Ok, so I've been at this whole weight loss thing since Jan 2, '07 and have lost 6 lbs to date -- basically 1 lb per week. I've gone from walking 25 -30 minutes at 3.7/3.8 mph to walking some but running most at 4.2 - 4.3 mph for 3 miles, 5 days a week for a total of 45-50 minutes of target heartrate cardio, 5 days/wk. I also do two days of total gym stuff, about 25 minutes or so. My question is, how often should I be doing cardio and is that the best weight loss tool? I know, everyone is going to say you have to do what works best for you but how do you find that balance? After 6 weeks has my body made an "adjustment" to the running part? One of the reasons I like running/walking is because I know exactly what amount of effort it will take on my part to reach my target heart rate zone, I can sustain it for a longer amount of time than most aerobic dvds and I can do interval spurts to tweak it up every now and then. Would I benefit more if I dropped one day of running/walking and did an aerobic dvd instead? I have an old Gilad Step and Tone which is very low impact but long and I always "feel it" when I'm done. I'm also of the mindset that when I'm done doing any type of cardio, I should be sweating and be breathing hard; otherwise I think I've just wasted my time. Don't know if this thinking is correct or not. I have Firm tapes that I've used many times b/4 and am wondering should I walk/run 4 days per week and do something else (even if it's "less" aerobic) that 5th day. The total gym stuff I do 2 days a week regardless of what else I do. Also, I generally exercise M-F, skipping Sat and Sun. Would I benefit more from doing say M-W, skipping Thurs, doing F and Sat type schedule? Any thoughts/comments would be appreciated. Oh, I'm questioning all this because I didn't lose anything this past week even though everything else (diet and exercise) stayed the same. Thanks!
Jo