12 week work challenge

[BeachGirl4ever]

Hi guys! My first post I work for a well known fitness website and we are having a 12 week transformation challenge. I'm determined to win it using STS. I'm torn between how much cardio to do. I'm currently doing 5 days (30/30, 40/20, imax2, Athletic Step and CCC). HOwever, I notice that 1) cathe herself doesnt recommend more than 3 days on her STS schedule and 2) P90x gets great results with only 2 days of cardio. I have 15-20 lbs to lose, 41 years old, and have had 2 children. Not sure if that makes any difference.

Like I said, its really important to me to win this challenge and also to win it using cathe videos to prove they are just as effective as going to the gym.

Here's my eating as well (its pretty much the same thing every day)
- 3 egg whites, 1 c cooked oatmeal, 1/2 cu blueberries
- zone bar
- 3 ou chicken, 1/2 yam
- apple 1 T peanut butter
- 3 ou chicken, 1/2 c br rice, broccoli and cabbage.
It's approx 1200 cals and pretty evenly split 100g carbs/100g protein

Any helpyou can give me would be VERY much appreciated!!!

 

[jldx2in2000]

First, welcome to the forum! Everyone here is full of great advice and support.

My first thought when I read your post is that while your food choices are excellent, 1200 calories is not nearly enough in one day, especially with the STS program. You can use Cathe's free workout manager to determine how many calories you need per day based on your TDEE and then eat less than that to get into a calorie deficit. I currently am eating 1600 a day while trying to lose weight but my TDEE is 2100 so that is a 500 a day deficit (hopefully a pound a week). A big mistake so many people make when they try to lose weight is to significantly cut calories to dangerousely low levels. Keep in mind that if you body feels starved, it is going to hang on to dear life to any fat cells it has left which messes up your metabolism big time.

As far as the STS rotation with only 3 days of cardio, it is not necessarily the type of workouts you do but your overall calorie deficit that will cause weight loss. Weight training burns calories just like cardio does and in fact weight training can keep your body in fat burning mode all day long (unlike cardio) because it requires more energy throughout the day to repair the muscles that just worked so hard.

I am sure others on here will have better/more advice than I can give but I hope I was able to help some.

 

[Stephanie0523]

I don't have STS or P90x, so I can't offer any advice there. But if you're going to be working out so strenuously, do you think 1200 calories is enough to fuel your day and your workouts?

Good luck!!! Let us know how you do!

 

[jacmar]

I dont eat clean or count calories, but I know I take in much more than 1200 calories. The first time I did STS, I lost 7 lbs; the second time I lost 5 lbs. No change in diet. STS is tough and more than three days of cardio would be overkill IMO.

I am 43