Increasing exercise?
 

I'm so proud of myself. Today, I made it through the entire 60(+?) minutes (says 85 but there's an opening bit with just music etc) of Sweatin' to the Oldies 2, in one day. I've been working my way up, doing 20-25min and then doing the rest the next day. But today I made it all the way through. I do this tape every other day, sometimes every day. I just can't believe I did it.

I've noticed that at 163 it's a lot harder to get back down to 161 again (and increasingly hard to get to the 150s). I'm still officially about 38lb overweight, but I'm only focusing on losing 23lb this time around. Do you think I'm getting to the point where it's going to become difficult? Because it really is hard to get away from 163 and I've been working so hard.

If it's a nice day, I go for a walk (.9 of a mile), if not I either bike for 30-40min, or do this tape.

Do you guys think doing 60 minutes instead of my usual 30 will help, or should I take a look at my calories, too; maybe try cycling? I'm eating around 1338 and have been doing this tape for a month, possibly longer; I actually forget when I started.

Why not try adding strength training to your workout? 30-60 minutes of cardio seem to sound about right (since you're body is getting used to it) already. I think strength training a few times a week can help you boost weight loss.

at your height, i think you may have to start dropping your calories more, or be more dillegent about the accuracy of your counting (im not saying youre not, i dont know you!) :)

You think? What would you drop my calories to? I'm not good at figuring that out, I just do whatever Livestrong tells me to do. I weighed in at 163.8 today AGAIN, so I think you're right.

If I click "lose 1.5lb a week" on Livestrong, it sets my calories at 1,092. That seems way too low to me.


@seina I don't really understand how to add strength training in. The only reason I can do that work out tape for so long is because it's variety and I'm moving. Lifting weights seems like it would be very sedentary and as if I'd only be able to do it for 5-10 min. I can't imagine doing it for 30.

You could leave the calories be and just start working on building muscle. The extra working out should help get you over the hump, if you are in fact starting to plateau. Don't make too many changes at once though. You want to be catch onto your body's trends, what is working for you and what isn't.

Although i agree that strength training is AWESOME and i love it and think everyone should do it, i do not think it will help the OP break through her plateau... if anything it will make the scale go up and cause her to be discouraged (AT THIS POINT)

Id start by dropping to 1200 a day, and see if that helps, or 1150.... gosh youre awfully short ;)
keep exercise.... keep moving... dont suddenly UP exercise and DROP cals at the same time though.......maybe find ways to increase your NEAT (Non-exercise Activity) walk in place during commercials, take the stairs, park further away, COOK instead of microwaving.... anything you can do to MOVE MORE during the day adds up SO MUCH FASTER than the hour you burn exercising. seriously

I know, I know. I wish I'd get taller...alas, I won't lol. If anything I'll just shrink with old age. :( Boo. Anyway, I don't think I know ENOUGH about strength training right now to start it, either. I'd probably jump right in and screw my back up. (I have a history of saying, "oh, that doesn't look so hard," and then ending up in bed for a week lol.)

I'm just not sure what to try first. I wanted to start doing that 60 minute tape at least 3 times a week, and I do need to increase my NEAT, honestly. I sit at a computer for hours, aside from when I'm exercising and really that's it. I'll keep that in mind. :)

So, I guess I should first try cutting my calories to 1200 for a couple weeks first? I'm no genius at this, and I want to make sure I'm eating enough.

I agree that dropping cals would probably help you, however so would upping your exercise or making sure the calories you get are good ones such as fruit/veggies/lean protein and whole grains. Biking is a very efficient exercise, if you're going 10 mph or less/not pushing it you're only burning about 100 calories in those 30 minutes, likewise, your .9 mile walk is around the same. You probably burn twice as much if not more when you do the sweatin' to the oldies. If you have some portable music player put a fun mix on it and try to up that walk/bike time or distance, or do what I do, sing along and dance while walking to the beat. (As long as you don't mind some stares.) I still can get bored but MUCH less when I've got my favorite tunes.

As to strength training, it makes me feel so much stronger even though I am barely above the girly weights. Now, you don't need weights to strength train, and you can incorporate some body-weight exercises such as planks or squats with just an exercise mat and it's pretty hard to hurt yourself if you focus on form. Once you're comfortable with form you can think about adding weights.

So, you like variety. Make a playlist, then go for a walk one day for a warm up, come back and stretch out, do some planks/squats etc. The next day you do your tape, the third day you can go biking, then come home and do some strength exercises. And they don't have to be every day.

Or, you can tweak your calories, try cycling or lowering them if you want, but as mkroyer said, don't do both at once! Change one thing at a time.

EDIT: I saw you sit at a computer, so do I! do you have a lunch break? Walk for 10 min to get the blood flowing. I don't get a break, I'm in a room for 10 hours straight, so I get up every hour and walk around the room/get a drink of water or I do some stretches at my desk. The best thing you can do when stuck working at a desk is move a bit.