Should I CUT Calories? Or... Add Cardio?

I'm at end of Stage 1. Nothing lost. No inches lost, no fat lost. Strength gained. Frustration gained.

My new Excel spreadsheet gives me a lot to go on, areas to work on. (Consistency, a little more protein, a little less carbs, which was really close, but less is better; maybe a little more deficit...) I pulled info from my very anal tracking of food and exercise in CC. For the past month, my calorie average was 1733, daily deficit 457.

According to the spreadsheet, I should have lost 4 lbs. I didn't.

In NROLFW, Lou states that if you're not losing after about 4 weeks, cut no more than 300 calories. (Pages 68 - 71.)

Now... My target average is 1800. I am already below that. Would you suggest I cut more? That would put me back at the 1500 I used to go for when I just cut calories without exercising. (Which goes against all he teaches about eating more!)

OR.......

Would you suggest I add some cardio instead? I already do HIIT, 20 min 3x per week. I use that as a warmup for my lifting.

I could add Zumba, which is available at my gym on my days off. This would give an hour's worth of good raised heartrate on two additional days. I'd then be doing cardio 5x per week in addition to lifting 3x per week. 

What do you think?

Or maybe I should do both?

 

I think I'd do a little of both.  Cut maybe to 1600 and add the cardio.

I think I'm in the same boat, but I'm going to give it another week or two before I decide. 

How do your calories look on a daily basis? The day after weights i always eat more than on lifting days - which seems backwards, but i hit the gym in the evening - so that explains it a bit.

You could try cycling your calories so you keep the same average, but each day gets a diff # of calories.

Also - do the cardio AFTER weights. It will be a lot harder and you will burn more calories doing the same thing because your body is already tired from the weights.

Stick with the warm up shown in the book and maybe 5 -10 minutes brisk walking to warm up, do the workout and then do the cardio.  Stage 2 adds cardio back in though - so re-read the workout for specifics on how to add in extra cardio.

Gaining strength is an accomplishment all in itself. Don't overlook the fact that you can now lift really heavy stuff!

Just my thoughts... Good Luck!

CAL        EXP         DEFICIT   EXERCISE

1,644    1830      -186

1,767    1830        -63

1,871    1830       739          -698

1,504    1830       810        -1136

2,318    1830       488

1,693    1830      -137

1,641    1830       566           -755

1,663    1830      -167

2,024    1830       895          -701

1,394    1830       483          -919

1,721    1830     1,066       -1175
 
2,270    1830       440

1,249    1830    1,066        -1647

2,101   1830       271

1,128    1830     -702

2,259    1830      429

1,053    1830      853        -1630

1,910    1830        80

1,781    1830    1080  & nbsp;     -1129

2,278    1830      448
 
912       1830     -918

1,760    1830      711           -781

AVG

1724     1830     -453

OK, I got part of Jan up here... so you can see the numbers.... workout days are def lower, I exercise in the evening also.

The deficit is enough to where I would have lost 4 lbs, but for some reason I didn't. Do you think I gained muscle? LOL - thats a lot for a month, I think.

I will definitely try the cardio AFTER the lifting, and start with a different warmup... that should shake things a bit. I think I am going to add one day of Zumba per week. Starting today.

Thanks for all the input guys!

~Julie

That is a lot of muscle for a month, so no - you didnt gain that much of it.  See how switching the cardio and adding the one day of zumba works - just don't burn yourself out!

CAL        EXP         DEFICIT   EXERCISE

1,644    1830      -186

1,767    1830        -63

1,871    1830       739          -698

1,504    1830       810        -1136

Maybe I am misunderstanding your chart here.  I am assuming your CAL column is calories you ate.  EXP is how much you are expending.  So if that is the case, your 1st and 2nd line look correct in the deficit.

Where I am confused is starting on the third line....  ate 1871 calories and expended 1830 for a 41 cal surplus.  If you burned 698 calories doing exercise, it should be 657 deficit....

Also the next line 1504 eaten, 1830 used for a 326 deficit...  Did you burn by exercise 1136 calories?

What am I missing?

Edited to try and fix these columns... but arghhhh they still look bad!

So - I took the columns away and only posted the totals.

TOTALS:  2,319  -12,890
Divided by 3500  0.66  4

 If you use the exercise calories burned that you listed - it does indeed show 4 pounds.... but are you really burning that many calories in exercise.  The numbers posted seem really, really high.

 

I apologize... CC does eat the chart and spits it back out on the screen... sorry, let me fix it.

This is what it should look like. I knew it didn't look right the first time! SORRY!! It's not complete, its just a sampling, but the averages are accurate according to my data...

I dont know whether you can fix that last entry, but I'm not sure what you meant... LOL! I love this site sometimes... heheh.... keeps life interesting anyway.

Thanks for trying to help, and yes.... those are the Exercise tally's that I get when I enter what I do in to the Activity log... 20 min Intense Cardio, usually 60 min or more of strenuous lifting, and sometimes a yoga class... and even zumba on one of the days for 60 min...

However, I have entertained the thoughts that the exercise tally's in CC could be on the high side, and maybe that's why I've not lost any fat.... Hmmmm.

CAL (IN)  EXP    EX ERCISE    DEFICIT

1,644      1830        ; 0            -186

1,767      1830        ; 0         &nb sp;   -63

1,871      1830       -739        ;   -698

1,504      1830       -810        ; -1136

2,318      1830        ;    0   & nbsp;      &nbs p; 488
 
1,693      1830        ;     0  & nbsp;      &nbs p; -137

1,641      1830       -566        ;    -755

1,663      1830       ;     0         &nb sp;  -167

2,024      1830      - 895            -701

1,394      1830      - 483            -919

1,721      1830     -1,066         -1175
 
2,270      1830       ;    0        &nb sp;        440

1,249      1830    -1,066           -1647

2,101      1830        ;     0        &nb sp;     271

1,128      1830        ;     0        &nb sp;     -702

2,259      1830       ;     0        &nb sp;       429

1,053      1830      -853        ;     -1630

1,910      1830        ;    0        &nb sp;          80

1,781      1830    -1080             -1129

2,278      1830        ;    0        &nb sp;     448
 
912          1830        ;     0        &nb sp;  -918

1,760      1830       ;  - 711            -781

AVG

1724     1830        ;       &n bsp;        ;     -453

 

That one looks almost as bad... but if you can get past the "&nb sp;" (CCs addition to my work), you can sorta see... LMAO!

 

Sorry - I meant mine!!   I guess my point is this:

I took your data into excel and added only the deficit from what you ate vs 1830 a day that you spent and it comes out to 2319 calories total deficit ... or a total of .66 pound weight loss.

Only when you add in the huge exercise amounts does it add up to 4 pounds.  Are you sure you would burn that much in exercise because it sounds like an aweful lot!  Heck - when I do  15 minutes of HIIT on my treadmill, I am lucky to log 100 cals burned... and that is for the average person, which I know is high for me.

 

Lets see how this looks... from the activity log

Tue, Jan 13 2009       Mins Cals Elliptical Trainer - Light Effort 20 227 Weight Lifting - (Free Weight Nautilus or Universal-type), Power Lifting or Body Building, Vigorous Effort 60 512   Total Calories Burned 739

Wed, Jan 14 2009       Mins Cals Weight Lifting - (Free Weight Nautilus or Universal-type), Power Lifting or Body Building, Vigorous Effort 50 426 Walking - 3.5 Mph, Uphill 20 171 Stretching - Hatha Yoga 60 213   Total Calories Burned 810

Sat, Jan 17 2009       Mins Cals Running - 5 mph (12 Min/mile) 16 182 Weight Lifting - (Free Weight Nautilus or Universal-type), Power Lifting or Body Building, Vigorous Effort 45 384   Total Calories Burned 566

Mon, Jan 19 2009       Mins Cals Elliptical Trainer - Vigorous Effort 30 512 Weight Lifting - (Free Weight Nautilus or Universal-type), Power Lifting or Body Building, Vigorous Effort 45 384   Total Calories Burned 895

Tue, Jan 20 2009       Mins Cals Running - 5 mph (12 Min/mile) 20 227 Weight Lifting - (Free Weight Nautilus or Universal-type), Power Lifting or Body Building, Vigorous Effort 30 256   Total Calories Burned 483

Wed, Jan 21 2009       Mins Cals Stretching - Hatha Yoga 60 213 Elliptical Trainer - Vigorous Effort 20 341 Weight Lifting - (Free Weight Nautilus or Universal-type), Power Lifting or Body Building, Vigorous Effort 60 512   Total Calories Burned 1,066

Fri, Jan 23 2009       Mins Cals Stretching - Hatha Yoga 60 213 Weight Lifting - (Free Weight Nautilus or Universal-type), Power Lifting or Body Building, Vigorous Effort 60 512 Elliptical Trainer - Vigorous Effort 20 341   Total Calories Burned 1,066

Mon, Jan 26 2009       Mins Cals Elliptical Trainer - Vigorous Effort 20 341 Weight Lifting - (Free Weight Nautilus or Universal-type), Power Lifting or Body Building, Vigorous Effort 60 512   Total Calories Burned 853

Fri, Jan 30 2009       Mins Cals Aerobic - High Impact 70 696 Weight Lifting - (Free Weight Nautilus or Universal-type), Power Lifting or Body Building, Vigorous Effort 45 384   Total Calories Burned 1,080

 Sun, Feb 01 2009       Mins Cals Aerobic - High Impact 20 199 Weight Lifting - (Free Weight Nautilus or Universal-type), Power Lifting or Body Building, Vigorous Effort 60 512   Total Calories Burned 711

 

Not as bad as I thought it would! LOL! Can you make any sense of it? Yes, on yoga and zumba days, I am at the gym at least 2 and 1/2 hours... But do you really think CC is really that far off?

Wow - that sounds like alot of calories burned....  I am not sure those are accurate.  Are you set at sedentary?  Do you have a HRM?  I don't but I don't do that much cardio... and I would not count that much for lifting... but that is me.

PS - does it really take you an hour to do stage 1 workouts?

I guess it would be my naivete - I wouldn't know if CC burn rates were high or low, I've never tracked it before in my life... what exactly will a HRM do for me? I do watch my heartrate on the ellipticals and treadmills... do HRM's count calories?

And yes, I am at "sedentary" and I am going with the rate that NROLFW has us calculate, I am not using the 2320 that CC says I should be burning. I have a good idea that can't be right... but I get so confused with all these "guesstimates"! Lordy knows I am not a numbers person to begin with.

EDIT: As for it taking an hour... ummm... *blushing* I add additional lifting exercises at the end... working on the chest presses and butterflies, so I can do pushups!

Thanks for trying to help.

I would guess they are high... but also the numbers you are entering for weightlifting are sometimes 30 min and sometimes 60 min... soooo maybe just wrong logging?  Also - you have 2-3 days in a row of lifting...?

I personally would cut a few calories... stick to the lifting and the HIIT and see what happens.  You don't want to get too tired doing too much. 

*sigh* yes it's true, there have been a day or two that I had to run out of the gym early due to an upset stomach and once I had to pick up BF from work early... I logged correctly, just tried to make up for it the next time around. With at least two mis-logged (date) days this month, I am working harder on consistency this month. If I have to miss a day, I don't delay my program, I cram it in... not good. I know.

Yeah, I def don't want to over do it... but the frustration is really getting me. No options to quit though! LOL.

Thanks for chiming in!

Happy Healthgain,
~Julie

I remember stage one as being about 1/2 hour for me to complete... but memories???

I wish you luck!!! ..and consistency!

Stage one should take about 1/2 hours - that is correct.

I have found that CC's numbers are ridiculously high and you certainly cant trust the numbers on ellipticals or treadmills either...

A HRM (heart rate monitor) will obviously monitor your heart beat and by comparing that with your body weight, height, age etc... will tell you how many calories you are burning.

I have a polar F6 - its wonderful. There is a strap that goes around your chest and it transmits to a wristwatch. you can turn it on at the beginning of your workout, pause it if you have to stop for some reason and start again... it keeps records of your total calories burned each week etc.

I find that the HRM is a very necessary tool for me when it comes to weightloss... Otherwise i totally overestimate... Once you start doing something on a regular basis, your body starts using less and less calories to do it...

Example - when i first got my tae bo video, I burned over 300 calories, after 2-3 weeks of doing it a few times a week, it was taking me barely 200!

Keep that in mind - its a very good chance that you were overestimating your calories!

Good luck!

I think CCs numbers are reasonable - for a genuinely sedentary/out-of-shape person doing that workout.  I don't agree with the "call yourself sedentary then add the exercise" approach to exercise logging because it ignores the fact that your body exercises more efficiently (burning less calories) if it's an exercise you're used to.  I think it would make much more sense to set yourself as either 'moderately active' or 'active' and not add calories burned due to exercise unless it's a crazy unusual day.