<p>mom60, I would suggest that your D concentrate on developing a SUSTAINABLE healthy lifestyle for the long run. That is the only thing that will work in losing weight and perhaps more importantly <em>keeping it off</em>. Those of us with decades of experience in yo-yo dieting can attest to this. That would include a program of regular exercise including both cardio and weight training, and an eating style that features three smaller meals per day, the mainstays of which are lean meats and fish and green leafy vegetables, as well high fiber grains and legumes.</p>
<p>toneranger - I was just playing devil’s advocate. H also exercises a lot and has started riding his bike to work once a week. It takes both and the idea that exercise alone doesn’t work is a fallacy. As idad said (and my trainer has confirmed), the weight-bearing exercises work better to keep the metabolism higher throughout the day, as opposed to just walking on the treadmill.</p>
<p>The ideal workout for weight loss would be weight training in circuits that raises the heart rate (I routinely get mine up to the 160s, then let it drop to the 120s or 130s before resuming the circuit) to incorporate cardio. Again, the metabolism stays up throughout the day, as opposed to just cardio after which your metabolism slows back down almost immediately after you hop off that bike or treadmill. Granted I do this for an hour.</p>
<p>Occasionally, we just set train when he’s teaching me new things and we can’t maintain the level of intensity, but once I’ve done a new exercise during at least two sessions, he will incorporate them into the PHA (peripheral heart action) sessions we have.</p>
<p>Having now seen my cholesterol numbers improve so greatly, I also know that eating also has a component. So it’s both… not just one or the other.</p>
<p>I do agree that exercise can make a difference. But I think eating good food and the right portions can make more of a difference. And perhaps it varies by person (some get hungrier when exercising - others don’t).</p>
<p>I’m trying to up my exercise - including strength training… but my old body seems to be getting in the way like it never did before. Tennis elbow, cranky back, bum knee. So maybe eating less for a while will help me lose weight and take some pressure off my creaky joints and allow me to kick it up a notch or two. Here’s hoping!</p>
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<p>I’m running my 5K tomorrow, then plan to get back to interval training when I get home. I was mulling over something like you mentioned. Would doing 5 minutes of treadmill, either running or run/walk intervals, then getting off and doing a strength training exercise (for example bicep curls with x number of reps), then getting back on the treadmill for 5 minutes, repeat until an entire circuit of strength training is completed be a good way to work that metabolism? I’ve never done anything like that, but it seems like it might be good for getting the hr up and avoiding some of the monotony which can accompany a long term exercise program.</p>
<p>Any experts who can comment or make a better suggestion?</p>
<p>Honestly, if you get a good circuit going on the weight training, meaning no time between sets, you can get your heart rate up to some serious cardio levels. Like I said, I’ve been up in the 160s and a couple of times when I approached 170, we had to stop as I began to get dizzy. That was when we were still learning what my weaknesses and limitations were.</p>
<p>Usually when we’re doing a PHA workout, my trainer groups the exercises in threes or fours, so we move from one to the next, but they’re completely different parts of the body so that there’s recovery time for that body part while I’m doing another body part. When we do this, I don’t even need a treadmill or any cardio machine. We use my heart rate monitor to determine when I need to let the HR come down, not when I need to get it up more.</p>
<p>toneranger… I’ll have to ask my trainer again, but when he was first starting me off on the weight training, he said (something along the lines) about the tendons and ligaments needing more time to strengthen (maybe 2-3 times longer) than the muscle can handle. At our age, he is much more concerned about technique, etc. to avoid the creaky knees, etc. It is amazing how such a tiny adjustment in positioning of my feet, for example, when doing squats, can eliminate pain in my knee. Same with bench press… your form needs to be correct (where your elbows are coming out) so that you avoid unnecessary stress on your rotator cuff.</p>
<p>His mantra is always, “Work smart, not hard.” Not to mean that smart work can’t be hard, but hard work is not always smart.</p>
<p>BIG NEWS!!! I finally lost 10 pounds!!! Gosh it seems like it took forever!!! I also got 110 miles in this week (Mon through Friday)! Tomorrow is fun workout day. Going with family for Heart Association Walk. First 10 down…many more to go! :)</p>
<p>Nm, yay!!!</p>
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<p>That sounds reasonable. I read a book by one of the former American Gladiators. He stated that when he started doing steroids to be a better football player, he put on muscle at an amazing pace. It all backfired on him, though, because his ligaments couldn’t support such fast muscle mass growth and he was seriously injured soon thereafter. The injuries plagued him so much that his football career was completely derailed.</p>
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<p>Wow, that’s great. I hope to be saying the same thing in a couple of months. Keep up the good work!</p>
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<p>Completely 100% FALSE. Weight loss is all about calories in < calories out. It’s not going to happen overnight, but exercise is the best form of medicine. It helps to fix A LOT of problems with people’s health. </p>
<p>I know many of you are trying to lose weight, but that is also one of the biggest flaws of the whole diet/exercise thing. Weight is merely a number. People get too concerned about that number. What is important are the other numbers-- blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol, body fat composition. Weight and BMI mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. </p>
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<p>Have you tried body weight exercises? I’ve gotten some good results just in the last week doing a little more of that type of stuff and some light dumbbell work in addition to my weight lifting.</p>
<p>Exercise is good for you but it has been shown many times that it is not an effective weight loss mechanism. That’s just the way it is. Everyone should exercise but they need to understand the limits of what exercise can do. </p>
<p>As for kinds of exercise, there are two, maybe three schools. One is that you burn more fat at a relatively lower heart rate kept for a longer period, meaning at the bottom end of the 60% of what is typically calculated max*. Another is that you vary intensity - one version is fartlek. Another is bursts of extreme intensity, meaning as hard as you can go for a short period (as in 10-20 seconds). All have their roles.</p>
<p>*the calculation of max heart rates is yet another joke because the process was estimated for convenience without testing across a population. It has very little to do with any individual’s max or what moderate levels are, etc. For me, for example, if I regularly exceed my maximum and that level doesn’t come close to my exhaustion level. I have to be above that to get winded. If I followed the guidelines and exercised at 60%, I wouldn’t be breathing harder than standing. My experience is not uncommon and others have naturally lower rates.</p>
<p>Max HR that most people see or talk about is just an estimate. It gives them a number. People like numbers. I was actually talking to someone about that tonight. I can recall multiple times were I’ve exceeded my “max” for 30 seconds-minute or more at a time. </p>
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<p>Ancedotally, it has also shown several times that it is effective. I know that I lost 15 pounds last summer. The only change I did was I began weight lifting 2 days per week and running for about 40 minutes 1-2 days per week. Was eating fast food twice a day many days and often eating ballpark food as well. I also know a guy who has dropped probably a good 100 pounds give or take mainly by taking up walking and doing P90X with his son. Exercise helps.</p>
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<p>Those charts are based on a flawed reading of the data. It is true that at lower heart rates (such as easy cardio), the highest component of the fuel is stored fat. As the heart rate increases, the percentage shifts to burning more carbs. But, what the charts overlook is that the total calories burned is increasing with intensity. And, of course, unburned carbs are converted to stored fat. The problem with this approach is that it has people on the treadmill at low intensity for very long periods of time – an hour or more. They would probably be better off to exercise for 30 minutes and include some high intensity segments.</p>
<p>5K training:</p>
<p>Here in Austin preparing to leave for the Austin Pride 5K. D1 arrived last night from Chapel Hill-she’s training for a 1/2 marathon so this will be a light day for her. D2 overtrained last week and is now out with a hip injury, so she will have to watch from the sidelines. This is LBGT event, so lots of folks will be in costume. Hopefully will be a fun environment for a run.</p>
<p>I hope I can just get through the race without having to walk too much. Texas has just been hit with a heat wave, so I’m just going to focus on finishing this first one.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice given previously!</p>
<p>Nrdsb4 - I didn’t know you were in Austin for a race! Do you typically run in Austin? If you do, you are aware of the hills. They can be brutal.</p>
<p>Every March there’s the Capitol 10K, and I remember in college, how many students would just think, “Oh, I can run this without having done in any training.” And they’d be sucking air on those hills, many throwing up (some stupid enough to do it with hangovers!). It was always rather entertaining to go watch (well, not the throwing up part).</p>
<p>^^^teriwtt, yes, we drove in last night. I also went to school in Austin. I am not generally a runner; I just decided to try this two months ago.</p>
<p>I finished my first 5K today in 30.20, by far my fastest time ever. Thanks to my daughters, as I wouldn’t have done it in that time by myself. D2 felt well enough to go ahead and run, so we had a good time and feel pretty good about it. Lots of funny costumes and encouraging crowds along the way. Fortunately only one hill, going up the bridge across the river. I didn’t wear a chip, and now wish I had, but my daughters timed it on a stopwatch, so we have our personal satisfaction.</p>
<p>I will probably go back to my run/walk intervals for the summer, then might consider another 5K when the weather cools.</p>
<p>It was fun, but I’m glad it’s over. Now to have a great weekend with friends who live in Austin!</p>
<p>Congrats Nrdsb4! I don’t know if I could ever run again! You must be so happy with your progress!</p>
<p>Today was supposed to be my “light” day at the gym but I couldn’t stop myself! Just kept cranking out those miles on the bike. I then did a circuit of upper body weight machines. Felt good! Will take off tomorrow and just try to walk around the neighborhood. I have been trying to do 5 hard days, 1 light day and then a day off. I have no rhyme or reason for doing this other then trying to go lighter on the weekends. I am adding more weight days to try and get more fat burning in. :)</p>
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<p>Aww… have an awesome weekend. I hope it includes some water activities somewhere.</p>
<p>I’m a sucker for water parks. I’d be heading down to Schlitterbahn.</p>
<p>NMinn: If I recall, you have hip or knee problems that make the treadmill and/or elliptical problematic?? Not knowing the cause, I expect that as you lose more weight, the problems will decrease. It will be good (and fun) when you can mix up the cardio machines and do different things.</p>
<p>As for me, I really don’t like the bicycle at all – the stationary one in the gym, that is – but I like switching back and forth between the treadmill and the elliptical.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4 - very nice indeed! And so nice of your daughters to encourage you.</p>
<p>I have not been as faithful with weight training the last few months. I keep a record of all my workouts so I can’t kid myself about how often I have exercised. I started weight lifting in 1980, so if nothing else, I have been persistent. I started by going to a gym, but in 1986 we bought free weights, a bench, a curl bar, and a pulldown machine. If we ever move, I dread bringing all that stuff up from the basement.</p>