Hi,

I've been attempting to lose weight, and have recently started excersize as well. I've lost 12 pounds already, and I want to lose more.

I'm worried about muscle though. In order to hit my target weight, I might have to lose some muscle mass. Is there any way for me to at least prevent myself from gaining more while I work out? I do low weight reps and cardio, and plan on signing up for yoga and pilates.

Thank you,

Cire

After thanksgiving my gym membership is starting up again.  My plan for losing weight - fat and muscle - is going to be a challenge.  My BMI is embarrassingly high, I'm teetering on obese and it really bothers me that I've let myself get this bad.  So, major diet changes and a real exercise routine are definitely in order.  My plan should be pretty simple, I just have to stick to it.  I'm going to mainly lower my calories from protein and my exercise will (mostly) consist of cardio on the bike at low resistance but keeping my heart rate up for about an hour a day.  I would love to be able to run, but one of my legs has had extensive surgery and that has kind of limited my options I'm fortunate enough to be able to walk normally, running would be begging for trouble.

In theory, this should work.  I need to cut calories, and lowering the amount of protein should work against building muscle mass.  Doing the low resistance cardio on the bike should let me burn fat while not getting bulky legs.  I am kind of worried that this will keep my legs about the same size they are now, especially after I eventually start HRT.  I've heard a few horror stories and my biggest fear is that I'll get down to my desired weight, and HRT will balloon me right back up to where I started.

I've put in the research and come up with a plan:

800 calories per day workout. ~60 minutes of endurance cardio.

8x body weight (lbs) calories during the week, little/no protein

14x body weight calories weekend to keep metabolism from dropping

I've lost another 5 lbs since I started this topic (been ramping up my workout, haven't been doing the full 800 calories for more than 2 days now) and my body fat percentage is still just about as high. (feels the same)

Cire, I am not a professional personal trainer, so please take any suggestions I make with a grain of salt. That said, a muscular body is generally one formed of short-fiber muscle fibers, the one used for short burst of intense lifting. Long-fiber muscles are the muscle fibers used for long stints of continued activity. Yoga and pilates will both build long-fiber muscles instead of short-fiber giving you the lean, toned look. Stay away from any short burst excercises, i.e. weight lifting, squats and such, except in areas that you would like to increase muscle mass. Too much running, expecially short distances can actually create a "bulkier" look, and also has a tendancy to be hard on the joints. A general rule of thumb is to gravitate towards long, extended periods of excercise and stay away from higher weight, low rep excercises. Also whatever you do, resist the urge to diet too much, you're body is a machine, it needs fuel. The trick is to give it just the right amount of high quality fuel and not over-eat. One more thing, spend some time stretching outside of yoga, stretching increases blood flow to the muscles and joints and has a very therapuetic effect, it can also lean out an appearance over an extended period of time. The biggest key is to come up with a diet and excercise plan, AND STICK TO IT! Nothing good happens overnight, it takes time and hard work as we are all aware around here lol. Good luck

Thanks for your help!

What would you consider long distance vs. short distance? I'm doing 4 miles of cardio, is that long enough?

If it is in 1 mi or more increments then yes. Also, go easy on the low protein, your muscles need protein to rebuild themselves, to lower muscle mass target a different muscle fiber not starve the muscles completely . Good luck and feel free to pm or yahoo me if you have more questions.

If you do high intensity exercises (interval training), not just cardio and keep the carbs low, you will lose muscles since the body will have to catabolise them for energy since the energy expense will be too quick to use fats.

High intensity, doesn't cardio count as high intensity if I'm doing all 800 calories in under 60 minutes? (I do not take breaks, I just come in, step on the machine, go four miles and step off)