Changes that work... or not

[babindy]

After reading Afreet's and kariev's post regarding low intensity workout/diet changes I wondered about others. What did you try that worked? Or not?

Personally I'm having some success with a few changes. I should mention that prior to this the weight was increasing. Like Afreet I was working out 6 days/week with both cardio and weights. But my diet was heavily regulated (still is). Still couldn't drop the lbs. Other notes: I'm 52, post menopausal and have a lot to lose.

Recent changes/experiments (May '09 mostly)
- increased my calories (I was below BMR/RMR)
- changed from lacto-vegetarian to mostly raw vegan
- acquired a Go wear Fit and had my eyes opened to actual calorie burn
- did STS with cardio (mostly Cathe, all DVDs and I had done weights for years)

The above seemed to work. However I seemed to get injured frequently. (mostly lower back and almost always after a STS leg day). So it was hard to be consistent. I also found that (as mentioned by others) I was REALLY hungry after the intense lifting days.

So I changed my STS and cardio. (Everything else is the same). NOW I skip STS leg day. I separate body parts on STS. (chest one day, then shoulders/tris the next, etc) I ADDED Cardio Coach interval workouts (outside). I do extra cardio on the 'leg' day.

Currently I'm still seeing results with LESS injury days. I should mention that I DO like heavy weights, but I hate the leg days. So I'm enjoying the change. And I'm not soooooo hungry. Just hungry enough. (I found previously that if I did too few calories I just wasn't hungry.)

What have others tried? Thumbs up or down?

 

[RunninTeach]

Congrats on the injury-free breakthrough, Brenda!

I am returning to lifting (starting STS on Monday) after a wrist injury and some added poundage. I know we each have to figure out what works best for us individually, but it's always good to see what works for others, and it's especially interesting to read about the tweaks you made in your approach to STS because re-injury is a particular concern for me right now.

In the past, I've seemed to find success with 5-6 days of workouts, including a balance of heavy-ish weights, varied cardio, non-weighted legwork, and controlled diet. Calorie staggering has worked, too. But I'm still experimenting. I recently purchased a GWF and appreciate the feedback I'm getting from it. I think this time around, I'm going to make two of my cardio sessions HIIT.

 

[RapidBreath]

I am so interested in what others have to say on here about this. I just injured myself and had to take most of this past week off and lost some and then (too afraid to get on the scale) may have gained it back (I'm hoping not.) I've been struggling this whole year. I had been aiming for 6 days a week cardio with one of those being a circuit. But, my weight really wasn't going anywhere and had crept up 5 pounds due to antibiotics. 9 months of a plateau is a long time. I'm mentally ready to move on but my body is just stuck in last year So in answer to your question, when I do cardio I want it to be a real sweat fest but now I have also one active recovery day with no HRM no intent to hit my THR and just enjoy the fact that I am alive. I seem to be losing more with less cardio. I do the cardio so that I can eat, I'm insulin resistant/have PCO.

I'm 5'2" and have 50 lbs to lose. Yoga always seems to have the most effect on my body even though its counter intuitive. Also, eating low carb/high healthy fats helps. And avoiding the foods on my "DO NOT EAT" list. I don't have a GWF but I do weigh measure my food, weigh/measure my body, and use a HRM with my exercise.

Are you under stress? I have a beloved aunty with cancer (she is going to live the chemo is working ), am between paying jobs (scary! ) and living with my parents madesky economy!) Stress seems to effect my ability to be smart about food, exercise and just life in general.

>drat I think I hi-jacked your thread sorry>

 

[babindy]

Ah injuries Runninteach I'm jealous of my teenager who seems to heal overnight. My back almost always feels like it is ready to 'blow' it really seems to be affected by lower body weight work. That's why I'm doing more leg-cardio as it doesn't seem to promote the injuries.

Rapidbreath - yoga? Interesting. Perhaps that helps with the stress? I changed jobs about a year ago and that cut my stress by about 60% (I STILL have a teenager in the house lol) I'm not sure the correlation but I too think there is something. A body under stress is not going to want to give up much.

I've also cut my refeeds down to about every two weeks as the every week seemed to slow my progress.