Need Weight and Workout Recommendations

[cheval]

Hi,

I am looking for some recommendations. I have been exercising around an hour a day (6 days a week) for the last 3 weeks and have lost absolutely no weight. (I eat about 1450 calories per day.) I'm irritated about not losing weight and after some research decided I should add some light weight lifting to my workouts to maybe help my metabolism and get some shaping going on.

I was really excited that I lost 9 pounds in about 8 weeks, but then everything stopped, so I'm trying to get things started again. I really want to lose a few more pounds.

I own some dumb bells, a step, a stretch band and a stability ball.

My current workout routine:

Saturday evening - 30 minutes interval run/walk; spiking heart rate to 170, recover to 127; repeat
Sunday morning - Ride a horse 2 hours; trot for 60 - 90 minutes
Sunday afternoon - Treadmill 2.5 mph for 30 minutes. Interval with 5 minute 10% incline and 5 minutes flat.

Monday - straight step workout of 60 - 75 minutes
Tuesday - 30 minutes treadmill workout; walk 3.0 mph with slight incline to raise HR to 130.
Tuesday - 30 minutes weights
Wednesday - Treadmill 2.5 mph for 60 minutes. Interval with 5 minute 10% incline and 5 minutes flat.
Thursday - Cardio & Weights workout
Friday - OFF

Oh, and I'm supposed to do 20 minutes stretch on Monday and Thursday in addition to above. Forgot to do the stretching yesterday, though!

I'm looking for recommendations for the Tuesday 30 minute weight workout.

Also, if you see something that I can do to make those pounds come off, please speak up!! Maybe my workout plan is flawed? I eat healthy; no meat, 25% or less fat, 20% protein, lots of veggies, lots of fruit. I don't want to cut my calories so much that I mess up my metabolism.

Thanks!
April

 

[dbergunder]

I had the same problem… I lost 8 lbs and then it stopped. You’ve probably hit your plateau. Keep up the dieting… After I hit my plateau (about a week or so) I started to lose about 2 lbs a week. It was a slow process but in the end I lost 20 lbs. I went down to 1200-1300 cal. per day though and I know some think that’s unhealthy…. I tried 1400 cals. and it was a much slower process.

As for weights I definitely think it helps… even if you only do it two days a week. I mix it up by doing some of Cathe’s DVD’s and also some from Jari Love’s (Getting Ripped series.)

Good Luck!

 

[CollinsMom]

Here's what I would probably do if it were me....

First, I would take an extended rest from working out. Take 3 or 4 days off in a row, or even a week if you can stand it. During this time, you want to make sure your eating is super clean. You can do some stretching or yoga during that time if you want.

Next, when you start working out again, I would change things up a bit from the past few weeks. Try upper/lower splits or maybe one body part per day. Also, find some new ways to combine cardio and weights.

Third, when you get back to your workouts and get back into the groove, I would INCREASE your calorie intake slightly -- maybe 200 calories a day.

HTH!

 

[cheval]

Thanks for the hints. Taking a few days off wouldn't kill me. I could do some good stretching in the meantime. I already upped my calories this week. I was eating 1300-1350 calories and upped it to 1450 (and gained 2 pounds :-(). I'm not planning to drop the calories back though.

I was thinking about buying Low Impact Circuit to do once a week (probably on Tuesday) and also do Cardio and Weights another day in the week (Thursday).

I'm 4' 11", 126 pounds, so my maintenance is around 1600 calories. Eating a 150 deficit and exercising another 300 - 400 calories per day should reach the 500 calorie deficit recommended for healthy weight loss. But there's gotta be more going on than math or I would have lost good weight over the last 3 weeks! So maybe a break is in order.

Before the 3 weeks, I was only exercising a couple times a week and dropped 9 pounds in 8 weeks or so. Then I hit a plateau for a couple weeks and added more exercising to try to break the plateau. Mostly walking on the treadmill (making sure my hr is elevated to 130 or more), riding the horse, and a step workout a week. Still no loss. The schedule I posted above I came up with this week.

So is LIC a good workout to add some weight workouts to my rotation? I'm not a big weight person. I was using 2 and 3 lb dumb bells if that tells you anything! LOL. But I do want to do it right and love Cathe's step workouts.

Thanks!
April