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panache said:
If you do not feel like your heart rate is up high when doing your "high intensity/interval workout" then your workout sucks. You are NOT doing "high intensity" workouts. You are NOT challenging yourself. After a 30 min High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workout, you should feel as though your lungs are going to burst and you are not sure you can walk out of the gym. You will be drenched in sweat from head to toe, and you wonder if your legs will hold you up.
If you don't feel like this, then your "interval workout" is ALL WRONG.
panache said:
DEFINE "GOOD" FURTHER. I can eat 5 meals a day, but if they are not CLEAN and containing the PROPER macronutrients, then i am simply spinning my wheels. WHAT do you eat and WHEN?
panache said:
Too much cardio can cause muscle catabolism. Muscle catabolism is when the body starts using muscle for fuel. Too much cardio, and a caloric deprived state make for a ripe ground for catabolism. Your body can outsmart you if you are not careful - it will do ANYTHING to maintain. It will view a caloric deprived state and lots of cardio as a THREAT to its survival. To make up for that, it will burn muscle.
Muscle is what drives our metabolism (along with hormones). More muscle means higher metabolism. Less muscle means lower metabolism. Think of a car .... a bigger engine (more muscle) will burn more gas (more calories), likewise, a smaller engine (less muscle) will burn less gas (less calories).
Lose your muscle, and your metabolism will drop, making it harder to burn fat.
As far as the original poster's questions and all the drama here, the rate that we can lose BF is individual. That point nobody will differ on. I think expecting .5-1% per wek is pretty reasonable and attainable. BUT, the lower your BF goes, the harder it will be to lose it. That is NOT saying you cannot lose it OR that you have to take extreme measures. Just know that the power your BF goes, the more "tweaking" you will have to do to your diet and training. Most people (women) seem to be able to get down to 15-16% pretty easily (with clean diet and training). After that point, it can get much harder, but still possible.
If you find your BF loss stalls or slows, then you need to revamp your plan. That doesn't necessarily mean CUT calories - it might mean change your training program or food choices or even food/workout timing.
I am of the opinion that I like to set goals I can REACH. Setting an initial goal of losing 1.5% a week might be too hard - for YOU. In all honesty, I would set a goal of .5-1% per week. If you get 1.5%, GREAT.
