NateDad

Just eat food. If you like having it in shake form, that's fine. I find having a shake-like drink after a hard workout is easier than trying to mow down a big hamburger or something. Yes, I get hungry after busting my *kitten* on Plyometrics, and I almost always have a ton of calories available because of it (yesterday I…

Insanity will definitely help you lose weight. It's an incredibly rigorous workout regimen and will burn tons of calories. I wouldn't worry about that. As for gaining four pounds in a week - that's almost certainly just water weight. If your neck and face are swelled up, you could be retaining water in other places too,…

P90X + couch to 5k (extending the C25K out to do a 4 mile run on the 4th of july). I hadn't really though much past then. Guess I should :)

Post what model HRM you're using, that'll make it easier for us to diagnose. It's probably something simple.

Work out for an extra 30 minutes and just use real maple syrup. Totally worth it. I only use about a tablespoon per pancake, for fairly large pancakes. A tablespoon of maple syrup is 50 calories, so, if you're having 3-4 pancakes, that's just 150-200 calories. Easy enough to burn that off with an extra walk at lunch or…

Both are pretty comparable in calories. The thing I like about treadmills is that running is a skill that is useful outside of the gym, unlike being good at an elliptical. :)

Last time I did Plyometrics it was 820, Kenpo X 720. Badass, or badly out of shape? :)

Depends a lot on what yoga you're doing. I was skeptical until I tried it. A lot of the moves take a ton of strength, actually. I'm doing P90X, and they do a ton of moves that really work your muscles. I sweat more with that DVD than any of the others, and my HRM says I burn usually around 850 calories.... so, yeah, it…

It's the most accurate way to know how many calories you burn while exercising. Polar FT4 is popular, and the one I have.

I'm on a treadmill, but I'm in a hilly part of Massachusetts, and it's still pretty cold here (currently 43º). For calories, I got a heart rate monitor. I really like knowing exactly how many calories I'm burning, since it's often different than what MFP says (which is not that surprising, since MFP has to make a lot of…

500 calorie deficit per day should lose you a pound a week, yup. Lifting will help you tone up, firm up, and look sporty rather than just skinny. Since you're a woman, you can lift all day and not build more than a very moderate amount of lean muscle, so no need to worry there. Generally, the only way women get…

I'm doing P90X and C25K (basically the Doubles routine from P90X - adding running to the weightlifting days). Didn't realize so many other people are doing similar things :) Weight lifting is definitely a good idea on off days. I do really like the weight routines in P90X, even if they are super hard. And even the leg…

Lifestyle I think of as "How active you are at work" (or during normal daily activities, if you don't work). So, if you spend 8 hours a day at a desk job, I'd use sedentary lifestyle (that's what I do). If you work in a warehouse lugging 50 pound boxes around all day, then you'd have an active lifestyle. If you're a stay…

Just FYI - you can change the batteries yourself on the FT4 as well. Maybe older models were sealed or something, but the one I bought a couple weeks ago is defintely just a screw off back. It even has the battery number listed on it.

As long as your form is good and it doesn't hurt your joints, you can't over train simply by doing similar workouts on the same day. Now, if you do it every day with no rest ever, then you could eventually overtrain, but that does't sound like what's going on.

I'm out of the house for 11 hours a day for work, and my wife and I have an 8 month old daughter. I find time for P90x, which is 60-90 minutes 6 days a week, my wife (stay at home mom and works from home part time) is doing power 90, and both of us are doing couch to 5k as well. How do we do it? Mostly by not watching TV.…

Don't be intimidated. Guys in weight rooms are just guys, like anywhere else. Most of them will be nice, some might not be, but it won't be any different than anywhere else. I'm guessing most of them will be really impressed a girl is coming in there to lift, and would be happy to give you tips, if you want them, or leave…

Definitely put it to 1 pound or half a pound a week. At 2 pounds per week, you'll be starving yourself. There's no rush, and if you do it more gradually, you're more likely to keep it off.

I don't have a lot to lose, but I started P90X 2.5 weeks ago, and I can say that, if you do it, you will definitely lose weight. It's a hell of a workout... but a very approachable one, since they give you modifications you can do to every exercise to make it easier. As for eating... I shoot for losing a pound a week,…

Biking is 90% quads, 10% everything else. Do those quad stretches before and after, and if you're still feeling tight later, do more of them. (Quad stretches are the ones where you stand on one foot, bend your other knee and grab your ankle, and try to pull your foot to your butt). For me, the best hamstring stretch is…

Dwight has the right idea. If you can't afford a HRM, then you can do it the old fashioned way. It's kind of a pain, but worth it to get an accurate calorie count. If you're doing P90X or Insanity, you *need* to be eating more than MFP's base calories. They deliver serious burn. When I got a HRM, my calories were always…

I started doing P90X a couple weeks ago, and workout #1 is all push ups and pull ups. It kills me. I was able to do about 6-8 push ups to start, so I wasn't as bad off as most girls, who can often not do any, or only one or two. Here's my suggestion - get push up bars. They make a huge difference. It's so much easier on my…

So, if you know how much you're burning, it's easy. MFP takes care of all that. If you're looking for 1/2 a pound a week, it'll be deducting 250 calories from your diet per day. When you work out, enter how many calories you burn, and it'll give you that many more calories to eat. Keep in mind that half a pound a week may…

I'm going to buck the trend - use real half and half. It tastes better and isn't full of processed chemically crap. I tried skim milk, but you need so much more to do the same as a little half and half. The best idea is to buy good coffee, and buy lighter roasts. For some reason, "dark" and "bold" sell, but usually that…

Do you have a heart rate monitor? If not, get one. It's the only way to know how much you're burning during workouts. It's certainly possible you upped calories too much, but if you don't know how much you're burning, you can't tell if it's too much. It's also possible you didn't up them enough. I know I underestimated how…

I got mine, and it was horrible - only caught one out of every four heartbeats, if that. I tried wetting the strap, moving it around, everything. Finally figured out that if it the watch was right next to the chest strap, it worked fine. I actually did a workout with the watch threaded through the chest strap. Got a new…

Unfortunately, knees just don't heal fast. I'm not familiar with what Ripped in 30 entails, but maybe you can just take it easy on the knee and focus on more upper body stuff? I have a knee that gets tweaked once in a while... as long as I'm careful with it, it's ok. Never do lunges with your knee going past your ankle...…

I find that my HRM says I burn way more than what MFP suggests for "similar" workouts to P90x. I'm 34, 6'1, 175lbs, and I burn 650-1000 calories depending on which day. For example, yesterday I did chest and back, with ab ripper X, and burned 925 calories. MFP would probably say it would be half that. The best thing to do…

The FT4 is really all you need unless you really feel the need to upload your workout stats to polar's website. It's only like 4 numbers, so writing it down in your MFP workout notes is not really a big deal. I have the FT4, it tells you calories burnt, target heart rate zone, max heart rate, average heart rate, time in…

They definitely do burn calories. How many is tough to calculate. The two most important factors (other than time) are impossible to calculate - your fitness, and how hard you're pushing yourself. The best advice I have is to get a heart rate monitor... it'll let you know how exactly how much you're burning for any…