Emerald17's Journal, 28 June 2016

I've read recently that lots of cardio is bad for women as it tends to affect their thyroid hormones in a bad way. Try giving up so much cardio, perhaps spent the time walking if you feel you need to keep moving, but weight loss is more than 90% diet and the remainder exercise. You don't have to exercise at all and can still lose substantial weight. 

Dropping calories too low and doing too much work can put your body in to starvation mode,which will switch on the survival mechanism of the body and will send a signal to brain that the body is not getting any food and it'll die.this starvation mode makes the body very Efficient and this infact slows down the metabolism and hence makes it difficult to lose fat 

Still it's hard to tell anything unless i can see what and how much you're eating  

Starvation mode is a myth, unless you're down to less than 4% body fat. Harsidhs, you really need to quit giving out unsolicited advice, particularly inaccurate unsolicited advice. 

Nothing is myth mr Phil.i just said it can be starvation mode and still i can't say anything about unlesa i know what and how much you're eating.looks like you don't like to read the complete comment and just want to oppose. 

When you start your FatSecret journey trying to sell things, you really can't expect anyone to give you any consideration, Harsiddhs. AND you come at this site assuming everyone here knows nothing, which couldn't be further from the truth. Starvation mode simply does not exist unless you're actually starving. People trying to lose weight may FEEL like they're starving, but they're not or they wouldn't be TRYING to lose weight. You've got a lot to learn, Harsiddhs, and you're more than welcome to join the community as far as I'm concerned, but don't expect consideration you failed to extend to others. But it's never too late to start over. Hi, Harsiddhs, welcome to Fat Secret, good luck with whatever your goals are!  

Sometimes working out more and eating less can be counter productive. Your body needs energy when you do demanding workouts. Sometimes you should "eat the carbs you earn" per say. Not go over your limit...but dont be in too far of a deficit.  

Steady state cardio doesn't work. Your body adapts to the activity and uses less energy because it becomes more efficient at the activity. Doing too much cardio also causes your body to break down your muscles. Abs are made in the kitchen not on a treadmill so focus on the diet and change up your workout plan. Any cardio should be done after weights anyway to burn more fat - google it. You can't outwork a bad diet because 80-90% of your weight loss will come from your diet - or 100% for those who do not work out and there are many here that do not and still have great progress. 

That's exactly why I'm here. I've been lifting and doing interval cardio faithfully but my weight won't budge. It didn't work that way 10 years ago. Haha. Tracking my calories is eye opening. I think I found the culprit. I also think I need to get more sleep. I've only been averaging 5 1/2 hours a night.  

@Emerald17 , I am sort of an expert on this junk now. Cardio is not good for ANYONE. The most cardio you are supposed to do so as not to damage the heart muscle is 65%/70% of your maximum heart rate. Don't go higher than that unless you are running for your life. Also, if your weight is not going down it is most likely from water moving into your muscles to help repair them from working out. Or you are eating too many calories still. Watch your food journal like a hawk and enter EVERYTHING you eat. 

Ohhh The cardio thing is for EXTENDED cardio. If you are doing SHORT interval cardio, Like HIIT training its ok to go over 70%. 

Google "why the scale lies" for insight. Many times when you are exercising a lot, your muscles retain water to help them heal. It is temporary. It can show on the scale as a smaller than usual loss, no loss or even a temporary gain. If you are doing cardio and weights 2x a day, it is most likely your muscles retaining water. Cherries or cherry juice can help. Just push through and the scale will eventually catch up. Take your measurements. You should see fat loss/inches much quicker than those who don't exercise. 

Good information! Didn't know water moves into your muscles to help them heal. I kind of thought my body wouldn't hurt as much after 2 weeks of hardcore workouts twice a day....but my legs still seem to hurt quite a lot. I might be over doing it. Am I supposed to be doing this every other day, to give it time to repair??? Still trying to get a good idea of what I'm supposed to be doing as far as working out is concerned.  

Muscles need time to rest and repair so you don't want to train the same muscles everyday. You can focus on muscle groups and alternate what you work daily. for example - 4 day routine with chest day, leg day, rest day, shoulder day, back/biceps, rest day, Active rest day w/low impact-low effort activity like walking. Or you could do more of a total body workout 3 times a week. You absolutely need to have rest days for your body to recover properly. Over training could lead to injuries. Some pre- and post workout drinks also forces water into your muscles so you tend to have higher water retention for a couple days. Make sure you are stretching or foam rolling after your workout. Know and track your macros because diet is more important than working out. 

Sound advice, Jorge! 

Thank you Jorge! I definitely have NOT been doing either of those options. I think I *might have only worked out once on Saturday....but still worked out twice a day from Monday to Friday, and then twice again on Sunday. Guess I'm over-doing it. I think my fear is that if I even allow myself one day off, I'll get lazy and not work out for long periods of time again. (It's happened more than once. One day off turns to one week off, then one month off, then a full year. And I DON'T want that to happen again.) I guess I still need to figure out a good routine for myself, while still allowing some rest time in between.