Long-term weight loss and boredom

[AtlantaSteve]

I used to lift regularly and be in decent shape, but I started traveling full-time for work several years ago.  After I got off the road, I started going to law school as a night student (while still working full-time during the day).  In short, I completely let myself go with the diet and workouts and blew up.  I've been back on the wagon over the past few months, and have dropped about 30 pounds (settling into a steady rate of 2 lbs / week).  However, at this rate it will still be around late summer before I've cut all the way back down.  (maybe longer than that, I don't know where my muscle stands vs. BF %)  Feel free to mock, I certainly have dug a hole for myself.

In past attempts to drop the fat, I've gotten bored a couple months into it and jumped the gun on a "bulking phase" WAY prematurely.  I've also screwed around with various diet approaches that turned out not to be sustainable.  This time around I'm not really doing anything structured with the diet, just trying to get myself into better long-term habits... lots of protein, good fats, avoiding sugar and simple carbs, smaller portions and not eating when I'm not really hungry.  I do about 30-45 min of cardio 3 or 4 times a week, with some occasional basketball or racquetball thrown in also.  No lifting.

The eating habits are going well... I don't have any serious cravings or temptations to fall off the wagon.  However, I'm getting bored to tears with the cardio, and it's a huge hassle to fit into my schedule (I'm still working by day and taking classes at night).  I also can't help but get impatient with the slow downward ticks of the scale.  A couple questions for anybody's general feedback:

- Am I being unrealistic in getting impatient with a weight loss rate of 2 lbs / week?  I'm happy to have finally found some healthy eating habits that are working for me, and I worry that if I screw around with a hardcore structured diet I'll burn out and fall off the wagon again... but I do get jealous when reading stories about people cutting 5 lbs a week or more.  Think I'm being too conservative, or should just I stick with what's working and don't fix what ain't broken?

- Any advice on fighting the boredom of constant cardio?  Other than the basketball/racquetball, I'm just been using an elliptical and stair climber.  I haven't been lifting because my general understanding is that you'll do more harm than good trying to lift a lot while cutting down with the diet.  Any thoughts on mixing it up and making things more interesting, or just keep my fat ass at it while things are working and suck it up?

[ngm21084]

honestly everything ive read or come across about cutting first and foremost is diet and the safest and healthiest is about to lose a pound a week or so and also doing it gradually gives you a better chance at keeping it off...and as far as doing cardio which is great but try doing some lower weight high intensity workouts with super sets and giant sets remember keep the heart rate up and the blood flowing...good luck bro

[mcb650]

The obvious cardio technique is to bring some music you can listen to. I doubt I'm telling you anything new there. Another thing I usually do is bring a towel and cover up the timer. I've always found that if you're staring it right in the face it makes it feel a lot longer than it really is. You can also mix it up a little with interval training, one minute of high intensity followed by one minute of low intensity, alternating back and forth. Obviously you have to watch the timer for this, but it gives you something else to focus on as the minutes go by. As far as the steady-state, lower intensity cardio for fat los, go the music route and cover up the timer. I'm actually a little spoiled because I go to a new Gold's where each cardio machine has its own TV. I try to time it so I can watch the Lakers or the Dodgers, and that even makes me want to stay on a little longer.

Definitely throw some lifting into your routine, though. Diet and cardio are great, but you're going to be losing a lot of muscle without doing some lifting as well.

[Cap]

I used to lift regularly and be in decent shape, but I started traveling full-time for work several years ago.  After I got off the road, I started going to law school as a night student (while still working full-time during the day).  In short, I completely let myself go with the diet and workouts and blew up.  I've been back on the wagon over the past few months, and have dropped about 30 pounds (settling into a steady rate of 2 lbs / week).  However, at this rate it will still be around late summer before I've cut all the way back down.  (maybe longer than that, I don't know where my muscle stands vs. BF %)  Feel free to mock, I certainly have dug a hole for myself.

In past attempts to drop the fat, I've gotten bored a couple months into it and jumped the gun on a "bulking phase" WAY prematurely.  I've also screwed around with various diet approaches that turned out not to be sustainable.  This time around I'm not really doing anything structured with the diet, just trying to get myself into better long-term habits... lots of protein, good fats, avoiding sugar and simple carbs, smaller portions and not eating when I'm not really hungry.  I do about 30-45 min of cardio 3 or 4 times a week, with some occasional basketball or racquetball thrown in also.  No lifting.

The eating habits are going well... I don't have any serious cravings or temptations to fall off the wagon.  However, I'm getting bored to tears with the cardio, and it's a huge hassle to fit into my schedule (I'm still working by day and taking classes at night).  I also can't help but get impatient with the slow downward ticks of the scale.  A couple questions for anybody's general feedback:

- Am I being unrealistic in getting impatient with a weight loss rate of 2 lbs / week?  I'm happy to have finally found some healthy eating habits that are working for me, and I worry that if I screw around with a hardcore structured diet I'll burn out and fall off the wagon again... but I do get jealous when reading stories about people cutting 5 lbs a week or more.  Think I'm being too conservative, or should just I stick with what's working and don't fix what ain't broken?

- Any advice on fighting the boredom of constant cardio?  Other than the basketball/racquetball, I'm just been using an elliptical and stair climber.  I haven't been lifting because my general understanding is that you'll do more harm than good trying to lift a lot while cutting down with the diet.  Any thoughts on mixing it up and making things more interesting, or just keep my fat ass at it while things are working and suck it up?

A great website to check out for challenging workouts that are not boring is crossfit.com .  Also, I'm not sure how much harm you will do to your body by lifting and cutting.  As long as you don't lift too heavy and too much, you should be fine and it could aid in your overall body composition goals.  Your diet and cardio schedule seems good.  People who drop too much weight too fast rebound real fast and often eat way too little.  2 pounds a week is not unrealistic at all.  Keep cardio constant and diet within what you KNOW you can do.  You should push yourself but not to the point where you quit. 

As far as cardio, work on interval training.  Work between fast pace and slow pace in the same session.  When I have done it I sprint for a minute and walk for a minute.  You can do this on the elliptical as well.  You could also do circuit training without weights which will really kick your butt.

[Titus Oates]

cardio can be a chore. Try varying the routine and exactly as in weight training set yourself targets [ realistic ones ] to reach. Interval training is a good way of increasing the calorie burn of a cardio workout and you can start quite low by using an exercise bike and just increasing the tempo for 10 seconds every minute. By splitting your cardio routine into sections you will keep the motivation up and limit the boredom.