RU OX, what kind of cardio are you doing and how hard are you working when you're doing cardio?

ZTAngel advice:

I hear women say all the time, "I don't work out my chest because I don't want to lose my boobies!!!!!!"

Guess what breast tissue is made out of? Fat. Guess what you lose when you do cardio? Fat. If you're working out regularly, you will lose fat and, yes, you may lose your breasts as well. The good thing about working out your chest is that it builds up your pectoral muscles which is what your breasts sit on. Working out your chest muscles will make your breasts perkier and will make them appear bigger.

I had to make this post because I just overheard two of my female co-workers discussing how they don't work out their chest muscles because they don't want to lose a cup size. :rolleyes:

If you want a free resource to help you track your calorie intake for the day:


www.fitday.com


If you enter what you eat it will track your calories for you.

I do step mill, it is a cross between stair master and a down esclator I do that on level 10 or 11 for 30-40min. Then I do row machine for about 10-15 mins. Then cool down with remaining time on the elpitical. I also take between 7 and 9 martial arts classes a week that vary in intesity.

And then weird stuff happens, like okay, I weighed myself like two days after xmas. I was 190lbs. My watch I just got did not fit, and I was going to have to have some links put in (came with watch). I never got around to doing that, I droped down to like 185 and then the week after that I was at199 and it took like a week and a half to get back down to 190, now I'm stuck there, and the watch spins around on my wrist. WTF? Did I loose fat and then gain some muscle? Can you have 15 pounds of water weight? Is it possible to be over-hydrated? I ask b/c I have to increase my intake because of Lithium.

Thanks Valk:)

I'm a big fan of fitday. Tracking what you eat and your exercise is key.

www.calorieking.com is a good one too, to figure out your macros and portion sizes, etc. :)

cool thanks for calorieking -- I am headed to the carribean in a few weeks and NEED to lose weight

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts with sweet potato or yam is good for that. :)

I started working out last Oct with 30 min. a day of cardio. Now I make sure I do an hour a day almost every day. If I skip a day I try 90 min the next day. I try to make better food choices, but don't deprive myself. I've lost 15 pounds and will definitely look better for my Cancun trip on March 14. All those calculations etc. just flew over my head...wow a lot to think about! So if anyone wants to just do all that for me, make my food and be my personal trainer I'll lose the final 20-25 pounds without a problem!! Any takers?? ;)

Your ideal weight X 14 = calories you can't go over

subtract 500 calories a day for 1 pound of fat a week loss.

subtract 1000 calories a day for 2 pounds per week.

Make sure you get 1 gram protein per pound of ideal weight to prevent lean body loss. Those count towards your daily calories.

For example: If you are 150.

150 X 14 = 2100 calories. . don't go over that number.

1600 calories a day for 1 pound of fat loss a week.

1100 calories per day for 2 pounds of fat loss per week.

150 grams of protein a day = 600 calories which is part of your total daily calories.

www.fitday.com

ETA: Thats about as specific as I can get without your actual height and weight.

I only just read your post now, but yes, it sounds like after Christmas, you might have been retaining some water (which, considering the foods we tend to eat at Christmas time is quite plausible).

Were you weighing yourself on the same scale, or do you have access to more than one scale (more than one at home, one at the gym, etc.). That can vary the reading also.

I don't know how lithium works in the body but a quick google of lithium and "water retention" brought up a bunch of medical articles about sodium levels and lithium in the body. Is water retention a side effect to taking lithium?

I would say yes that it's possible to retain 15 lbs of water. Right before a show, I shed 4lbs of water in about 2 days (thank you PVL Watertight).

I can't make your food for you, but I could suggest an eating plan if you wanted. PM me if you'd like.

Anyone want to PM me a twice a week lifting plan? I really don't like to lift and I slack like crazy if I do my own plans. Something challenging would be nice - I'm in good shape and am experienced with exercise (used to teach group fitness classes and I do triathlons). I have access to most equipment.

Or post such a plan here :D Cause I'm interested too though not quite a fitness instructor/triathlete

If you could upload docs here, I would post it and then you could see my lifting plan. However, you pretty much need 4 days to hit all the body groups. There are way more groups to work in upper body compared to lower body. Each day should take about an hour. Any longer and you have depleted the glycogen stores in your muscles, you will be fatigued and risk injury, strain, etc.

Lift first, cardio second: ALWAYS

Day 1: Shoulder and triceps
Day 2: Back
Rest
Day 3: Legs, butt and calves
Day 4: Chest and biceps

Throw some abs in wherever.

How many days should you do cardio exercises then?

I never do weights and cardio on the same day, ever. I tried it for about a month and didn't like it. I don't even wear the same clothes/shoes/etc. FWIW, I do cardio three or four days a week and weights twice. Of course, I am just a gym rat and not an expert on any of this.

This site is kind of cool, although I've only skimmed it.

Also, RU OX, do you ever do intervals? I would recommend that (although again, I'm not an expert -- it just makes sense to me).

You can do cardio 4-6x a week, depending on what your goals are.

What kind of healthy meals can you suggest for a college student with limited options such as the school cafeteria?

How important is breakfast to a diet?

What is the best way to get started with an exercise routine? I need the very basics...cardio, weights, etc.!

ALSO, has anybody here done a half marathon? I'm thinking about it, but is that insane?

Yes, I did one in 1998 (under 2 hours baby!!). If you prepare using one of those "Running Room" training clinics for the half marathon, that would be good. When I finished the 13 miles, I was thinking, "there is no way in God's green earth that I could keep going for ANOTHER 13 miles" (i.e. a full marathon).

This is intriguing. I always heard the opposite - and that you should do cardio first to get the blood flowing to your muscles and to "warm" them up. Would you mind to elaborate on the physiological reasons why it is best to do cardio second? :D

There is competing evidence, but most agree that it's better to lift after having a little bit of an increase in body temperature - there's actually increasing evidence that stretching is differently important than we thought (it might be better for lifting than running, for example), but sweating a little might improve pliability and make your lifting more effective (and safer).

However, there are noted advantages to lifting first (IIRC, mostly related to ATP replenishment and etc. being better at that point, plus metabolic benefits), then doing cardio, so most suggest a brief warmup, then weight work, then cardio work.

Realistically, if you're a novice, you should probably start with the one you're most serious about - the percentage gains at first won't really matter a ton. After a while, you can get with recent research and tailor your program a little better.

Okay, I think I am willing to commit. I was looking at the Hal Higdon novice training guide and it looks doable. I have 10 weeks rather than 12, but I've been doing four mile runs, so I think I'm going to be fine (although some of his suggested workouts are too wussy for me so I'm going to do more and there's no way in hell I'm doing runs and strength on the same day just because I hate that). I'll check out Running Room, too.

I don't want to push myself TOO hard, but hope I can get my speed up a bit. I'm slow, LOL.

I love the half marathon distance. I've been working up to full marathon, and half is a nice way to gauge your training. Unfortunately, there aren't many "in between " distances (15 mile or 20) after that.

Best advice: GET GOOD SHOES! Go to a running specialty store and have them look at your pronation (most will put you on a treadmill and have you run and walk in the store). They're expensive, but the expense in shoes saves you an expense on phys. therapy later! My shoes are Asics and I love them...super light, perfect padding for neutral pronaters. I'm a triathlete so the running is only one aspect of my training, but its the one that I've had to work on the most.

Hal Higdon's plans are widely respected in the running community.

http://www2.victoriassecret.com/imag...14-07/ftr1.jpg


I wonder how many calories they consume.

I'm training for one now. I think I'm crazy.

You can do a "warm up", such as 5-10 minutes on the bike/elliptical/treadmill/stairmaster before you lift, but you should do your resistance training before you do your cardio (i.e. an aerobics class).

The rationale: when you do lift first, you deplete the glycogen stores in your muscles & you are a bit tired This is not a problem when you are doing cardio, because you are not bearing a load (i.e. lifting weights). You are also getting into fat burning stores, rather than glycogen burning stores

If you were to do cardio first (like an hour STEP Class or something like that), you will have depleted the glycogen stores in your muscles, and THEN if you were to try to go and lift thereafter you are more tired, and you risk compromising your form and potentially injuring yourself.

A lil' warmup beforehand is fine, but then after you are warmed up, you should endeavor to lift before cardio. (i.e. A 10 minute warmup on the machines should not constitute "cardio").

OK - So I modified my workout yesterday to this way and I really liked it better! I know that every workout and how you feel differs from day to day and other outside factors, but I did 10 min on the treadmill, about 45 minutes of weights, then 45 minutes on the treadmill again and felt really good and the good kind of tired and sore! Thanks for the suggestions and for the explanations to both CutiePie and KSig RC.

You're welcome...I'm preparing for a show right now (I compete in "Figure") which is on June 2nd, so it's kinda where my focus is right now.

Some motivation.

The UK's Biggest loser . .. transformation. If she can do it, then those of you that only need to lose a 10-40 pounds should have no trouble at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBf7krmojtc

I think she made an impressive body composition change.

Oh and 1 stone equals 14 pounds. So she started at approximately 252 pounds. At 5'3". 252 at 5'3!

So she lost 8 stone and 7 pounds which is 119 pounds.

She weighs 9 stone and 7 pounds now = 133 pounds.

Nice job.

What I don't understand is why everyone else is all emotional around her. I mean her being excited is understandable . . everyone else being weepy is just wierd. Think they script it?