Should I go to the gym every other day or back to back?

[Anonymous]

I'm 5'4" 143 pounds and want to drop 10 pounds. I want to be at my goal weight by January 2016. I workout 4 days a week at the gym on the treadmill to burn calories. I went to the gym yesterday should I go today or tomorrow?

[WhiteSteve]

If you want to shed weight quickly, first figure out what your caloric needs are for a given day...
www.thinandhealthyforever.com/...ierequirement.asp

The most efficient way to burn fat is to do cardio first thing in the AM on an empty stomach. Your body has the least amount of fuel for exercise at this point, so you'll be burning from your fat reserves. If you do this 3-4 days a week while maintaining a caloric deficit of 500 calories less than the number you get from the linked page for calorie calculation, eating a consistently healthy diet, INCLUDING beverages (only water, water, and water should be consumed... tea or coffee is ok, as long as it's black), you should reach your goal in a month and a half, two months. Eat as clean as you can, but make sure to still eat, don't starve yourself, that's counterproductive, it will slow your metabolism despite the exercise. Lean protein, whole grains, vegetables... get familiar with those. I'd recommend dropping $25-30 dollars on a rice cooker/steamer, then you can make a few days worth of brown rice and have fresh vegetables on hand, and it only takes about 15 minutes to broil a piece of skinless chicken breast, and it's fine to season it with dry spices, just don't use marinades and sauces, they're loaded with sugar. Just stick to this, literally any able bodied person can accomplish this, it just takes discipline and consistency! Good luck!

[ichot]

Going to add on to this, Cardio has to be done at a moderate to high intensity. Most people take their exercise way too easy.

If you don't know how hard to push yourself, there's always a "target heart rate" chart/calculator.

[WhiteSteve]

@ichot Wow, IMPORTANT detail it looks like I forgot to include! Good save, haha. Asker, use the "220-(your age)" formula to establish your max heart rate. Then operate between 60-75% of that rate for the duration of the cardio. This your "fat burning zone." That's actually EXTREMELY important, good thing ichot showed up, haha. Don't let the intensity psyche you out of doing it though, it's not as hard as you think. I usually do my cardio on a stationary bike (because trying to be a hero and playing football into my 30s has left me with the body of a 75 year old man, hahaha), and while my leg muscles get a burn and I'm sweating like Floyd Mayweather at a spelling bee, I'm hardly ever short of breath. Oftentimes I don't pedal all that fast, I just use a higher resistance level. If you'd rather go a mile a minute at lighter resistance, that's cool too, just remember to stay in that heart rate window, that's what really counts.

[Anonymous]

It's useful to have one day a week fully off to recover.

If you're lifting weights in a way to trigger muscle growth (which women generally like to refer to as 'toning') you should rest that particular muscle group the following day, in terms of lifting heavy.

You can use the treadmill 6 days a week, definitely.

You might be interested to know that resistance exercise in practice is better associated with weight loss than cardio, though both is superior.

You should be lifting heavy to tone/maintain lean mass and fight off metabolic slowdown.

[Anonymous]

You don't give your muscles enough time to heal and rest going everyday , just do some walking on the In between days

[Anonymous]

It's OK to go everyday, but, don't pay attention to just one body part, make sure you're doing it all

[SmokeDope]

Good. I will train you to become a ninja.

[ShayanMortazavi1]

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