Yesterday I had one of those ,I think, AH HA kind of moments. While watching yet another re run of The Biggest Loser or Last 10 Pounds or one of those shows,I noticed that the contestants were doing an awful lot of what I would call strength exercises, and not quite so much cardio type. My own definition, which is not factually based, is that cardio is primarily designed to get your heart moving faster, which increases your respiration, blood flow and makes you sweat. It pro,marily burns calories . Strength exercises , to me, are things that are designed more to work a specific muscle group to he point of breaking down so it can be rebuilt stronger. When a muscle breaks down in this way it comes back stronger. Stronger muscles require more calories to exist or more energy if you will, and they speed up your metabolic rate. End result is you burn more calories just by being alive, and you lose weight. With cardio you sweat, and with me therin lies the problem. Because of an adrenal problem, I don't sweat. I can ride a stationary bike hard for 30 minutes and not even become damp. It makes me very jealous to watch people on these weight loss shows drenched and dripping in sweat. I would kill to be able to experience that. Something Bob said about Ron, the guy on the current Biggest Loser show with the bad knee suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. "Let's hope strenght training will be good for Ron". Because of his knee he cannot work as hard as the rest, so rather than sweat it off of him, build up the muscles so they will just do it for him, so to speak. So I decided that maybe I should spend more of my time and effort in strength training than in cardio sorts of ativities. In short, more work with weights. If my adrenals will not let me sweat, then I am going to have to get my muscles to take over. So I am starting to invent some work with the Pilates bands that feels incredibly affecive, and gets my heart and breathing up a lot faster than any bike riding can. I think I may have found my solution. Time will tell.
Yesterday's Log. Fat Tuesday, so use up the last bit of steak in the freezer, lest I stupidly ,accidentally grab and toss it in the crockpot one Friday as a mistake.
exercise- 40 min
Wii fit 20 min( 20 min yoga)
Resistance bands 10 min
walk 10 min
Breakfast-
Egg beater veggie omlete( asparagus,mushrooms,green onions,red peppers)
topped with salsa and ground flax
Yo Plus digestive yogert,blood orange, Fiber One bar
Water ,coffee
Lunch-
Bocca burger on Thomases whole wheat lite english muffin with mustard
carrot and celery sticks,apple
Yo Plus Digestive yogert,water
Dinner-
Braciole ( beed steak in tomatoes and herbs), spinach,whole wheat pasta
salad,Diet Sierra mist
Snacks Spa water through the day
Pre breakfast- dandelion,nettle,parsley,thyme tea
morning- celery and carrot sticks,17 almonds
dandelion,nettle,parsley,thyme tea
afternoon dandelion,nettle,parsley,thyme tea
apple
Evening-sugar free pudding,apple,Fiber Plus bar
water 16 (128 oz)
Fruits 4
veg 10
lean protien 3
dairy 2
healthy fats 2
6 comments:
I agree with you on the strength training; it's been gnawing at me too. I've been feeling like this is the time and now you have inspired me! After I'm done with this Shred, I'm going to figure out some strength training program, too! thanks!
You had amazing eats today! Love the braciole! Makes me think of Sunday dinners :)
I too agree that strength training is more beneficial. I find I feel and look more toned, then I ever did spending an hour on the eliptical!
With strength training, I have tended to avoid it because it did not seem like it was going to "burn off the fat". However, it's not simply fat that makes the number on the scale go up. That number is based on things like water, fat,and just plain solid dense tissue cells. I think if your body composition is more fat then water, cardio works. But if it is more water than fat ( for numerous reasons) and less muscle mass, the mechanism of the body does not work the way it should.When we as women get close to TOM, we have a higher percentage of water weight then fat which passes, but before it does we gain.Or at least most of us do. My new scale breaks down body weight into a percentage of fat, water and other. my husband weighs more than i do, but nhis water and fat composition will register. Mine will not- I keep getting error meassages that says it is off the chart. This means my body is coming in at something like 75 percent water ( or perhaps that is water and fat combined). It makes sense. I have no fat on my legs, a little bit on my upper arms, but a massive amount in my abdomen.I have no butt and small breasts and flat hips- the areas where women store fat because biology has ordained it to be so. It just seems to make sense to me that focusing on building muscle will help my body deal with this more efficiently.
Thinking out loud- i am probably wrong on a thousand technical points here so don't quote me !
Jillian (on her radio show) says that Strength Training is NECESSARY! I think you're on the right track!
Oh, you just know that sleek muscles are uber-sexy. *grins* Woman, get your sexy on! :o )
Might be good to give the strength training a chance - if you don't like it or don't see the results you like you can always go back to your cardio.
I've been doing small spurts of it and I see little things (like my arms are a little firmer). But I'm no weight lifter. :-)
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