Hahaha.

I have to laugh, and I PROMISE that it is not at you. The way that the majority of people are dieting around here is going to leave them in the same predicament that you find yourself in, a stalled weight loss.

However, my recommendations for someone that has a considerable amount of weight to lose would be much different than the advice I have to offer you. I think I got a lot of respect around here the last few days and I hate the idea of everyone reading my words as "the all mighty answer." I really don't like making blanket recommendations due to this fact. So anyone reading this, please take note of this.

Also, I laugh because how differently most everyone I see here training from what I would recommend. And then you go and ask the questions you just did and it opens up a whole new can of worms, and I feel like writing another book of a post about.

Upping cals might not be the right thing for someone who has a considerable amount of weight to lose. You though, have lost enough weight, and as I am typing this I am not sure what weight you are coming from??, but you are getting close to your "set-point" weight, the weight where your body wants to naturally be. Once this occurs, and weight loss becomes next to impossible, it is wise to bump calories up to reset your metabolism.

Food? I like food that is mostly natural and whole. I have a list somewhere that I will dig up and post at a later time. I also recently posted something today in a carbohydrate thread about how to determine how much and what to eat. Find that and then ask me some questions based on that.

I highly recommend instituting a resistance training program for the reasons I have already mentioned... at least I think I mentioned.... my brain is getting a little fuzzy as I have spent all day on here. Not good for my work load.

And steady state cardio is not the answer. It is if you are looking for cardiovascular conditioning, but if you are looking to trigger some more weight loss, I would stick to something more anaerobic, like HIIT.

Ok so I wnet and read everything I could find that you posted. YOu are very busy!! That took me some time. i am not sure I understand everything but I am kind of getting it. So I up my cals to say what 2000? Geeze that seams high!! And then do HIIT. So is this like circuit training or what, this is the part I don't quite get! I'd like to see good results by valintine's day. Not all gone but say maybe 7 lbs? Possible? Sorry to bother you so much, but I just really want this off and I've been trying so hard!!

1. You are not bothering me.

2. You missed my point about resetting/correcting your metabolism. When you start increasing calories, the likelihood is that you will gain some weight along the way. It is a necessary evil in order to correct your metabolism. A short term negative for a long term positive if you will. So no, I doubt you can meet your goal by Valentine's Day if you have truly plateaued.

3. I don't care if you take my advice or not about correcting your metabolism. If you do though, I would not jump your calories so high at first. I would knock them up slowly, maybe 10% per week or maybe even every other week. Track your weight and measurements. If nothing is going crazy in terms of increases, keep it up. Just as it took a long time to wreak havoc on your metabolism, it takes some time to repair it.

4. I wrote an article on HIIT. I know I posted it someplace around here. I will post it again here so you can see what exactly it is. If you still have questions, feel free to ask.

Popular training methods come around in cycles of popularity every few years. Lately, everyone and their mother's will tell you that weight training with 8-12 reps, HIIT, and a balanced diet will help anyone and everyone.

First, let me say these guidelines are a good starting point for most beginners and intermediate lifters. However, we all know that each of us are metabolically and physiologically unique. A host of variables plays a role as to what methods will work best for you, such as somatotype, training age, etc. Where 8-12 reps may be ideal for most individuals, realize that this ideal rep range will decrease as training age increases for instance. By training age, I simply mean, how many years you have been CONSISTENTLY training.

I am not posting this to point fingers at what is right or wrong in my opinion currently. I am posting this to say that I think HIIT is here to stay. We all throw the recommendation out there to anyone who is looking to lose fat to implement HIIT, but why? What is HIIT and why is it better then steady state cardio?

Steady state cardio (running at the same intensity for prolonged periods of time) uses primarily fat stores as its energy source. Back in the day, this fact led many to believe that SS cardio was the preferred method of exercise for shedding the pounds.

How does HIIT differ from this? Actually, first let's discuss what HIIT is for those who may not know. HIIT is simply the alteration between high intensity and low intensity training intervals. This can be done with any form of exercise, such as running, cycling, swimming, elliptical training, etc. For instance, you may set up a 1:2 protocol. You will set a total training duration, in this case assume 20 minutes. You can split these 20 minutes up however you would like. For simplicity's sake, let's assume we do 10, 2-minute intervals totaling the 20 minutes. Each of these 10 intervals is then broken up into the high/low intensity intervals. Going back to the 1:2 ratio we set up, we would exercise at high intensity for 40 seconds and immediately follow this with a low intensity bout lasting 80 seconds totalling a single 2-minute interval. Follow this principle for each of the 10 intervals. That, in a nutshell is HIIT.

So, back to how HIIT differs from SS cardio. HIIT uses primarily carbohydrates as its fuel source. This may not seem logical to you; it may seem better to burn fat then carbohydrates if fat loss is the goal. Stick with me though!

Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) plays a much larger role in fat loss, and HIIT drastically increases your TDEE. So now we are talking energy (calorie) balances instead of fat burning. After a bout of HIIT, something known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) is increased.

While you may burn more calories and fat during SS cardio, when you factor EPOC into the equation, you actually end up burning more energy performing HIIT rather then SS cardio.

The beauty of HIIT lies in the fact that you do not have to, nor should you be able to, train as long as you would with SS cardio. In a nutshell, HIIT is more effective due to the increase EPOC and energy utilization and more efficient due to the time consumption issue.

There are many other benefits of HIIT. It tends to keep your Type IIa muscle fibers on the fast twitch side of the spectrum. Type II muscle fibers are those used for quick utilization, explosion, and power for activities such as sprints or weight training. Type IIb are for pure power. Type IIa are your middle of the road fibers. They can take on qualities of both fast twitch or slow twitch. SS cardio tends to keep these Type IIa fibers on the slow (type I) fiber side and HIIT tends to keep these on the fast (type II) fiber side.

Although HIIT is considered to be an anaerobic exercise, it has been proven to also improve aerobic capacity.

It has been shown that HIIT elevates the level of growth hormone (GH) in the bloodstream, which is never a bad thing for those of you looking to add lean muscle. (This should be all of you!)

Some studies show that your resting metabolic rate remains elevated for over a 24-hour period after a bout of HIIT.

There is more to be said, but I hope at this point, for those of you who did not understand why HIIT is so popular right now, you now see the importance of utilizing this type of training. For those of you looking to shed some fat or for those of you looking to maintain muscle while improving your cardiovascular systems, this is for you.

And as always, what works best for one, may not work best for another. With this said, don't be afraid to mix up your routines such as 2 days of HIIT per week and 1 day of SS cardio.

Thanks for the advice! I am thinking on it strongly!! You have been very helpful!!

I am glad, and we covered a WHOLE LOTTA stuff today! I don't expect all of it to make sense, nor do I expect you to turn around tomorrow and start implementing. Let some stuff sink in, think about some things, and if you have any more questions.... you know where to find me.

Hey steve, can i live on pineapples alone?

Haha, sure. I wouldn't plan on optimizing your physique, but you could survive.

Thanks, I figured it was something like that. I had quit using the machine already, but I was just curious if that was normal or not.
See ya later!

Wow 4 pages in less than two days! Journals are very popular.

Sean says you are the sister site, so that would make us members of the brother site.

Hey Steve! You seem to really know a lot about being healthy and in shape (and it definitely shows ), so I hope you don't mind me picking your brain for a few pointers. I've weight trained for the past few years and spent most of the time doing more high intesity workouts...

Each Muscle Group:

1st set: 12 reps of weight level intensity "5 of 10"
(rest for 1 min. between each set)
2nd set:10 reps of weight level intensity "6 of 10"
3rd set: 8 reps of weight level intensity "7"
4th set: 6 reps of weight level intensity '8"
5th set: 12 reps of weight level intensity "9"
(no break in between these 2 sets)
6th set: 12 reps of weight level intensity "10-the highest"

...I hope that made sense to you, but anyway...
it really works for building your muscles very fast and I've always done it. The problem I found with it was that my muscles were getting really tight and bulky. I just didn't look lean or felt flexible...I felt big. Even though I was burning fat, I didn't like how I felt or looked. I have a lot of muscle for an average girl as it is. So, I'm trying the more conventional way of weight training...doing more endurance training:

started out doing 12x4 sets, but got too bulky. Then I did 15x4, but still too bulky. Now I've been doing 3x30 and I definitely look a lot leaner (the pilates helps with my muscles stretching and the breathing properly does too) but I wanted to know if you have any suggestions to how I can have an effective weight training workout with optimal results for being leaner, not "bigger"...I'm sorry that this is soooo long, but I hope you can help. Thanks a lot!!!

Good morning Steve! I will leave you alone for a while this morning, but I will be back! Hope you have a great day!!

Im not Steve but I was wondering what you do as far as flexibility?

What do you mean by too bulky? 30 reps is way too much volume on an exercise. You're doing 90 reps per whatever body part your working.

Hey Steve, how long you been working out? Looking good in your pictures

HI, and thanks for the kind words. Can't ever hear enough of them!

First let me say this to you. Increasing lean body mass (muscle) is more a function of the amount of food you are eating than any set way of working out. Does that make sense to you.

The old way you were training above I actually don't have a problem with, depending on how you had it laid in totality each day. You say you were getting bulky from it though. The only way that is possible is if you were in a caloric surplus. And when you are in a caloric surplus with the right foods, and lifting weights any way you want, something is going to happen in terms of growth. There are more optimal ways than others, but you get my point I hope.

You also stated that you lost leanness, which indicates to me that you were CERTAINLY eating in a caloric surplus.

So I ask you this. What exactly are your goals? Your training was not wrong to begin with. If anything, I would say it is wrong now, which I will get into in a moment.

Second, what made you resort to high rep training? What was your reasoning. I would imagine that you were following some unfounded belief that high rep training tones and low rep (heavy) training bulks. No matter what way you slice it, resistance training either builds muscle or it doesn't. Toning is purely a function of fat loss and has nothing to do with the weights that you lift. Ok?

Third, flexibility is part of a training protocol that should exist aside from your aerobic training and resistance training. I do dynamic flexibility work before each of my workouts and I do static flexibility work every single day. Increase LBM has very little to do with becoming inflexible. Ok?

I am sure you are going to have more questions, and that is fine. I am going to stop here and see if all that sinks in, and wait to see what you have to say.