5:2 / IF Exercise & Fitness Thread Number 3: Advice and information for those following Intermittent Fasting .... and anyone else too

[BigChocFrenzy]

Why Exercise ?

Maintaining a normal bodyweight and taking regular exercise are 2 major areas of life which we can address to improve our health.

Regular exercise helps reduce the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, some cancers, osteoporosis, dementia, depression.

Increasing your % muscle and / or reducing your % body fat lowers the risk of death from all causes LowerRiskMuscle

Regular exercisers gain the greatest benefits over their lifetime and they can minimise biological aging, i.e. "Bend the Aging Curve BendAge

Recent Research showed that lack of exercise is twice as likely to lead to premature death as being obese (BMI 30 -35)

Body Fat, Exercise & Diet
People who maintain their weight through diet alone without exercise are likely to have major deposits of visceral fat (the more dangerous kind around organs), even if BMI is ok.

They are TOFIs (Thin Outside, Fat Inside)

A MRI study found that:
45 % of women and nearly 60% of men with “healthy” BMI, had excessive levels of visceral fat i.e. clinically overweight

A Can J Card study showed visceral fat can be burned off via exercise, even if weight is unchanged (increased lean mass)

Hormesis

Hormesis, see Mattson , BlackSwan and Stronger is cutting edge science for nutrition & fitness.

Its principles are that alternating between “extremes” - e.g. feast & fast (5:2 / IF) , intense training & rest (HIIT) - makes the body more resilient.

The intermittent stress of lifting an extreme weight or performing at high speed for a short period pushes the body to overcompensate and prepare for an even greater future challenge HormesisTrain , Hormesis-Edge , and AntiFragile
The following recovery period avoids damage from over-stressing.

Fasted training

i.e. training on FDs (Fast Days), seems to increase the benefits of both training and IF.
Most experienced exercisers soon manage fasted training without loss of performance for sessions of up to 90 mins.

TYPES of Exercise

Main types: Aerobic, anaerobic, flexibility.

All exercise will burn fat, the more intense the faster the fat burn

Anaerobic
e.g. HIIT (see below), sprints, strength training
. Shorter training period
. Increases the RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) for up to 48 hrs
. Soon increases fitness
. May help correct insulin metabolism issues & target abs fat.

Aerobic
e.g. walking, running, cycling, swimming
. Longer training period
. May burn more calories during exercise, if it is lasts much longer than HIIT, but burns fewer afterwards
. It is easier to do for the less fit

Flexibility, Stability, Relaxation
e.g. yoga, stretching

The best exercise routine is one you enjoy and is sustainable.

HIIT cardio and resistance training / weight lifting are especially recommended to boost the effect of 5:2/IF, to increase weight loss, reduce body fat, retain muscle and maintain TDEE / BMR.

HOW to Exercise

If you are a very overweight unfit beginner:
. Check with your GP before starting exercise
. Start by walking 5-10 mins twice per day, gradually increase
. Try walk intervals: alternating 1 min faster pace, 1 min normal
. Build up to a brisk 30 mins daily walk and you will significantly improve your health & fitness
. Swimming is also good, preferably crawl or back stroke for less strain on back & joints.

Everyone Else:
Whether you join a gym or train at home or in the park:

• Train as intensively as your time, health and fitness level allow.
• Do not remain in your comfort zone, or you will not improve. But stop immediately if you feel any sharp pain.
• You are supposed to drip sweat and pant heavily !

Efficiency / Intensity: This Study proved that at speeds of 5mph or faster, running will burn more calories per mile than walking

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

HIIT is an exercise strategy which alternates brief intervals of high intensity exercise with less intense recovery periods

. Very time-efficient, producing the greatest fitness benefit in the least time (the advantage of hormesis)

. Increases both aerobic and anaerobic endurance

. May improve insulin metabolism, very important for health and abs fat.

. Reduces risk of heart problems more than doing lower intensity SteadyState , pp. 31-34.

HIIT can be applied to cardio or to bodyweight exercises, at home or gym.
Most gyms offer HIIT classes, e.g. spinning, circuit training, CrossFit, Tabata, Fartlek (=HIIT with irregular intervals)

FAST Exercise

"No time" to exercise ?
Or want to boost fitness & fat-burning metabolism

Dr Mosely developed a FastExerciseProgram to complement his 5:2 WOE
His Fast HIIT and strength routines can significantly improve metabolism & fat-burning capability

Other scientists like Tabata have developed routines now wisely incorporated in training.

HIIT Fitness Blasts

A few mins per day, 3-5 days per week

START with 2 mins warmup then EITHER

Sprint or Rope-skipping intervals
. 1 minute sprinting / skipping @ max effort +90 secs jogging to recover
. Do 5 intervals

OR

Fast Blasts
Choose from:
Running, stationary bike @ low resistance, rope-skipping, burpees, jumping jacks, spotty dog, punching air or bag, step-ups, swimming, squats, lunges, pressups, tricep dips, situps ... or any combination you like.

Choose type of Blast:

4-minute Blast
. 4 mins @ 90% effort

OR "Tabata" = 8 x intervals of 20 secs @ 100% effort + 10 secs recovery @ rest or slow speed
( FreeTimerApp )

OR 2 x20-sec intervals=
. 20-sec @ 100% effort
. 2 mins walk to recover
. 20-sec @ 100% effort

END any HIIT or Fat Blast with a few mins cooldown walk / jog

RESISTANCE Training / LIFTING

Helps retain muscle mass during weight loss and hence to maintain TDEE.
Lift at home / in the gym weights area / in a pump class.

It is best not to train the same muscle groups 2 days in succession, so have rest days, or cardio, or train different muscle groups on different days.
Try to build up to weight training for 30-60 mins twice per week.

Reps = the number of repetitions in a set of lifts
Sets are separated by brief rests
E.g. 3 sets of 12 reps = 36 lifts
Breathing: Inhale before lifting, exhale while lifting. Don't hold your breath.

WARNING
Do not lift massively heavy barbells, more than bodyweight, unless you are really fit with good technique.
Women who have given birth and / or are aged 40+ have a higher risk of pelvic floor / prolapse injuries when lifting heavy than young non-mums.

Press ups
Video

• The best upper body exercise
• Keep attempting one full pressup rather than doing several dozen girlie ones with your knees on the floor
• Once you can do one pressup, you will soon be able to build up to 5, then 10 etc.
• Tip: keep the abs rigid, so strong abs are as important as strong shoulders & arms
• Hand Release Pressups are good to build up strength for full ones
• Also build up via inclined pressups IncPress , see bottom of wiki page
• To increase the number of pushups IncNum

ATG Arse To Grass bodyweight squat

• The best exercise for the large muscle group in bum and thighs
• Basic principle: It is like having a pee on a public loo - get your bum down low and pointing to the rear, but not actually touching the seat

-Lean back on your heels, so that weight is on them, not on your toes

• Bring your arms forward
• Keep your back straight, but angled slightly forward, not vertical
• Squat down as far as you can without knee pain or hunching your back
• Push up from your heels, exhaling.

Pullups

• Very few women can do full ones, but assisted ones build excellent muscle
• Work the same muscles with the much easier Australian pullup / InvertedRow

If you have access to dumbbells / barbells, then for maximum effect, work the large muscle groups:
Squat BentOverRow (press button "female")
BehindNeckPress (press button "female")
DeadLift

To increase Strength
Lift as heavy as you can, low reps, with 1 minute rest between sets e.g. 5 sets x 5 reps each, i.e. totalling 25 lifts

To Build Muscle
Lift lower weight, 3 sets x 8-20 reps, i.e. totalling 24-60 lifts

To Build Endurance
Lift lower (NOT Girlie) weight for 3-5 mins, preferably without pauses

BUM / GLUTES
Squats & lunges are excellent
Also this 2-min bodyweight workout especially for women, targeting the bum:
WorkYourBum

ABS
Choose the exercises & number of reps for your fitness level

The plank
. Start at 2 x 15 secs. Build up to 2 x 45 secs
. Advanced:

1. Use TRX slings, picture 2

Side plank + hip raises
. If you can, keep the side of 1 foot plus 1 forearm on the floor, free arm straight up in the air, picture 3
. Easier - free hand on your hip. Easier still - keep calf & knee on the floor, instead of bent at the knees
. Start at 3 sets of 3. Build up to 3 x 30

Leg raises
. Lie flat on your back, with legs bent to 90 degrees
. Lower the legs one at a time to 1" above the floor (straight leg if you can) then raise again
. Start at 3 sets of 3 each leg. Build up to 3 x 15
. Advanced:

1. Lower both legs at the same time

Situps
. Hands forward to really work abs & avoid pulling the neck
. Alternatively, cross your arms over your chest
. Start at 3 sets of 3. Build up to 3 x 30
. Advanced:

1. Raise legs to 90 degrees & bring them towards you when you situp (double crunch)
2. Legs nearly flat on the floor
3. One leg bent at 90 degrees, the other held straight 1" above the floor
4. Hold a weight disc / dumbbells / barbell above your head

Angled Situps
. Lie on your back and rest one ankle on the opposite knee
. Angled situp so your opposite elbow touches the knee
. Keep the other hand be in the air by your knee, or alternatively supporting your head - do NOT pull on the neck
. Build up to 3 sets of 20 each side
. Advanced:

1. with dumbell
2. Situps with legs rotated 90 degrees to the left, resting on floor. Then repeat set with legs rotated to the right, on floor
3. Lie on the floor, rotate legs 90 degrees to the left. Raise and lower legs like that, keeping back on the floor. Repeat set with legs on other side
4. Keep legs raised & rotated to the left and do situps (double side crunch) Repeat with legs raised & rotated to the right

AVOID OSTEOPOROSIS

To retain bone strength and avoid a painfully disabled old age, start now:
Ideally weight-bearing exercises that load the bone along its length of these types:

Impact exercise E.g. walking, running, jumping, skipping rope, step class, hitting a heavy punch bag

Lifting: squats, press-ups, bench press, overhead press etc

Squats are much better for osteoporosis than lunges, also for knees:
The weight in a squat is transmitted down along the spine, through the hip, and down along the bones of the leg, whereas in a lunge, it is transmitted across the shinbone and puts pressure on the knee joint

Cycling normally does NOT increase bone density, as it does not load bones along their length. Osteo

KETTLEBELLS Kettle
Beginners:
. Two-handed swing
. Sumo Deadlift
. Turkish Getup
. Swing
. Clean and Jerk
. Press

Improve GRIP STRENGTH GripStrength , GripBuild

RUNNERS

. Sprinting improves fitness
. Regular 5 - 10 km runs burn significant fat, especially fasted

Running illustrates the "J or S-curve" effect, where increasing exercise improves health, up to a certain point, after which health worsens e.g. MayoClinic , RiceUni , JMed :

. Running 20 mins improves immune system

. A run of 90+ mins may weaken the immune system for up to 3 days.
With insufficient recovery periods, the damage is cumulative.
Elite runners have immune systems that handle that strain

. Long races 20k+ may cause micro-tears to the heart muscle in some runners, hence a 2-week recovery period is recommended.

CALCULATORS:
Calories Burned for specific exercises: ExerciseCals
Fitness Calculators: 52FastExercise
Estimate fitness age: FitAge
Estimate Vo2Max iTunes App: Vo2APP
Running Calories burned: RunningCals
Running Standards: Age-RelatedRunCalculator
TDEE 24hr activity times & body fat TDEE-Detail

Thanks BCF - can you give me a starting point for how many lunges squats and press-ups on knees to aim for? I did 20 lunges this morning (10 each leg) and about 10 squats but should I be doing these in sets? How many per set and how many sets with how much recovery time in between?

Also for the squats , should the legs be hip width apart?

Your like my very own personal trainer BCF thank you very much!

Will invest in a skipping rope but will need to do it outside (low ceilings) and dont fancy that much in this weather

Hi purple That's a very good start

Training plan: You don't have to do all your exercises on one day if you find that tiring
e.g. you could alternate days with upper body and lower body
I suggest 20 mins walk on restdays- have at least one rest day per week, 3-4 if you feel tired while building up fitness,

This avoids working the same muscles on successive days - allow them a day to recover and this often builds strength faster,

I suggest 3 sets of whatever exercises you are doing that day, as much as you can manage per set
Buildup to 3 sets of 10-15 for each exercise.

So for lunges, build up to 3 sets of 10 each as first aim
(that's called 3 sets of 10 reps)
Maybe the first set will be 10, but you can only manage 6-8 for the next sets, Whatever works.

Most folk find that they are weaker / stronger on some exercises,
e.g. you may find you can only do 6 squats or tricep dips per set, or you might be able to do as many as 12

For tricep dips, start with bent legs,
then when you can do lots of those, do them with straight legs, which is harder

For plank, a set is however many seconds you can do, which might be 5 seconds to start, or might be 20
Build up to say 2.3 sets of 30 secs plank

Squats should be mainly shoulder width, but you could add in a set of wide squats if you want.
So 2-3 sets of shoulder width, plus 1 set of wide.
Same rules for all squats:
straight back, weight mainly on heels, point your bum backwards

In all cases, recovery time between sets, is however long you need to be able to do the next set.
That's individual, but usually 10-45 secs.
Tweak your system to find what works for you - recovery time may shorten, then increase as you increase reps.

These are useful photos to check your form for squats, plank,

For squats and lunges, only go as far down as you can manage

Tricep dips, bent legs to start, then straight legs once you are stronger
With lunges, straight back

Thank you BCF!

Hello @BigChocFrenzy - I hope you're still checking this thread; I see the last post was a while ago. You seem to be quite expert in exercise and I was hoping you could give me some advice.

I've been exercising consistently for 15 months now. I began using Kayla Itsines' Bikini Body Guide (mainly bodyweight circuits). At the beginning I made enormous progress quickly (strength and appearance) because I was starting from a very low level of activity.

Eventually I got bored with that programme and started to diversify using various websites, which has made things more fun and increased my enthusiasm. I've added more cardio to my week and have improved my endurance by far. I basically try to alternate strength training (upper body - core - lower body) and HIIT.

However, I seem actually to be regaining body fat (which is OK as I'm not overweight - I just don't understand it) and losing upper body strength. My arms are without a doubt my weakest area and I'm disappointed to see them regress although my perception is that I'm working them more.

My ideas about the cause of this are:

• Wrong diet (I generally eat vegetarian wholefoods and am very happy with that but perhaps am lacking something or other)
• Sketchy approach to progressive overload (I am very reluctant to make exercise boring and would prefer to enjoy and keep doing it than become maximally fit as fast as possible at the price of getting all serious and spreadsheety about tracking my gains, but since I don't measure or record anything I have no idea how or when to increase my weights, reps etc)
• Arbitrary training schedule (I just choose a workout the night before with no real logic beyond what I feel like doing at the time; ie I'm not repeating the same moves and increasing incrementally)
• Exercising fasted (I notice you do this and it's what I've done since the beginning, but wonder whether I am lacking the energy in my system to produce my best effort)
• Not enough rest (my primary reason for working out is to manage depression and I don't really like taking days off, but maybe I'd get further doing, say, four big workouts rather than 6-7 smaller ones)
• Mood issues (I often feel that I just have no energy and my body is made of lead, even though I know I can't be physically tired - maybe this prevents me from pushing myself properly)

Do you have any suggestions? I want to continue getting faster and stronger but it doesn't seem to be happening at the minute.

Thank you for reading!

Hi @Gaudeamus I check this blog frequently and I was about to give its monthly bump
Here's my (long !) ideas - oops , I have 15 questions you can consider too.

Your perceptions / data
Have you actually monitored to check if you are regressing in bodyfat and strength, or just sts or even improving v slowly ?

Also, some statistics would be useful for me to give more precise advice wrt both exercise and nutrition:

1. Have you checked whether clothes that fitted well before are now tighter ?
   If so, where exactly are they snug ?

2. Best indicator of visceral bodyfat (i.e. around the organs, the most important kind) is waist measurement
   Do you monitor waist ?
   If not, I recommend you do so every 2-3 weeks, the same day each time, naked, first thing in the morning, after loo but before eating or drinking anything
   If you are a woman, measure at the narrowest point, usually about 2" above the navel; for a man, measure at the navel

3. Has your scale weight increased ?
   If so, by how much and over what time ?

4. Your general statistics: height, weight, age, waist measurement, (as above), hips measurement (if you are a woman) at widest point

5. Your training statistics - I realise it is difficult to specify certain things if you don't have a set plan, but give your guesstimates
   a) How many days each week for cardio sessions, strength sessions or both ?
   b) How many hours per week do you usually train and is that over 6-7 days ?

c) Cardio - what kind ? - running, swimming, cycling, elliptical trainer etc or mixture ?
How long is a typical cardio session ?
If you run, how far, how often and on what surface treadmill / garss / hills ?

d) Strength - what kinds ? - pump class, free weights, machines, or mixture ?
How many minutes per sessions per day ?
How many reps per sets and how many sets for free weights ? Or what mix of these do you do

6. Do you train at a gym, outside, at home, a mix ?

Sleep
7) Do you get about 8 hrs per night ?

I know this is tough with depression, but there is no substitute for adequate sleep
Without it, you will indeed tend to lose muscle and also gain fat - increased cortisol levels can have both of these effects

Recommendation

• Plan your days to get those 8 hours, even a daily siesta if nights are bad
  Much better to cut out training 2-3 days per week if this is cutting into sleep / preventing an early night to catch up.

• If you are regularly sleeping more than 9 hours per day, tell your doctor - your meds may need adjusting, or you may need tests.

8. Say if you have sleep problems, because I have a checklist for what can help

Medications / Supplements
9) Has your doctor changed your meds before / around the period of changed fat & strength ?
If so, of course don't stop meds, but do discuss with your doctor if the previous meds could be more appropriate - mention the fat & strength changes you perceive, because some meds do have these side effects

It may be that to best help your depression, you just need to accept the side effects and we can work out how to compensate via diet & training.

10. Have you changed hormonal contraception ?
    Again, discuss with your HCP

11. Have you had your iron levels checked ?
    Low levels can lead to weakness.
    Women especially who have heavy periods, or do a lot of running, can have low levels
    See my diet recomendations later in this post, to help / avoid iron deficiency

12. Do you take any non-prescribed supplements ? If so, which ones ?
    Some have documented side effects that we need to know and may not suitable for you.

Fasted Training
has been proven in many studies to be an excellent way to both build muscle and burn fat

• Provided you don't overload or underfeed your system, i.e:

• Your fasts are not too long or too often
  Recommendations

• Since you are not overweight, don't have more than 2 FDs per week
  and don't fast longer than 20 hours including the overnight fast.

• If you are doing daily 16:8, then don't exceed a 16-hour fast. Maybe on some days, just do 14:10 instead.

• You don't train fasted before too long a session.
  Recommendations
  Especially if you feel weaker, keep fasted training to maximum 60 minutes
  If your fasted training is cardio, especially running, then keep that to maximum 45 minutes.

• Adequate diet for your particular body and lifestyle, i.e.
  You obtain sufficient nutrients per fast day and over the week^
  You are not training too long and / or too hard.
  Recommendations - See next sections:

Training Overall
I can add more specifics for your program if you can answer my ( umpteen !) questions , but general_ recommendations_:

• You may find a more structured program brings more progress and less need to think e.g. roughly the same class plan, if you go to a gym,
  or prefer a looser plan of just deciding strength days / cardio days / rest days
  or even totally ad hoc, but I suggest you then consider at least the guidelines below:

• Have at least one day per week free from all training.
  You may feel stronger with 2 non-consecutive restdays
  If exercise helps your psychological health, then on rest-days optionally have a gentle 20 minute walk outside, especially if there is a glimpse of sun.

• Don't exercise more than 2 hrs total in any day, including warmup & cooldown
  That would probably over-stress your individual bod atm
  Don't have 2 consecutive classes or sessions, if this takes you over 90 minutes

• Don't do prolonged - over 45 mins = steady state cardio sessions
  These include running, rowing, elliptical trainer, stationary bike on your own (not in a class) etc
  These can overstress the body & even the mind; can actually reduce muscle and / or add fat.

To improve muscle, speed and fitness together, avoid this - those who do long cardio sessions have quite different training aims / bods to yours

• Don't do hard exercise using the same muscle groups 2 days running.
  Muscles actually grow in the recovery period of up to 48 hours, in which microtears in the muscle fibres are repaired and the whole muscle becomes stronger
  e.g. if you work upper body, then the next day work lower body or abs or do cardio
  e.g. don't run on successive days if your sessions are longer than 40 mins per day

• Good cardio classes are spin or dance. Other good events in company are: hockey, football etc
  They normally vary speeds and have short recovery breaks.
  The music (spin, dance) and company can also help mild depression

• To improve running speed, longer sessions generally do NOT help.
  Instead, do short sprint intervals totalling maximum 10 minutes, plus a few mins warmup jog plus cooldown, i.e HIIT

• Don't do more than 4 HIIT sessions per week, unless they are maximum 5 minutes total.
  No HIIT session should be longer than 60 mins.
  No more than one HIIT session per day, even if a session is only 5 mins

• To improve lifting strength & energy, keep cardio sessions to no more than 30-60 mins TOTAL and no more frequently than every other day

• Martial arts - e.g. non-contact boxing, taebo, ta kwon do - are excellent for improving strength, speed and burning fat.
  They are also very strenuous, so no more than one 90-minute maximum session per week if you do this
  And avoid a heavy strength day directly before or after a tough martial arts day.

• Do strength training on 3 days per week - without cardio or martial arts those days - have a 20 mins gentle walk afterwards if you can.

• Concentrate on the larger muscle groups: back / shoulders, bum / legs, abs. e.g.
  . Pressups - the best overall exercise for upper body, which also works abs & lower back
  . Deep squats
  . Pullups/ chins / inverted row
  . Plank & side plank raises - the best abs exercises, which also strengthen the upper body & back

You can do bicep curls etc afterwards if you have strength left, but they are usually worked by the large muscle exercises

_ On at least one strength day, go for heavy weights on the large muscle groups at low numbers of reps, 5-12 per set, no more than 30 reps per exercise. A 5x5 is excellent

Good marathon runners are successfully adapted to this stress, but your perceptions suggest long runs would overstress your particular body

Warnings

• Too much running in particular can reduce iron levels in women
• Runs of 90+ mins reduce the functioning of the body's immune system for up to 3 days
• Long hard runs, half-marathon and above, require 2 full weeks without training, to allow body repair, e.g. of micro-tears in heart muscle

Diet / Nutrition
A varied vegetarian or vegan diet can provide all the necessary protein and nutrients for most exercisers.
However, just a few checks:

12. Do you eat any animal products ?
    Recommendations If you are able to, then especially boost these:
    . Fish
    . Eggs
    . Greek yoghurt (full-fat)
    . Beans, lentils, peas

13. Do you eat a range of vegetables of different colours, at least 5 preferably 7 portions of different veg per day ?
    If not, plan so you achieve this.

14. Do you stay within NHS alcohol levels ?
    Do you eat a lot of treats with added sugar ?

Both alcohol and added sugar can pile on fat, especially around the mid-section.
Even if you are within healthy BMI, these can worsen your body composition, i.e. % muscle : % fat

Important recommendations for mostly veggy diet

• Combine types of amino acids to get complete protein in at least 2 meals per day, e.g. beans & rice
  I can check your food combinations if you are unsure

For good muscle, most folk generally need at least 0.8-1.2 g protein per kg body weight

• With vegetarian sources of iron, you must combine them in the same meal with food containing vitamin C, to enable sufficient absorption.

Combine Vit C sources - especially good: apple, tomatoes, pomegranates, peaches, dates, bell peppers
with iron sources - recommended: spinach, soy / kidney beans, chick peas, lentils, almonds, walnuts, sesame seeds, broccoli, baked potato

Sorry, the App decided to heavily underline most of the "training" session
Don't be alarmed

BCF This is incredibly generous of you - thank you for giving my question so much attention. I've answered below and will give thought to your advice and come back with anything else that occurs to me.

Have you actually monitored to check if you are regressing in bodyfat and strength, or just sts or even improving v slowly ?

No, this is purely subjective, which is not very helpful for you here - I'm at a point with exercise where I've been fine just winging it so far because the improvement would occur through any sort of added activity, but now feel I need to be more methodical and haven't really known what to do about that. I'm not actually sure how to measure these things. For bodyfat my method is... looking at myself. I can definitely say I look less 'ripped' than before, but that could be water or lost muscle definition rather than added fat. Should I get callipers or would you say an online calculator is better?

For strength, now that I think about it I'm quite confused about whether I'm getting weaker, or whether my ambitions are just increasing at a faster rate than my abilities. What sort of benchmarks should I measure for this?

1) Have you checked whether clothes that fitted well before are now tighter ?
If so, where exactly are they snug ?

My clothes all fit. I'm pretty lean so wouldn't expect to be bursting out of anything. I also hate wearing tight clothes!

2. Best indicator of visceral bodyfat (i.e. around the organs, the most important kind) is waist measurement Do you monitor waist ?

No, I don't regularly measure myself at all. I'm content with my shape so haven't had a reason to, but will do so from now on in case it reveals something. I tend to put weight on my bum and thighs.

3) Has your scale weight increased ?
If so, by how much and over what time ?

I've gained about 4kg this year, which happened in the early part of the year, although I wasn't tracking precisely so am not sure exactly when. Probably over about three months, I think. However, it seemed like most of it was muscle as I was getting bigger shoulders, glutes, biceps etc and not really softer.

4) Your general statistics: height, weight, age, waist measurement, (as above), hips measurement (if you are a woman) at widest point

Female
Height: 168cm
Weight: 57kg
Age: 34
Waist: 58.5cm
Hip: 81.5cm

5) Your training statistics - I realise it is difficult to specify certain things if you don't have a set plan, but give your guesstimates
a) How many days each week for cardio sessions, strength sessions or both ?
b) How many hours per week do you usually train and is that over 6-7 days ?

I do cardio every day, either with or without strength. I do strength about three days a week. Not counting warmup and stretching, I go for 30-60mins every day. I've recently got into a YouTube channel with extremely gruelling 70-80min workouts which I attempt maybe once a week. They're right at the top end of my stamina. And willpower (Fit Body by Julia if anyone feels like getting thrashed by a woman in the 20th week of pregnancy!)

c) Cardio - what kind ? - running, swimming, cycling, elliptical trainer etc or mixture ?
How long is a typical cardio session ?
If you run, how far, how often and on what surface treadmill / garss / hills ?

I do everything at home, so moves like squats\squat jumps, lunges\lunge jumps, broad jumps, lateral jumps, step-ups, burpees, mountain climbers, stationary skipping, high knees, jumping jacks, skaters, fast feet, 'kick-boxing'-type routines. For tired days I'll do slower-paced, low-impact routines. Duration is 20-30mins if I'm really pushing the intensity, or about the same interspersed in intervals between strength moves, or up to maybe 45 where the moves combine cardio and strength, or up to 1hr for a less taxing sequence.

d) Strength - what kinds ? - pump class, free weights, machines, or mixture ?
How many minutes per sessions per day ?
How many reps per sets and how many sets for free weights ? Or what mix of these do you do

Free weights or bodyweight at home. I follow videos from various sources so the structure varies a lot. I aim for the highest weight I can for 10-12 reps and shoot to be struggling with the last couple of reps. Typically either 2 sets each of 2-3 exercises targeting the same muscles (ie 4-6 sets), or about 4 sets of the same exercise, mostly supersets. Cumulatively that's probably 20-30mins of strength usually, but as mentioned that can be alternating with cardio intervals.

This is something I need to pin down. I understand that I need to go to low reps, heavy weights to get stronger, but I don't know how heavy a heavy weight is. My weights are mostly lighter than those demonstrated in the workout, but I feel it the next day, sometimes for several days. How should I decide how much to lift?

6) Do you train at a gym, outside, at home, a mix ?

See above.

Sleep
7) Do you get about 8 hrs per night ?

My sleep is a joke. I usually sleep twice at random times of day for 3-5hrs, but sometimes only get 4hrs or occasionally nothing at all. I feel tired all the time. I've begun using meditation, which makes me go to sleep but not stay asleep, and have temazepam and zopiclone in limited amounts (to avoid habituation).

8) Say if you have sleep problems, because I have a checklist for what can help

9) Has your doctor changed your meds before / around the period of changed fat & strength ?

There's no obvious correlation, although it's really hard to tell because of possible drug interactions.

10) Have you changed hormonal contraception ?

No.

11) Have you had your iron levels checked ?

I've just had a blood test for everything as my doctor pointed out that I looked like hell . Will report back when the results come (next week).

12) Do you take any non-prescribed supplements ? If so, which ones ?

Almost all of them! Quicker to ask what I don't take. I've developed osteoarthritis in my hands and feet over the last six months and since there's no medical intervention at this stage I'm throwing the kitchen sink at it, as well as the normal ones lots of people take - glucosamine, vit. D, omega oils, magnesium, calcium, multivitamin, tumeric + ginger. There might even be more that I'm forgetting.

12) Do you eat any animal products ?

Dairy, no meat or fish.

13) Do you eat a range of vegetables of different colours, at least 5 preferably 7 portions of different veg per day ?

Yes, loads of veg.

14) Do you stay within NHS alcohol levels ?

No booze.

Do you eat a lot of treats with added sugar ?

Ice-cream a few times a month, but not keen on chocolate\sweets\cake.

I seem to have committed reciprocal formatting failures

That's very useful info, Gaudeamus
Sounds a very stressful time for you and I'm glad your doctor is doing tests to help.

BMI = 20.7 - Excellent
TDEE = 2250 cals, quite high, so lots of freedom to include good fats etc
Waist / height = 0.348 - really lean, right at the lowest edge of ideal range (.35-.45)
Waist / hips = 0.72 - fine
Veg vs Treats & booze = amazingly good

Bodyfat
Low already - No need to bother with calipers or bf calcs
Your stats clearly show that you don't need to lose fat.
If anything, you may be slightly too lean.

Biggest issue is obviously your sleep
. That is probably damaging your health and starting to reduce your strength, or at least preventing progress
. Lack of sleep means insufficient time for cell repair, weakens your immune system, may raise BP … several health risks that I'm sure you realise.
. Depression: lack of sleep reduces neurone signalling and desensitises response to seratonin, the feel-good hormone.

You are no longer 20 years old, so if the sleep issues, stress - and the intense exercise ? - have been going on a few years, then the cumulative effects may have caught up with you.

imo, one issue is that you are over-training (maybe to handle stress & depression ?).
You've overloaded your body with more exercise than it can cope with, given the lack of sleep.
Your training intensity is too high & too frequent for anyone not in peak health

Initial Recommendations:

You need to concentrate on regaining your health, before you can progress with fitness

• Monitor weight and waist, maybe every 2 weeks, but only to check that neither drops
  (weekly fluctuations of a couple of lb are normal, even more at totm)
  Your doctor might recommend putting on a few lb - listen to them, if so

• Boost beans, lentils, tofu, yoghurt, nuts for protein - I hope your doc is testing for B12, as well as iron.
  Add a drizzle of olive oil (proven health benefits) to salads & veg

• Aim for 2 litres water (tea, milk count towards this, not fizz)
  Cut down fizzy drinks to maximum 1 x 330 ml can / glass per day - ideally have regular fizz-free days.
  Keep coffee, espresso etc to no more than 3 cups per day - your bod needs to chill.

Training

1. Now: take 2 weeks break from exercise to let your body recover

• just have a daily walk - not too long, relaxed pace, not carrying anything.

I realise you probably don't want to hear that, but you're exhausted and your bod needs this break. Most fitness / athletic professionals schedule at least one break every year, in their off-season, more if they are burnt out.

2. When you resume, dial back exercise & add in recovery days:

• have at least 2 training rest-days every week, in which you take no exercise other than a gentle walk
  Your body builds muscle during recovery days and your immune system needs them too.

• Keep 3 non-consecutive strength days per week (unless your doctor advises otherwise)
  Sounds like you already are lifting appropriately heavy weights; you have sensible # reps and the last 1-2 reps per set are tough.
  Until you recover good sleep and health, keep to slow and steady lifts, not HIIT.

• Drop cardio right down - you don't have excess fat that you need to lose and lifting does give some cardio fitness too.
  Your current amount may catabolise muscle on a very lean person
  and can increases tiredness overall if your sleep is poor
  Over-loading high intensity may also be worsening a propensity (familial ?) for early osteoarthritis

• So, NO cardio on strength days, to reduce the stress and let your body concentrate on building / retaining muscle
  That means at most 2 (non-consecutive) cardio days - if possible, make one day a swimming or cycling session, 30-60 mins, not HIT, to reduce load on joints
  In fact, you could make those days just walking days, if your doctor wants you to reduce exercise and relax more.

• You'd probably benefit from dropping to 1 cardio day, with your 5th exercise day being a session of flexibility, stretching, breathing etc

• Cardio types - unless your doctor advises otherwise, drop the high impact jumping stuff and do low impact.

• Until you regain health - indicated by no longer feeling tired - drop the extreme workout video that stretches you to the limits.
  That will be another motivation to get healthy, a natural consequence reward

Sleep
Can your doc refer you to a sleep clinic or other professional help ?

• do tell them how bad it is.

Excellent that you don't booze, as that can disrupt sleep.

Tips
New habits generally take at least a month to become ingrained, so be patient

• Aim for 15 mins walk / sit outside sometime each day, ideally when the sun pops out
• No caffeine - coffee, espresso, coke etc - in the 8 hrs before bed, or after 3pm.
• Try to avoid exercise within the 3 hrs before bed, other than a gentle 20 mins walk if you feel the need. If you can only train evenings, then try to do so as early as possible.
• Try to avoid meals after 7:30 pm. A milky bedtime drink might help, though.
• No screens - TV, phone, games etc - at least 1 hr before bed The blue light suppresses the secretion of melatonin, a hormone that influences circadian rhythms and promotes sleep.
• Ensure bedroom is dark (cover even your bedside alarm light), quiet, comfy temperature, comfy bedding & nightwear
• Keep a regular daily bedtime and routine, e.g. 10 pm - clean teeth, warm bath / shower, 10 mins meditation, then lights out. Longterm, a routine trains your body to prepare for sleep

This is incredibly useful and insightful advice BCF - thank you so much for using your experience and wisdom to help me.

I have a long history of taking something enjoyable and good for me, and turning it into an anxious nightmare by pushing too hard - inside I believe that more effort is always better, even though I understand intellectually (and am great at advising other people) how wrong that is. Despite knowing that I have this tendency and that it inevitably precipitates horrible crashes in my mood and health, I find it very hard to recognise at the time and always suspect that I'm not trying hard enough. Your very timely comments have helped me get in early this time, and I am so grateful as I really want to keep exercise as something I can benefit from permanently.

I'm going to use all your tips and recommendations to come up with a more coherent schedule that includes ample recovery. Another fault in my thinking that you've allowed me see is that I try to compensate for not sleeping by doing more exercise, thinking that since I'm in debit on the sleep side of health I need to make up for it by adding exercise health - that's obviously not working! I'll swap some cardio for stretching and walks, and drop the intense stuff, and hopefully the extra time off will free up some energy for healing.

I will also put some serious effort into getting back to sleeping properly. It's been about six years now and I've got so used to it I've stopped seeing how terrible it is. Thank you for pointing this out!

Your specific tips are so useful. Very vague thoughts on similar topics tend to do a worried little dance in my head without becoming proper action plans and just increasing my uncertainty about how to fix the problem. Having a definite list of steps is great. Thank you again.

All the best, gaudeamus
Post if ever you need more advice / support; or post after a couple of month progress that, hopefully, you are feeling much healthier

Ok so I've been trying to follow the exercises suggested for me but I'm overdoing it as the day after I'm absolutely exhausted and flat. I've tried it a few times and same thing happened. So I think I need to start off very slow. I'll choose one exercise a day and have a days rest in between and see how I get on.

Will do lunges today.

A good idea when starting to alternate exercise days with rest days - on which you could optionally take a 15 minute walk outside.

Start at your own level and build up.
When doing a set, the last rep or two should feel fairly hard, but not shattering
Similarly, on an exercise day, it's normal to feel pleasantly tired at the end, but not shattered

important

• Drink plenty of water, especially on exercise days.
• Plan your days to leave time for a solid 8 hrs sleep every night

Thanks BCF. The thing is
Is I feel fine whilst exercising and that night however it affects me the following day where I just feel utterly exhausted. Will try slowing it right down and see how I go

Thanks for your advice

Posters are very welcome.
Spammers are NOT

Welcome to anyone just joining in the January
Do post if you would like exercise advice:
to improve fitness, and / or boost weight loss, improve flabby bits, build up bone density

If you aren't sure where to start, I can also suggest a personalised exercise plan
Just post something about yourself:
e.g. sedentary / fitness level, how much time you have to train, whether you prefer gym / park / home exercise

I'm dabbling with the idea of starting the 5:2 but just concerned over energy levels.

I work full time, run 3 times a week and have 3 horses. It's easier if i map my week out rather than try to explain it...

Mon: 5am up, horses, work, 30min lunch, work, horses (including riding x2) Running club - hill or sprint intervals.
Tues: 5am up, horses, work, 30min lunch, work, horses (including riding x2)
Weds: 5am up, horses, work, 30min lunch, work, horses (including riding x2) Running club - around 6 milesFri: 5am up, horses, work, 30min lunch, work, horses (including riding x2)
Sat: Up 7am, horses, 5km run, lunch, horses for rest of afternoon/early eve incl riding x2
Sun: Up 7am, horses, chores/errands, lunch, horses for rest of afternoon/early eve incl riding x2

So my Q is, how would the fasting affect my energy to live the above life? Reducing running or horse time is non-negotiable so will i be able to get sufficient energy in me to continue the above on this diet/lifestyle? Also, as you can see, i don't really have time to add anything else fitness wise into my days

Somehow i missed Thursday, which is a copy of Friday!

Hi
I've been training and clean eating for a couple of years, I do a couple of strength training classes plus a pt session which usually includes an element of strength training too. Also do yoga, and a fair bit of walking. When I started this regime I was very overweight, over 100kg dress size 18/20.
I'm now at 85kg, dress size 14/16 but have stayed this way for a good 8 months now. I'm thinking 5:2 could be a good way to shift some more fat, get things moving again and get to my goal of dress size 12. I really don't want to lose my strength gains though.
My pt instructor is a bit dubious about strength training whilst fasted, she thinks my body will start burning muscle for energy. I'm willing to give it a try and see how I go over the next three months.
What does everyone think about fasted strength training? Experiences, opinions?
Thanks

redpony Crikey, you certainly have a very active life.
Sounds great fun

Most exercisers find they can continue exercise as normal on 5:2, even on FDs
The exception are those who run longer distances, 10 km +, because these take fuel mostly from glycogen stores, which will be low on FDs

I suggest you try 5:2
Maybe at first, keep the most tiring days, probably the running days, as NFDs