The Fat Loss TroubleshootThis is your place to troubleshoot your fat loss problems from nutrition to training. This section is led by Leigh Peele, author of "The Fat Loss Troubleshoot," the ultimate fat loss manual. If your results have slowed or stalled this is the place to come for advice for all your fat loss needs.
I just started a new program at lifetime fitness called team weight loss. The idea is to do 5 to 6 days (60 minutes)a week of cardio 3 days of weights and burn 400 or more calories and eat at a deficit. eating is 50 percent carbs 25 fat 25 protein. I was also told that My aerobic threshold is 189 and I need to work out at a heart rate of about 165 to 175 in order to lose weight. I am wiling to try anything. I do count calories. I just feel as if there are so many different ideas on eating,cardio duration etc. Any ideas or comments would be great.
Thanks,
Lisa
IMO, with that high amount of cardio and low amount of protein, you are going to have a lot of muscle loss. And that heart rate seems high to sustain for 60 minutes.
ETA: I forgot to ask - how much of a deficit do they want you to eat at?
Last edited by krispy1138 : 10-25-2008 at 05:32 PM.
So that number doesn't make sense to me. However, I'm the first to admit that I'm definitely no expert. To get a 'theoretical' max heart rate you take 220 and subtract your age (ie. mine is 178). I only mention that because I think maybe you meant your max heart rate. Which means they are telling you to work out at 87-93% of your maximum heart rate.
So, without even addressing the diet I think I'll call 'bullshit' on that. I'm seriously hoping that you're not paying for that advice. Now, I have a lot more to lose than most people, and I lift heavier than I should. With a relatively decent watch on my calories and 2 days of cardio (at 70-80% Max HR) and 3 days of lifting (at 60-70% max HR) I'm able to lose weight at a consistent rate (~2lb/week).
Now, perhaps it is slightly different if you don't need to lose much, however, I think the suggestions you've been given are unrealistic. I sense desperation in your posts, and think I remember a few posts from you in the summer. So fill out your story here and perhaps people will have a few better suggestions.
500 Calories of a deficit. I Did the resting metabolic rate test and was told my calories are 1330. If I burn 400 to 500 calories a day. I eat about 1700 or 1800 a day. I did the map testing for my at rate. It is very hard to maintain a high rate for 60 minutes. I am the only one out of 12 people that has to be at that high of a heart rate. The trainer said that some people have a high at. I am 37 years old 5'2 and weigh 155. Any advice would be great...
Thanks,
Lisa
Are you sure you got the cardio information right? You would not work out at so close to your threshold for 60 minutes. That is just bad advice. I have had the VO2max test like they give at Lifetime Fitness and worked wtih an endurance coach for a while and the work in those higher zones are for short interval bursts, not sustained for 60 minutes.
Like someone said above, that formula sounds like a recipe for muscle loss and burnout.
I have to agree that seems hard to sustain for 60 minutes, but I am also going to share a formula a speed coach gave me when I was training for my marathon. It was important to run in certain HR zones for recovery and it basically forced me to slow down. But anyway, the one thing you need is your resting HR. You can lie down for about 20 minutes and take it or you can take it first thing in the morning.
MHR = max HR
RHR = resting HR
WHR = working HR
MHR = 217 - (age x .85)
WHR = MHR - RHR
z = WHR x (HR zone %)
Zone value = z + RHR
Example: I'm 38 years old and my resting HR is 65.
MHR = 217 - (38 x .85) ----> 185
WHR = 185 - 65 ----> 120
z = 120 x .75 ----> 90
Zone value at 75% MHR = 90 + 65 ----> 155
That may help you understand exactly where you are working when you are at 165 to 175. 175 for me would be at 95% and I would be redlining, definitely not something I could personally do for an hour before totally bonking!
There are so so many things wrong with what they told you (OP).
No one NEEDS cardio for fat loss. Cardio is nothing more than a means to burn more calories. If you don't move and you want to eat at all then some might find doing cardio helpful. You can get to low levels of body fat while window shopping in the mall.
Move only the amount you need to burn the fat and satisfy your calorie needs for the day best possible.
For the average person a formula may be correct.
For an individual person a formaly is rarely if EVER correct.
You can only know what your threshold is by testing.. not by having a number thrown back at you that is not based on evidence = a personified test.
I'd be working myself into a heart attack if I was to be going up as high as that HR while another person might not work hard enough..
My best friend's maxHR is 220 and his anaerobic threshold close to 190bpm if not higher
Mine was 170-175bpm and my anaerobic threshold approx. 160bpm
However, his RHR is 60-70 while mine is 30-40bpm
See why the formulas suck and the 'working HR" would send me into a heart attack and him into yawning mode?
Furthermore.. totally true: you don't NEED to do cardio in order to lose weight, it just happens to be one of the various options available. The advantage of doing cardio is that it is healthy. The disadvantage is that when you start to rely on too much of it as a means to drop or maintain weight, there's nasty things happening once your body adapts or.. when you have to drop the cardio for some reason or another.
For the average person a formula may be correct.
For an individual person a formaly is rarely if EVER correct.
You can only know what your threshold is by testing.. not by having a number thrown back at you that is not based on evidence = a personified test.
I'd be working myself into a heart attack if I was to be going up as high as that HR while another person might not work hard enough..
My best friend's maxHR is 220 and his anaerobic threshold close to 190bpm if not higher
Mine was 170-175bpm and my anaerobic threshold approx. 160bpm
However, his RHR is 60-70 while mine is 30-40bpm
See why the formulas suck and the 'working HR" would send me into a heart attack and him into yawning mode?
Furthermore.. totally true: you don't NEED to do cardio in order to lose weight, it just happens to be one of the various options available. The advantage of doing cardio is that it is healthy. The disadvantage is that when you start to rely on too much of it as a means to drop or maintain weight, there's nasty things happening once your body adapts or.. when you have to drop the cardio for some reason or another.
My best friend's maxHR is 220 and his anaerobic threshold close to 190bpm if not higher
Using what formula? I was under the impression that the MaxHR is:
220-age = MaxHR.
For me, that's 176, though in truth, I've been up to 183 w/o exploding my heart.
Then the general idea was to multiply it by a percent/decimal:
Redline = (MaxHR * 0.9) to MaxHR
Anaerobic = (MaxHR * 0.8) to Redline
etc, etc
Again, as a rule of thumb, not the definitive answer.
If your friend has a MaxHR of 220, is he/she even born yet?
To LisaLamp, as others have said, cardio is another tool in the box, but not the box of tools. I use cardio on my non-lifting days and when I can muster up the energy, I'll do HIIT, but not often as it is taxing on the body and I do want to be able to lift strong. I try to swap priorities in the weeks, so that one week is 3 lifts and 2 cardios, the following it 3 cardios and 2 lifts.
I can maintain an anaerobic HR for 30 mins, haven't tried an hour and don't think I would try. Going down to an aerobic HR seems too pokey for me.
I find it keeps it interesting, especially since I'm starting to like rowing too much over lifting.
I am going to have to break down and buy the book. I really want to know how you burn fat window shopping at the mall. I did 6 hours of cardio and 3 hours of weight training(this week), cut my calories,ate every 4 hours and didn't lose 1 pound. I have had my thyroid tested, cortisol levels, hormone levels tested. Everything came back normal. I am buying the book to find out what I am doing wrong.
thanks again,
Lisa
I am going to have to break down and buy the book. I really want to know how you burn fat window shopping at the mall.
Eat less than you burn. That's it at its most basic.
Quote:
I did 6 hours of cardio and 3 hours of weight training(this week), cut my calories,ate every 4 hours and didn't lose 1 pound. I have had my thyroid tested, cortisol levels, hormone levels tested. Everything came back normal. I am buying the book to find out what I am doing wrong.
thanks again,
Lisa
Your metabolism might be slowed due to chronic under eating. It may take a bit of time to get it back up, but I don't see it taking too long, if you are active. How long is a cardio session?
While eating less & moving more helps for most.. some eat too little & move too much.
Surprise surprise when you then start eating more and/or move a bit less: fat loss could be your gift.
It really often works that way for undereaters/overtrainers
Espi, is right. Leigh says that you should do the least amount possible in order to get the most gain (or biggest loss). Sometimes all of the working out we do counteracts our goals. It's important to make sure that you have your calories right--not just low because sometimes low is too low--and to make sure that you have your activity level right.
Buy the book--it made things so much more clear for me!
__________________
"Do you choose to simply know the path, or do you choose to walk it?"
Your body keeps an accurate journal regardless of what you write down...
And another thing.. which ties in with the hot debate a few threads down (or up?) on why/whether the last 10lbs is harder. SOME people just can't tolerate a big deficit.
Not just mentally but also physically. If they don't get sick, they will simply stall/plateau.
I've lost count of the number of people (esp women) on several weight loss forums that start losing weight again when they UP calories. Most of those women weren't even exercising.
As a previously chaotic eater (I'd easily fast entirely for one day, especially when exercising .. my record being cycling 1400K in 116 hrs on perhaps 2000 kcal and 8hrs of sleep. With such a background, it's very easy to overreach in the gym w/o noticing. What was the result? NO , zip zero zilch nada weight loss after reaching the settling point. Yeah, lightning fast wt loss when being above that setpoint, but nothing that worked for going below.
That is.. nothing but pulling back the reins on exercise. From then on it seemed like smooth sailing.
You are SO wrong about thinking cardio works for wt loss.. it doesn't. At least it doesn't when you get used to it. Funnily enough , it does when it's an unusual type of cardio. Couple of weeks back I had to walk a lot more than I normally do and you bet I burnt more. Had I done this for weeks on end.. the effect would probably have accounted for next-to-zero extra calories burnt.
how much cardio for weight loss
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