I need to lose some weight, about 30 lbs put on over the past year or so while I underwent some surgery and rehab/physical therapy. I am ‘checked out’ to resume full-on exercise and training by my doc and therapist.
I would like to burn as much off as I can in the short term at the gym while the weather is crap, without adding a lot of muscle mass. I tend to be very muscular anyway, and I add muscle at the drop of a hat (genetics, I suppose). However, I would like to run a marathon and do a couple of sprint triathlons late summer and can’t afford to bulk up at all, as I am already much larger than most competitors (200 lbs when in shape, 228-230 now)
So the burning (heh) question:
To lose this weight, would I better served by incorporating weight training and cardio, or just 5x week cardio (approx. 45-60 minutes a pop)? If I do bring weight training, would I want to focus on high-rep exclusively? Just do exercises related to my sports - (swimming/riding/running)?
I am aware that muscle mass burns energy much quicker than adipose tissue, but I’ll be hard pressed to lose that mass once it’s on me, especially once I’m back in the pool.
The reason I’m so pressed to lose the weight now is that I can really feel the difference that 30 makes on my joints etc - I don’t want to rely on long distance roadwork to lose it due to the additional stress on joints etc. (getting too old for this sh*t…)
IANATrainer, but if you’re wanting to primarily lose weight, then I say focus on cardio.
I understand that generally “more muscle = more calories burned”, but it sounds like you’re particularly interested in dropping pounds. If that’s the case, then building muscle mass (while good for you) seems like it would be counter-productive to your stated goals.
My logic is: you will be building some muscle mass anyway, depending on what kind of cardio you do (e.g., running -> tuning muscles in your legs). Then, with continued cardio work, you make better use of those muscles, and you burn more calories.
Just want to emphasize that this is really where you want to focus. Exercise is a nice complement to a good diet, but it’s not nearly as important in the grand scheme of things.
And trying to lose the most amount of weight in the shortest amount of time via exercise is likely to lead to overuse injuries, but as a long distance runner you’re probably aware of that.
If you work full time and are training to do triathlons, you probably won’t have time to do much weight training. But if you do weight training, stick to low weight/high reps, especially if you are prone to bulking up-- no need carrying around all that upper body weight.
When I was doing triathlons, I made the switch from heavy to low weights and dropped about 15 pounds of muscle on my upper body. That helped a lot. For diet, try to do one of the low glycemic index ones if you can. But don’t think of it as “a diet”, rather as a good lifestyle change.
I’m currently eating a healthy, well-balanced diet; I’m counting calories against my BMR/RMR (with diet alone I would currently lose about 1 lb/wk) and eating a 45-35-20 blend of Carb/Protein/Fats.
I am supplementing with a comprehensive multi-vitamin only.
I am drinking ~128-160 oz. of water daily, and getting 8 hours of sleep.
Using this in conjunction with exercise, I am looking to lose 2-4 pounds a week in the safest, healthiest way possible.
I have struggled with overtraining in the past when I was competitive and I know from past experience that 5x week, with hydration and plenty of rest is safely under the mark for me personally. ETA: when I am in competitive shape
Well, I’ve got 5x week set aside for training currently (lifting and/or cardio)
Once the weather is nice enough to train outside (especially for riding) I really won’t be doing much cardio. Plus I can ride to work and back, so there’s an extra 75 miles a week without cutting into my daily routine.
My goal right now is to lose the weight as quickly and safely as possible, to reduce stress and strain on my joints when the real training season starts.
Once in training proper, I will be lifting just enough to assist my swimming and riding - mostly lower body (esp squats), rowing and core workouts, no more than 2x a week.
Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on things. Just make sure your carbs are mostly of the good kine (whole, or unprocessed foods) as opposed to the bad kind (processed). More vegetables, less bread.
Sorry, but I disagree with this. Diet has effect, of course, but burning calories is burning calories. If you eat 4k calories but burn 10k calories each and every day, you WILL lose weight. If your diet is crap, you’ll also lose all kinds of key nutrients and look and feel awful and probably struggle to burn the 10k calories because you won’t have any energy, but you WILL lose weight. If you eat right but don’t take on any exercise, you will likely stay exactly as you are, but feel better because of the good diet. That logically tells me that exercise is key in weight loss, and diet supports that, not the other way around.
The best is to put together a blended programme including diet and exercise for your particular target - losing weight or increasing fitness. If you want to only lose weight, then low-GI (glycemic index) carbs, lots of veg, and not much protein coupled with a cardio programme and light, high-repetition weight training is the way to go; you won’t put on as much muscle mass but will take the fat off and therefore will lose weight. If you don’t care about how much you weigh but do want to be in great shape and be strong as well, then you want a mix of a low-GI and lean protein-heavy diet coupled with heavier weights with fewer reps and cardio as well. Muscle weighs more than fat, so you will put on weight, but that weight will be in muscle which burns fat so it’s all good.
For triathlons, I’d recommend low weight high reps for weight training you do - endurance is more important than strength, but strength is also important for 2 reasons - first, it will help strengthen your core for those long swim / bike / runs, which helps with efficicency and therefore makes those sports faster. It will also help you build strength to avoid injuries. For example, having strong quadriceps, glutes, and calves helps avoid knee injuries because it will help prevent pulling your knee joint out of alignment when you run. Total fitness is the goal, though, so pick a plan you like and mix it up every 3-4 weeks to prevent boredom from rearing it’s ugly head.
High Intensity Interval Training was recommended once before on this board. You can read about ithere. This article is written for bodybuilders looking to get rid of fat so they can show off more but it’s got good information. This site gives a recommended program of gradually increasing intervals over several weeks.
Weight training + cardio will yield the maximum result. One thing that people seem to forget is that weight training DOES burn calories too, not at the same rate as cardio, but it isn’t insignificant. Add to that the added latent calorie burning and, with a good weight-training to cardio ratio, you’ll achieve good results. On top of that, weight training has plenty of other benefits that are worth considering, such as improved strength, injury reduction, and allowing you to isolate.
That said, you’ll still want to take into consideration your goals when weight training. Since you intend to run, bike, and swim, you don’t want to bulk up, so stick to low-weight/high-rep. Also, since you’re training for specific sports, there’s a lot of functional weight training that you can do. That is, there are weighted exercises you can do to specifically focus on movements related to those sports. Those are probably the best for you goals specifically, but you’ll need to either research or consult a personal trainer for those techniques.
but it’s got good information. This site gives a recommended program of gradually increasing intervals over several weeks.