Someone decode this "eat your workout calories back" shiz fo

Thankyou I hav read ur info, it is starting to make sense!!!!!

Ok, I am interested... you got me at Stop All Cardio.... When you say I should continue P90X, that includes cardio workouts so I am confused.

At this point, I am willing to try anything and everytihng, if someone will tell me to go and eat tree bark because that's what really works I would probably be grinding the trees in the park because I am so frustrated and emotionally drained from this fight!

Heh, you're right, my apologies. It's been a long time since I've done P90X, and I forgot about the plyo and cardio, just remembered it as resistance training. An easier test if it's feasible for you is to just go to an endocrinologist and get your T3 levels tested. I would be surprised if you were not burning at least ~400-500 calories in a P90X workout, and with your current caloric intake you should DEFINITELY be seeing weight drop quickly, which is what suggested potential thyroid issues to me.

Check out http://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/thyroid/hypothyroidism-too-little-thyroid-hormone and see if you have been experiencing any symptoms. If not, then sorry if I alarmed you.

As always, take what you read on the net with a grain of salt, and if in doubt, consult with a doctor!

You seriously may want to consider resistance training. I know it is anathema to most women, but you may find it a lot more effective than cardio (it definitely was for my wife). It will also not turn you into a hulking behemoth, like most people seem to believe (if only it were that easy :P). Intermittent fasting and/or LeanGains diet may also be worth looking into, but verify your thyroid function is not compromised before starting anything like that. Personally, I have seen unbelievable results with IF/LeanGains+barbells/bodyweight training, but it involves micromanaging your diet, and is probably more than most people really want to deal with.

I hope this is helpful. Sorry for any earlier confusion

The only problem is, sometimes large deficits can cause huge issues. I did a round of P90X at 1800-2000 calories (I'm a 5'11, 200 lb guy) and i didn't lose weight. Not until I realized i was eating below my metabolic rate and that I wasn't properly feeding my body and up my calories to 2800 did I actually lose on this program. So it may or may not be a thyroid problem, but more often than not, it's malnourishment that is the problem; at least this is the case with all the people I have worked with on this board.

The "starvation mode" thing is a combination of hormonal changes that lead to downregulation of metabolism. For women, thyroid is typically the problem. For men, leptin resistance is more common (this is based upon the various studies I have read). Large deficits are not necessarily an issue, but large deficits + cardio will typically not yield the desired results. Also, insufficient calories for recovery will compromise workout intensity, which will lead to inferior results.

A good solution for both issues is to stop cardio (AFAIK cardio won't contribute to leptin resistance, but cardio in a leptin resistant state is not helpful, or particularly healthy), and switch to a high protein, lower carb, no/low sugar diet, e.g. paleo. Note that I am not paleo, nor do I currently have any real interest in it, but from what I have read, it does seem to be helpful with these issues.

In my opinion, and based upon observation (I'm sure you can corroborate this with your experience), cardio is generally NOT a good solution for people looking to lose body fat. How many people do you know who have been doing cardio for weeks/months/years with minimal results?

On a personal note, I just spent ~3 months unable to work out due to injury/illness (during the holiday season as well!), and ended up gaining 5 pounds of fat, and losing some significant muscle mass. Starting in January (yay new years resolutions! :P) I went on an IF diet with 3 days/week of high weight, lower volume resistance training (1400 calories on non-training days, 2400 on training days). In 3 weeks, I lost 5 pounds, and went from 10.5 to 7.5% body fat. Diet+resistance training works for fat loss. I have never been able to get results like that with cardio (I DID see good results with Insanity, likely due to fairly consistently crossing the anaerobic threshold, but the effort was a lot more, and the results inferior to hrs a week of weight training). My wife similarly spent YEARS calorie restricted and doing cardio without seeing the results she wanted. Switching to resistance training gave immediately noticeable results.

This is all based on ~5 years of trying everything under the sun to see what works best for me/friends/family. YMMV.

Ok, I am interested... you got me at Stop All Cardio.... When you say I should continue P90X, that includes cardio workouts so I am confused.

At this point, I am willing to try anything and everytihng, if someone will tell me to go and eat tree bark because that's what really works I would probably be grinding the trees in the park because I am so frustrated and emotionally drained from this fight!

Heh, you're right, my apologies. It's been a long time since I've done P90X, and I forgot about the plyo and cardio, just remembered it as resistance training. An easier test if it's feasible for you is to just go to an endocrinologist and get your T3 levels tested. I would be surprised if you were not burning at least ~400-500 calories in a P90X workout, and with your current caloric intake you should DEFINITELY be seeing weight drop quickly, which is what suggested potential thyroid issues to me.

Check out http://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/thyroid/hypothyroidism-too-little-thyroid-hormone and see if you have been experiencing any symptoms. If not, then sorry if I alarmed you.

As always, take what you read on the net with a grain of salt, and if in doubt, consult with a doctor!

You seriously may want to consider resistance training. I know it is anathema to most women, but you may find it a lot more effective than cardio (it definitely was for my wife). It will also not turn you into a hulking behemoth, like most people seem to believe (if only it were that easy :P). Intermittent fasting and/or LeanGains diet may also be worth looking into, but verify your thyroid function is not compromised before starting anything like that. Personally, I have seen unbelievable results with IF/LeanGains+barbells/bodyweight training, but it involves micromanaging your diet, and is probably more than most people really want to deal with.

I hope this is helpful. Sorry for any earlier confusion

The only problem is, sometimes large deficits can cause huge issues. I did a round of P90X at 1800-2000 calories (I'm a 5'11, 200 lb guy) and i didn't lose weight. Not until I realized i was eating below my metabolic rate and that I wasn't properly feeding my body and up my calories to 2800 did I actually lose on this program. So it may or may not be a thyroid problem, but more often than not, it's malnourishment that is the problem; at least this is the case with all the people I have worked with on this board.

The "starvation mode" thing is a combination of hormonal changes that lead to downregulation of metabolism. For women, thyroid is typically the problem. For men, leptin resistance is more common (this is based upon the various studies I have read). Large deficits are not necessarily an issue, but large deficits + cardio will typically not yield the desired results. Also, insufficient calories for recovery will compromise workout intensity, which will lead to inferior results.

A good solution for both issues is to stop cardio (AFAIK cardio won't contribute to leptin resistance, but cardio in a leptin resistant state is not helpful, or particularly healthy), and switch to a high protein, lower carb, no/low sugar diet, e.g. paleo. Note that I am not paleo, nor do I currently have any real interest in it, but from what I have read, it does seem to be helpful with these issues.

In my opinion, and based upon observation (I'm sure you can corroborate this with your experience), cardio is generally NOT a good solution for people looking to lose body fat. How many people do you know who have been doing cardio for weeks/months/years with minimal results?

On a personal note, I just spent ~3 months unable to work out due to injury/illness (during the holiday season as well!), and ended up gaining 5 pounds of fat, and losing some significant muscle mass. Starting in January (yay new years resolutions! :P) I went on an IF diet with 3 days/week of high weight, lower volume resistance training (1400 calories on non-training days, 2400 on training days). In 3 weeks, I lost 5 pounds, and went from 10.5 to 7.5% body fat. Diet+resistance training works for fat loss. I have never been able to get results like that with cardio (I DID see good results with Insanity, likely due to fairly consistently crossing the anaerobic threshold, but the effort was a lot more, and the results inferior to hrs a week of weight training). My wife similarly spent YEARS calorie restricted and doing cardio without seeing the results she wanted. Switching to resistance training gave immediately noticeable results.

This is all based on ~5 years of trying everything under the sun to see what works best for me/friends/family. YMMV.

I completely agree with you. I think Cardio is generally a waste. I like P90X2 because you aren't doing traditional cardio and focus more on plyometrics which keeps me in my anaerobic threshold. So far I have been able to get down to 12% body fat from 18% over 6 months which moderate diet. I have pushed a bit more recently but I still have pizza every other week and borritos about the same.

Ok, I am interested... you got me at Stop All Cardio.... When you say I should continue P90X, that includes cardio workouts so I am confused.

At this point, I am willing to try anything and everytihng, if someone will tell me to go and eat tree bark because that's what really works I would probably be grinding the trees in the park because I am so frustrated and emotionally drained from this fight!

Heh, you're right, my apologies. It's been a long time since I've done P90X, and I forgot about the plyo and cardio, just remembered it as resistance training. An easier test if it's feasible for you is to just go to an endocrinologist and get your T3 levels tested. I would be surprised if you were not burning at least ~400-500 calories in a P90X workout, and with your current caloric intake you should DEFINITELY be seeing weight drop quickly, which is what suggested potential thyroid issues to me.

Check out http://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/thyroid/hypothyroidism-too-little-thyroid-hormone and see if you have been experiencing any symptoms. If not, then sorry if I alarmed you.

As always, take what you read on the net with a grain of salt, and if in doubt, consult with a doctor!

You seriously may want to consider resistance training. I know it is anathema to most women, but you may find it a lot more effective than cardio (it definitely was for my wife). It will also not turn you into a hulking behemoth, like most people seem to believe (if only it were that easy :P). Intermittent fasting and/or LeanGains diet may also be worth looking into, but verify your thyroid function is not compromised before starting anything like that. Personally, I have seen unbelievable results with IF/LeanGains+barbells/bodyweight training, but it involves micromanaging your diet, and is probably more than most people really want to deal with.

I hope this is helpful. Sorry for any earlier confusion

The only problem is, sometimes large deficits can cause huge issues. I did a round of P90X at 1800-2000 calories (I'm a 5'11, 200 lb guy) and i didn't lose weight. Not until I realized i was eating below my metabolic rate and that I wasn't properly feeding my body and up my calories to 2800 did I actually lose on this program. So it may or may not be a thyroid problem, but more often than not, it's malnourishment that is the problem; at least this is the case with all the people I have worked with on this board.

The "starvation mode" thing is a combination of hormonal changes that lead to downregulation of metabolism. For women, thyroid is typically the problem. For men, leptin resistance is more common (this is based upon the various studies I have read). Large deficits are not necessarily an issue, but large deficits + cardio will typically not yield the desired results. Also, insufficient calories for recovery will compromise workout intensity, which will lead to inferior results.

A good solution for both issues is to stop cardio (AFAIK cardio won't contribute to leptin resistance, but cardio in a leptin resistant state is not helpful, or particularly healthy), and switch to a high protein, lower carb, no/low sugar diet, e.g. paleo. Note that I am not paleo, nor do I currently have any real interest in it, but from what I have read, it does seem to be helpful with these issues.

In my opinion, and based upon observation (I'm sure you can corroborate this with your experience), cardio is generally NOT a good solution for people looking to lose body fat. How many people do you know who have been doing cardio for weeks/months/years with minimal results?

On a personal note, I just spent ~3 months unable to work out due to injury/illness (during the holiday season as well!), and ended up gaining 5 pounds of fat, and losing some significant muscle mass. Starting in January (yay new years resolutions! :P) I went on an IF diet with 3 days/week of high weight, lower volume resistance training (1400 calories on non-training days, 2400 on training days). In 3 weeks, I lost 5 pounds, and went from 10.5 to 7.5% body fat. Diet+resistance training works for fat loss. I have never been able to get results like that with cardio (I DID see good results with Insanity, likely due to fairly consistently crossing the anaerobic threshold, but the effort was a lot more, and the results inferior to hrs a week of weight training). My wife similarly spent YEARS calorie restricted and doing cardio without seeing the results she wanted. Switching to resistance training gave immediately noticeable results.

This is all based on ~5 years of trying everything under the sun to see what works best for me/friends/family. YMMV.

I completely agree with you. I think Cardio is generally a waste. I like P90X2 because you aren't doing traditional cardio and focus more on plyometrics which keeps me in my anaerobic threshold. So far I have been able to get down to 12% body fat from 18% over 6 months which moderate diet. I have pushed a bit more recently but I still have pizza every other week and borritos about the same.

I love plyo and heavy bag. I am looking forward to adding them back in once I finish getting rid of the last of my pesky abdominal fat (soooooo close!) and can start carrying a calorie surplus. Right now it would hurt my ability to recover from the punishing resistance training too much