S/O Exercising and not losing weight

[Kathleen in VA]

Ok, this may be a bit of a ramble but I had a thought about how to lose weight. I've heard that muscle tissue burns calories even while you are not exercising thus burning calories all day long. So if you build up your muscle tissue by doing resistance/strength training exercises as opposed to just trying to burn calories through aerobic exercise, perhaps you will lose weight faster.

 

I have a Leslie Sansone video that is purely strength training. The session lasts for 10 minutes - she says that's all you need to build your muscle tissue - about 10 minutes every other day. So I set my elliptical to a higher resistance setting and just went 10 minutes on it at a steady pace - not fast or slow. I'm going to see if that doesn't help me tone up and lose the weight. It is a lot easier to stay motivated for 10 minutes than 20-30, lol.

 

Of course, I'm trying to eat a more healthy diet as well.

 

Any thoughts?

[justamouse]

They're finding that there is no exercise afterburn.

 

 

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/phys-ed-why-doesnt-exercise-lead-to-weight-loss/?em

 

It really comes down to cutting your calories-although exercise -even walking does have numerous other health benefits.

[Kathleen in VA]

They're finding that there is no exercise afterburn.

 

 

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/phys-ed-why-doesnt-exercise-lead-to-weight-loss/?em

 

It really comes down to cutting your calories-although exercise -even walking does have numerous other health benefits.

 

I read the article and I'm still a bit confused about something. Are they saying that muscle does not burn calories faster than fat or are they saying that you will not experience any calorie burning after you exercise? I'm still wondering if having muscle tissue as opposed to fat tissue helps you burn more calories. Perhaps they meant that but I couldn't extract that meaning easily.

 

In any case, they did say there are benefits to exercising regardless of how it affects weight loss. I was also interested to learn that exercising at a lower intensity burns more fat calories than a high intensity workout. I never would have thought that, but it is encouraging.:)

[AngieW in Texas]

I have started monitoring my food by typing in everything I eat at http://www.fitday.com . It's free and easy to use. You enter all your measurements and your typical activity load and it will determine how many calories somebody of your size should be burning each day. When you do a workout, you enter that in separately under the activity section and it adds those calories in to your "burned calorie" log. I estimate on the low side for activity and the high side for food.

 

I have switched up my workouts recently so that I'm doing cardio after every few strength exercises. I do one set each of half my exercises, then do a 2-minute jog and 1-minute walk on the treadmill. Then I go back to my strength workout again. This has added just 15 minutes to the strength portion of my workout, but I feel a lot better at the end. I do 45 minutes of cardio at the end of my strength workouts.

 

I used to do all my cardio first and then all my strength, but the trainer that I worked with told me that it burned more calories to do it the other way around.

 

Strength exercises build muscle while cardio builds endurance.

[Georgiana Daniels]

I used to do TONS of cardio and rarely lose weight, then put it on rather quickly if I stopped. It wasn't until I started switching up my workouts that I started having success.

 

I used to only do treadmill.

 

Now I do weights, step-aerobics, yoga, and sometimes treadmill. The last several weeks I've had a tough time making it to the gym due to family sickness and other "stuff." But my weight has remained relatively stable, and I believe it has to do with the muscle I've built over the last three months.

[thowell]

I have started monitoring my food by typing in everything I eat at www.fitday.com . It's free and easy to use. You enter all your measurements and your typical activity load and it will determine how many calories somebody of your size should be burning each day. When you do a workout, you enter that in separately under the activity section and it adds those calories in to your "burned calorie" log. I estimate on the low side for activity and the high side for food.

 

I have switched up my workouts recently so that I'm doing cardio after every few strength exercises. I do one set each of half my exercises, then do a 2-minute jog and 1-minute walk on the treadmill. Then I go back to my strength workout again. This has added just 15 minutes to the strength portion of my workout, but I feel a lot better at the end. I do 45 minutes of cardio at the end of my strength workouts.

 

I used to do all my cardio first and then all my strength, but the trainer that I worked with told me that it burned more calories to do it the other way around.

 

Strength exercises build muscle while cardio builds endurance.

 

Whew! I feel tired just reading this! Wish I had your motivation. I just started a new diet plan today. No real diet just trying to pay attention and eat healthier. I do not like to excercise. Thus the weight gain. My mom and my sis both lost 50 pounds and never did one single excercise. Life is simply not FAIR!

[Blueridge]

In case you ever drink a Coke...you might want to find that video someone posted a few days ago called Sugar: the Bitter Truth. Amazing and convicting!

[AngieW in Texas]

I am feeling a lot better now that I'm actively watching what I eat on fitday. It's a lot easier to track my foods that way than any other way I've tried - and I've tried a lot of different methods.

 

I also struggle with working hard and not seeing many signs of it in my body. I'm still 10 pounds over the maximum healthy weight for my height. I do circuit training 4x/week for 45-60 minutes each time (2x upper and 2x lower). I also do treadmill for 30-45 minutes at the end of each workout.

 

You'd think with all that, it would be easy to lose weight. Instead, I've been doing my workouts steadily for 4 years and haven't seen a lot change after the first year.

 

I feel great and have plenty of energy. After I finish my workout, including the cardio, I feel like I could keep going for several more hours. You sure wouldn't think that I work that hard if you saw me though. It's not like I've seen the change in my waistline either. My body seems to really want to be this weight and shape.

 

I'll keep working out because I like the way it makes me feel and I know it's good for me. I hate to think what I'd look like without working out. I do occasionally take a week off. During the summer, I go the gym just 2x/week because I swim laps at the pool 4x/week.

[Kathleen in VA]

In case you ever drink a Coke...you might want to find that video someone posted a few days ago called Sugar: the Bitter Truth. Amazing and convicting!

 

That video is what started me thinking a lot about the food I eat. I've switched to making my bread out of freshly ground whole wheat flour and try to avoid all HFCS. We are not big soda drinkers here, but we have downed some serious juice! No more! I made my spaghetti sauce from scratch this week with crushed tomatoes and I made homemade soup this week too. Trying real hard to not eat any sugar - none at all! I think I've already lost about three pounds and I've got tons more energy.