Well, it is intense for me at least. I went from a month of being pretty much sedentary to going using the elliptical daily any where from 30-80 minutes straight, averaging 7mph. I burn anywhere between 300 minimum to 900 calories in one work out. I just go until I can't go anymore. I've only missed 2 days since August 1st. Earlier this summer in June I was away for three weeks touring Europe and got into really good shape from walking 12 hours a day, hiking, etc. I went down to 102 pounds (I'm 5'1"), even though I was eating about 2000 calories per day. But once I got home, I went up about 8 lbs in about 10 days and it pretty much devastated me because my body changed dramatically in a short amount of time.
IMO, given your small size and considering the fact you aren't carrying a lot of fat to begin with, relatively speaking, you're making a big mistake by not lifting weights.
You have to give your body a reason to hold onto the muscle while dieting, especially as you near your ideal weight. If you don't provide that reason (through adequate protein intake and lifting weights) chances are pretty high that you aren't going to be pleased with what tons of cardio gets ya.
In addition, beating your body into submission generally doesn't work. You're running until you can't anymore pretty much every single day. I don't know about you, but the people (men and women) at my gym who do nothing but pound away on the treadmills don't look the way I'd want to look.
Many gym goers overlook this obvious fact.
I guess I don't know for sure if I've gained muscle. It just seems like my legs are very muscular now. My calves have gotten bigger instead of smaller, and they are just much stronger than ever before.
Well looking more muscular and being stronger does not mean you gained muscle.
When you lose fat, there tends to be a huge optical illusion relating to your muscle size. Losing fat exposes, more clearly, the muscles you carry now.
For instance, many times I look bigger at 185 then I do at 200+.
Also, muscles can get stronger without getting bigger.
If you're a smaller female and dieting, in addition with all the cardio you are doing, I doubt very seriously that you gained any appreciable amount of muscle.
Unfortunately I have not been taking measurements much in the past month. I suppose you could say I've been too afraid of the posibility that the numbers are going up. I know it's ridiculous, and I need to get over that... it's the old mindset I used to have about having to be as small as possible stopping me from thinking rationally. But I'm going to start measuring now, because I know it's the only way to chart my progress.
Well I'm glad to hear you are going to stop being silly. You can't fix what you don't identify. Charting progress is the only means we have to base necessary adjustments of our programs to ensure we meet our goals.
Without charting, success is hard.
Nutrition wise hasn't been perfect. Now that you've posted I feel rather silly because I know that if I could stick to a nutrition plan that I probably would be more successful. So far I've just been sticking to a 1200-1600 calorie per day plan... which is probably too low. But generaly I will eat anything as long as I stay in that range of calories. Some days I will eat almost only vegetables and fish, and another day I'll eat more unhealthy things in small amounts. Bad, I know.
I eat a LOT of energy and protein bars. 2-3 every day actually... but most of the time I do try to stay away from saturated fats etc.
What exactly are your stats?
Also, how are you tracking your calories? Do you weigh your food using a scale?
Why not use something like fitday.com. It seems to help people.
Like I said above, protein intake is important at this stage in the game.
I just looked up my BMR and it says I need about 1700 a day, but I think my body is still recovering from the eating disorder I had so I assume it's lower now, but I don't KNOW and I'm too afraid to find out through trial and error and chance ruining what I've already accomplished (which I'm not too sure WHAT I've accomplished so far tbh).
It's pretty obvious that you have a lot of mental barriers and hurdles that you need to breakdown yet before you can have a healthy outlook on this lifestyle. There's nothing wrong with this. But you need to accept it and work toward fixing it.
I suppose I need to start doing some weight training and less of the elliptical. Maybe my body is starting to adapt to the routine, despite the fact that it is a LOT of exercise at once.
It's not about switching things up.
It's about matching your programming to your goals. You want to be at your ideal weight while looking good.
Crappy nutrition and tons of cardio = fail!
EDIT: I thought I'd add I'm not specifically trying to hit a goal weight because I think I am thin enough, I just want to get rid of body fat, and be well toned. I want to be in great athletic shape, and look it.
Point proven.
