Enter MizFit, Cool Chick w/ Hot Bod & Tips 4 Us!
Hey guys! Wow, it’s only day four of Jen, Prior Fat Girl, and my challenge, but I feel like so much has been accomplished already! I’m feeling revved and ready to conquer those final pounds. What’s really getting me going is all of you who have your own health & fitness goals to achieve! You guys inspire me! Love it!
I am too excited to postpone introducing MIZFIT so I’m just going to do it!
If you haven’t read her blog before (1. shame on you! 2. Really?!), let me just preface our little Q & A session with this: MizFit is an awesome one time trainer, and current life coach. If you watch her videos you’ll see she’s got arms to die for and her attitude and rhyming posts make her an absolute joy! Oh, and she knows her shit stuff. Here was our first Q&A session (I am so honored to host her!):
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Dear MizFit,
Help! I’ve reached a plateau! My normal cardio of at least thirty minutes 5 times a week and very basic strength training 2 times a week is not cutting it for losing more weight! What should I do?
Answer by MizFit:
My first thought after reading this question is: Whatcha eating? In my opinion (and definitely with regards to my own physique) 70% of the weight loss/weight loss maintaining battle is waged in the kitchen. I am definitely not one to fret about calories (I believe in eating a lot, in not being hungry, and in eating clean) yet I found a tremendous shift in my body composition when I changed what I ate. Since I’m not a weigh’er by nature (and since I was/am working to gain muscle) I may not have weighed less—-but my clothes were definitely looser.
Since I don’t know the answer to that question (I’m happy to lend a hand there if you’d like. I’m no dietitian but I’m fo’ sho’ opinionated 
) I’m going to answer as best I can given the information above.
First: CARDIO.
Ahhh, it sounds as though you’ve hit the inevitable cardio plateau. Here’s where so many people begin to add in more more and more, which, in my opinion, isn’t necessarily a good thing.
Not only does one rapidly reach a point where she can’t do any more (seriously. I’ve had friends nudge their cardio time up to TWO HOURS A DAY. Where do you go from there?)—You begin to burn MUSCLE, which LOWERS your metabolism & your body starts to cling to body fat (definitely not our goal).
I’d recommend you leave the TIME the same but perhaps change things around.
Some ideas:
**Interval training. This is an easy and (relatively) painless way to WAAAY nudge up your calorie burn!
**Do different cardio. Shift from treadmill to the elliptical. From a workout DVD to jumping rope. Even a tiny shift (from one kind of stationary bike to another) can be enough to SHOCK your body into changing!
Second, when it comes to weight training, you need to vary it up. When you say “very basic weight training” I’d love to know more what you mean by this, but I’m going to assume you mean full body workout twice a week.
You have a few options here with regards to SHOCKING your body out of the plateau and adding more of that metabolism sparking muscle you seek:
**Change the workout but leave it at 2 days a week. Are you doing all free weights?
**Add in exercise bands for 6 weeks or so. Are you doing all machines? Explore free weights. Even the same sort of exercises when done with different means can SHOCK your body into change.
**Take a resistance training CLASS for 8 weeks or so instead of your regular routine (Body Pump, etc.)
**Break your workout down even more. If you are doing full body 2 times a week and can squeeze in an extra workout per week start doing UPPER BODY and LOWER BODY. Add in more exercises per body part so that you are taxing each muscle group more than ever before!
Most important? Don’t panic. Don’t give up. Plateaus, while totally irritating, can often be easily BLOWN THROUGH with just a few tweaks of a routine.
Try one approach at a time & see what works best for you.
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Thank you so much MizFit! You rock! Such great advice. I – for one – often get into the cardio trap where I want to up my cardio to hours a day – but in the long run it seems much more effective to do strength & resistance training. And if nutrition is 70% of the battle, it’s no wonder that when I don’t watch what I eat, all my hard exercise work doesn’t seem to counter it!
Make sure you go check out MizFit’s page and tell her how cool she is! She will be back Thursday, June 18th with another Q&A session!
And! There’s still time to join Jen and me in our challenge and a chance to win some Holey Donuts! Just respond in the comments with your health goal (remember, it doesn’t have to be about losing pounds! We all know health is an intricate and holistic thing!), how you plan on achieving it by 8/1, the reward you will give yourself if you achieve it, and what charity you will donate $50 to if you do not accomplish it by the deadline. Come on, Holey Donuts are sooooo worth it! 
Tags: cardio, fitness, fitness advice, Holey Donuts, mizfit, mizfitonline, priorfatgirl.com, strength training
16 People have left comments on this post
Wait, are those low-fat donuts?! Omg.
I’m on board! Although I would like to lose about 12 lbs, my main goal for the summer is to be able to run 5 miles without stopping.
Ah yes. She knows her stuff. And I can testify to her advice about changing what you eat. I was in a plateau for 6 weeks! The scale would NOT move. But then I incorporated more fruits & veggies and reduced my intake of packaged food products. Wallah! I”m on a roll again. Baby weight be gone!!!!
Annabel – Thanks for stopping by my humble lil’ starter page! So appreciative that you took the time to visit
Love the MizFit guest post! When i was working out more frequently, i was definitely guilty of the mega-cardio sessions. Looking forward to trying intervals and bands once the knee will let me.
Big thanks to Annabel and Miz. Y’all rock!!
Annabel,
I stumbled across your blog and really like it a lot. I intend to become a follower. Kudos to you on the weight loss!
I skimmed some of your old posts, and you are so right about doing too much exercise. I have injured my knees and been sidelined for some time, but I am slowly (slowly being the operative word) getting back into things.
I think it is totally cool that you are getting your Master’s in English. I love all kinds of classical literature, particularly nineteenth century Brit Lit and early twentieth century American Lit (think Edith Wharton and Henry James).
Looking forward to more posts.
Personally, I think everyone should get an M.A. in English, but I’m a bit biased there.
Great tips!
Such a good post! I’m switching things up by working out with my BF and doing whatever he tells me to do (in the gym only, let’s not get crazy here!). It’s a totally different style of working out than I would do, and to be honest I’m not 100% sure it’ll work for me, especially not long-term, but I’m giving it a fair shot…who knows?
I am thinking about joining your challenge…but I’m scared! My goal is a weight I’ve never been before, so I guess part of me isn’t sure it’s a realistic, sustainable goal for me…but I guess the worst that could happen is I won’t get there by 8/1, and a charity gets $50
MizFit knows her stuff, that is for sure. I can attest to what she says. With hormone changes, I had to make changes to my routine as the weight wanted to stay on me even with my hard workout schedule & good eating. I did just as she said, I started changing up my food (although I eat well as is). I had to play around with the food even more. I also upped the ante with my exercise routine. I can tell you that interval training will blast fat! Plyometrics as well but that is advanced & can’t have any joint issues. Changing up the weight training to is important. The bod likes change to improve! Follow her advice & I bet you pound thru that plateau!
Ok, even though I actually make monthly/seasonal resolutions for myself I wasn’t going to do this, but you keep talking about it so I guess I will.
I am currently 166 pounds and size 11, down from 187 in January. My goal is to be 159 pounds or less or a size 9 by 8/1. Is it okay to do an either/or? My plan is to increase strength training, exercise more consistently, and up my calorie level slightly, as I think its too low if I’m going to be more active (I currently aim for ~1400 a day, but honestly don’t often even hit that). Since I plan on focusing more on gaining muscle rather than losing weight, I don’t know that I’ll lose weight but I definitely expect to lose some volume.
If I succeed, I’ll reward myself with new pants. If I don’t, that $50 is going to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Flagstaff, a program I’m proud to be a part of.
Such a great post. I know for me, what I am or am not eating makes a huge difference. Besides, who the heck could spend the rest of their life exercising 2 hours a day?!??! I used to have much more free time when I was younger, now I just don’t. There is a thing called life and it doesn’t allow me be to be in the gym forever. That said, I still get in great workouts it’s just about being smarter, not working longer. I think too much cardio is bad – mentally and physically.
That’s great advice! I love MizFit!!
I agree with Mizfit. I had to change my 40-50 mile running schedule because It was not doing the job anymore. I had to add something else so I added Yoga and I’m seeing results now. I see more of a difference in my physique when I eat healthy which is so hard at times. I rather just work out for hours. Its a give and take relationship.
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