I need some help from you fitness people
 

How many calories should I be burning on a daily or every other day workout to really kick start some weight loss??

Also how important is diet whenever you are working out this much for 30min to an hour every time??

Thanks you!

I'm not a "fitness person, I've just lost quite a bit of weight over the past 16 months)

The harris benedict formula is the most accurate for getting a calorie range for your intake - though every body is different so it is a little trial and error

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-ca...dict-equation/

You don't want to go too low because that hurts your progress in the long run...

Diet is as important as what causes weight loss is a calorie deficit... so if you are using more than you take in 0 you will lose weight...

Using a food journal, like one of the online free ones at www.sparkpeople.com or www.fitday.com are great for helping keep track of your calories.

I think 500 is always a good goal. That's the short answer that works for me. I've averaged about 3 workouts a week over the last 8 months. I burn an average of 500 calories each time (sometimes more, sometimes less), and I've lost about 12 lbs.

The thing to keep in mind when wanting to lose weight is that it's important to build muscle tone. Don't just put all your effort into cardio. Besides... it is much easier to burn calories by doing resistance training and cardio.

Another thing about my situation is that I've ramped up my protein intake and try to fuel up before my workouts. This is because I've been trying to increase my muscle mass. If I had focussed more on weight-loss (it's my secondary objective really), I might have aimed to eat just what I needed to keep me going (i.e. try not to replace lost calories as much), and have done more pre-breakfast runs. I haven't found convincing science/research to back-up doing cardio right when waking up, but I've heard it from several very reliable people (my trainer is one of them).

As long as it is healthy, I don't think you'd need to change your diet too much from working out between 1/2 hour to an hour. Especially if it's not everyday.

I know you didn't ask but I'll just mention two more things which I feel have helped my weight-loss. Sleep is one. Although I still have work to do on it, sleeping right is the big secret weapon in fitness. Obviously it helps with recovery, but I am trying to use it to control my appetite. If I can go to bed before I get hungry enough for a snack, then that's less time spent eating.

Finally, and this has been the biggest one, I've cut my sugar down a lot. My regular breakfast is one piece of toast with PB (real peanuts... not Kraft candy icing), and black coffee and a piece of fruit. This gives me enough fuel for my workout. I used to add jam or honey, and even honey to my coffee. This step has enabled me to control my sweet-tooth, even later in the afternoon when snacking.

Hope this helps. Fitness gurus... does this sound right?

I'd never heard of the Harris Benedict Formula, so I tried this out. At 6' 6" and 230 lbs, it claims that I need 2807.7 calories to maintain my weight. Is this really right?

I probably should have said in the original post but right now I am just doing cardio.

I don't have much weight to lose (about 10lbs) to get down to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I want to be smaller then that even.

I want to be back into my size 5 jeans by winter. Thanks aberkok for all the suggestions and also mal for posting those neat calculator things.

Cardio burns calories while you are actively doing the excercise and a little for about four hours after.

Weight training bumps you for 24 hours. It also increases muscle mass - which is really more density for females (who will rarely bulk up like they think they will - say "genetics"). The real benefit is the bump to our metabolism just to send fuel to the dender muscles. Plus, the additional toning sure makes a girl look good! I'm glad my wife got into lifting!!

On average, 18 calories per day will maintain one pound of weight for one year. In other words, dropping 18 calories per day and doing nothing else will result in one pound of weight loss in one year for the average person.

If you want to lose weight doing cardio, there are two things to keep in mind:

1: the intensity is what matters. Walking for an hour a day will keep your heart healthy and might burn a bit of fat, but a 5-minute jog to warm up, twenty minutes of intense running, and a short cool-down walk until your heart rate drops back down, done every other day, will make you lose weight.

2: spreading out meals into smaller portions will keep your metabolism going faster. Combined with intense cardio, spreading out food intake (and, of course, eating healthy, with as much whole food as possible and as little refined sugar, etc.) is the easiest change you can make.

Lifting weights is very important. Not only does it burn more calories to maintain a pound of muscle than a pound of fat (you burn more calories even when sleeping!), but your body looks better and it even strengthens your bone mass (especially important for females).

Remember that muscle adds weight, but reduces size, so please don't go the tired old route of lifting then freaking out because you weigh more, even while the body measurments are smaller. Fat content is a much better health and fitness indicator than overall body weight.

While somewhat true there is a lot to be said for balance. HIIT is good as is building a base where your body learns to process fat more effectively for fuel. Most epople either work out too hard or not at all. And every body is different. What works most effectively for one doesn't work the same way for others.

For example, when forst starting out, walking is great and helps build a base. Later on, yu need to step things up a little. But not too much if weight loss is your only objective. Hell, you cam lose weight just by lifting if you do so 3-4/week and do 15-20 reps per set. No cardio there but is is a fat burning work out.

It all comes down to how much your body burns vs, how much you take in.

thingstodo how do you figure out what is the best work out for your body then?

I'll attach links to two different things. One is an article about base building with cardio (OK, it turned into several articles). Another is a link to a site that has a great heart rate chart. You personalize it based your on your body.

read both pages of this one:

http://www.lifetimefitness.com/modul...ning_chart.pdf

http://www.duathlon.com/articles/1460

And a few more:

http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12408

http://www.thesportfactory.com/factsonfat.shtml

Hope these help. Post here with more questions or PM me. The AT concept is somethimes confusing to people.

the trick to losing weight is simple. burn more calories than you take in each day. understand just living burns calories, usually about 2000 a day (this depends on size and weight). check out http://caloriesperhour.com. it has a calorie calculator, body mass calculator, tips on losing wieght, and is a pretty good site.

another benefit as a female lifting weights is it will increase your bone density and help with later osteoperosis, like sultana said. as stated, you will gain muscle, not bulk, and the muscle will burn calories while you sit there watching tv.

diet is very important. the healthier your diet, the more efficient your body will work and the harder it will work, resulting in better gains.

*Nikki*: Two great resources for information specific to women's fitness I've found are Women's Health magazine and Fitness magazine. Women's Health has a nifty email newsletter with links to online content and also a bunch of workout design tools on their website: www.womenshealthmag.com

The key with working out is to 1) do something you enjoy, 2) make it a habit, and 3) do more than just cardio. Resistance training of some kind is key to a well-rounded workout. I do both weight training and yoga--my goal is not to be a muscle-woman, but rather to build muscle in order to boost my metabolism.

There are a number of fitness trackers online to use--FitDay, which mal already recommended, and then there's another cool tool from WebMD that is a little more personalized--the WebMD Health Manager. http://www.webmd.com/health-manager There is a piece of the Health Manager called the LEAP where you can track your activities--every activity is given a number of points based on duration and intensity, and your goal is to hit a certain number of points per week. It's very good for habit-building, and it's also good for encouraging diversity in a workout, because they set you up with a little workout plan after you do the health assessment.

Get into an active hobby such as martial arts, adult kickball, ferret-clubbing, etc.

Eat sensible. Choco Tacos are NOT good for your body.

There are only two components to losing weight: Diet and exercise
Some key facts before I begin my rant:
BMI=Body Mass Index (a somewhat reliable indicator of your body composition)
3500 kcal (nutritional calories) = 1lb of fat
BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate (the amount of Calories your body burns at rest)

Diet
The common phrase heard in the bodybuilding community is "Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym".
This holds true because you have to think of your body mathematically. Once you calculate your metabolic rate and fitness level, remember that to lose one pound of fat, you need to burn 3500 Calories. The best way is 1lb per week, at a caloric deficit of 500 Calories per day.
Example: Your metabolism is 2500 Calories. You consume 2000 Calories a day, you'll be losing a pound per week without stepping a foot in the gym.
Your metabolism is 2500 Calories, you burn 500 Calories in the gym, but eat 3000 Calories. You maintain your weight.
Tricks to keep your metabolism high:

• Big breakfast and 5 smaller meals thoughout the day
• Drink 4-8 ice cold glasses of water a day (at 8 glasses a day, you'll burn 70 Calories simply using energy to heat the water to body temperature!)
• HIIT (more on that later)

Keep some snacks with you during the day such as nuts, fruit, granola bars, protein bars, etc to help fight cravings and to keep your metabolism chugging.

The biggest key is to *avoid* diets but create your own diet. This means not falling for fad diets, but adapting your lifestyle into a tasty, healthy one. Make heart healthy meals that are also tasty and you won't be tempted to cheat as much.

Exercise
There are aerobic and anaerobic exercises.
Aerobic works the cardiovascular system and will improve your metabolism as well. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is the best form of cardio because it raises your metabolism far beyond your time at the gym. An example of HIIT is sprinting for a lap around a track, then lightly jogging for a lap; rinse, repeat. The reason why HIIT is better than slow, longer endurance sessions is that your body adapts to the endurance training and will conserve energy. HIIT throws your body out of rhythm b/c your heart rate spikes then slows down several times.

Anaerobic exercises (weight-training) will keep your muscles healthy and will also increase your metabolism. Dieting and excessive cardio will destroy your muscles (in fact, crash diets only burn muscle mass, not fat!). There are many varying exercises you can do but don't be weary of "getting huge" as many women avoid weight-training b/c of this. Don't fall into that trap. Weight-training is crucial to a healthy body and healthy living. If you want more on some creative and fun exercises, let me know.

Amazing advice, soccerchamp! Even 10 months into a pretty effective lifestyle change, this helps a lot.

Thanks for helping us train the most important muscle (the brain)!

/cliche

I'll throw in my 2 cents and say that the single most important thing is to adopt a dietary and fitness approach that suits you.

While empiracally, some diets and exercises regimens can be shown to be more efficient than others, they're of no use if you can't adhere to them.

Do the sort of fitness program that you enjoy - whether that is running, cycling, playing tennis, weight lifting, cardio classes or other. Do the sorts of routines you know you will enjoy, in which you can push yourself, and which you will stick to over time.

Ditto for diets - there are ratios of protein, fat and carbs that are most optimal, but if you cannot follow such successfully, they won't help you. Adopt a diet - low cal or low fat or low carb or other (so long as it provides you with all the major nutrients) - that you know you can follow, at least for a period of a couple of months to obtain the initial results you are seeking. You can tweak from there as you discover more about your own body.

Good luck. Size 5 sounds good to me!

Wow, thanks everyone for the great suggestions and advice!

I need to take some time and read through everything and see what is going to be the best option for me. I think getting started is the hardest part!

Along with getting started... don't do everything at once. If you go 180 and get overwhelmed, you're more likely to just quit and give up than if you either tackle exercise or eating ,.. and then 2-3 weeks later start adding in the other piece. I started with my diet first, simply because you need good nutrition for the body to perform well when exercising. I waited about 3 weeks to really start an exercise routine, and so now the eating healthy part is second nature, and I can focus more on the exercise.

I agree with all you said except for being out of balance a little on the cardio. This article should provide more insight on that concept. Hi and lower both work in tandum for great results.

http://www.duathlon.com/articles/1460

Woo Hoo I did some weight lifting yesterday and I loved it. I look forward to it again tomorrow. I am going to do like 20-30 min cardio then the rest of the hour or so some weights.

I can't wait to be all toned and in that tiny bikini come spring time!

Hey Nikki, I still haven't researched why this is important, but I have several good sources telling me you should do your cardio work after resistance training. Something to do with the types of energy you burn. I'm sure someone better informed could tell us why.

Great news!

We're gonna need photographic evidence, y'know!

:thumbsup:

Thanks:) Someone else told me this as well, so I will start doing it this way now.

I know for me if I do the resistance training first, I have more left in me to make those last final reps that are impossible if I've already done a half hour of cardio first.

It's fun to switch things up and do cardio first as it helps with endurance. Do 30 minutes of cardio and then eat 1/2 a banana or consume a gell pack - something bike riders eat - which will give you enough of a boost to get through 30 minutes of lifting. Even a serving of Acceleraide helps.

I have a general answer to this. It might help your search for some articles about it online. First of all, weight training requires a lot of energy. Much of this energy will come from glycogen stores in your muscles, the prime fuel for this type of work. However, once you deplete these stores, your body will immediately begin to take available blood glucose to replace it. This means that your glucose stores will also be depleted over time.

Doing cardio after an intense session of weights will increase the chances of your burning fat during cardio, as opposed to blood glucose first, then fat. When you do cardio, the prime fuel is blood glucose, not glycogen. Depending on the intensity, however, it might instead be oxygen. But that's another topic.

I hope this helps as a general explanation.

Great explanation Baraka. Thanks:)