Cardio or Die

Remember that whole post about how exercise is useless for weight loss and diet is the sole determining factor?  Well, if you're a woman, it's even more true.  Don't you hate it when a man loses weight and you ask him how and he says he stopped drinking beer.  Huh.  Well isn't that special.....  And then us ladies have to track every little morsel of food that passes through our lips and run 5 miles/day to lose 1/2 a pound in one week.  Because somewhere in our DNA is the "pack it on the back of the legs and hips so that when she gives birth and nurses we can make sure we definitely don't run out of fat to supply milk" gene.  Then the other gene that says: "You know what?  Let's be double sure and give her mad love handles.  And while we're at it- let's add just smidgen to her chin.  K?  Thanks!"

As part of this training, I have to figure out exactly how much weight to lose to get me into the 9% body fat group.  Now, in my head that means, like, 60 lbs.  But then again, 90 lbs just isn't all that becoming.  So, I had to do a little real math to figure it all out.   I can only assume I'm in the 20% and above category right now.   One, because Bag O'Saddles are really flaring right about now.  Alone- they probably make up 15% of that fat I'm trying to lose.  Two- I store fat very proportionately.  I'm an equal opportunity fat distributer.   Everyone little part needs some fatty love.  Good news is that women like to store fat in their hips and thighs.  So it's usually the last to go.  Meaning, I'll lean out up top before I lean out down yonder.  That sounded weird, but you know what I mean.   Short of going somewhere and having my body fat calculated by a large pincher thingy, I'm going on faith that I'm over 20%.  Let's be real- it's not a huge leap of faith.  You'll get this when I post my before pics. So here's the math:

20%-11%= 9% (body fat goal)

150 lbs (my current weight) X .11 (11%)= 16.5 lbs

150 - 16.5 = 133.5 lbs (competition weight)

That needs to be 16.5 lbs of pure fat.  I will be building muscle a long the way- which weighs more than fat.  But I gotta burn that fat.   So 16.5 lbs of fat will require lots of cardio.  Cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach is recommended.  You get more burn for your buck because your body is using it's reserves instead of what you ate last.  Which is what I've been doing with bootcamp anyway.  I will eat my last meal around 5pm the night before- then not again until I get home from bootcamp the next morning at 7am.  And really- this makes sense.  Our digestive systems slow WAY down in the afternoon/evenings.  Eating when it's wanting to slow down and rest means it will just store what you've eaten.  Isn't that special?  And I've always lost weight better by eliminating night eating.  It does mean I will need to do more cardio than I originally thought for this particular training.  I thought I got to just hang out and do some biceps and maybe a drink a protein shake or something.  Nope.  No slacking.  Shit. 

But I'm up for the challenge.  I'll post my weigh ins on Mondays.  Today it was 149.6 lbs.  Pre pregnancy was 140 lbs.  But my competition weight needs to be 133.5 lbs.  So that's my goal.  

What's your favorite cardio???