The Sabotage combo: Scale&Cardio

Ok, calm down. I am not saying cardio is your enemy. It is THE FRIEND for fat loss (especially for women) if you know HOW/WHEN and to HOW HARD to do it.

There are many people I know that had the experience for themselves and were curious enough to have a thought on it. I remember a woman on Facebook reviewing on Grace Song's Flying Yoga in Seoul pointing out that she was always a runner but she just wouldn't get lean and lose the fat she aimed to lose. But after regularly participating in Yoga classes, her body started to transfer. It shaped up/tightened (WHY: MUSCLE GAIN) and despite gaining muscles she lost pounds. That can only mean that she dropped from the stored fats what she wanted and beyond.

I have experienced myself. I was eating well, I was exercising every day really hard. Kick boxing classes, Boot camps, Spinning... yet my weight wouldn't move.

I remember going to visit my parents in Europe for a month a few years ago. I wanted to stay active, but I didn't feel like paying overpriced monthly membership of the local gym (as they don't get cheaper if you don't sign a contract for months ahead). So I went for long walks and evening 15 minutes of HIIT training. I don't use scales, so I didn't know until I came back to Korea and went for health check that I dropped 6 pounds of weight during that month!!! I mean...how you DON'T KNOW you've lost 6 pounds?? I didn't know because my pants were getting tighter around my waist, my bra got tighter around my torso...I was sure that because of me enjoying the European bread, pasta and my mom's cooking I gained at least 2~3 pounds. In fact, what I've lost was the muscle mass so my body even though I haven't probably stored any fats looked more wobbly.

So let me break these stories down to you in few paragraphs so you can take something solid out of it.

WEIGHT LOSS VS. FAT LOSS

Since that time in Europe the word "weight loss" just wouldn't come past my lips easily. I do use it with my customers that are very obese, because at the point when it's the weight itself that ruins your bones and you are so heavy you can barely get yourself walk a mile, then weight loss is urgent. No matter where the pounds come off from. Usually, heavily obese body develops muscles to carry the weight itself, without the person meaning for it, so losing some in the process is not a great worry.

HOW TO BE SURE THAT YOU ARE LOSING FAT AND NOT MUSCLES.

I do get my monthly INBODY body composition test at my gym, but there are only two parts I look at. 1. Percent of body fat 2. Total body water I don't take it that seriously as I used to before because I have had a time when I worked at the gym and tried to get my results twice a week. Sometimes the changes were good, sometimes bad...lasted very short sometimes, as well. Sometimes I had like muscle gain of two pounds in few days which is a very questionable result if you think about if from the female biology point of view. So I guess I just drank a lot of water the day before and the muscles felt heavier for the machine. So yes. INBODY is good for general overview and having it done once a month (or twice if you are trying to figure out the efficiency of your diet/workout routine) but not more. It becomes stressful and undermining.

I don't own a scale and I don't use it anywhere unless it's in the hospital or with the INBODY test. Why? Well, because I know that if I walk around the Seoul city with my friend visiting Korea 5 hours straight for 3 days I will lose weight, but not fat.

Finally the answer to how to keep up with your progress. I personally do two things.

1. I track down my circumferences once or twice a month. 2. I have a piece of clothes that are tight enough to dig into the fluff if fat gets stored or muscles stop holding the surface of my body tight enough.

So unless you are heavily obese and the pounds themselves are threatening your health (think about future possible outcomes as well, though) then I say ditch the scale and get some strength work out on regular basis instead of running miles every morning.

CARDIO REGULATION

It's the science behind how the body uses energy while exercising and it would be long to explain in detail but here is the gist of it:

If your heart pounds so hard it might as well jump out of your chest, your body is using sugars/carbs to get energy, not fat. So you do burn calories but not those from stored fats. I go for a run if I know I have eaten way past the calorie intake I aim for during the day, so I burn the additional calories consumed.

If you do moderate cardio (walking, slow jogging, hiking etc.) it does burn the fats stored. That being said, as fat is the main source of energy for our body, it doesn't let go of it easily for it believes it's something it needs to survive. So after around 90 minutes (may vary for each of us a little) it just closes down the door on the "precious" fat store and if you keep walking it will start burning proteins (aka. muscles).

If you do moderate cardio for 90 minutes you will effectively burn fats. But unless you add strength exercise into the routine, you will probably lose some muscles in the long run and that is like signing up ahead for a vicious yo-yo effect. Because more muscles mean more calories burned throughout the day (aka. can eat more without storing fat).

One last observation I will share with you. If I do high intensity cardio, I feel really good about myself, I imagine how many calories I have burnt and I feel hungry as hell. So it's easy to overeat at the time. Whereas moderate cardio doesn't give me that "I could eat a horse and I deserve it!" feeling.

PS: Running and other high-intensity cardio are good for the heart, though so no need to ditch it completely. It's good for you, too ^^

#readandlearn