Question for getnfit@39

ccbw03

ccbw03

Cathlete
Hi Donna! I was just wondering if you tend to lean more towards cardio or weights? I read alot on the forums and have been to your website, you are such an inspiring person! You have done so well in your journey. I've been REALLY frustrated the last couple of years. I've put on about 30lbs after being a lifetime member at ww and maintaing my goal weight for a good five years. Now all of a sudden it has crept on slowly and no matter what I seem to do I can't get it to budge. I read alot where you have to find what best works for your body, but I can't seem to find it anymore. I've been a Catheite for about 6 years and have tried several rotations and keeping my eating clean, but to no avail.

Anyway, sorry to whine, just looking for what seemed to work best for you.

Thanks,
Cara
 
Hi Cara,

Well, I could write a book on my trials and errors, but here goes:

After much "tweeking" I've found that for me a balance of cardio and weights works best for me to lose weight.

-to lose: I need at least 5 days of cardio, and I now work each body part either 2x or 1x/week depending on the rotation. (S&H would be an example of a 1x/week rotation)

* I found that doing cardio 6x or even 7x/week made no difference to my weight loss, the effects were the same as 5x/week, so why wear myself out if it wasn't going to make a difference!? I also found out that doing double cardios (1 in the am and 1 in the pm) made no significant difference. In a short spurt yes! However, prolonged for weeks only made me tired, didn't effect weight loss pattern one iota!
Working each body part 3x/week only made a difference early in my weight training experience when I was just building muscle, it helped a great deal overall, upper and lower body, but in the last 6 months I've noticed that it makes no difference at all so I now focus on lifting heavier, but only 1 or 2x/week for each body part.

-to maintain: 3 or 4 days of cardio and weights 1x/week for each body part. (I can maintain whatever current weight I'm at with this particular combination.)

So overall I've learned that I am always going to need cardio! I guess it's just my body type or whatever, but when I tried the "less cardio-focus on heavier lifting" thing for an 8 week period, I gained weight, not muscle, but weight cause my clothes got super tight and I gained a total of 8# in 8 weeks and taking that weight back off was TORTURE! So I'll never go less than 4 days cardio again!:)

The only exception to this is with circuit style work. I will admit I think it's great for weightloss and in that exception 3x/week works well for me!

Hope I gave you what you needed, if not, just ask! :)

Donna
Fitness~ It's a journey, not a race!
 
Donna: I'm really intrigued with your observations about what your body needs to lose/maintain weight. Could you give an example of a rotation that you would use to lose weight? How long are your 5 cardio sessions typically? Where do you fit in the weight training? Thanks in advance. Lynda
 
Lynda............

Hi Lynda,

My cardio sessions vary between 30min, 45min and 60min, and rotate between step, hi-lo and kickboxing.

A typical week could look like:

sun- 45min cardio + PS-BBA

mon- 30min cardio + PS-CST

tue- PS-SL&A

wed- rest/stretch

thu- 60min interval cardio

fri- 30min cardio + Muscle Endurance

sat- 60min kickbox cardio

This is what a typical week might look like, it varies. There are times I'll do 6 days cardio + 1 S&H segment and rest the 7th day.

mon- 30.min step cardio + S&H Chest

tue- 45min hi/lo cardio + S&H Back

wed- 30min interval cardio + S&H Legs

thu- 45min kickbox cardio + S&H Shoulders

fri- 30min step cardio + S&H Triceps

sat- 45min hi/lo cardio + S&H Biceps

sun- rest/stretch

I like this particular rotation, it's not very time consuming and I can really concentrate on working the muscles well since its only 1 per day. :)

Donna

Fitness~ It's a journey, not a race!
 
RE: Lynda............

Hey Donna,

Thanks so much for your reply. That does help. Do you split your workouts up and do some in the morning and some at night or all in one shot? I've thought about getting up before work, but I can't bring myself to get up any earlier, I get up around 4:30am already!

Do you use Cathe's tapes for your 45 min. or 30 min. of cardio? I thought most of them were 60, but I guess that's including the warm up and cool down.
I'm guessing that you also keep a exercise journal too?

I'm going to try and go back to doing cardio at least 4Xs a week and see if that helps. I've really been trying hard on the eating. I'm a lifer for weight watchers, so have been trying to journal, I know it's helped in the past.

Thanks for your friendly ear and advice!
Cara
 
RE: Lynda............

Hi Cara,

If my workout for the day is a 30min cardio + a shorter weight workout, I'll do it in 1 shot, but typically, I do my cardio first on an empty stomach (just cannot move the same with food on my belly!), take a break and get an AM snack and water, then do my weights about 45min to an hour after that. It gives me a chance to re-energize myself.

I use Cathe for some of my cardio, but I incorporate others as well. Even if it's a day that calls for 45min, I'll turn a Cathe workout into a 45min workout in a heartbeat!:) I simply watch the timer and start to slow my pace 2-3min before time to stop, then do my own stretch to cool down unless I'm going right into weight work. And having the CTX series gives me many 30min cardios, as well as the first 5 intervals of both Imax 1 and 2 are 30min workouts, or either MIC workout. Plus I have other workouts by other instructors to crosstrain with. Not every day can be a high impact day! I just can't take it! :)

Yes, I keep both an exercise journal and a food journal. The exercise journal is great for many reasons, but it really allows me to see what has worked and what hasn't worked as well for me. That was how I could chart how much cardio I need, it took the guess work out of it for me. I forgot to mention before that the reason I need to do so much cardio is because when I did do less, I didn't alter my eating plan, so if I'm ever going to do less cardio, I'll clearly have to drop my calorie intake to compensate, but I'd rather eat and do cardio at this point! :) But the exercise journal lets me look back and cross reference what combination of cardio and weights worked in what rotation, and what may have not been as successful. Plus, it keeps me on track!
A food journal will probably always be a necessity for me. I need to track my calories or I could easily "forget" how much I've eaten! It too keeps me on track and aware of what I'm doing. :)

There's a great WW section/forum at www.diettalk.com I go there daily just like here. I consider diettalk to eating what Cathe is to exercise! Plus you can keep a journal there and it's just a really interesting site to share and discuss eating, weight loss, exercise, etc. It's a free site, if you get a chance you should check it out. Plus, the recipe section there has oodles of WW recipes that are already broken down into points.

Donna



Fitness~ It's a journey, not a race!
 
RE: Lynda............

Hey Donna,
Thanks again! You've really got this down to a science huh?
I've been using the weight watcher's on line journal to keep track of my eating. I'm not sure if you are familiar with WW or not but it also has a place to just track how much exercise (length, and type) you do a day then calculates food points earned for the day. How many calories do you eat a day?
WW doesn't really go by calories, but point ranges. I asked WW how many calories my point range was, and they said somewhere around 1500-1600 range, depending on what foods I chose. I'm thinking maybe that is not enough for the amount of exercise. Any thoughts?

I'll have to check the diettalk out. Thanks!
 
RE: Lynda............

Quick question Donna, how tall are you?

Thanks your photos on your site are an inspiration.
 
Cara................

The last pounds are toughies! I guess if you've been eating 1500-1600 cal/day for a while and you're not losing, you could try adding a few calories a day to see if it helps you lose. How much are you exercising? If you're working out fairly hard 5-6 days/week, you may need more calories. It's such a funny balance, but if you're working out consistently, and working out pretty hard, I'd go up a few calories before I went down.
Doesn't Weight Watchers take exercise in consideration in regards points? I hear some of the women at diettalk discussing being able to eat more points because they exercise daily for so many minutes, etc.

Donna

Fitness~ It's a journey, not a race!
 
RE: Cara................

I've been exercising 5-6Xs a week. I was on the tank top rotation. Now I think I'm going to try the new May one. I'm going to try and write down the days I exercise instead of just keeping track in my head.

Yes they do "give" extra points for exercise. I guess you earn them.
But I don't always use them. I read a lot on this forum and the others and it seems like some people believe that if you work out fairly hard, consistantly, then you need more food to fuel your body.
I've just gotten SO frustrated because I stay within my points range most of the time. I may have a day or two where I go over, but then I have banked points, extra points earned, that I use and I exercise faithly. And when I was at goal weight before, if I gained a couple of pounds, I could turn it around no problem, but now all of a sudden, it doesn't happen. I've even had my thyroid checked. I don't feel like I've changed my eating habits so much to put this weight back on. Sorry, there I go again. I'm really going to try this month and see where I get.

Cara
 
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