Originally Posted by stellar1216

I just finished reading all 9 pages of this thread and I have some questions.

A little background... I'm female, 5'4", 205ish. I had lapband surgery in January and I've lost 41 lbs (25 of which came off two weeks pre surgery and the first week post surgery... since then I've lost 17lbs in 17 weeks) but due to two health issues that cause weight gain and make weight loss nearly impossible (poly cystic ovaries and an underactive thyroid) my loss has been super slow and I'm OVER IT. I work out almost every day, 4-5 days a week cardio and mild strength training 1-2x a week plus 45 minutes of yoga 1-2x a week for my own sanity. I eat about 1200 cals a day. Hunger is NOT an issue for me. I've looked at this from all angles and I really need something that's going to boost my metabolism and get my body burning fat and cals the way it should. Trust me on this- I work my a$$ off and I'm struggling to lose 1 lousy pound a week.

I have some questions about taking an ECA stack. I used to take ephedrine hci/guaifensen (or however you spell it) for energy. I'm familiar with how my body responds to it. I love it. I've been trying to lose weight without stimulants, supplements, etc. (well, aside from whey and vitamins... but you know what I mean). I'm ready to try something because I'm sick of working my butt off with little results.

Questions-

1) I read time and time again to experiment with dosages... but what's a good starting point for A and C? I know where to start with the E because I've taken it before and know what to expect. As I stated before, I'm 5'4" 205 female.

2) This probably sounds like a stupid question... but what form do you buy caffeine? Can you just go to GNC and get plain ole caffeine tablets? I've never had to look for just caffeine.

3) Can you crush any of these pills? Ephedrine is small enough that I could split it in half, and I believe asprin is small enough to take whole (depending on the dose, not sure), but if the caffeine is too big for me to swallow (I can't take big pills), can I crush it?

Thanks so much for your help!!

ETA- I know this will vary from person to person, but what kind of results can I expect? I'm taking a cruise in 3 months and I was really hoping to have gotten a lot farther than my current outlook of high 180s, low 190s. My losses have averaged 1lb a week, sometimes less than that. If I can get 2-3lbs a week off I'd be friggin extatic. I work my a$$ off, I wish my body would cooperate!!!

So im still on it but just as a warning, when u cycle off its gonna be hell for ur thyroid, ur results might slow even more and youl be extremely lethargic. Just a warning, but given that yea the stack is pretty effective.

1. ideally i think its a 1to 10 ratio of e to c. so for every 10mg of ephedrine its 100mg caffeine. i use 24mg e hcl with a 200mg tab of caffeine. asprin is supposed to be the same ratio but i think the 84mg baby apsrin are recommended to avoid stomach issues.

2. caffine is just sold in tabs, nutraplanet.com has the prolab ones for pretty cheap, thats where i got mine. you could drink coffee/green tea etc for it but the tabs are just more efficient

3. the caffeine tabs split easily and the baby asprin is already small, as is the ephedrine

results, i cant really help u here, like u said its all dependent. if ur diet and traning are already in good shape then it will help. if nothing else it gave me the energy to do longer cardio sessions and be more active, that led to some fat loss on its own.

Originally Posted by stellar1216

I just finished reading all 9 pages of this thread and I have some questions.

A little background... I'm female, 5'4", 205ish. I had lapband surgery in January and I've lost 41 lbs (25 of which came off two weeks pre surgery and the first week post surgery... since then I've lost 17lbs in 17 weeks) but due to two health issues that cause weight gain and make weight loss nearly impossible (poly cystic ovaries and an underactive thyroid) my loss has been super slow and I'm OVER IT. I work out almost every day, 4-5 days a week cardio and mild strength training 1-2x a week plus 45 minutes of yoga 1-2x a week for my own sanity. I eat about 1200 cals a day. Hunger is NOT an issue for me. I've looked at this from all angles and I really need something that's going to boost my metabolism and get my body burning fat and cals the way it should. Trust me on this- I work my a$$ off and I'm struggling to lose 1 lousy pound a week.

I have some questions about taking an ECA stack. I used to take ephedrine hci/guaifensen (or however you spell it) for energy. I'm familiar with how my body responds to it. I love it. I've been trying to lose weight without stimulants, supplements, etc. (well, aside from whey and vitamins... but you know what I mean). I'm ready to try something because I'm sick of working my butt off with little results.

Questions-

1) I read time and time again to experiment with dosages... but what's a good starting point for A and C? I know where to start with the E because I've taken it before and know what to expect. As I stated before, I'm 5'4" 205 female.

2) This probably sounds like a stupid question... but what form do you buy caffeine? Can you just go to GNC and get plain ole caffeine tablets? I've never had to look for just caffeine.

3) Can you crush any of these pills? Ephedrine is small enough that I could split it in half, and I believe asprin is small enough to take whole (depending on the dose, not sure), but if the caffeine is too big for me to swallow (I can't take big pills), can I crush it?

Thanks so much for your help!!

ETA- I know this will vary from person to person, but what kind of results can I expect? I'm taking a cruise in 3 months and I was really hoping to have gotten a lot farther than my current outlook of high 180s, low 190s. My losses have averaged 1lb a week, sometimes less than that. If I can get 2-3lbs a week off I'd be friggin extatic. I work my a$$ off, I wish my body would cooperate!!!

aside from the ephedrine. I would guess that your metabolism is shot because you're not eating enough. How many cals are you burning during your cardio sessions? I would bump up your calories at least on those days to 1500 calories. And are you spreading those calories out throughout the day? 1500 calories can be 5 meals/snacks at 300 cals or 6 meals/snacks at 250 cals. I'd even throw in a day of around maintenance calories.... one day a week of say 2200 calories. I'm just guessing with all this, but eating 1200 calories and doing cardio on the same day and you're not hungry.. likely cause you're metabolism is at a snails pace.

Also have you considered possibly going on a low carb diet to switch things up?

Originally Posted by stellar1216

1) I read time and time again to experiment with dosages... but what's a good starting point for A and C? I know where to start with the E because I've taken it before and know what to expect. As I stated before, I'm 5'4" 205 female.

2) This probably sounds like a stupid question... but what form do you buy caffeine? Can you just go to GNC and get plain ole caffeine tablets? I've never had to look for just caffeine.

3) Can you crush any of these pills? Ephedrine is small enough that I could split it in half, and I believe asprin is small enough to take whole (depending on the dose, not sure), but if the caffeine is too big for me to swallow (I can't take big pills), can I crush it?

1. Typical dosing for ECA generally consists of 25mg ephedra (sulfate), 200mg caffeine, and 81mg aspirin (baby asprin, I buy bayer). I'm doing the aspirin every other day, as the half life of aspirin is rather lengthy. On the days that i do not dose aspirin, i'll drink some green tea as it has a similar role that the aspirin has. I would recommend taking one pill of the ephedra and caffeine everyday and one pill of the aspirin every other day. One you adapt to this, increase the serving to twice a day, and so on. Do not exceed more that 100mg of ephedra in a day.

2. I buy everything I need for ECA at CVS. Bronkaid, Caffeine, and Bayer. I'm sure you can also score everything you need at a Walgreens or Walmart.

3. You should not have any need to crush these pills as they are relatively small and easy to swallow.

Originally Posted by JudoJosh

since taking this eca stack my throat has gotten really dry and voice real harsh and im always coughing and spitting up mucus, i assume its cuz of the guaifessian

Try increasing your water intake, sounds like you aren't getting enough.

Originally Posted by alexoc949

aside from the ephedrine. I would guess that your metabolism is shot because you're not eating enough. How many cals are you burning during your cardio sessions? I would bump up your calories at least on those days to 1500 calories. And are you spreading those calories out throughout the day? 1500 calories can be 5 meals/snacks at 300 cals or 6 meals/snacks at 250 cals. I'd even throw in a day of around maintenance calories.... one day a week of say 2200 calories. I'm just guessing with all this, but eating 1200 calories and doing cardio on the same day and you're not hungry.. likely cause you're metabolism is at a snails pace.

Also have you considered possibly going on a low carb diet to switch things up?

Thanks for your suggestions. I did the math with my nutritionist pre-surgery and we did the whole take my BMR and subtract 500... which brought me to 1200. I thought as long as I didn't go below half of maintanence (which was around 1700-1800, divided by two = 900ish cals) that I wouldn't go into starvation mode. Most people in my support group eat about that much as well and do good. At this point I'm up for trying anything and the worst that can happen is the same thing I've been dealing with for what seems like forever so there's no harm.

For my cardio, I do about 45 minutes... I average about 17 minute miles for 45 minutes... my speed stays between 3.2-3.5mph with a few spurts of jogging at 5mph for about 1-2 minutes each. I believe my cals burned are (according to the calculator on sparkpeople.com) around 200ish. Wow that's pretty embarrassing... what's more embarrassing is that I worked my way up from doing 20 minutes at 2.5-2.7mph!

I tried low carb but it was hell on my body. I have never had such bad constipation... and I was taking a fiber supplement. I was taking miralax every day and I was miserable. My carbs were at about 20g per day then. Right now I keep it at around 40-60g a day.

Feel free to offer more suggestions as I could really use them. People in the support group are die hard about sticking to what the nutritionist and surgeon tell them.... but those things aren't working for me and my doc has no interest in doing anything else or offering any other options/suggestions unless my average drops below 1lb a week.

Originally Posted by stellar1216

Thanks for your suggestions. I did the math with my nutritionist pre-surgery and we did the whole take my BMR and subtract 500... which brought me to 1200. I thought as long as I didn't go below half of maintanence (which was around 1700-1800, divided by two = 900ish cals) that I wouldn't go into starvation mode. Most people in my support group eat about that much as well and do good. At this point I'm up for trying anything and the worst that can happen is the same thing I've been dealing with for what seems like forever so there's no harm.

For my cardio, I do about 45 minutes... I average about 17 minute miles for 45 minutes... my speed stays between 3.2-3.5mph with a few spurts of jogging at 5mph for about 1-2 minutes each. I believe my cals burned are (according to the calculator on sparkpeople.com) around 200ish. Wow that's pretty embarrassing... what's more embarrassing is that I worked my way up from doing 20 minutes at 2.5-2.7mph!

I tried low carb but it was hell on my body. I have never had such bad constipation... and I was taking a fiber supplement. I was taking miralax every day and I was miserable. My carbs were at about 20g per day then. Right now I keep it at around 40-60g a day.

Feel free to offer more suggestions as I could really use them. People in the support group are die hard about sticking to what the nutritionist and surgeon tell them.... but those things aren't working for me and my doc has no interest in doing anything else or offering any other options/suggestions unless my average drops below 1lb a week.

Well, 17 minute miles, that's walking.. right? I don't think you can see huge results if that's what you're doing for cardio. Maybe other people disagree. Are you on a treadmill or walking outside? I think you gotta push yourself on the cardio, constantly try to improve your mile per hour at 45 minutes. I know you gotta start somewhere, but if you're not striving to get faster, being casual and don't feel like you're getting a workout afterwards.. i can't see results coming at a faster pace.

That's what I would work on. Calories I guess I would keep the same to see what happens with intensifying your cardio, but still would have one day a week where you upped your cals

Originally Posted by stellar1216

I just finished reading all 9 pages of this thread and I have some questions.

A little background... I'm female, 5'4", 205ish. I had lapband surgery in January and I've lost 41 lbs (25 of which came off two weeks pre surgery and the first week post surgery... since then I've lost 17lbs in 17 weeks) but due to two health issues that cause weight gain and make weight loss nearly impossible (poly cystic ovaries and an underactive thyroid) my loss has been super slow and I'm OVER IT. I work out almost every day, 4-5 days a week cardio and mild strength training 1-2x a week plus 45 minutes of yoga 1-2x a week for my own sanity. I eat about 1200 cals a day. Hunger is NOT an issue for me. I've looked at this from all angles and I really need something that's going to boost my metabolism and get my body burning fat and cals the way it should. Trust me on this- I work my a$$ off and I'm struggling to lose 1 lousy pound a week.

I have some questions about taking an ECA stack. I used to take ephedrine hci/guaifensen (or however you spell it) for energy. I'm familiar with how my body responds to it. I love it. I've been trying to lose weight without stimulants, supplements, etc. (well, aside from whey and vitamins... but you know what I mean). I'm ready to try something because I'm sick of working my butt off with little results.

Questions-

1) I read time and time again to experiment with dosages... but what's a good starting point for A and C? I know where to start with the E because I've taken it before and know what to expect. As I stated before, I'm 5'4" 205 female.

2) This probably sounds like a stupid question... but what form do you buy caffeine? Can you just go to GNC and get plain ole caffeine tablets? I've never had to look for just caffeine.

3) Can you crush any of these pills? Ephedrine is small enough that I could split it in half, and I believe asprin is small enough to take whole (depending on the dose, not sure), but if the caffeine is too big for me to swallow (I can't take big pills), can I crush it?

Thanks so much for your help!!

ETA- I know this will vary from person to person, but what kind of results can I expect? I'm taking a cruise in 3 months and I was really hoping to have gotten a lot farther than my current outlook of high 180s, low 190s. My losses have averaged 1lb a week, sometimes less than that. If I can get 2-3lbs a week off I'd be friggin extatic. I work my a$$ off, I wish my body would cooperate!!!

Really you need to learn diet first and learn how to bring down the weight with diet, if possible. The Eca stack if you dont stay on it year round generally the weight goes back on to some degree.

Originally Posted by JudoJosh

since taking this eca stack my throat has gotten really dry and voice real harsh and im always coughing and spitting up mucus, i assume its cuz of the guaifessian

Originally Posted by alexoc949

aside from the ephedrine. I would guess that your metabolism is shot because you're not eating enough. How many cals are you burning during your cardio sessions? I would bump up your calories at least on those days to 1500 calories. And are you spreading those calories out throughout the day? 1500 calories can be 5 meals/snacks at 300 cals or 6 meals/snacks at 250 cals. I'd even throw in a day of around maintenance calories.... one day a week of say 2200 calories. I'm just guessing with all this, but eating 1200 calories and doing cardio on the same day and you're not hungry.. likely cause you're metabolism is at a snails pace.

Also have you considered possibly going on a low carb diet to switch things up?

calories are probally too low unless your like 150 lbs

Originally Posted by alexoc949

Well, 17 minute miles, that's walking.. right? I don't think you can see huge results if that's what you're doing for cardio. Maybe other people disagree. Are you on a treadmill or walking outside? I think you gotta push yourself on the cardio, constantly try to improve your mile per hour at 45 minutes. I know you gotta start somewhere, but if you're not striving to get faster, being casual and don't feel like you're getting a workout afterwards.. i can't see results coming at a faster pace.

That's what I would work on. Calories I guess I would keep the same to see what happens with intensifying your cardio, but still would have one day a week where you upped your cals

Low intensity cardio works fine...remember all low intensity is to burn calories, diet should do most of the work and all Eca does is a fat loss up.

I know if your a bigger guy and over 25 too much excessive ground cardio for weeks and monbths at a time,starts taking its toll on the hips, knees. Morever, it also burns muscle if done high intensity. if your a marathon runner fine, bodybuilders though should keep it at a moderate-lower pace and longer time..especially if your an immediate bodybuiler/more advanced.

Originally Posted by alexoc949

aside from the ephedrine. I would guess that your metabolism is shot because you're not eating enough. How many cals are you burning during your cardio sessions? I would bump up your calories at least on those days to 1500 calories. And are you spreading those calories out throughout the day? 1500 calories can be 5 meals/snacks at 300 cals or 6 meals/snacks at 250 cals. I'd even throw in a day of around maintenance calories.... one day a week of say 2200 calories. I'm just guessing with all this, but eating 1200 calories and doing cardio on the same day and you're not hungry.. likely cause you're metabolism is at a snails pace.

Also have you considered possibly going on a low carb diet to switch things up?

I did this, went way too low on the cals when I first started cutting. You have to eat a certain amount to fuel the fat burning process, but good post

Originally Posted by stellar1216

Thanks for your suggestions. I did the math with my nutritionist pre-surgery and we did the whole take my BMR and subtract 500... which brought me to 1200. I thought as long as I didn't go below half of maintanence (which was around 1700-1800, divided by two = 900ish cals) that I wouldn't go into starvation mode. Most people in my support group eat about that much as well and do good. At this point I'm up for trying anything and the worst that can happen is the same thing I've been dealing with for what seems like forever so there's no harm.

For my cardio, I do about 45 minutes... I average about 17 minute miles for 45 minutes... my speed stays between 3.2-3.5mph with a few spurts of jogging at 5mph for about 1-2 minutes each. I believe my cals burned are (according to the calculator on sparkpeople.com) around 200ish. Wow that's pretty embarrassing... what's more embarrassing is that I worked my way up from doing 20 minutes at 2.5-2.7mph!

I tried low carb but it was hell on my body. I have never had such bad constipation... and I was taking a fiber supplement. I was taking miralax every day and I was miserable. My carbs were at about 20g per day then. Right now I keep it at around 40-60g a day.

Feel free to offer more suggestions as I could really use them. People in the support group are die hard about sticking to what the nutritionist and surgeon tell them.... but those things aren't working for me and my doc has no interest in doing anything else or offering any other options/suggestions unless my average drops below 1lb a week.

I just skimmed over this but from what I read, low carb isn't easy, if it was we'd all be doing it, thats why you up your healthy fat intake, up the cardio, incline walking at 2.8-3.2 should be just fine, at first its easy, but as you lower your cals and drop the initial weight it will get harder, trust me lol

Originally Posted by alexoc949

Well, 17 minute miles, that's walking.. right? I don't think you can see huge results if that's what you're doing for cardio. Maybe other people disagree. Are you on a treadmill or walking outside? I think you gotta push yourself on the cardio, constantly try to improve your mile per hour at 45 minutes. I know you gotta start somewhere, but if you're not striving to get faster, being casual and don't feel like you're getting a workout afterwards.. i can't see results coming at a faster pace.

That's what I would work on. Calories I guess I would keep the same to see what happens with intensifying your cardio, but still would have one day a week where you upped your cals

Yes, 17 is walking with a few minutes of jogging mixed in... that's down from about a 23 minute mile. I use a treadmill. After I get off, I do feel like I've had a good workout (remember, I'm 205 down from 246... so fitness obviously wasn't at the top of my priority list for a few years). I usually use a heart rate monitor to make sure I'm staying within target range. I've been working on it for about 3 months. I am pretty out of shape, but I've been working on it and will continue to do so. Ultimately, I want to be jogging 45 minutes straight within 4-5 months. I just need to push myself harder.

17 min mile is perfect for burning fat,thats where I keep my speed on cutting.Try to up the cals just a little if your getting tired doing the workouts.

Im on my second week of eca and Im eating alot but doing major workouts,I did a double yesterday 2x50 min walks and did chest in the am and night.

You can get away with one dose of eca for the first 3-4 days,when I start I get a huge rush and it lasts almost all day,I could never take a second dose in the first few days.

Also try and use ephedrine hci its way more potant and is what was used to make the stack.I also take asprin every few days since it stays in you for a while.

good luck on your way to your goals,the eca will def help out if everything else is in check.

Originally Posted by stellar1216

Yes, 17 is walking with a few minutes of jogging mixed in... that's down from about a 23 minute mile. I use a treadmill. After I get off, I do feel like I've had a good workout (remember, I'm 205 down from 246... so fitness obviously wasn't at the top of my priority list for a few years). I usually use a heart rate monitor to make sure I'm staying within target range. I've been working on it for about 3 months. I am pretty out of shape, but I've been working on it and will continue to do so. Ultimately, I want to be jogging 45 minutes straight within 4-5 months. I just need to push myself harder.

Keep in mind that lower intensity cardio will burn less overall calories, but will take most of those calories from fat.

^X2
and u have to crawl before you walk

Thanks everyone! I was almost afraid to post because some forums tend to chew noobs with stupid questions to pieces.

I gotta disagree with all this walking talk and low intensity cardio. You need to keep pushing yourself. While low low intensity cardio might be ideal for a 220lb bodybuilder who is solid and needs to drop 3-4% bf, while being precise with diet and strength training...there are different strokes for different folks.

You need to get yourself in shape and drop weight. In my opinion, low intensity walking is not the cup of tea that should be in your pot.

Above someone said you have to crawl before you can walk, this is true. So you'll have to walk before you can jog. How you keep pushing yourself is by working on improving your cardio performance in some way. So say 45 minutes is your baseline. Ways to improve is by increasing your walking speed by point one mph. That is an improvement over your previous workout. Another way, if you're walking and then jogging you can shorten the time between walking and jogging by 15 seconds in a workout.. or every time you jog you can extend the amount of time that you jog for 10 seconds.

My advice is to keep striving to get better and to improve some aspect over your previous workout. It won't happen every time, but if that is your goal it will continuously happen. It really keeps you more motivated and gives you more of a sense of accomplishment.

Originally Posted by alexoc949

I gotta disagree with all this walking talk and low intensity cardio. You need to keep pushing yourself. While low low intensity cardio might be ideal for a 220lb bodybuilder who is solid and needs to drop 3-4% bf, while being precise with diet and strength training...there are different strokes for different folks.

You need to get yourself in shape and drop weight. In my opinion, low intensity walking is not the cup of tea that should be in your pot.

Above someone said you have to crawl before you can walk, this is true. So you'll have to walk before you can jog. How you keep pushing yourself is by working on improving your cardio performance in some way. So say 45 minutes is your baseline. Ways to improve is by increasing your walking speed by point one mph. That is an improvement over your previous workout. Another way, if you're walking and then jogging you can shorten the time between walking and jogging by 15 seconds in a workout.. or every time you jog you can extend the amount of time that you jog for 10 seconds.

My advice is to keep striving to get better and to improve some aspect over your previous workout. It won't happen every time, but if that is your goal it will continuously happen. It really keeps you more motivated and gives you more of a sense of accomplishment.

Disagree with it if you like, but it's scientifically proven that lower intensity cardio will burn more calories from fat (but less calories overall) and spare muscle.

Stellar, you can keep pushing yourself by simply adding 5 minutes per week to your low intensity cardio. Start with 20 mins per week. When you hit 40 mins per week, split that into two sessions (one upon waking and one after your resistance training) This is a pretty good method to lose the weight in a slow and controlled manner and be in shape in the time frame that you are currently looking at. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or need help with diet/training.

That being said, lets get back on topic kiddies. We are here to talk about ECA.

I'm not sure if you're reading her posts or not, but she is 5'4 205lbs and is already doing 45 minutes of low intensity cardio. I'm not denying that low intensity burns more calories from fat during a workout. High intensity burns more calories et al more fat at rest and speeds up the metabolism throughout the day. Both things that this persons needs. I'm not telling her to do HIIT, or to do high intensity cardio. I'm telling her to step up her intensity and to constantly work at improving her fitness by improving her output.

You're basically just telling her to do the exact same thing that she has been doing, but that is no longer producing the type of results that she seeks.

Originally Posted by alexoc949

I'm not sure if you're reading her posts or not, but she is 5'4 205lbs and is already doing 45 minutes of low intensity cardio. I'm not denying that low intensity burns more calories from fat during a workout. High intensity burns more calories et al more fat at rest and speeds up the metabolism throughout the day. Both things that this persons needs. I'm not telling her to do HIIT, or to do high intensity cardio. I'm telling her to step up her intensity and to constantly work at improving her fitness by improving her output.

You're basically just telling her to do the exact same thing that she has been doing, but that is no longer producing the type of results that she seeks.

Sorry I left a very important detail out of the cardio aspect. The two most effective forms of cardio i've found for low intensity are incline treadmill and the stairmill/stairmaster. Each of these do a good job of getting your heart rate to around 120-130bpm. That's what I had in mind in the outline of my previous post. HIIT also has the same effect as long term low intensity cardio. From what I gather, she's doing this all on a flat plane (treadmill, track, etc). If she changes it up to what i've got above she'll see some more results and she has plenty of time to bring her weight down. No need to do it too fast.

Originally Posted by alexoc949

I gotta disagree with all this walking talk and low intensity cardio. You need to keep pushing yourself. While low low intensity cardio might be ideal for a 220lb bodybuilder who is solid and needs to drop 3-4% bf, while being precise with diet and strength training...there are different strokes for different folks.

You need to get yourself in shape and drop weight. In my opinion, low intensity walking is not the cup of tea that should be in your pot.

Above someone said you have to crawl before you can walk, this is true. So you'll have to walk before you can jog. How you keep pushing yourself is by working on improving your cardio performance in some way. So say 45 minutes is your baseline. Ways to improve is by increasing your walking speed by point one mph. That is an improvement over your previous workout. Another way, if you're walking and then jogging you can shorten the time between walking and jogging by 15 seconds in a workout.. or every time you jog you can extend the amount of time that you jog for 10 seconds.

My advice is to keep striving to get better and to improve some aspect over your previous workout. It won't happen every time, but if that is your goal it will continuously happen. It really keeps you more motivated and gives you more of a sense of accomplishment.

well disagree then. I said especially if your an immediate/advanced bodybuilder mainly and heavier. I went from 240-225 and did cardio six days a week 45 minutes higher intensity and after a couple months of doing this hip, knees etc aching, pulled a hamstring from running real effin fast!

High intensity cardio constantly burns too much muscle. get your bodyfat in check year round and its no worries....if your a football player improving spints, fine... after pulling my hamstrong running hard I said screw it.do what works for you!

remember younger lighter guys it most likely wont be a problem. whatever your goals are .

very true Smeton

Originally Posted by smeton_yea

well disagree then. I said especially if your an immediate/advanced bodybuilder mainly and heavier. I went from 240-225 and did cardio six days a week 45 minutes higher intensity and after a couple months of doing this hip, knees etc aching, pulled a hamstring from running real effin fast!

High intensity cardio constantly burns too much muscle. get your bodyfat in check year round and its no worries....if your a football player improving spints, fine... after pulling my hamstrong running hard I said screw it.do what works for you!

remember younger lighter guys it most likely wont be a problem. whatever your goals are .

I did, disagree.

but for 1. i never quoted you or said hey smeethon I'm talking to you.

number 2. you probably should have learned to warm up and stretch more efficiently, and be more in tune with your body as to when to and when not to push yourself beyond a certain limit. Happens often with amateur lifters

number 3. she is 5'4 205 female. I'll say it again, female. I'm not asking her to race herself into injuries like you did. Or even do any sort of high intensity cardio. I'm saying she needs to strive to improve her physical fitness by upping her intensity. Improving just a little every or every other workout. Low intensity walking is not going to do it, She needs to push herself so that what was low intensity 2 weeks ago is a cake walk today.

number 4. HITT training burns too much muscle when you don't have the adequate nutrients running through your system, or if you do 45 minutes of it like you did and burn yourself out. So your opinion on it is understandable. Ideally you would want to do half the time.

number 5. i don't know if she is a football player or not, but judging by her goals I'm going to guess no, or unless she wants to be a wide receiver

Originally Posted by alexoc949

I did, disagree.

but for 1. i never quoted you or said hey smeethon I'm talking to you.

number 2. you probably should have learned to warm up and stretch more efficiently, and be more in tune with your body as to when to and when not to push yourself beyond a certain limit. Happens often with amateur lifters

number 3. she is 5'4 205 female. I'll say it again, female. I'm not asking her to race herself into injuries like you did. Or even do any sort of high intensity cardio. I'm saying she needs to strive to improve her physical fitness by upping her intensity. Improving just a little every or every other workout. Low intensity walking is not going to do it, She needs to push herself so that what was low intensity 2 weeks ago is a cake walk today.

number 4. HITT training burns too much muscle when you don't have the adequate nutrients running through your system, or if you do 45 minutes of it like you did and burn yourself out. So your opinion on it is understandable. Ideally you would want to do half the time.

number 5. i don't know if she is a football player or not, but judging by her goals I'm going to guess no, or unless she wants to be a wide receiver

2. learned a lot of warmup up thus far. About a year ago and a half ago Used to push too hard for too long thats why its important to cycle intensity or your body just wont hold up when your training like someone has a gun to your head every session and if you dont get that last rep youll be shot,that mindset,for months and months at a time. learned the hard way

3.Diet is the most important thing for her. In fact she gets her diet shell lose bodyfat(and keep a good amount of muscle with high protein) without having to do any cardio. Most people its hard to give up a daily apple pie ,cupcake, and snickers. I know it was hard for mee, again, when you have a goal to work toward its really not that difficult.

A solid diet is something you learn to do, it's not something that occurs overnight. It's a matter of how much she wants to lose the weight to whether or not she'll be able to hold up by drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper instead of Dr. Pepper or so on. Cardio definitely is NOT a must and a huge chunk of weight can be taken off without any of it. Too often I think people think if they do cardio it'll ok the big mac they ate before that but i'd rather see someone just eat right consistently, watch there carbs at night, and not quit after a week before they have a chance to see progress.

Originally Posted by h0other

A solid diet is something you learn to do, it's not something that occurs overnight. It's a matter of how much she wants to lose the weight to whether or not she'll be able to hold up by drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper instead of Dr. Pepper or so on. Cardio definitely is NOT a must and a huge chunks of weight can be taken off without any of it. Too often I think people think if they do cardio it'll ok the big mac they ate before that but i'd rather see someone just eat right consistently, watch there carbs at night, and not quit after a week before they have a chance to see progress.

you and I have the same philosphy on this subject..you said it very well . it takes time to learn diet and eating clean

I must be doing something right then haha.

It's not rocket science people, losing weight means eating less calories than your body needs to run, thus in turn burning fat/muscle or whatever it needs to get you through the day. The only time it gets tricky is when you are trying to keep your body from using muscle while burning the fat, the rest is cake.

Thanks again for the exercise tips. Wow with so many different opinions it's hard to figure out what's best. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the overall consensus is to continue working harder- not to become a marathon runner, but add some speed, increase incline (which I haven't done yet, it's on flat and an incline would definitely add some challenge), and maybe break it up into two sessions (which I've read in other places as well).

ECA side note & Q- I can't believe this, but I lost 5lbs (water weight I suppose) in ONE DAY. I've been sweating more too... this is normal, right?

Just to clarify- my diet is good. I've spent a lot of time browsing this site and links to articles and such. I've followed diets similar to what is suggested here and on the links (4-5 small meals, increased calories, plenty of complex carbs, square meals, etc). My usual diet isn't bad, but by the looks of my results thus far something needs to change. I'm going to add planned snacks between meals, eat more calories, do a lot more strength training (and more intense... time to dust off the ole weight bench), and take in a lot more protein (was at at ~60g, increasing to ~100g per day). My eating habits and knowledge of how to eat are good... and I've kicked my bad habits months ago.... my biggest problem is getting my horrible metabolism in order. Thanks to you folks and all of the advice I've read in these forums, I am confident I'll be able to do so in a fairly short amount of time.

HUGE THANKS!!!

Now back to your regularly scheduled ECA discussion....

I do walking for cardio,I never run and Im down 15 lbs in 3 and a half weeks and all my lifts are the same,I havnt lost any strenght at all.

I do 5 min increases one on the incline and one on the speed every 5 min until I get around 50 min or so,by the 25 min I am soaked in sweat.

Some times I do this 2x a day and on an empty stomach in the am.

Originally Posted by stellar1216

Thanks again for the exercise tips. Wow with so many different opinions it's hard to figure out what's best. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the overall consensus is to continue working harder- not to become a marathon runner, but add some speed, increase incline (which I haven't done yet, it's on flat and an incline would definitely add some challenge), and maybe break it up into two sessions (which I've read in other places as well).

ECA side note & Q- I can't believe this, but I lost 5lbs (water weight I suppose) in ONE DAY. I've been sweating more too... this is normal, right?

Just to clarify- my diet is good. I've spent a lot of time browsing this site and links to articles and such. I've followed diets similar to what is suggested here and on the links (4-5 small meals, increased calories, plenty of complex carbs, square meals, etc). My usual diet isn't bad, but by the looks of my results thus far something needs to change. I'm going to add planned snacks between meals, eat more calories, do a lot more strength training (and more intense... time to dust off the ole weight bench), and take in a lot more protein (was at at ~60g, increasing to ~100g per day). My eating habits and knowledge of how to eat are good... and I've kicked my bad habits months ago.... my biggest problem is getting my horrible metabolism in order. Thanks to you folks and all of the advice I've read in these forums, I am confident I'll be able to do so in a fairly short amount of time.

HUGE THANKS!!!

Now back to your regularly scheduled ECA discussion....

Looks like you're headed in the right direction, glad we could help. Try doing between 3.0-3.5 speed and anywhere between a 6.0-15.0 incline. Adjust to your liking.

Sweating your a$$ off is your body's way of saying that the ephedra is doing it's job. That 5lb loss is in fact water weight, probably loss from the ephedra and any changes you've made in your diet.

Good luck.

hey guys, i've been dosing my ECA once a day (A every other). Do you guys recommend upping the A dosage when I start taking two tabs of E and C each day?

Originally Posted by TheDarkHalf

hey guys, i've been dosing my ECA once a day (A every other). Do you guys recommend upping the A dosage when I start taking two tabs of E and C each day?

i think its a matter of personal preference. some people say it lasts in u all day from one dose. Also it cant be good for your stomach to take in too much asprin continuously. i take it twice a day but i use white willow bark instead of asprin (supposedly its the same active ingredient without stomach issues...i havent heard anything disputing this so il go with it)
id say stick to one a dose just to be safe if ur running eca for a while?

Originally Posted by faaipdeoiad

i think its a matter of personal preference. some people say it lasts in u all day from one dose. Also it cant be good for your stomach to take in too much asprin continuously. i take it twice a day but i use white willow bark instead of asprin (supposedly its the same active ingredient without stomach issues...i havent heard anything disputing this so il go with it)
id say stick to one a dose just to be safe if ur running eca for a while?

I'm just running it for a couple of weeks then going to start a cycle of epi. I haven't had any stomach problems from the asprin and probably because i've been taking it every other day. I just want to make sure I have the proportionality of the dosages correct.