Concerned newbie...

gorda

Full Member
Hi all

I've started Cambridge today, and since seeing my CDC I'm a little concerned about the diet. When you lose the weight, are you actually losing fat (after the first week or so) or do you have muscle wastage?

Also, she said not to go to the gym (as I normally would) as much, only exercising by a gentle walk. What would happen if I was to go to the gym? I'd normally do 35 mins on the cross trainer, 10 mins walking on the treadmill, another 10 running, 15mins on the stepper and then muscle toning.

Any advice? What about yoga or pilates instead?

Thank you
 
I asked a similar question recently, you do burn fat, but you do also lose some lean tissue in proportion to your body.

You shouldn't do too much strenuous excercise as your body is running on so little calories it needs all the energy it gets so doing a lot of excercise where you'd be using a lot of energy would have a negative effect on the diet as your body will hold on to the energy rather than burn it. Light excercise and resistance is fine.
 
Sorry forget to mention, welcome to the boards and good luck on your first day!

Bit of advice for the first few days, which are the toughest, drink as much water as you can, I found it helped a lot. After about three days you'll feel great.
 
Yes, as omega says, but will still answer anyway :D

I've started Cambridge today, and since seeing my CDC I'm a little concerned about the diet. When you lose the weight, are you actually losing fat (after the first week or so) or do you have muscle wastage?

You actually start losing fat before the first week. Even before ketosis appears, but yes it's mainly water/glycogen.

You lose some lean mass with every weight loss diet. Just like when you gain fat, you also gain some lean.

Though the main diets pan out pretty similarly when it comes to muscle loss, Cambridge does have the edge for losing less lean probably owing to the protein and the ketogenic factor.

Also, she said not to go to the gym (as I normally would) as much, only exercising by a gentle walk. What would happen if I was to go to the gym? I'd normally do 35 mins on the cross trainer, 10 mins walking on the treadmill, another 10 running, 15mins on the stepper and then muscle toning.

Definitely stick with the weights/resistance. This helps preserve lean mass on a VLCD so that's fab.

The cardio stuff is a little more tricky. Some is fine, but don't push yourself and don't do it for results on the scales as it's unlikely to benefit weight loss on these calories.

The concern is that if you do too much high intensity cardio your body will need a quick supply of fuel, which you don't get on a VLCD. It's only option is to go the next best thing for quick release and that is protein...ie muscle.

Of course, you don't want to be losing more muscle than necessary.

Cardio, along with resistance is excellent for health generally, but leave the more intensive stuff for when you are higher in the plans :)
 
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