Want to drop 20 lbs. need some suggestions

[lovebeingmom]

I have been doing full body weight workouts at the gym for the past couple months and cardio from both gym workouts and classes and Cathe dvd's

I can be honest and say that my eating has not been to par

but now i'm ready to take off these 20 lbs. that i still have from having my DD almost 3 years ago

so that is my MAIN goal

I just purchased Insanity and STS strength.

my question is:

if you wanted to lose 20 lbs. which is your main goal, would you do the Insanity rotation as they have it for 8 weeks and then do STS

or would you do Insanity but stretch it out and do STS with it

i dont know if that is counterproductive and the fact that i may be super hungry and maybe tired to do either effectively

what do you recommend?

i could do STS 6 month and do 3 Insanity workouts a week but i dont know if that will help with fat loss. building muscle at the same time as losing fat which i heard is counterproductive

any ideas?

jaime

[Stacy]

Hi. I'm working on losing 15 lbs myself. I think you should change your priority. Put more focus on your diet and then let your body decide from there what workout you feel up to doing. I was working out 5-6 days a week and not watching my diet closely. I have since put much more focus on my diet and my workouts were more of an afterthought so to speak. I have been working out on average 4 days a week and lost 4 lbs in January! Good luck with your journey!

[lovebeingmom]

STACY- thanks for the reply

I've absolutely put a focus on my diet. cleaned it up

eating protien, fruit, veggies, dairy and nuts, oatmeal. staying away from anything processed at all.

i guess my question is

should i focus on just cardio(doing the Insanity rotation for 2 months) or should I combine the STS and Insanity and do 3 days a week lifting(STS rotation) and 3 days of cardio stretching it out through the 3 month STS rotation or the 6 month rotation

since I want to drop the weight, i'm not sure if doing STS along with just cardio will be good or bad. i dont want to take away from the benefits of STS in the building muscle area if my sole priority is to drop some weight THEN build muscle

but again, muscle helps burn fat

see my issue?

[Stacy]

I see your dilemma, but afraid I dont know the answer mostly b/c I'm just not at all familiar with the Insanity program. This month my focus is a bit more cardio oriented. I'm trying to do one run/walk interval on the treadmill per week, one of Cathe's HiiT workouts per week and something else such as the cardio from Cardio Fusion. If I have time, I'm doing a slightly lower impact workout by walking 3 miles on the treadmill but included inclines to work the legs more. I'm working each upper body part once per week (right now alternating the timesaver premixes from Gym Styles with the upper body workouts from Barry's Bootcamp original academy series). I do one leg workout a week and try to do abs 3 times. Next month I'm going to focus a bit more on strength training by doing STS Meso 2 .

[melanalyus]

I just had twins in November & gained a whole lot of weight with this pg which included 3 mos of hospital bedrest. When I was discharged, I had 30lbs to lose. I lost 20+ lbs over the past 8 weeks & can fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes!!!

I did get Insanity, but after mush thought & research.....I found that people were developing endurance....but not necessarily losing much weight. I don't really like weight work (so I don't have STS).

Basically, as stated by other poster.... I found diet is my most important factor in weight loss. I am exclusively nursing, so I couldn't go on a super restrictive diet. I have been eating a diet rich in lean protein, nuts/berries, low fat dairy,veggies, and smoothies. I have been using a go fit wear monitor & have been keeping track of caloric ins/outs. I have been expending about 3000cal/day and consuming roughly 2000cal/day....so basically a 1000 cal/day deficit.

For exercise I've been doing 2 workouts/day. 40-60 minutes of cardio (step, running, kickboxing, intervals, circuits) in AM & an additonal 4 mile walk on elliptical in evenings.

Let me know if you'd like any specific information/details on what I did.

Determination is key. You CAN do it!

[dixiedog6]

Melanie, way to go on all your hard work. If I do not focus on my diet, all the exercise in the world will not make a difference on the scale for me.

[melanalyus]

dixiedog6~ thanks for your kind words. I totally agree with you....it's something I learned for myself (diet vs exercise). After the birth of my 3rd son I thought I could just burn all the extra calories away. I exercised 3 hrs/day.....HARDCORE....and barely lost anything. Once I cleaned up my diet the wait began to pour off.

It's actually a neat cycle....once I started eating better, I FELT better & had more energy too! The adventure has tought me alot about how my body works & what I can do during my life to keep my weight under control.