The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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I've been trying, in the most casual way imaginable, to lose weight since the start of Lent. My basic strategy is: try to avoid truly terrible junk decisions with food, three days a week MWF eat nothing until 2pm and aim to stay light throughout. I also switched from a heavy lifting plan to more cardio and climbing, and swapped some supplements around.
I'm down seven pounds, putting me at 199. I'm looking to lose another two or three pounds, then reassess progress to make sure I'm not losing more strength than I'm comfortable with. Ultimately I'd like to continue to cut until I get below 195, which was a good weight for me long term for a number of years, before I change gears entirely.
I'll probably gain a pound or two back this weekend visiting the in laws for Easter, there's a lot of fluctuation just in simple stuff like that.
I can already notice a difference. Some of my clothing fits a little looser. My abs are a lot more visible, and other muscles are more distinct. Climbing is noticeably but marginally easier, seven pounds off every rep can add up. Definitely motivated to continue, though I suspect it will get harder from here or involve more tradeoffs.
My actual primary lenten pledge, giving up alcohol and weed, turned out to be pretty bullshit for me. Super easy. I've had to turn down drinks from people a couple times, and other than that it wasn't difficult for me. There was one moment I was tempted to get wasted because I was tired and upset and frustrated at work, but I just...didn't. People did it around me, my wife and friends, and I didn't care, was not tempted. I'm reminded that whatever the genetic status of addiction is, I didn't get that gene. Just, absolutely not on substances. Smartphones maybe. Junk food probably. But I have no susceptibility to alcoholism.
I kinda did the weightloss thing to coordinate with the sobriety, because I figured sobriety would keep me from making bad decisions. I'm a little worried that I need to manage use vs. weight going forward. We'll see.
How are you finding the cardio? It sounds like you and I have both similar exercise histories, and almost exactly the same weight lol.
I have really been considering following a similar plan to you; I just find it hard to make myself do cardio because it bores me. But it sounds like between that and diet you're having success that would make it worthwhile.
Diet makes up at least 80% of the reason for weight change. You don't strictly need cardio. Don't let that keep you from starting on a weight loss plan. Losing weight is pretty easy tbh. Just log your food intake for a while until you can keep a rough estimate of your daily intake of calories in your mind, and consume 300-500 fewer calories than what you burn. Simple.
Yeah, I already know that. It has been many years since I saw a weight loss thread on the Internet that did not contain that advice. It's true information, I don't dispute it.
I need to do cardio for my general physical well-being. Plus I like to play sports that involve running, and doing cardio will improve my performance and endurance.
Oh ok. How about interval training then? It's tougher, but less boring.
That's probably what I need to do, honestly.
Any suggestions for where to start?
Slightly contra @TowardsPanna, I don't think you should do interval training if cardio is a chore rather than a hobby. The injury risk of hard efforts are much, much higher than easy efforts while the rewards are not comparably disparate if you don't have a strong aerobic base. The vast majority of desirable aerobic and metabolic benefits are from easy effort, not from hard effort. Running fitness benefits greatly from sustained consistency and volume to a greater extent than short bursts and training that increases injury risk and burnout tends to come in short bursts.
Without further background, my first suggestion would be trail running. The combination of soft surfaces, slower paces, time in nature, and diminished boredom has substantial value.
anec-datally, I worry about multiple decades of Long Slow Distance as a training base for running. So many lifelong runners end up nearly unable to walk. Joints just ... go.
To that end, a lot my cardio is based around doing the long duration stuff in low impact activities; swimming and rowing machines. But, I intrinsically like running and so pretty much only do intervals for it. N-of-one-personal-report, this has resulted in an increase in all of my short and middle distance race times.
Am I off base, tho? I truly would enjoy input.
With regard to long-run results, I don't think the data is consistent with that and it doesn't really match my understanding of the biology either. Aging well is heavily governed by muscular fitness, VO2Max, and bone density, which all improve from running. For anecdata, I guess I see more runners aging well than aging poorly.
That said, even for someone whose primary focus is running, low-impact cardio is an amazing supplement. Most amateur runners aren't doing anywhere near enough low-intensity work to maximize the metabolic and fitness gains available from very easy aerobic efforts. Biking, rowing, swimming, even just simply walking all improve both aerobic fitness and fat-burning capacity. Parker Valby has become the fastest college women's 5Ker ever on three runs a week, using tons of cross-training to supplement the low running volume.
Ultimately, I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all solution. The standard advice for running faster at distance is that more volume is better as long as you don't get hurt, but that last caveat is so broad and totalizing that it makes figuring out individual optima really difficult. I certainly wouldn't worry about negative long-run consequences of volume if I wasn't getting hurt, but if I was constantly getting dinged up, I would rethink that. Likewise, if you're already doing a bunch of interval work supplemented by low-impact cardio, that's certainly a proven effective strategy and if you're not getting hurt, that's great.
The advice to go the other direction and focus on volume first is what I tell someone that doesn't have a program yet and is debating what to do. If you're not already a runner, I think starting on intervals is a bad idea because of the injury risk. If you're having success and you're happy with what you're doing, all's well.
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Anec-datally, many non-runners end up unable to walk. As with most sports, extreme performers will be prone to performance-related injuries. But I don't think there's any reason to believe that moderate running leads to debilitating joint health. You'll find a lot of conflictong studies and ways of looking at things.
Running sessions should probably be less intense than people normally think, and coupled with exercises to help form and general strength. Joints, bones and tendons are the most likely things to get injured from overuse, and take a lot of training to strengthen. Cardiovascular endurance in an untrained athlete improves much faster than tendon strength. Distance should be increased quite gradually, while paying respect to your ability to run with proper form.
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