Pink sway Oct 2016 - OK to stop strength training now?

[A Mad Swayentist]

Hi all! I haven't lurked/posted in a while since we're not TTC yet, and we've got lots of non-baby issues to take care of before pregnancy. Also, my body has been weird, but that's another story. I'm not actively swaying because with no diet/activity level changes I'm already a mid-range/low BMI (20-22) - and I've always been a HUGE eater (although largely just healthy stuff - I actually get 7-10 servings of fruits/veggies most days (fistpump for cheap nutritious frozen spinach!)). For the last 10 years I've mostly managed exercise by adding it in to lifestyle - e.g. walking or biking to work and errands instead of driving. 3 years ago after some knee pain I started focusing on safe core exercises and 2 years ago I started weekly strength training doing the slow, "power of 10" approach on machines at my workplace fitness center (max load with slow lifts until exhaustion - gets similar results to traditional strength training but with less time expended per session). This did get me a stronger back and arms though still no 6 pack. :) My weight went up by 5+ lbs, too, but my clothing size never changed. I did feel healthier and I liked the toned look of my shoulders and upper arms (as opposed to my previous spaghetti arms), but after reading about swaying and having a very stressful work month, I decided to let the strength training go in mid-January, even though we're not planning to TTC until the fall. Originally I was going to give up in May or June (which was also when I planned to start skipping breakfast and being strictly vegetarian, and possibly adding more exercise if my body could handle the weight loss - don't want to go below 128 lbs!). I'm thinking this is OK, but if there's anyway it could backfire (besides the lifetime effect of missing an extra 9 months of strength training - I'm kinda indifferent to that since I'm confident I can motivate myself back into my very easy routine, and hopefully add another weekly session in too - and the lifetime benefits for bone density and general health will hopefully not change too much).

I'm also wondering, with the recommended 60 minutes of cardio 6 days/week, would it be OK to break up into two segments? And how does that work around someone who already does moderate exercise as part of her lifestyle? When I bike to work it's just 15 minutes each way (and I'm a slow biker), but when I walk it's 35 each way and I am booking it due to winter cold (though my heart rate would be higher if I were jogging, I'm sure). Does it matter if the 60 minutes are all in a row or have folks also seen good results with 2 30 minute cardio sessions a day? If I'm skipping breakfast I might also add in a morning jog to help me pass the time and get over hunger until I get used to skipping it. (I guess that means I have to buy new running shoes! No messing up my knee again.) I also walk a lot at work across a big workplace campus as part of my job - on days I walk to work, I probably average 10 or more miles of walking/day!

[atomic sagebrush]

I think (adamantly) you should continue the strength training for now. It's SO good for you and we do not even KNOW that muscle mass really has anything to do with swaying. That is a guess. You're so far out from your sway I think for health and wellbeing you'd be selling yourself short to drop it this soon. We have a single study that showed mothers in famine areas with more muscle mass had more boys, but of course that suggests the question - why did they have more muscle mass anyway? Did they have it because they were in better health, eating more, etc etc etc We simply don't know!

Exercise has to be in one 60 min chunk. The reasoning is that after 45 min. your body stops burning carbs in blood****** and start burning stores of fat and muscle as fuel. Something about this process seems to sway pink for reasons we can only guess at. But you CAN add in more exercise in addition to that, and again we are not totally sure if this really matters - if you're walking that much every day I think that would only help a pink sway anyway so please don't overthink the 60 min. idea. This can't be a one size fits all approach, your unique situation is different from others, and I'd have you just do your walking to and from and at work and call it good. On weekends maybe you squeeze in a 60 min. walk those days.

[maidentomother]

I don't think you need to stop the strength training until 12w before your first attempt, which is when you should start doing the diet thoroughly too.

Cardio for pink should be minimum 60 min UNINTERRUPTED. If you do smaller segments of cardio outside that/in addition, that is fine, and may even be more pink. But I wouldn't do ONLY smaller segments as that seems to sway blue quite significantly.

[A Mad Swayentist]

Gotcha! That is so much clearer. Thanks Atomic and Maiden!