Interesting fitness change -- lost inches doing LESS

[Dorothy J]

Very interesting thread!

I saw a woman on 'The View' a few weeks ago who was speaking against what she called "mindless" cardio. She claimed that people were fooling themselves doing this kind of exercise, that all it did was give them an excuse to eat more calories. She was a Pilates instructor & advocated that kind of exercise.

For myself, I admit that I'm hungrier when I workout a lot, but as to "mindless": I don't think this woman has ever done a Christi tape...my mind is pretty darned engaged with that complex choreo!

[rubyspirit]

I love the stimulation of working out, but I cannot do it more than 4 days a week. My appetite goes out of control, and I overeat.

I took a break from working out a couple of days, and my appetite was prefect. I worked out 30 minutes this morning, and found myself snacking a bit more. I would love to workout in the morning, but honestly am trying to stay w/ a Sun, Tue, Thu, Fri workout week. Anything more will wack my metabolism and cause my body to crave food. Its wild.

Less is more for me. I am going to look into some power yoga tapes to improve my flexibility. I plan to look for strength only tapes too.

I definitely don't need anymore cardio.

[Davida]

I am usually starving after work. I eat a snack, either cottage cheese with peaches or some home made popcorn without butter. Then I work out for 20-40 minutes, usually either gentle cardio or light weights. I find that after I finish I'm really not hungry any more.

If I'm going to do something a little more strenuous I might eat a bowl of cereal with skim milk and bananas. I really don't want any supper after that, so I try to eat a pretty balanced lunch.

I have also found that when I reduced the number of strength training workouts I do I was able to lift heavier (about once a week). I can cycle better also when I do it less frequently and shorter.

I think with age my ability to recover has slowed, so I do better with less.

Davida

[abbyalex]

I had the same thing happen to me. But, I think your hectic schedule and loss of appetite resulted in your weight loss, not the lower intensity and duration of exercise. The numbers just don't compute.

I really don't agree with you. I think my lessened appetite is a direct result of lessened workout intensity, which was CAUSING an increase in appetite.

If everything remained the same (your eating, your schedule) while only your workout durations and intensity LESSENED, you would gain weight, not lose.

Wrong. I am not one of these people who "forget" to eat when I am busy. For one thing, being a type 1 diabetic, I have to take in a certain amount of carbohydrates every few hours, so even when I'm in the middle of something (i.e. work, rehearsal, etc.), I have to grab something to keep my blood sugar from crashing. There is no such thing as skipping meals and snacks in my world. But before, when I was exercising intensely, I was eating pretty substantial, high calorie meals and snacks ------ now that my exercise intensity has decreased and therefore, my appetite, I am just sipping juice or grabbing a box of raisins. And not because I'm hungry, just because my blood sugar says I need to.

I just wanted to clear that up.

[lfcjasp]

I'm seriously thinking of lowering the intensity this week (though I tend to be an intensity junkie) during cardio w/o's, esp. with TTOM imminent. I have to workout in the evening, sometimes eating a little early so I can get in a w/o before getting ready for bed (since we get up at 4:30, I usually aim for about 9 and generally make it between 9:30 and 10). Fortunately I can workout hard and still fall asleep a couple hours later. Maybe lighter intensity w/o's though would be better, not just for appetite, but for sleeping?????

[daisyduke]

Bumping to see if anyone else has tried this

[SueT]

Daisyduke, I'm trying this. I've been doing some vintage Kathy Smith workouts to get in more cardio. I've been concentrating on a lot of weights lately, and I'm not losing much fat at all. Ever since my knee surgery a year ago, I've been limited in the cardio I used to do, but then I got the idea to try lower intensity, but longer, cardio to see if I can tap into some of these excess fat cells that don't want to leave. I'm still doing some weight training, but my Kathy cardio is taking priority for now.

I just started this on Monday, so I don't have any results to report yet, but I'll let everyone know how I'm doing in a week or two. I've got two vacations coming up in September, though, so that will screw up my workout schedule, but I can always get back on track after that.

I hope this helps!

Sue

[Lucky Star]

I just realized this thread is 11 years old.
And I was amazed reading Abbyalex's posts (thinking they were new) since I know she was a longtime yoga-and-moderate-exercise advocate. Actually, I don't think I've seen new posts from her in a while.

[TinierTina]

Originally Posted by abbyalex

I really don't agree with you. I think my lessened appetite is a direct result of lessened workout intensity, which was CAUSING an increase in appetite.



Wrong. I am not one of these people who "forget" to eat when I am busy. For one thing, being a type 1 diabetic, I have to take in a certain amount of carbohydrates every few hours, so even when I'm in the middle of something (i.e. work, rehearsal, etc.), I have to grab something to keep my blood sugar from crashing. There is no such thing as skipping meals and snacks in my world. But before, when I was exercising intensely, I was eating pretty substantial, high calorie meals and snacks ------ now that my exercise intensity has decreased and therefore, my appetite, I am just sipping juice or grabbing a box of raisins. And not because I'm hungry, just because my blood sugar says I need to.

I just wanted to clear that up.

Really!

As a Type 2 diabetic, whose condition did NOT present as mild, but also with plenty of knee and orthopedic issues, I have to go with low impact, but as high of an intensity as I could muster within those constraints. And going easy on the added resistance ... yup, it makes me actually hungry. I find I have to low-carb (which dampens appetite), as do a lot of Type 1s, but Type 1s can correct with injected insulin; and they could go as low-intensity/low-impact (including yoga, barre, pilates, stretch work) for as time-limited of a period, too; as they may like.]
Planet Pancreas has different bedfellows. Me, I like time-limited much of the time. Intensity, though MUST be there ... (even then, to an extent; the cortisone response is heightened in us planetary citizens if you hit the anaerobic zone ...more than in normal folks)

Do not know if Abby is around to read this ...

[TinierTina]

Originally Posted by Lucky Star

I just realized this thread is 11 years old.
And I was amazed reading Abbyalex's posts (thinking they were new) since I know she was a longtime yoga-and-moderate-exercise advocate. Actually, I don't think I've seen new posts from her in a while.

Hey, though ... I know there is another diabetic on this forum, but a Type 1 who had multiple, other glandular issues. Not all type 1s being very young or thin or just suffering from cardiovascular or skeletal/bones/joints issues ...

So, she is still right, even for my case.

Low-impact anything, by its very nature, cannot be really high intensity. Moderate-to-high, by the time the exerciser has done it for a number of years. I'm "outgrowing" workouts frequently.