Goals Get Fit, lose weight

[Fit_bitNewbie]

Hi I am trying and the topic suggests lose weight and get fitter. To do this I have started running and have been running since the new year (bit of a new years resolution) I went from stopping 3 times during a 1.8m run to running 6.6m five times in one week. So in term of getting fitter i was making good progress. Being naive i now realise i was doing to much too soon and disaster strucking after about week 10. I hurt my calf and it took about 7 weeks to get over it. Meaning my fitness dropped and i hasd to start again.

During this period I learnt a lot mainly of things i should have done that I had not been doing. I now have a stretch routine, before and after and I'm now increasing my runs slower and running less frequent. The more i look into this running the more confusing it gets.

I want to lose weight and get fitter. I have been looking into heart rate zones as I have shown my heart rate for my runs to friends and they gasped at it. My average heart rate on my last run was 163bpm peaking at 172 the run was for 22mins and 89% of it was within the peak Zone. Freinds have said this is too high and that its dangerous and that my goal of losing weight (Fat) is not being achieved by this program. Talk of burning muscle rather than burning fat concerns me as i dont want to change my body composition in this way. I enjoy running, its hard, but nothing worth having is ever easy. Bung on a pair of shorts open the front door and im there doing it. With a busy life and having a family its easier to fit around everything.

Any advice people have would be appreciated. My goals are to lose weight and get fitter without losing muscle. Im 38 years of age and weigh12st 1lb.

[Mukluk4]

My goal is to get better at basketball and that includes cardio and strength training.  Are you doing any strength or resistance training?  I'll be 40 this August so we are in the same age bracket.

My program is pretty simple.  I don't belong to a gym and I keep things on the cheap.  Including my universal machine, I've spent just under $550 and that includes new basketball shoes and multiple pairs of running shoes (almost 5 million steps since the end of June does that)

Here's a summary:

2 mile walk over the lunch hour

2.5 mile run on the days in which I don't have evening basketball

Strength Training every other day (will skip to the next night if I have evening basketball)  I do both upper and lower body on the same day.

Basketball - 3-5 sessions a week depending on time of year.  Roughly 4-8 hours/week full court 5v5.

Playground hoops when the weather is acceptable (no wind, rain, snow, cold, etc.)

My scale weight has stayed pretty consistent, but I'm actually showing definition and clothes don't fit like they used to.  From an athletic standpoint, I've increased strength roughly 50% across the board, increased vertical jump by 8 inches over the last 8 weeks, and increased run speed significantly.

[JohnRi]

First let's talk about heart rates.  The higher your heart rate is, the more over all calories you burn.  While the higher your heart rate, the more your body has to burn carbs, and protein in your blood first.  Then it's forced to switch to fat in your blood.  And then to fat on your body. 

While in Fat burning, your body primarily burns fat.  So so many people think then need to keep your heart rate lower.  That is FALSE. 

At 110 bpm your body might burn 75% fat and burn a total of 500 calories.  You burned 375 fat calories.  160 bpm your body might burn 35% fat, but you might burn 1500 calories during an hour long run.  You burned 525 fat calories.You still burn more fat calories at the the higher BPM than at the lower BPM.  The higher your heart rate the lower the amount of fat your body burns, but since your burn more and more calories you always end up burning more fat than at a lower rate.  So don't be concerned about losing fat with a high heart rate. 

As for your heart rate being so high, that could be an indicator that you are out of shape.  When I first stated walking last year my average BPM during the exercise was around 140-150 bpm.  Now when I walk I average 108 bpm or less. 

But I highly recommend going to your doctor and have a nuclear stress test done on your heart.  Do this when you are healthy to walk the stair master from hell. 

I know my max heart rate is 160 bpm.  But I've exceed it that at times.  And that's ok.  Getting the stress test done will tell your maximum heart rate, and let you know how strong your heart is.

Depending on your insurance, the test can be a expensive, but it's the safest way to find out your max rate.  Also talk to your doctor about your heart rate during exercise. 

Running is a high stress exercise, so you need to rest between runs.  At least one day between runs.  So every other day is about the max.  Make sure you have the proper running shoes.  Get a shoe one size bigger than you normally wear so your toes have room to move.  Make sure your shoes are laced tight to avoid blisters.  You should have two different brands of running shoes so that you can randomly pick a pair each time you run.  This also helps avoid blisters.  Take it slow.  Stetching is a must before and after running. 

As for losing fat and maintaining muscle, make sure you eat a diet high in protein.  Unless you are under 5'7", your weight is only 168 lbs.   163 lbs is the top of the range for a normal weight for 5'7" 

Exercise alone, unless you exercise 4-6 hours a day, will not result in much weight loss without diet changes.  Are you logging your food, and running a calorie deficit?  High calorie deficits with only 10-20 lbs to lose will result in mostly muscle loss.  500 calorie deficit is ok for 10 to 20 lbs to lose.  250 calorie deficit is ok for 10 or less.  I can't imagine you need to lose much weight unless you are Chuck Norris's height of 5'2". 

[emili · Accepted solution]

fitness is a learning experience and it is done through trial and error. Now you know what not to do. Anything we say for you to do, is based on our own experience and we are all different. There are some things that are universal for all and they are:

weight loss and health start in the kitchen- if you are not reducing calories in you will not lose weight. if you are not properly fueling your body, you will not run efficiently.

it is incredibly difficult to lose fat and build muscle at the same time. Unless your body has muscle memory- its almost impossible. You will lose some muscle as a result of losing fat if you do a lot of cardio. And cardio is what burns highest calories to allow you to lose fat. Yes, you can strength train during cardio training and it could help, but typically food composition is different when you build muscle. If you are losing fat you want to be in a deficit, if you are building muscle you want to be in surplus (to some degree).

This is the experiment part- you need to figure out what's more important- what you want to do first. You can lose fat and when you get to where you want to be, you can switch focus to muscle gain.

You can forget about losing fat and focus on muscle gain which will change the composition of your mass and help you look leaner even though weight wise you will be the same.

But what should not be an experiment is what you eat and how much you eat. Best of luck to you, E.

[FitBeforeFifty]

First, let's talk about heart rate. Your heart rate is based on fitness level, genetics and age. To determine your heart rate zones you will want to get a better idea what your actual max heart rate but you can start with 220 - age as an estimate. My max heart rate should be 171 (220 - 49) but when running sprints in the summer I can exceed 180. I run most of my runs at an easy pace which gets me to a heart rate of 135 - 145 (75% to 80% range). Once per week I might run a fast run with intervals where I sustain something above 90% of my max. I didn't just pick those numbers out of the air ... they are based on Marathon training protocol and have served me well over the years.

The reason these plans are designed this way is to avoid injury. If you are running all your runs at a hard pace, you are going to continue risking injury.

So, I would suggest you slow down your pace to something in the 70% - 80% of max range for most of your runs. As you become more fit, you will be able to increase the pace and maintain your average HR in that range. If you want a harder run, do some interval training once per week where you go hard for 400 meters then run slowly for 800, then repeat several times.

Even though you might not be interested in training for a race, following training protocol will teach you a lot about how to run and lower your risk of injury.

You can find a lot of useful information on training at http://www.runnersworld.com/training or https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/