Love Handles--Older Women

I

Ivy

Cathlete
Okay guys, I workout 6 days a week. I'm doing 2 body parts for weights, except leg days which have their own days and I do doubles adding in cardio each day. I do mix it up, interval-tabata, and metabolic. My diet consists of about 1350 calories but I mainly look at my macros. I have lost weight I'm about 107 lbs. 5'1 but and the love handles have decreased but they are still there. Any suggestions because my goal is to go up in calories in late fall to build a larger muscles, but I don't want love handles
 
Hi Ivy,
That's quite the workout regimen you have and i have to wonder if it's perhaps too much stress on your body causing increased cortisol levels along with holding onto body fat. Your calories are way too low to sustain this kind of exercise on a daily basis, even with your one rest day, but that's just my opinion. I workout in a similar fashion as you, with heavy weights/ plyo most mornings and i also attend orange theory gym classes 2 evenings a week. My calorie intake is probably more like 1800 - 2000/ day and i am 5'2", 114 lbs. I agree with your plan to increase your caloric intake and my suggestion would be to reduce any hidden sugars to drop the fat, and avoid processed food as much as possible. We all need a treat once in awhile though - i like my wine lol! Give your self a break, it can only benefit you in the end. It took me years to reach the mental state of allowing myself to take a step back and relax, knowing I won't gain weight overnight, even though that concept can be a huge struggle for some of us.
Good luck,
Jamie
 
jamie vaughn said:
Hi Ivy,
That's quite the workout regimen you have and i have to wonder if it's perhaps too much stress on your body causing increased cortisol levels along with holding onto body fat. Your calories are way too low to sustain this kind of exercise on a daily basis, even with your one rest day, but that's just my opinion. I workout in a similar fashion as you, with heavy weights/ plyo most mornings and i also attend orange theory gym classes 2 evenings a week. My calorie intake is probably more like 1800 - 2000/ day and i am 5'2", 114 lbs. I agree with your plan to increase your caloric intake and my suggestion would be to reduce any hidden sugars to drop the fat, and avoid processed food as much as possible. We all need a treat once in awhile though - i like my wine lol! Give your self a break, it can only benefit you in the end. It took me years to reach the mental state of allowing myself to take a step back and relax, knowing I won't gain weight overnight, even though that concept can be a huge struggle for some of us.
Good luck,
Jamie
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Thanks, you know I was thinking maybe my caloric intake is too low. You know how you fill out those calculators and I think I put my daily setting as moderately sedentary although even with my workouts I'm walking my dog twice a day as well, not extremely long but still... I wonder if I should readjust my setting for active and allow more of a caloric intake? Thanks so much for advice
 
Ivy, I agree with Jamie.
I find that a period 'cutting' followed by maintenance (at higher calories) and then a mass is what works for me. It's the only way I can get super-lean.
I have a much higher cal intake than you (2-3000 depending on where I am in my cut/ mass), but I'm 5'9" and 135lb, so not really comparable.
I find the best way to get into maintenance is to increase calories gradually so that your metabolism keeps up. Reverse diet, in other words.

Good luck!
 
Thanks guys, trust me I have fat, visible fat Not a ton but you can see it so that's why I'm wondering about the prospect of needing to up my calories. Because I eat clean a majority of the time, so upping the calories sounds like a realistic option. Maybe I'll slowly up the calories, and I'll put in a more active setting for the macro calorie calculator.
 
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I think you need to eat more if you're lifting weights but I also think (I know blasphemy ) that if you do less cardio or take the cardio down that your body will let go of the fat stores.

I found this out a few years ago. I was working out 6 days a week some days double. I was eating clean but was holding on to the fat on the back of the hips (sucks looks ugly) I had burned out and my body was telling me to take a break. I spent the next few weeks no weight lifting and walking only 3 miles day (hilly area) Its funny but the fat disappeared along with 5 lbs

all I can figure is my body was under stress and holding on reserves once I gave my body rest the trouble spot disappeared.

Its funny how our body react. I was working my ass off with no results. I slow down and the fat disappeared.

I wish my thigh cellulite was like that but honestly that's my life long trouble area back of thigh cellulite. I keep it under control and gone with hiit and spinning. I still have a dimple or 2 but nothing terrible and i'm still told all the time I've got sexy legs LOL so cellulite be damned. :p. I'm one of those it not about my body weight just crappy genetics.

good luck I totally understand frustration with certain body parts.
 
nckfitheart2009 said:
Could not agree more!

Here is the science:

http://cathe.com/focus-fast-twitch-muscle-fibers
http://cathe.com/metabolic-adaptations-3-ways-body-tries-keep-losing-weight
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great articles and something I had to learn the hard way, no more double cardio workouts. I still need my hiit/steady state spinning work which seem to be the trick for my body to let go of cellulite but its twice a week not everyday.

Then I still like cardio so sometimes I have to make myself just stop. :D seriously am I the only one that just gets a high from intensive cardio work. I guess that's why I ran for so many years. The other day I did hiit 40/20 than got on my spin bike cranked up some rock and was just riding like hell-on-wheels :D no video or anything just pedaling to the beat. I didn't even plan to but I was in a fun zone. o_O YES I'm crazy I love exercise . I've not meaning to found myself staying in my gym for 2 hours doing a total body workout. I know not healthy I learned less-can-be-more. :)
 
Ivy, I am just echoing what everyone else has said - you are doing far too much girl! I would just add that our body's (& mind's) needs do change and even fluctuates at times. I tend to accumulate some extraness (especially since turning 34) in the lower back/upper hips area & lucky for me, just moderate (somewhat meditative) walking in the evenings seems to take care of it. When I am too busy for this, it definitely shows. I seriously believe it is what jamie was referring to with cortisol levels & fat retention. Some women even find that extended/long exercise sessions mess with their progestorone levels.
I hope you find what will work for you during this phase & hey, just ease up on nitpicking those body parts! :) You are a fit woman!
 
Thanks, I'll try taking out a cardio day first and then slowly add in more calories. Not too much at one time. Actually with some of Cathes cardio you can lose yourself in it because she keeps it moving. Truth be told it is a stress reliever
 
Cafelattee said:
great articles and something I had to learn the hard way, no more double cardio workouts. I still need my hiit/steady state spinning work which seem to be the trick for my body to let go of cellulite but its twice a week not everyday.

Then I still like cardio so sometimes I have to make myself just stop. :D seriously am I the only one that just gets a high from intensive cardio work. I guess that's why I ran for so many years. The other day I did hiit 40/20 than got on my spin bike cranked up some rock and was just riding like hell-on-wheels :D no video or anything just pedaling to the beat. I didn't even plan to but I was in a fun zone. o_O YES I'm crazy I love exercise . I've not meaning to found myself staying in my gym for 2 hours doing a total body workout. I know not healthy I learned less-can-be-more. :)
Click to expand...

I like the "hell on wheels" comment [emoji2]


A Fit Granny [emoji1434]
 
Ivy said:
Thanks Again for the articles and all the great advice
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Ivy, hope you do not mind me asking, why did you incorporate many cardio into your rotation.
Is there any other reason than stress management? @Ivy

Also when you start increasing calories, do it gradually. Start from 200 kcal of clean food of course and pay
attention to how your body react. With such low calories you have been asking to much while your body was
holding to anything you were consuming.

We can not ask our body to deliver similar output expected from a tank without fuelling it properly.
Hard gruelling cardio demand a lot of energy --- Fuel, EATING. You need to reverse your diet gradually increasing
your consumption. Reset your metabolism (= increasing calories while building muscles) .

With such "low BMI" --- It is not the best health-fitness indicator, building muscles eating clean will definitely melt those
handles!
 
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I'm with everyone else...cut the extensive cardio and up your calories. I also don't see how you're maintaining that workout schedule with such a low calorie intake. I'd gnaw my arm off! LOL!

I workout hard every day, twice a day at least, and I don't count calories. I eat what I need. I just make sure, as others have said, I'm avoiding sugar, sodium and processed foods. I'm 60 and don't have any excess fat. I do HIIT bootcamps twice a day and lift heavy. And you know what... here's an observation I've made from the gym I go to... the people with the most excess body wieght/fat on them, are the ones I see endlessly running on the treadmill or pedaling on the eliptical. They are always there... always going, going, going... and nothing ever changes. I so badly want to tell them the secret.

I used to be the cardio queen myself because I love to run. I would run upwards of 40 miles a week, in addition to all the Cathe workouts I was doing. My problem wasn't excess fat, it was just being too skinny. I never could put on any appreciable muscle, despite all the lifting. I finally figured out what cardio was doing to my body. I took my running down to 8 miles a week and starting lifting heavier and doing more HIIT. It finally gave me the muscle definition I wanted, yet my weight didn't increase.

There are so many different reasons to fuel your body properly, but the bottom line is you can't expect it to look/perform the way you want it to, if you're not giving it the tools (food) necessary to do so. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the changes you'll see. Good luck!
 
Thanks everyone! I originally increased my cardio because I was doing Hiit only workout 3 times a week and it wasn't helping with the fat loss the way I thought it should. So then I incorporated other types of cardio and the fat began to come off, unfortunately I still have the love handles. So I'm close to a good formula but not there yet.
Wow JeanneMarie you do Hiit boot camps twice a day almost everyday!!! You are in great shape. I agree though I will gradually up my calories
 
JeanneMarie I wanna be you You go girl!! I also like having that overall feeling of being fit. If you can do boot camps twice a day- your definitely fit! You know I like the feeling of being strong, I admit I think a round booty on a woman is attractive and I like strong legs and arms. I just gotta get the right formula. It may be trial and error
 
OMG JeanneMarie... two HiiT bootcamps a day?!! I'd need to go to the ER! Congrats on being able to do that - it's amazing! :)

Thanks to all that posted love handle reducing/exercise information links! I definitely have a few wiggly giggly parts that could use toning and should to more cardio but I love weight lifting too much....
 
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