Plataue or Push through it?

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heather_elise85
heather_elise85 Posts: 69 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So here is a little background. I have a 2 year old and a husband that is on call all times of the day/night. My sister in law is my work out buddy and keeps me accountable. She works day shift so we finally came to an agreement that the only time we have to work out is at 6am every morning. This started on October 14th. We do 4 days of Turbo Fire 15 or 20 min HIIT video and then the 10 min stretch. Then 2 other days she comes over to my house and we do a ExerciseTV video. We take Sunday's off.

The first 10 days or so we obviously built up our endurance and we were burning close to 300 every time (according to my HRM) - very out of breath and felt like falling on the floor. I lost 5lbs the first week ( and none since - its a battle of gaining .6 and losing .6 ) Now we do the HIIT and Stretch video and we can talk through the whole thing, not much sweat and we can't even burn 200 calories. Its a lot easier now, but we love doing it!

Is it already time to switch it up? I hear people doing the Jillian Michaels and P90X for months at a time but we are struggling to burn 200 calories. And both of our scales have halted. I can feel my body changing in the stretch moves and some days I feel like my tummy is flat and others it is like i'm bloated.

My question is - Should we go to a different work-out or just keep doing what we are doing? And how do we get a boost on the scale with our work-outs?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and any advice is welcome! : )

Replies

  • jamielynn1981
    jamielynn1981 Posts: 232 Member
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    I always switch things up. Exercise should be hard, not easy. Have you thought about strength training?? I usually have the best results with heavy lifting.
    Also, I think weight and fat loss happens in the kitchen....watching what you eat, carbs, sugar, etc.
    Good luck to you!
  • melbelle32
    melbelle32 Posts: 69 Member
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    I feel your pain...I LOVE Jillian DVDS. I would recommend her FOR SURE its a lot of jump training so if you have good knees good for it!! She is on exercise TV. I'm thinking of trying P90X. So many people swear by it.

    I'm also interested what people have to respond to this.
  • curiositycat
    curiositycat Posts: 111 Member
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    I would mix it up. I do Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred or Ripped in 30 plus ten or twenty minutes of Michelle Dozois's Peak 10 Cardio Intervals. Altogether it's a great workout that is pretty time efficient.
  • mary_kate23
    mary_kate23 Posts: 156
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    I definitely recommend switching it up to begin working on other muscle groups. I have done p90x, am doing Jillian Michaels now, and I do various cardio exercises at the gym and strength training. My scale as well has halted for the last 2 weeks (been religiously exercising for over a month) but I am still shrinking. I attribute that to muscle growth, because I was already in my ideal weight range when I started. I'm going for toning aspect, so I am reaching my goals. I definitely recommend mixing things up - especially the p90x DVDs. they work so many different parts of your body! my fav p90x DVDs are ab ripper, cardio, kenpo, and plyo.

    best of luck to you!
  • InTenn
    InTenn Posts: 99
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    I'll be the first to say that exercise is only half of the equation. Your diet matters, and you can't do enough exercise to overcome a really bad diet. Not saying that yours is, just that we can't tell from outside.

    Traditional wisdom says that cardio/aerobic and/or resistance training (as opposed to stretching) is what affects weight loss. If the video isn't giving you the cardio/aerobic benefit you need, you probably need to try something else (or add something else). Maybe the stretching and a 20 minute brisk walk would be better. I can't really say, but your HRM can.

    I'm no weight loss expert, but I was looking this morning and noticed that in my case, I lose weight for 7-10 days, then basically stop for a couple of weeks, then lose for another 7-10 days. That is with a pretty well controlled diet and exercise program. I don't know why it is that way for me (YMMV), but it may be that if what you did worked and was moving the scales, give it a month or so before abandoning it. Then you might consider doing something differently.
  • mangorabbit
    mangorabbit Posts: 219 Member
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    I have found some fitness type things I like to do in the morning and they stay pretty consistent - I rotate through them, and I grant there is not a HUGE burn from them, but they get me moving in the morning and work out some of the kinks. For me, this works. (Yoga and New York City Ballet Workout)

    If you are after the numbers and a greater burn, then finding a more strenuous workout or something new may be more useful. Varying muscle groups is (as previously stated by others) a useful thing to do to keep things interesting. I have P90X and hope to get into it again at some point - it is certainly a change and it mixes stuff up if you follow their schedule of what days to do what.

    Good Luck!
  • heather_elise85
    heather_elise85 Posts: 69 Member
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    You know, we were just talking about this, this morning. I read a quote that said abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. Or something to that effect. I make sure I am always withing my calorie range but I might need to tweak a few things out and make my eating habits a little bit better. I would love to do heavy lifting but we have a living room every morning and no weights.. I can do leg lifts and pushups but I don't have the equipment of a gym available to me.
  • heather_elise85
    heather_elise85 Posts: 69 Member
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    I did P90X 2 years ago for 30 days - I loved some videos and hated others. I tried to talk my SIL into doing Kenpo a couple days a week but she's nervous - no matter what we did with P90X we could not get our calories right and always felt dizy - maybe we were just so out of shape it wasn't right for us that time around. I want to try it again.
  • heather_elise85
    heather_elise85 Posts: 69 Member
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    Great! Thanks for the tip : )
  • heather_elise85
    heather_elise85 Posts: 69 Member
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    Yeah! Tomorrow morning its going to be good ole' Kenpo! Thanks!! : ) I hate to think that I am gaining muscle and the scale is going up when I am at least 15lb over my ideal weight? That still confuses me.
  • heather_elise85
    heather_elise85 Posts: 69 Member
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    Thank you so much for taking the time out to give me some advice. I know I haven't been 100% great in my diet department and I blame that for some of my scale problems. I always stay with in my calorie range but I don't always eat the best foods. When I think of salads these days I want to scream - i'll take anything but a damn salad. I eat a lot of steamed veggies and I always make a homemade healthy (portioned) dinner ... breakfast is always a protein bar after our workout ( usually clif or met-rx ) This week has been hell because of the Halloween candy but I am trying my best.

    I think my biggest question was should I abandon the Turbo Fire or keep going for a while more? Maybe i'll add in some P90X a day or two instead and see where that takes me.

    Thanks!!!!
  • heather_elise85
    heather_elise85 Posts: 69 Member
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    Thats kind of how we got started. We did the 40min video and we thought - we aren't going to do exactly what the program says ( it has like 7 discs and we work through 3 of them ) We love them and have a lot of fun and it worked for awhile but now its just fun but we aren't really getting anywhere now. :( Like you said - if I really am after the numbers I need to go for the harder videos. Maybe if I just switch up 2-3 days itll give me that boost I am looking for.

    Thanks!
  • Melissaol
    Melissaol Posts: 952 Member
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    I hear ya. I have been going back and forth on the scale also. Not fun. I go to the gym 3 times a week at night. I just can not get myself out of bed at 5:30am.. I do 30 min. on treadmill, free weight, and do some machines. Then the next day I do the elliptical for 30 mins.
    The scale just started to to move.
  • jamielynn1981
    jamielynn1981 Posts: 232 Member
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    You could use a set of resistance bands if you don't have the proper weights. They are pretty inexpensive(a set a Walmart are like $20) and you can still get the same results...

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