Too much cardio, but not too much cardio (?)

JerseyJulie · #1 03-20-2003, 04:01 PM

Hiya everyone,

Question for you: I do 6 days of medium-intense cardio, 50-60 minutes each session. This is in addition to weight training 45 minutes, 4-5 times a week. In relation to my diet which consists of approximately 1800 extremely clean calories a day, I should theoretically be losing weight. I (This is is because I really seem to be burning off way more than I'm consuming.) Although I'm not trying to lose weight, I'm curious to know why I'm not and why I'm just maintaining.

Is cardio a relative thing? Does my body just require me to burn more than others simply to maintain my weight? Or do you think I'm overtrained? What's going on here? I really don't go above 1800 calories because I feel like I'll gain weight if I add anymore to my daily total. Thanks ahead of time for any and all responses!

schless · #2 03-20-2003, 04:46 PM

First, your height/weight would be helpful. As would your p/c/f rations. Are you getting enough good fat? And do you have a rest day or two in there anywhere or are you working out every day?

I'm no expert, but just looking at calories vs. exercise it seems to me you're not eating enough. That's an awful lot of exercise for the amount of calories you're eating, and I have to wonder if your body's not in starvation mode, hanging on for dear life to every bit of fuel it's got! I'll let some of our "experts" reply, but that'd be my guess.

JerseyJulie · #3 03-20-2003, 05:04 PM

Hiya,

Thanks for responding...

I'm 5'6-'5'7, 122 lbs. Not entirely sure about p/c/f ratio. I'd venture to guess 35/45/20 (maaaybe). Fats are low, I'm trying to incorporate more in the form of flax oil and natural peanut butter. I take a day of rest/week, to answer your question.

It definitely is a lot of time in the gym, but some days I'm in class all day and gym time is my only few active hours. So you're thinking I'm in starvation mode, even with 1800 calories?

Thank you s'much!

soccerchick · #4 03-20-2003, 05:09 PM

[ QUOTE ]
schless said:

That's an awful lot of exercise for the amount of calories you're eating, and I have to wonder if your body's not in starvation mode, hanging on for dear life to every bit of fuel it's got!

[/ QUOTE ]

Bingo... that would be my guess as well. do you have any idea what your maintenance calories are? you may want to check that out just to see how your fairing. my guess is your not eating enough. i think the 13 weeks to fat burning diet has a section for figuring out your miantenance calories.

schless · #5 03-20-2003, 05:16 PM

If you're afraid to add calories right away, give this a try. I got the below from Krypto (one of our forum moderators). Read through this and see how you stack up. If need be, clean things up a bit so you're on target with the below. Try that for a couple of weeks and see what happens. If still nothing, then you might want to try adding some calories. And that can be a gradual thing. Maybe 100 calories every other day for a week or two. You just have to kind of play around with things and see how your body responds. The below will be an excellent place to start. Good luck!

GENERAL CUTTING GUIDELINES:

1. Eat every 2-3 hours, balanced meals of protein, carbs, fat. Exception: you don't necesarily have to eat carbs for your last meal or two of the day, you CAN just eat protein and fat. Unless it's post workout, then you NEED to eat some carbs.

2. Try to keep the protein intake in each of your meals consistent. Eat a minimum of your bodyweight in protein, divided up equally in each of your meals.

3. Don't be afraid of fat, you NEED fat in order to BURN fat. You need to turn your body into a fat burning machine. In order to do this, you keep your carbs fairly low and your fat intake moderate. As in, the lower your carbs, the more fat you should be consuming.

4. Avoid sugars like the plague. Read your labels, avoid food with sugar listed in the ingredients.

5. Avoid processed foods, like those in boxes/packages and also anything made with white flour. White flour is overprocessed. Also anything that says, "enriched" avoid it as well.

6. Eat as close to nature as you can. In other words, the closer the food to how it occurs in nature, the better for you it is, and ESPECIALLY for fat burning.

7. Avoid starchy carbs like corn, bread, pasta.

8. For your last meal or two of the day, have only green veggies for your carbohydrates.

9. Last but not least, do NOT cut your calories too low. For starters I wouldn't even drop ANY calories. I would eat maintenance calories and just focus on cleaning up your diet and getting consistent with a good macronutrient ratio (protein, carbs, fat). Examples of good cutting ratios are: 40P/30C/30F or 40P/20C/40F or even 40P/25C/35F.

JerseyJulie · #6 03-20-2003, 05:20 PM

It's kinda funny because I stick to that plan (with the exception of #3, which I'm working on)- to a "T." How do you think adding 100 extra calories gradually will affect my weight/body/etc.? Because I'm not gaining any weight now, but not losing either.

Soccerchick, I didn't do the math, but maintenance is probably 2000-2100.

lifterchick · #7 03-20-2003, 07:57 PM

Just wanted to chime in that I agree with the advice you've been given. Your schedule seems pretty much like mine used to be, and I had a really hard time holding onto muscle with all that cardio. I agree that's probably what's holding you back.

soccerchick · #8 03-20-2003, 08:27 PM

JJ - why are you doing so much cardio? is it sport related or just because you like doing it? [img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

i do probably 3 days of cardio at the most and i'm on a slow cut!

JerseyJulie · #9 03-20-2003, 09:36 PM

Hey there. Thanks for the insights...!

I do so much cardio because

1. I enjoy it (most of the time)
2. I feel it enables me to be more flexible when it comes to eating.
3. It leans me out
4. It's so much a part of my routine and has been for so long, I've just kept up with it.

But ya still think it's too much, huh?

I just can't kick it-- how much should I up the calories do ya think?

Gracias!

PS- Soccer player here [img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Serendipity · #10 03-21-2003, 08:01 AM

if you're eating extremely clean why would you need more flexibility in what you eat? [img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]