Am I doing enough cardio?

[jenscats5]

Here's what I'm currently doing:
due to living in a city where parking is at a premium, I get home from work, park & leave the car there. Who knows if I'll ever get a spot again?
So I walk to (30 min) & from (30-45 min depending on route) the gym. Sometimes we run/walk to the gym.....

Schedule for this week is: (did this last week too)
Sunday -- chest & tris, abs
Mon -- legs, calves & shoulders
Tues -- Back, biceps & abs
Wed -- rest
Thurs -- same as Sun
Fri -- same as Mon
Sat -- same as Tues

Trying to get 1 - 1.5x protein per day & aim for about 1,800 cals per day average & my diet varies by foods eaten. Not prepping for a contest. If anyone needs me to I'll post up what I eat sometimes....

But anyway I sometimes do HIIT but not always.....Bikini season is coming & with being laid off June 1 I have the summer off & want to be prepared. Any suggestions for a change of routine, etc would be great.....

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Jen....what is the problem? Have results stopped? Are you getting fat? (lol) You want to add more muscle, lose more fat...what is the goal?

If you want to add muscle....then I would say lift 4x a week, hit each body part 1x - but hit it HARD HARD HARD. Low reps, high weight.

If you want to lose fat, it is going to be diet (but you knew that!). You might be eating too many calories - probably too many carbs. Can't remember how much you weigh, but aim for 10x BW. To lose fat, your diet can also be 10x LEAN BW (subtract out fat, fat doesn't need to eat) But that will require a reliable BF measurement. Weigh yourself, get BF, and you can get lbs lean weight, lbs fat weight. I have an Excel Spreadsheet for logging this if you want me to send it to you - formulas are already in there, you'd just have to plug the numbers. It is awesome.

 

[jenscats5]

DG -- is the spreadsheet to figure out the BF or something else??

As you know I have one of those Tanita scales.....it always tells me something different regarding bf %......Since I'm not planning on doing a contest I would like a happy medium regarding what I look like......a goodly amount of muscle of which some is visible and a bf% that I can maintain without going nutz.....

If I drop my calories too low (like 1,500 or so...) I can't seem to function or feel weak when working out.....

Due to Xmas & laziness on my part I've got some "grippables" around my middle....LOL...which is currently bugging me so I am trying to dial in my diet.....

I'm doing 1 - 1.5x my bodyweight (about 140 right now) in protein and under 200g of carbs per day, 20-35g fiber

Here is a typical day:
8:30 - 9 am
4 scrambled egg whites with either 1 pkt catsup or 1 tblsp salsa
1 cup high protein & fiber cereal with skim milk or plain oatmeal

11am - noon
spring mix lettuce with tuna or chix & 1 tblsp olive oil & balsamic

2pm
chili or protein with veggies &/or sweet potato

workout 5:30 - 7 pm (includes walking to/from gym)

dinner is usually 8 pm
chicken with veggies or soup with added chix & veggies + grilled cheese sandwich, stuff like that

snack
SF, FF jello or pudding
calcium chew daily

 

[jenscats5]

Actually I usually have the salad as the later meal & the chili/chicken & sweet potato meal earlier.....

The grilled cheese is maybe a 1x week meal (not often) but with ff cheese & ww bread it's an easy meal to make....

 

[Daisy_Girl]

Your meals look decent for your goals. Since you aren't aiming for contest-ready or anything major..... you probably don't have to eat 100% clean. But remember, the cleaner you eat, the easier it will be to meet your goals.

Maybe try dropping the carbs down to 150 and see if that helps. You can "make up" the excess calories through adding a little more protein if needed.

Other than that, maybe try MAKE SURE you do 1-2 HIIT sessions per week.

Spreadsheet helps track BF using calipers - probably not useful for you. Tanita's are typically unreliable...as you already know.

 

[jenscats5]

DG -- I try to eat as clean as possible but sometimes I have an argument with the candy dish at work & it wins!! LOL

So, in addition to all the walking I do -- you suggest 1-2 HIIT sessions per week? I think I can handle that......also 4 days of weightlifting hitting each bodypart 1x per week.....

 

[jenscats5]

Oh & I use fitday.com to track meals, etc. I don't want to go too high or low with calories, is there a # I should shoot for? Like 1,800 max? I HAVE to log everything I eat, or I go out of control

 

[Daisy_Girl]

I'd definately up the intensity of your workouts - lift as heavy as possible. The more muscle to get, the easier it will be to lose fat, plus you know it looks better!

HIIT will burn fat much better than the low intensity walking. You go to the gym 6x a week? Maybe 3 days a week walk to the gym (warm up), lift and run home (cardio). 2 days walk to the gym (warm up), do HIIT (30 min), then walk home (cool down). 1 day walk to the gym (warm up), lift, walk home. This way you get 3x of intense cardio (running), 2x HIIT, 1 day easy cardio and 4 days lifting. Do legs on the day you walk to and from gym.

I'd do 1800 max - since you know you can't go too far under that. Noramlly, I'd say 10x BW is usually a good base for cutting fat but that might be too low for you, not sure. Just keep protein high. And lots o' veggies.

 

[jenscats5]

http://fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=jenscats5

the link to my public journal on fitday.com