Thanks, LAW. Any idea how many calories you're consuming? It doesn't appear that you're depriving yourself, but if I were a guessing girl, I would say we're eating roughly the same # of calories. You have more variety and probably less protein and fat.

Congratulations on your spectacular achievement! You must feel GREAT!

I read somewhere in this thread reference to cardio workouts and increased belly fat.

I'm on the run here, but I want to mention that I saw numerous studies online and elsewhere suggesting that cardio and aerobics can cause stress on the body, increasing cortisol and belly fat. It depends on how long the session is and if there is adequate rest between reps. When a person runs for a long time, the body reacts as though it were an emergency, like running away from a cheetah! Anyway, this is something to consider.

There was also an article about 10 myths about exercise and health, and there was a sobering number of deaths discussed that were due to athletes running in marathons. That was at www.biblelife.org/exercise.htm.

Here's another reference: http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybu...itness_tip.html

What affects the release of cortisol?
Potentially, one of the largest factors that can affect the release of cortisol in the body is stress. When you are under a great deal of stress, be it from work, your relationships or financial matters, and if and when it reaches a very high level, the body will start releasing more cortisol.

Another cortisol trigger is increased stress on your body during your workouts. Overtraining is a fast-track way to ensure muscle loss takes place. If you are not allowing enough recovery in-between your intense weight-lifting sessions, cortisol is going to preside in the body and start causing problems.

Note that this is much more predominant when it comes to weight-lifting sessions in comparison with cardio sessions. Unless you are regularly performing intense cardio session after intense cardio session, cardio work alone will not effect cortisol all that much, strictly from a training standpoint.

OFF TOPIC: I'm trying to figure out what dumb keyboard stroke I've done more than once where I lose my message I am typing. Maybe left arrow? It's right below my right pinky finger on my laptop. Then I try hitting the arrow keys on the browser to restore that page, but the typed text in progress is gone. Please PM me if you have experienced this and know what has happened, and if there's a way to avoid it or get the text in the box back. Thanks! I'll be away a few days; will check back by Monday.

Thank you and yes I do feel great! I don't track calories, but I think you're right, probably in the 1300-1500 range.

I used to do a lot of cardio in the years after I graduated college--I spent a lot of time on the elliptical machine. It never really seemed to get me anywhere. At this point with all of the literature I've read, I've come to the conclusion that weight lifting plus high-intensity interval aerobic exercise seems to work much better for me. I think in the past I was eating too many calories on the SAD, so cardio was burning off my excess but wasn't helping me lose weight substantially. I think my current plan is helping me build muscle, which is helping to take care of the rest. The interval training is much faster--I probably only spend half of the time that I used to on it.

--Melissa

i would like to know more about interval training...thats what ive been doing. is that a whole different thing? it seems like its either cardio, or no cardio, is there an in between that can burn fat, like intervals?

Everyone has a threshold where increased intensity of exercise will transition you from the aerobic energy system to the anaerobic energy system. Interval training utilises both systems.

All of it is considered cardio. Cardio is a pretty loose term but we all sort of relate cardio to aerobic exercise where really its any exercise that raises your heart rate sufficiently.

Interval training is good. I think I might add that to my routine later once i get a bit more fitness about me.

As for finding an in between. You could change the intensity of your intervals both up and down and the lengths you sustain them at. Keep the body guessing! For example you could start off at 3/4 pace for x amount of minutes then slow down to a recovery pace, then do a sprint for x amount of seconds or minutes then slow down. Mix and match. Its all good for you.

As for fat burning aerobic exercise uses fat as an energy source during exercise. When you cross the threshold into the anaerobic system by increasing intensity substantially, you burn little to no fat. You create an oxygen deficit and the fat burning occurs when your muscles are recovering from such exercise.

This is also good for increasing your anaerobic threshold meaning that you can sustain higher intensity exercise without crossing into the anaerobic energy system.

Yeah I've been doing 3 minutes at 70%, then 2 minutes at 100%. On the days I do strength training I might do it for 10 or 15 minutes to get my heart rate up before I start with the weights. On my off-weight days I'll do more like a half hour of these intervals. As time goes on, I plan to shorten my low intervals and lengthen the high intervals.

--Melissa

i don't have anything to add to the cardio discussion (aside from the fact that i HATE cardio lol) but have been plagued with the disappearing text ever since i got my laptop back from being repaired. our work machines do it too, and i was told it had something to do with the sensitivity of the touch pad. i haven't figured it out yet, but it's really a complete PITA when you type out a well thought out response and it's gone.

I know exactly where you're coming from.... you're typing along, got practically a whole novel typed and your hand accidentally swipes the touch pad on the laptop and.....boom! Everything is gone. Our new laptop doesn't seem to do this, our old HP did it to me everytime. To fix it, you could turn off the touch pad while your typing, if you have a botton on the touchpad that offers this. Otherwise go into your control panel and turn it off - although that can be hassle.

I use an externally attached mouse for that very reason. HATE the Touchpad. Grew up on IBM Thinkpad with the little eraser thingie. My touchpad is DISABLED.

Wow. I haven't read through all the replies, but remember, another thing that changes the keto sticks to that dark color is dehydration!! I know in my OWN experience for that to be true. if someone already mentioned this , then ignore this post! LOL

http://health.msn.com/fitness/artic...entid=100164486
There are just as many,if not more, articles saying that cardio IS the way to go for fat loss instead of weight lifting--- all you have tjo do is google it. BTW....have you ever watched Biggest Loser? They spend most of their time doing cardio while dropping massive amounts of fat/weight! The following is a quote from a long article I just read "[B]Cardio activities can include walking, jogging, boxing, biking, swim classes, gym classes etc. These activities will burn loads of calories, increase your aerobic capacity or base fitness level and reduce your overall body fat percentage." The point is that everyone of all fitness levels have their own experiences and opinions so I don't think anyone should make a blanket statement one way of the other.

Thanks, Sheila. Nobody did mention this, but I have seen that information before. Out here in the desert, we drink more water than you could even believe! We even drink it (and offer it to out-of-state guests) warm! They think we're weird!

Nope, that's not my issue. I did read a bit of DADR last night, as well as doing my own online research. No real answers, but there may be a call to my doctor in the future.

In the meantime, I'm going to try adding in a few carbs, since I've been VERY LC for almost five weeks now, and while I don't think 1300 calories a day is too much, I'm going to try mixing it up a little, less protein, more fat and see if that helps.

Wow, this thread sure gotten long. I just wanted to add to the whole cardio vs. lifting discussion (if anyone is still listening)... I always was (and still am) a cardio junkie, I won't exercise unless I can fit some cardio in, because that is what gets me going, it's what gets me to exercise. If I were to get up at 5:30 in the morning (cuz that's the only time I CAN exercise) to lift - forget about it, I won't do it. Running makes me feel good, lifting alone does not. THATS why I run, not to simply fit in a smaller dress size quicker (although it would be nice).

However, for the past 2 weeks I have been shortening my running and added lifting (because I know you need BOTH to be HEALTHY). I have been running for 20 minutes, and lifting for 10-15 minutes every morning (alternating muscle groups, of course). I was losing at a rate of about 1-2 pounds per week, without any stalls - with just 30 minutes of running everyday. Since I started lifting and decreased my running, I have lost a good 4 pounds in about 10 days. So this whole weight lifting argument may have some merrit. If your stalled, you might want to add weight lifting, just to change things up a bit and give your routine and metabolism a little kick.

Thanks, Marcia Mae. I'm wondering since I shortened my fingernails if that's helping. It hasn't happened tonight! But I'll have to check out how to disable the touchpad. I know it has something to do with either that or an arrow key. Maybe my thumb hits it somewhere since it's near the spacebar.