of athletes use a couple of times a week (not daily) in the weeks leading up to a competition, to increase VO2 max. It can also be helpful for already conditioned people to do occasionally when workout time is short, to keep up their CV fitness. For some reason, some trainer/sites have seized on it as what the cool kids do, misunderstood the implications of the research, and started hyping it as a cure-all. It isn't.

    I think your current routine sounds great, if it isn't blowing your time budget.

    You should be losing weight, on current intake (minimum for men to get sound nutrition is considered to be 1500, and I'd lose crazy fast on 1200, despite being female, 62, 5'5", 130s). How are you measuring your intake? Food scale? Logging every bit, down to condiments and cooking oils?

    It's possible, if you've been on very low calories for a long time, to have some stress-related water weight fluctuations. Those should drop off eventually, but it might be time for a maintenance break if youve been at this for a while.

    Just my opinion.

    Best wishes!

    Time is not a factor, I have been logging my weight just by eating the Jenny Craig food!! No clue to why I am not losing!! You would think I would be considering the calories burned vs the intake!!
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    edited March 2018
    wfmiller13 wrote: »
    No clue to why I am not losing!!

    OP: It is very simple.

    If you are not losing weight, it is because you are eating more calories and/or are burning fewer calories that you think you are.

    You just need to figure out if you are eating too much and/or not exercising enough and change your behavior accordingly.

    The advice you got to the contrary that you mention in your intial post is complete nonsense, because you cannot lose any weight by eating more food (regardless of what it is) and exercising less.

    If you are doing that, stop it or you will just contiune to gain more weight.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    dewd2 wrote: »
    No. Exercise will not help. Get your diet in order first. Skip the Jenny Craig and other nonsense and start logging here. Log accurately (get a kitchen scale) and be honest with yourself. Once you see how much you are eating make adjustments.

    Exercise for your health (mental and physical). Get your diet in order for weight loss.

    Good luck.

    The above is accurate. I am 1/2 inch taller than you and started my last round of weight loss at 194. I had previously lost 13lbs.

    I lose at around 2000 calories per day. This assumes I either get in some cardio, often a 3 to 5 mile walk, or I weight train, which I do 4 days per week. I've tracked my data via my fitbit and it is reasonably accurate. If I do the above, my TDEE is about 2600 to 2700 calories per day and I can lose right on schedule.

    When logging to lose, I weigh and measure everything. I put a priority on protein, getting .8 to 1 gram per lb of lean body mass, fats around .35 grams per lb and carbs for the rest. No need for any named diet or Jenny whatever plan that just wastes money.
  • huntersvonnegut
    huntersvonnegut Posts: 1,177 Member
    "I do notice that I have lost inches in the belly, thighs but also put on inches in my chest and arms so that's good." So perhaps you've lost fat but not "weight" and added some muscle? If I had a 30" waist but the scale read 190lb, I wouldn't worry about it.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    wfmiller13 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Unless you're overtired or the amount of time you're exercising is interfering with happy life balance, your current routine is not "too much".

    Weight loss is all about calorie balance. If you burn more calories than you eat, you'll lose weight. The best exercise calorie burn comes from doing steady-state cardio for as much time as you can comfortably sustain (with good life balance), at a challenging intensity that has you leaving your workout feeling energized, and coming back to the next day's workout feeling energetic and ready to go.

    HIIT is seriously overhyped. It doesn't burn many calories at the time, and the afterburn effect is exaggerated. True HIIT is terrible for people new to exercise: Higher injury risk, exhausting, fosters the idea that exercise should be unpleasant.

    HIIT is a tool that certain types of athletes use a couple of times a week (not daily) in the weeks leading up to a competition, to increase VO2 max. It can also be helpful for already conditioned people to do occasionally when workout time is short, to keep up their CV fitness. For some reason, some trainer/sites have seized on it as what the cool kids do, misunderstood the implications of the research, and started hyping it as a cure-all. It isn't.

    I think your current routine sounds great, if it isn't blowing your time budget.

    You should be losing weight, on current intake (minimum for men to get sound nutrition is considered to be 1500, and I'd lose crazy fast on 1200, despite being female, 62, 5'5", 130s). How are you measuring your intake? Food scale? Logging every bit, down to condiments and cooking oils?

    It's possible, if you've been on very low calories for a long time, to have some stress-related water weight fluctuations. Those should drop off eventually, but it might be time for a maintenance break if youve been at this for a while.

    Just my opinion.

    Best wishes!

    Time is not a factor, I have been logging my weight just by eating the Jenny Craig food!! No clue to why I am not losing!! You would think I would be considering the calories burned vs the intake!!

    It can be frustrating, but the body does not lie. If you are gaining weight, you are in an energy surplus. Tinkering with eating and exercise programs is not going to change that.

    Often what happens with higher-volume, lower intensity steady-state programs is that you “grow into” the routine over time. By that I mean your exercise, calorie intake, and activity patterns all come into balance.

    In that sense, adding some higher-intensity interval workouts might have some benefit—not because there is anything magic about that type of workout, but because it would increase your fitness level—which could lead you to work harder in your other workouts and burn more calories to push yourself out of balance.

    The problem with your “fitness and fat loss ‘expert’” is that he is pushing a “one size fits all” cliche cookbook approach. That might be good for book sales, but not so good for an individual.
  • sarabushby
    sarabushby Posts: 784 Member
    If you’ve just had one week of a 0.8lb gain in amongst a general downwards trebd and are only weighing once a week I really wouldn’t worry too much and keep doing what you’re doing and weigh in again next week - maybe then alter your routine. The weight gain was likely temporary water fluctuation - maybe you ate some salty food or worked your muscles especially hard the day before weigh in this week, or maybe you just had extra food in your gut compared to usual.
    Don’t lose heart or panic from one slight blip. There’s many a thread on here about how weight loss is not linear.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Okay, am I understanding you correctly? You had a less than one pound gain FOR ONE WEEK, and you weigh yourself once a week?

    Home scales are not even accurate within several percent, and water and waste can vary several pounds in one day. It is too soon to conclude you are not losing weight, to change up your routine as a result, or to listen to any advice about why you are not losing weight. Log your food, eat more than 1500 calories since you are a man and that is the minimum recommended, and try HIIT if it seems like something you would enjoy.

    I like doing HIIT intervals on a stationary bike. However, you should be fit before you start - true HIIT is hard on the body. You could start by doing what you are already doing, the power walking, only up the intensity for a few short intervals.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    It’s one week. Keep doing what you’re doing.
This discussion has been closed.

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