Why does cardio work for some but not for others?

[sbhikes]

I read this article on T-Nation by Rachel Cosgrove. She did some triathlon training, tracked her calories (2000-2500 a day) and lost only 5lbs even though she would go for 100 mile bike rides and runs on the same day.
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_..._cardio_coffin

She claims her body became adapted (whatever that means) to the steady state cardio and because her body was in the "fat burning zone" it got really good at storing fat. That doesn't make any sense to me, but whatever.

I've known trail runners who look like skeletons. Steady state cardio seems to make at least some people waste away. My boyfriend can waste away with enough cardio. But then there is Rachel's experience, which isn't unlike my own. Why does this happen to some people and not others? Or is it only a matter of time for the others?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Yea this is actually a pretty well known phenomenon that hasn't been mechanistically worked out in great detail just yet. It appears to stem from multiple things, i.e. mitochondrial efficiency (reduced energy input required for the same energy output), increased efficiency of movement, and an overall slowing of the metabolism stemming from reduced skeletal muscle mass and an apparently intrinsic adaptation caused by long, slow, sustained cardio type stuff.

Traditional cardio tends to work for about 3-4 weeks before leveling off. People losing lots of weight using these protocols are (almost always) concomitantly changing their diet too. Knowing you, LISS isn't the ticket. HIIT is where I'd go in addition to eating appropriately and crushing the weights.

[Winona77]

As an ex-high school swimmer, I noticed this phenomenon too. Swimming 2x a day for 5,000-10,000 yards, some of the guys were 6' 130lbs and despite eating 6k+ calories a day, couldn't add weight. Some guys also packed on serious muscle, while others (like me) were unfortunate enough to remain 200lbs+ with a bodyfat of around 20% or so. I became adapted to swimming, and was able to maintain intense swimming sessions for 3+ hours with man-boobs. In hindsight, it was quite walrus like.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

[sbhikes]

Yea this is actually a pretty well known phenomenon that hasn't been mechanistically worked out in great detail just yet. It appears to stem from multiple things, i.e. mitochondrial efficiency (reduced energy input required for the same energy output), increased efficiency of movement, and an overall slowing of the metabolism stemming from reduced skeletal muscle mass and an apparently intrinsic adaptation caused by long, slow, sustained cardio type stuff.

Traditional cardio tends to work for about 3-4 weeks before leveling off. People losing lots of weight using these protocols are (almost always) concomitantly changing their diet too. Knowing you, LISS isn't the ticket. HIIT is where I'd go in addition to eating appropriately and crushing the weights.

Not having ever had much muscle mass in my entire life, I guess that has been my problem historically. I am really trying hard at building muscle mass. I think the world's fish and chickens are getting nervous around me. I squatted 120lbs really solidly yesterday and will try for 130 x 1+ next week, which is approaching body weight. My upper body lifting prowess really sucks but my shoulders, upper stomach and back have changed the most.

HIIT, "eating appropriately and crushing the weights" would probably be the ticket for me although my efforts there probably fall short. I have a really difficult time maintaining the state of chronic hunger necessary for someone of my shortness and I have found HIIT to just be so darn difficult. I wet myself embarrassingly and I get so sore or so fatigued I can barely do anything the next day. I'm struggling to work up to enough of it to do any good.

I do enjoy hiking and backpacking. I only hike once a week but I take a walk most days (in my work clothes, at the beach or to the store to get some lunch, nothing strenuous). It helps with the soreness from lifting and also gets me out of my windowless office. Do you think this amount of walking and hiking is enough to undo my efforts the rest of the week?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I have found HIIT to just be so darn difficult. I wet myself embarrassingly and I get so sore or so fatigued I can barely do anything the next day. I'm struggling to work up to enough of it to do any good

How are you doing your HIIT? Specifically, what distances and in what modality?

Do you think this amount of walking and hiking is enough to undo my efforts the rest of the week?

Not at all.

[Leah Lutz]

Not having ever had much muscle mass in my entire life, I guess that has been my problem historically. I am really trying hard at building muscle mass. I think the world's fish and chickens are getting nervous around me. I squatted 120lbs really solidly yesterday and will try for 130 x 1+ next week, which is approaching body weight. My upper body lifting prowess really sucks but my shoulders, upper stomach and back have changed the most.

HIIT, "eating appropriately and crushing the weights" would probably be the ticket for me although my efforts there probably fall short. I have a really difficult time maintaining the state of chronic hunger necessary for someone of my shortness and I have found HIIT to just be so darn difficult. I wet myself embarrassingly and I get so sore or so fatigued I can barely do anything the next day. I'm struggling to work up to enough of it to do any good.

I do enjoy hiking and backpacking. I only hike once a week but I take a walk most days (in my work clothes, at the beach or to the store to get some lunch, nothing strenuous). It helps with the soreness from lifting and also gets me out of my windowless office. Do you think this amount of walking and hiking is enough to undo my efforts the rest of the week?

I have found that tracking my macros and hitting the numbers that Jordan gives me have allowed me to very successfully lose weight without being hungry. I am down 29 lbs, and the number of days I have been hungry during this time are very few. I'm not getting weaker either.

Honestly, it did take a little adjustment and just fighting through it. There are days here and there when I wake up hungry, feel hungry between meals, and want to just eat. But it's nothing I can't live with and it never, never lasts. If I just stick with my normal meals, I feel fine again.

And rest assured that I am short, I have been fat for a long time, I'm a female, and this is super tough in many ways, but it's totally worth it. It really works. There are plenty of times when I want to give up, but I won't.

The HIIT Jordan prescribes is not fun, that is true, but it also seems to work. When I started my intervals, I can't even explain to you how much I hated them. I came up with some pretty lame reasons to skip them. Now they don't feel quite as awful, and I don't hate them nearly as much. =) Since they aren't as awful, I am also finally able to push the intensity more and more. When I first started them, part of why I hated them was that I knew I wasn't very intense, but I also couldn't make myself work any harder. You just keep with it.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

"It never gets easier, you just go faster"- Greg Lemond

[sbhikes]

I used to run sprints on the track. I would run the straight parts and walk or slowly jog the curve parts. If I skipped one week it would be like starting all over. I'd be so sore. I did these almost once a week for a long time but they never changed anything about my body.

One day I got a tabata timer and tried doing the track sprints on the timer. I thought I would trip and kill myself.

My ritual for running sprints was to walk out my office, stop at the bathroom along the way, walk to the track (quarter mile?), stop at the bathroom by the track, run my sprints and STILL wet myself. So I quit for a while. Then I thought maybe I could do it on the bike in the gym and not pee myself. I don't wet myself sitting on the bike, at least not much.

I've been doing the tabata-timed recumbent bike sprints for a month or so now. My heart rate used to go over the max (200-age) but now it gets into the high 160s. Maybe because they finally opened some doors and windows. I don't get nearly as sore from these as running but the first few times I would spend the whole next day feeling that heavy feeling deep inside like doing anything strenuous was taxing my heart or something, and if my boyfriend wanted to go for a hike it would be murder keeping up and pretending nothing was wrong with me.

I'm not sure if doing these sprints would be better not on a tabata timer or if it even really matters. I do them on Friday so that they don't get in my way of squats or deadlifts. My workout looks like this:
M: Squat, Bench
T: Powerclean, pullup negatives
W: rest
Th: Press, Deadlift
F: Sprints
S or S: One day rest, one day hike (mountainous terrane)

What I eat:
Breakfast
Chicken or fish, vegetables or sweet potato, seasoned with mustard or salsa
Sometimes I have a half a banana with a spoonful of almond butter early morning before the gym if I wake up hungry. I always eat after the gym.

Lunch
Same as Breakfast

Dinner
Same as Breakfast and Lunch only with both vegetables and sweet potato or maybe sushi or Indian food.

Snack
Sometimes I will have cheese or nuts or chocolate. I should not do this.

I am not a measuring kind of person. We're talking a can of salmon or a half a large chicken breast or half a large sole fillet. I don't eat naan, roti or rice when I have Indian food and I get sashimi salad and a couple nigiri not endless sushi rolls.

[sbhikes]

I have found that tracking my macros and hitting the numbers that Jordan gives me have allowed me to very successfully lose weight without being hungry. I am down 29 lbs, and the number of days I have been hungry during this time are very few. I'm not getting weaker either.

Honestly, it did take a little adjustment and just fighting through it. There are days here and there when I wake up hungry, feel hungry between meals, and want to just eat. But it's nothing I can't live with and it never, never lasts. If I just stick with my normal meals, I feel fine again.

And rest assured that I am short, I have been fat for a long time, I'm a female, and this is super tough in many ways, but it's totally worth it. It really works. There are plenty of times when I want to give up, but I won't.

The HIIT Jordan prescribes is not fun, that is true, but it also seems to work. When I started my intervals, I can't even explain to you how much I hated them. I came up with some pretty lame reasons to skip them. Now they don't feel quite as awful, and I don't hate them nearly as much. =) Since they aren't as awful, I am also finally able to push the intensity more and more. When I first started them, part of why I hated them was that I knew I wasn't very intense, but I also couldn't make myself work any harder. You just keep with it.

I have to say that I did lose from 165 or so pounds but that was a few years ago. I gained a lot after hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. I was at this weird place where I could not exercise at all without triggering ravenous hunger so I could not do any running or else I would just go crazy with eating. So I spent a year not getting any exercise and just gaining weight. When I felt like my hunger was finally under control, I started running 3-5 miles a day and eating salads with no salad dressing. I thought I was going to die this made me so unhappy. And I didn't lose any weight at all. So I gave up and ate high fat, low carb and the weight fell off and I'm now at the weight I always settle at. About 135 pounds. If I'm not vigilant I gain weight pretty quickly.

To support the weight lifting without gaining, I eat what I wrote above. It seems to be working, although my progress with lifting isn't as great as others. I have not weighed myself in a year so I really don't know exactly what I weigh but I wear the same clothes.

I know what I see in the mirror and it's not a slender figure that looks good in a bikini. I have a very sturdy build so I know I'm never going to be super thin, but I have huge upper arms and it seems the more I work out the bigger the rolls on the side, the muffin-top or love handle rolls, get. My weight's not totally unreasonable, but gosh I wish I looked as awesome as I feel because I feel incredibly awesome.