This year *I* put on a bit of Holiday Weight too! I always eat/drink whatever I want between Thanksgiving and New Year`s, but this year I had to remain sedentary while I recovered from (yet another) eye surgery and I`ve put on more bodyfat that I usually do. I never step on a scale except at my annual physical, but I can discern slightly diminished definition/vascularity around my abs and would guess that my bodyfat is up maybe 1%/<2#. Now that I`m cleared to resume normal activities I expect to be back to (my version of) normal by the end of the month at the latest, but I`ll probably cut my (simple) carbs just a tad to speed things along. That`s a quicker drop than I recommend for most people, but I`m returning to baseline rather than setting a new one.
House of Wax- If people would actually *WORK* out they`d quickly learn that it takes every iota of their consciousness. Even cardio- at some point just breathing is all ya can do.
I too would almost always do anything but work out and I understand that the whole Aversion thing can be a huge stumbling block for many people. To be honest, the data indicate that there`s little actual benefit to being "ultra-fit" compared to something less extreme. Even Dick Winett has apparently quit doing Tabata in favor of a less demanding routine, and he`s the guy who turned the Western World on to the Tabata Protocol in the first place.
jrock645- I`ll never get over how well changing my cardio to (genuine) HIIT worked for me, simply amazing and I`m done in no time. On occasions where I have to do something demanding for a long period of time it`s a piece of cake even despite my brief cardio sessions.
BTW, I disagree completely with the Jones/Mentzer idea that resistance training alone (done a certain way, i.e. circuit training) can subsitute for cardio. That approach doesn`t work for me on either score, not at all. In fact...
The first Big Change I made that really paid off was increasing my rest period between work sets to however long I feel necessary. I don`t rest for so long that I cool off, but I`ll go several minutes even when working small muscle groups and I virtually take a vacation between sets for my upper legs and back
Time-wise it evens out since I`m not doing many sets any more. (Yesterday I did three each for Chest and Tris, one for middle Delts, and I`m extremely sore today. That`ll do for those muscle groups for at least a dozen days.)
