A cardio-free week

[LauraMax]

Michele, you will love this post. ;-)

Last week, in anticipation of my new diet, I decided to do absolutely no cardio so I'd really throw my body a curve ball this week. I did my usual weight & core training, still put in about 5 hours of exercise.

Well, I felt great by Saturday! Sleeping til 7 on workdays so I had an extra 5 hours or so of sleep during the week. My lifting workouts were nothing short of POWERFUL. And surprisingly I didn't miss the cardio at all.

I'd highly recommend a week off from cardio for everyone. Especially if you want to focus on some serious strength building. It definitely gave my strength training a major boost.

 

[SRP]

Laura - YOU? No cardio? Wow. :7

But yeah, I know what you mean. I had an injury this winter that prevented me from doing cardio... I wasn't happy, that's for sure. But I was able to focus on weights and heavier lifting. For a little while, it was fun. Now, I got pretty antsy because I was out of action for a while. But I sure can see how planning to do a no-cardio week could be a nice change of pace.

 

[cindi1]

Hi Laura -

Can I ask why you are switching off the lo-carb diet? I'm curious because I lost about 30 pounds doing lo-carb and have kept it off for 5 years (except for 5 pounds this last year). I have not been doing lo-carb for a few years now. I'm wondering what caused you to switch - are you trying to lose more weight, did lo-carb stop working? etc.

I'm struggling a lot this year to get rid of the 5 extra pounds. Ideally I can get 10 off and look even better this summer.

 

[LauraMax]

Low carb stopped working. I just cannot figure it out. Same thing as you--I lost 30 lbs in 8 weeks 5 years ago & up until this year I've kept it off (although I never really went off the low carb diet).

I've been taking in >50 carbs a day for MONTHS, doing 45+ minutes of cardio 6-7 days a week, & not only have I not lost weight, I've GAINED! I had my annual physical in March & they even took me off my thyroid meds b/c I was hyperthyroid, meaning I should've been losing weight anyway. I actually have a follow up w/them tomorrow to see if the weight gain is related to something else.

Or it could be b/c I just turned 40 & I'm so freakin old LOL. I don't know if I'm going through some metabolic change or what, but one thing is for sure, I must drop the 10 lbs I've gained!

So for lunch I had an omelet cooked w/Pam olive oil spray, w/canadian bacon, spinach lettuce & tomato on whole grain bread & just a tad of low fat mayo. It was yummy! And I'm having whole grain pasta tonight for dinner. I hope I'm not overdoing this whole grain food b/c it's all this stuff I've been drooling over for years while I was on Atkins. ;-)

 

[cindi1]

Thanks for the insight. I'm 42 so I'm even freakin older!

Keep sharing your progess. I hope it works for you!

 

[kimyenchu]

Hello Laura,

I read your post about looking older now that you turned 40. After reading your diet on this post, have you thought that poor skin texture and loss of firmness is possibly attributable to the high protein diet? Do you eat a lot of oil or good fats like extra virgin olive oil, fish, avocados and lots of green vegetables? I know that people are afraid of a high fat diet, but I'm the opposite: I actually believe that you need fats, the good fats from vegetables and fish, in your diet if you want to preserve a youthful appearance.

For this year, my aim in to include more olive oil, fish and avocados into my meals - I like my pasta drizzled with olive oil. Unfortunately, I don't cook much at home so I sometimes can't include everything in.

I think we should eat more fats and worry less about the waist line as we get older. Women don't look good being skinny when they are older, as it makes you look haggard. An extra few pounds, in the right places, will actually make you look younger.

That's just my opinion though.


Yen