Hey folks,
My wife is 22, 5'2'' and roughly 158lbs. She is currently working out 3-6x a week doing mostly cardio with a little bit of lifting in the mix. She wanted me to hop on and ask a few questions, as she wants to lose another 35lbs or so. She enjoys lifting much more than cardio, but at the same time wants to do what is most effective.
Should she continue with her current dieting and cardio to lose the fat or shift to NROL4W now?
Would she gain anything from waiting to start NROL4W until she reaches something closer to her goal?
Thanks in advance, looking forward to hearing back from you guys.
--Matt and Ashleigh
Well I'm biased since I loved the program and am currently doing it a second time through. (Last time I did it was Jan 08). It's really a great program and as long as her diet is in check, she should do well. It's not necessarily a "fat-loss" program per se, but if you look at the challenge thread from when a lot of us were doing it, you'll see many had very nice results in that department. It's up to her, but it sounds like if she enjoys lifting more than cardio, then this would be a good plan for her. They say you have to do what you like right?
Like le femme Nikita here (littlemermaidklb), I think she should do it.
The book is not marketed as a fat loss program, but that's just because the book is about getting women to feel the positive effects of a lifting program and good nutrition. You do the right type and level of exercise and eat the right types and level of food, and voila, fat loss.
The recommends going a month with their calorie recommendations, then cutting calories further if fat loss isn't happening. That's the decision she'll have to make. For many women, it will be more calories, and they don't like that. Buuuuut, the workouts are HARD, so that's why the extra.
That being said, it's a decision... without knowing her calorie levels now vs the calorie recommendations for her in NROL4W, I can't speak further, but NROL4W sets the stage for long term leanness, IMO.
She will have plenty of support if she decides to jump in (and start posting, logging, etc.). Hope she goes for it!
Read the Hierarchy of Fat Loss. You will see why lifting heavy weights is much more effective for losing fat than cardio is.
While the above posters are correct in saying the NROLFW is not targeted toward a fat loss, you can easily change that by incorporating a calorie deficit. I'm doing the program under a deficit and I don't know if my weight has changed (I don't own a scale) but I can tell you I've seen fast and dramatic results even just in the first few weeks.
Another tool I use that's optional is the GoWear Fit. I'm able to accurately track what my REAL burn is and therefore I know that on an average basis I'm running about a 2-300 deficit. A lot of women say they couldn't do a deficit because they get so hungry doing the program but I haven't found that to be the case as much. That's one weird thing about me - I find that when I'm sedentary I get hungrier, when I work out I don't get as hungry. I also find that my actual burn is higher than the book says it should be. So really, make an adjustment to the diet, which is the FIRST most important thing in the Fat Loss Hierarchy, and then do the 2nd most important thing (lifting) and the cardio can follow that.
Anyway I say go for it! I personally have gotten really overweight and part of that is due to the fact I never liked cardio and so it was hard to motivate myself to do it. When I found out that lifting is BETTER for fat loss than cardio was, it opened a whole new world and I've lost quite a bit of fat because of it, and I enjoy the rush of being able to lift and to keep increasing the heaviness of what I'm lifting. I know when I last weighed myself I was at 212 about a month ago at the doctors office, and my high point was 256 after I had my baby in August. More importantly than the lbs, I've gone down several sizes on pants and I now wear a belt on the 4th notch that I was probably at least 2 inches away from the 1st notch when I started. And I don't do cardio.
It really depends on your wife's priority right now. Is it gaining strength, or losing fat?
I started NROL4W 5 months ago, and I'm on Stage 6. Like your wife, I was already active--I'm a martial artist. I was intrigued by the idea of becoming really strong, and I had some midsection fat I wanted to lose.
I love the program, I've become very strong, I've learned a lot, and I'm on track to reach that goal of doing pull-ups and chin-ups by next month. BUT even with a sensible diet and continued cardio activity, the fat loss has for the most part eluded me.
I'm a physician, and I've done some research on the subject. It occurs to me now that it's very difficult--maybe even impossible--to ask your body to selectively build muscle only (anabolic), while simultaneously selectively losing fat only (catabolic).
NROL4W is a heavy lifting program--not primarily a weight loss program, as the others have said. While some cardio and some strength training is great for overall health and weight management, I'm not so sure that heavy lifting is best for weight/fat loss. Let's face it, power lifters aren't necessarily svelte.
I still love being strong. I plan on completing the program, and then cutting calories and modifying my lifting to lose the fat. If I had it to do over, I'd probably cut first and build second.
So again, it depends on your wife's priority right now. If she wants to get really strong, go for it--she'll LOVE the results. If she primarily wants to lose fat, I'd say cut first, and do NROL4W later.
Being 22 pretty much sets the scene. Lift some freakin weights! You have so much on your side. Your age pretty much dictates which direction you should be going in. Keep active in between workouts. The world is your oyster.
Yes! I have roughly the same stats as your wife, except i'm quite a bit older, and while I haven't dropped weight per se, I have lost fat and gone down dress sizes.
I just started stage 7 and am really enjoying it!
She definitely should start this program. Do not tell her to wait until she is closer to goal. This program will help her get closer to that goal faster!
I think she should at least read the book and she how she feels about it. Before reading the book I concentrated significantly on cardio and added weight training by using machines. I never really got the results I wanted. After reading the book, I felt that following the program would be more beneficial. I have read posts from other members that follow the program and added extra cardio than what the program calls for. Maybe that can help answer her question.
Also I agree, let her know that there are plenty of people on here to help and encourage her.
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Should she start NROL4W?
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