-Stats- I am 26, female, 5' 9'', and 229lbs.
-Diet- Average between 1390-1700 cals a day before exercise
-Exercise routine- alternate days of weight training and cardio
-Current and overall goal- To be in the 100's by Christmas and then down to 150 by the end of the next year.
-How long you have been doing what you are doing- I started at 260lbs this January. Losing about 10lbs a month.
-Injuries/medical probs- Just weak knees and wrists.
-Clear reason and question for the post-
My problem is that I don't know how much to work out at my current weight. I love to lift weights, so I will lift until I just can't even lift my arms anymore(or whatever muscle group I am doing) I do skip a day to give my muscles time to rebuild, but I read somewhere on here that you can exercise too much. Also, I am not so keen on traditional cardio(such as work out videos) I feel like I have to do it until I think I might pass out to be effective. I don't want to do that, so I end up quiting after 10 minutes or just not doing it at all. How much of each one is an effective amount for a person at my weight without going overboard or "underboard"?

Hi Tiffany,

The key here is looking at the long run. If you are eating as low as you can eat now, and working out as hard as you can work now, where are you going to go from there? What happens when you get stuck, which would happen.

My point being you should up your calories some with your bounce. For movement I would start off getting two complete rest days at least. Doing 2-3 days of resistance full body work and 1-2 days of aerobic work and move on from there. This way you can change up easy when needed and only when needed.

Thanks for the advice. I will work on upping my cals. I already take Sundays off from working out, so I guess I need to pick another day. So, on days that I DO workout with cardio, is it accurate that I should shoot for about an hours worth?

Thanks.

I would go for quality of exercise, not quantity of time.

It would be better to do some interval training and not exceed 30-40 mins.

This of course all depends on your current fitness level, but interval cardio would be a great option.

What this means is you would warm up, and then bounce back and forth between walking and jogging/running/pedaling whatever your method. And repeat while watching your heart rate but keeping a pretty good overall intensity.

I would try to start at 30 mins doing this, that is plenty enough time for this type of session.

Thanks so much. I have reconfigured my cals and my exercise aim. I will try this a few eeks and see what it does for me and go from there. I appreciate your advice and am sure I will be back for more sometime.

You are very welcome, you seem to have a very realistic and smart outlook on things. I can tell you THAT is the most important aspect to really achieving fat loss.

Ask anytime and good luck

First of all, I think you should bump up your calories. Your Basal Metabolic Rate alone - your minimum if you did nothing - is 1,800 calories all on it's own. You are below that " between 1390-1700 cals a day " it's putting your body in a form of mild starvation mode which will not only slow down your metabolism but may reduce your muscle mass as well - and you don't want that. You probably want to be somewhere around 2,400+/- calories a day to meet both your BMR needs and fuel your workouts...but that's just a guess.

Second, I think you need to do more cardio. I would focus my training on losing fat - and that means losing calories due to diet requirements, exercise requirements and metabolic requirements....in other words, take in the right amount of calories not to slow down your metabolism, burn extra calories via exercise and raise your metabolism further via exercise to burn more calories. If it were me, I'd continue to do weight training 3X a week, but for no more than 45 minutes - max. Then I would focus more on doing cardio 5-6X a week. For 3-4 sessions a week I would do cardio that doesn't get you out of breath but is aimed at going a bit longer - say at least 30 minutes to start with a goal of eventually going 60 minutes. For the other 2 days if would do a mild version of what's called interval training cardio ( let me know if you want some more info on this ) where you get mildly winded for only very short periods of time followed by periods where you catch your breath before doing it again - this is one of the fastest ways to improve your cardio fitness. This type of cardio need only take 20 minutes or so.

Cardio does not equal fat loss, also this program would burn her out to quickly.

The key is to only do the work you need to do to lose the fat, period.

Correct. Although, the " optimal approach " to fat loss requires a lifestyle change - highlighted by combination of sound nutrition/calorie management, resistance training and cardio training....with the latter 2 focused on enhancing caloric expenditures...and thus enhancing fat loss.

btw - the type, frequency and intensity of cardio I'm suggesting in and of itself will not " burn her out quickly " and from a standpoint of introducing something new, if it is introduced properly, it won't do that " burn her out " either IMO.

Correct. Do " the work you need to " so you don't slow you metabolism down, but rather raise it, and so you don't lose muscle mass, but ( if you can ) raise that too. In other words, lose fat safely & properly.

This person's BMR sugggest she should be taking in an absolute mimimum of 1,800 calories a day, which is not even taking into account additional calorie needs for her daily life and exercise.

However, to cover off BMR, her daily activities and her exercise she is currently at an " average between 1390-1700 cals a day before exercise " ...which is a very undesirable approach IMO as it will only slow down her metabolism and may very likely reduce her muscle mass along the way.