HELP! Cathe - fat loss - cardio or weights?

F

FitNut

Cathlete
Cathe - I sooo desparately need help. I am so confused.

I just had a baby in January - gained almost 40 lbs! I have been doing BFL the past 5 months and although I was having good results I am not losing the fat fast enough.

With BFL I was doing cardio 3 times a week (mostly your intervals, Intensity Series, Blast series, your good old stuff etc.) With BFL I was only doing 20-25 min. of interval type training but 1-2 times a week I would go longer. I was eating clean etc. I lost 30 lbs since March but still have a ton of fat. I want to lose at least 30 more pounds to be at my first goal.

My question is... I know my body is in need of a shake-up as I hit a major plateau! What should I do to burn some extra fat? Do you think I should do a cardio focused rotation for 4-6 wks and then go back to wt training? Maybe go back to a heavy wt training program like S&H? I did S&H a couple yrs ago before I got preggo and had great results building muscle.

I started increasing my cardio 2 wks ago to 40 min. minimum, and increased frequency to 5 times a week. I am seeing the inches start to come off and my legs are getting leaner. I am still trying to work upper/lower body at least 2 times/wk. Should I continue w/the increased cardio? Or will I lose too much muscle (what little I have!)

I have a lot of fat on my legs and really need to get some muscle tone. How many days a wk should I work legs?

I swear... with how much I workout I should look like Madonna by now! I must be doing something wrong!

Please help! ;( Do you have any ideas for rotations?
 
Hey fitnut! I think that I congratulated you in January on the arrival of your baby, but if i didn't congratulations again! I have been at a plateau for what seems like forever too. With last years second miscarriage I had gained 10 lbs of unwanted fat that I still can't lose. But I think there is hope for us. I have started to jog, about two to three times a week is the plan. That will be on top of what I used to do. Which would be weights 2-3 times a week and 2 times a week of cathe cardio. I am starting off slowly because I used to have a modo of "I'm only going to run if I'm being chased.". So, this is brand new to me and I'm getting plently sore from it too. I don't know if you can go jogging or not, I know that I wouldn't have been able to had my child not started preschool. But now that he's in preschool, and the weather is nice I'm giving this a try. I think it will be just what my body needed though to snap me out of my plateau. And I bet it could help you out too! Good luck!

Kathy
 
Kathy - just wondering if your jogging kicked you out of your plateau? I seem to be finally coming out of mine. I went on vacation and ate like a pig, worked out with cardio mostly (hi/lo) only 5 out of 9 days and lost weight! hmmmmm... wonder if my body was reserving all the fat? Too low of calories before I left?? Who knows?

I started South Beach today so I'll see how it goes. I feel really good so far and can feel the water weight coming off. My cousin who is a trainer told me to try South Beach for a month or so. She said she has seen women break through plateaus w/it. She just had a client lose 80 pounds and keep it off! It is a lot like BFL but w/less carbs and really strict in the first 2 wks - uggghh!

I also started focusing more on cardio and it seemed to help. I increased my duration to 40 minutes minimum 5 times a week.

Anyway, let me know how things are going on your end and what is/isn't working. Hopefully you'll see this message!

p.s. would still LOVe to get a response from Cathe:)
 
You know it was definately starting to work, then I went on vacation. So, I will be starting all over, oh well! But my mom said that she noticed a change in my body since I had been running, so that should help me get back at it. Here's to another stab at losing the flab!

Kathy
 
Kathy,

What distance, or how many minutes are you running? Is it jogging, sprinting, jog/walking? Curious, cause I started jogging/walking about a month ago. M/W/F approximately 2 miles or 30 minutes. Killer intensity. I do it outside before the sun comes up but that doesn't stop me from sweating buckets. The first week, I had DOMS like you would not believe. Maybe you experienced the same thing. I also do Cathe workouts two more days a week and weight work, mostly pyramids.

I have mostly noticed a difference in my hamstrings. Doesn't appear that I've lost weight as my clothes still fit the same. I'm planning on doing this at least through August and see if my plateau does not break. I figure at that point, the weather will cool off and I will feel like I can push myself another mile or so.

Fitnut, sorry to hijack your post.:eek: You can send me a cyberslap for being so selfish:+
 
Hi Candi, I've been doing about the same thing, but for an hour instead of a half an hour, three times a week. There are certainly days that I can only get in a half an hour though. I don't really know the distance, I just go to the lake and a little ways around it and then back again. I am not in good enough shape to just jog the whole thing just yet, my calves would be screaming at me for sure! So I jog for one song of an Aerosmith cd, then walk for one, then jog for one, and so on. I am trying to push myself to jog for two, but since I just got back from vacation, I think that might take another couple fo weeks now, sigh. Oh well.
What gets me is that I can do Cathe cardio for an hour, not a problem, I try to jog for that amount of time, and holy cow, my calves and legs are just rubber by the time I'm done. Obviously my body is working harder at this right now. So, yeah, I'll be doing this until it is too cold, then I will switch back to strictly aerobics again.
I honestly hadn't noticed the difference in myself, but my mom said that my body looked different. So, it was doing something I guess!

Kathy
 
Well, Kathy, I applaud your hour. Way to go!

I'm the same way as far as Cathe. I get through IMAX and it's not that I'm not tired at that point but I'm not dying like I used to when I first did it.

But running, man what a killer. It's not so much my legs but I am so sweaty after a half hour I'd have to swim home after an hour:7 I'm sure. Then when I get back home, it takes me at least five minutes to cool down.

It gets so humid here in Florida. At least when I'm doing a tape, I'm in an air conditioned environment.

I like the idea of running a song and walking another song. I'll have to try it.

THanks for writing back


:7 :7
 
Oh, I've been to Florida in the summer, I remember! Here in Minnesota it can get to be as bad, but not consistently. Today would be considered Florida hot with the humidity. I've been known to call the heat here Africa hot quite a few days in the summer. Minnesota is the land of extremes I think. You can go from 51 degrees in July as a high to 90 degrees the next day, and I'm not exagurating, it's insane!
So, yeah I try to get my run in the morning as to avoid the Africa hot afternoon heat that we can get sometimes. Besides my son is in preschool in the mornings so it's much easier to get out without a babysitter.
Good luck to you Candi!

Kathy
 
Well, Kathy, I don't know whether to thank you or curse you for taking away my humidity excuse :7. No, really, thank you. I may try to push myself a little more next week as I will be going on running week number 5.

I have never been to Minnesota although I'd like to get there one day!

Good luck to you also :D :D :D
 
>Cathe - I sooo desparately need help. I am so confused.
>
>I just had a baby in January - gained almost 40 lbs! I have
>been doing BFL the past 5 months and although I was having
>good results I am not losing the fat fast enough.
>
>With BFL I was doing cardio 3 times a week (mostly your
>intervals, Intensity Series, Blast series, your good old stuff
>etc.) With BFL I was only doing 20-25 min. of interval type
>training but 1-2 times a week I would go longer. I was eating
>clean etc. I lost 30 lbs since March but still have a ton of
>fat. I want to lose at least 30 more pounds to be at my first
>goal.
>
>My question is... I know my body is in need of a shake-up as I
>hit a major plateau! What should I do to burn some extra fat?
> Do you think I should do a cardio focused rotation for 4-6
>wks and then go back to wt training? Maybe go back to a heavy
>wt training program like S&H? I did S&H a couple yrs ago
>before I got preggo and had great results building muscle.
>
>I started increasing my cardio 2 wks ago to 40 min. minimum,
>and increased frequency to 5 times a week. I am seeing the
>inches start to come off and my legs are getting leaner. I am
>still trying to work upper/lower body at least 2 times/wk.
>Should I continue w/the increased cardio? Or will I lose too
>much muscle (what little I have!)
>
>I have a lot of fat on my legs and really need to get some
>muscle tone. How many days a wk should I work legs?
>
>I swear... with how much I workout I should look like Madonna
>by now! I must be doing something wrong!
>
>Please help! ;( Do you have any ideas for rotations?
>
>
I would shock my body with Boot Camp, that was the one DVD that pushed me over my plauteau. I did it 3-4 times a week and saw quick results...hope this helps....;)
 
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