Expert: Daphne E Brown MS CPRP - 4/28/2005

Question
I'm a 29 year old male, about 5'8" who currently weighs 175 lbs.  I'd like to lose at least 20 lbs this season.  I do watch what I eat and don't indulge in donuts and pizza or any fast food.  I do like to eat a bran muffin and mix a vodka cocktail before dinner, but I don't smoke.  I also lift weights and run the treadmill for half an hour 3 times a week.  I do wonder if working out too hard and running too fast gets in the way of my weight loss goals.  Is there a target heart rate I should focus on while exercising?  Or does real weight loss come from really pushing myself (without injury of course)?  How else should I modify my diet?  I thank you for your help.  

Answer
***Suggestions offered here may or may not help you in your particular situation.  Please consult with your physician before adding or changing an exercise/ nutrition regimen****


Hi Augusto. To answer your questions:

there a target heart rate I should focus on while exercising?
Assuming that you are healthy and have no medical/ metabolic/ musculoskeletal /physiological problems:  You can use the 220-age calculation:  220-29=191 is your maximum predicted heart rate (MPHR).  It is recommended that one work at 70-85% of you MPHR for 15 or more minutes:
70%=133 beats per minute
90%=172 beats per minute
133-172 BPM would be a good Target Heart Rate Range (THRR) for you

Or does real weight loss come from really pushing myself (without injury of course)?
With Cardiovascular exercises (in your case running on the Treadmill for 30 minutes 3 times a week), it is always good to push yourself within reason.  A really good way to do that is to incorporate interval training into your cardio training.  For example, for one of your 30 min runs:
**warmup 5 minutes
**crank up the treadmill (speed and/or incline) to bring your heart rate up around 170 bpm for 1 minute
**slow down your heart rate to around 140-150 bpm for 1 minute (recovery)
**repeat the the up/down interval pattern for 4 more cycles for a total of 10 minutes
**5 minutes maintain a speed that keeps your heart rate around 135-145. Regroup, drink some water
**do another 10 minutes of the up/down intervals
**5-10 minutes cooldown, gradually bring heart rate back down below 133bpm

This is just an example.  You can do whatever variation that you feel you can do or that you like.

How else should I modify my diet?  
Check with an allexpert nutrition specialist.  You did not give me enough details about your daily nutritional intake.  Remember, weight gain = you eat more calories than you expend (burn) each day. e.g.if you eat 3000 calories a day, and your body burns only 2000, that's an extra 1000 calories that will probably eventually stored as fat.  Remember, 1 pound of fat = 3500 calories

Here are some websites to check out.
http://www.fitwise.com/calculator.asp
http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/jumpsite/calculat.htm
http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/library/nutrition/nutritn.htm

Hope this helps you. Keep up your healthier lifestyle and HANG IN THERE!!!!

Sincerely, Daphne