Weight Loss advice??

[volvic1]

Hi all. just looking for some advice on my current weight loss challenge.

 

I am moving to a warm country which will involve alot of bikini time, so ive decided to get started on this sooner rather than later. I have roughly about 14 weeks, possibly more, which ill continue afterwards! ( Not sure if this time length is possible)

 

I am female, 5ft 2" so I know any weight will show up on me, and currently at my heaviest at 144 lbs Weight wise I would like to get down to 126lbs but I wouldnt be awfully concerned with what I weighed as long as I was happy with how I looked.

 

My main problem areas are my tummy and generally from my neck to my hip, my legs are fine and slim but I would like to maybe lose some weight from the top of my thighs, and maybe tone up my upper arms. Generally then tone all over, but mainly lose weight off my stomach, back and love handles areas. also maybe lose some weight off my face! (Think thats basically everything) But mainly it is my waist and stomach.

 

I have begun this week, my aim is to go to the gym three times a week with some other form of excercise done in a more enjoyable way once a week, ie: walk on the beach, climbing a non steep mountain etc...

 

I have been twice this week so far, Monday and Tuesday, I plan to go again thursday, I know it woulld be more suitable to spread these days out more evenly, but I am currently in a long distance relationship, so every so often I go visit him friday evening to sunday evening so that cuts that out, although the more enjoyable activity will generally be with him!

 

When I used to go to the gym before, my routine was:

10 mins bike

20 mins walking on treadmill

15 mins of cross trainer

10 mins on stepper

A variety of sit ups and arm weights

10 mins on bike to warm down

 

But someone told me that I was just working all my legs, plus this was long and boring to be honest, and the stepper was giving me quite large calf muscles that I didnt like.

 

What I have been doing since I started this week has been:

 

10 mins bike

35/40 mins treadmill - 2.5 mins quick walk 6.5mph

10 mins jog 7.0mph

2.0 mins walk 5.5mph

2.0 mins run 8.5mph

2.0 mins walk 5.5mph

2.0 mins run 8.5mph

Repeated until the 35-40 mins is up!

A series of sit ups and arm weights.

5 min bike finish up

 

Now is this enough to be doing? I can easily introduce more excercise into my routine, maybe to rowing machine? Im not sure any advice would help.

 

In regards Diet, Im on a fairly healthy diet, my concern is that I may not be eating enough calories, I dont want to crash diet as I know you need to lose it slow for it to stick.

 

For breakfast: I have a small bowl of alpen swiss no added sugar, with low fat milk and less than a handful of Jordans Country Crisp Four Nut cereal- I came to this mixture as the alpen was quite bland on its own and the jordans was too sweet. Another breakfast might be a hard boiled egg on two slices of wholewheat bread. A small glass of orange juice with either.

 

For lunch: I have a brown bread sandwich with wafer thin smoked turkey, light mayo and lettuce, a low fat yogurt (95 cals) and a manderine and a bottle of water! This may vary by having different fillings in the sandwich.

 

For Dinner: Its generally a piece of fish (peppered mackeral, lemon sole in a light breading etc) or some chicken with fahita powder on a bed of baby leaves, I use low fat honey and mustard dressing (12cals and 0.2 fat) and throw in some cherry tomatoes and peppers.

 

If im hungry before I go to the gym, I might have a Natures Valley granola bar. Other than this I dont snack at all, not really that I don't let myself, I just was never one to snack!

 

I try and eat as healthy as I can during the week, as at the weekends if im visiting my bf or with friends, we may get a takeway or go for a meal, I know these are bad but im quite young and I dont want to deprive myself fully because I don't think ill stick to it

 

I was just wondering if im eating enough, or what I can eat that has caloried but low fat? Sorry about the length but I wanted to try and give all the information!

 

Any advice would be great!!

[sadchick83]

Hi Volvic,

 

I wish you luck in your new, warm surroundings! I am 5'4" and was 142lbs at one point. I am currently 107lbs. I am very petite, so it looks good.

 

Everybody is different, but my suggestion would be to not get too obsessed about all the numbers when it comes to running. I would just go and too what you feel and don't think about it too much. It seems like such a chore to be so calculating.

 

**For food, you are eating way too much bread and carbs. Instead of drinking oj, eat an orange to avoid the sugar spike. You are not eating enough fat either. Have an avocado, or some other type of good fat.

 

By the way, a slice of turkey sandwich meat is likely full of antibiotics unless it is organic. Conventional turkey is on of the worst meats.

Sandwich meat is full of preservatives and other harmful chemicals, and will break down in your system much faster than normal meat.

 

I think you are not eating enough! WHat about adding some nuts??

[volvic1]

Thanks for your response! and wow you give me inspiration Yeah I agree with the not being so calculated, I know myself some days I will be able to push harder and some not, but do you think im doing enough cardio say?

 

Yeah I know I can rely on bread too much, can you give me any alternatives to eat, something quick in the morning for breakfast, and something I can bring to work for my lunch, ive no problem preparing the night before!?

 

Woah that's made me think twice about turkey maybe ill stick to organic!! Yeah id easily add some nuts, which are the most beneficial!?

 

What other ways can I add more food, im not a snacker, but if I was to be id go for more savory than sweet?

Thanks again for your input

[sadchick83]

Sure!! For breakfast I have a type of Kashi cereal that has 13 grams of porting per serving. I have it with orange flavoured fish oil and whole milk.

I also have a 2nd breakfast at about 11:00am.....same or nuts, dried berries. I love macademian nuts. Hard boiled eggs too

 

Have maybe a thin half wrap instead of a slice of bread, and no more than one serving of bread a day.

 

Run as you feel, don't push yourself too much, or you won't look forward to it.

[sidehop]

What you want to do is find out your BMR. Not sure of your age but get the BMR and get an 'idea' what your caloric intake should be which is the maintenance. You'll burn more obviously but what you're targeting is no more than 1,000 calorie deficit per day. I would start out by cutting 500 calories. The trick is to eat five to six meals to keep the blood sugar level.

 

So let's just say you're 21 taking your height and weight. BMR is roughly 1474 and exercising three times a week for example your daily caloric needs are 2,026 calories (BMR x 1.375 using Harris Benedict). Now there is no right or wrong in the formula and is just a ball park figure. What you have to do from there is reduce that by 500 calories. That will give you solid one pound of fat loss a week. Don't cut 1,000 calories right away as the body may think you're starving yourself aside from feeling week or going over the caloric deficit.

 

And I tell people to use tape measure and fat caliper (like $5 on eBay) that you can do yourself to see how much you've lost. Your scale will tell you otherwise but as long as those few millimeters is shrinking every week, that means you're gaining some muscles and/or the body is retaining some water. Speaking of which make sure you're hydrated. For your weight I'd target around 64 oz a day (about an ounce per two pounds of body weight). That will keep your system hydrated and your muscles that needs the water as you exercise.

 

Now don't get too complicated with the carbs and go too strict. You'll end up not enjoying the foods you eat unless you grew up with barley, brown rice, quinoa, etc. But the more complex (unprocessed) you go with food, the longer you'll feel full with less calories. We tend to eat foods that are fatty, sugary and if anything the carbs we eat are very high in glycemic index so you'll feel full but they don't last as long.

 

I would also aim for 60/30/10 (carb, protein, fat). Minimize the saturated fats. You don't need them. Good fats in moderation, if you don't like fish, take Omega-3/6/9 supplements which is great also. But you have to take in good fats to lose the excess fat so don't cut them out.

 

As far as exercising goes, keep it different every time. "Routine" can be good and bad. The body HATES changes but in a sense it's trying to maintain balance every day. So do different things every time and don't do the same routine every week. Always stimulate and confuse the body. It's the only way to see long-term change not to mention you'll enjoy exercising and eating healthy and of course feeling great.

 

I always eat an hour before working out and some people prefer not to. All depends on what you're doing, if you're doing cardio, weight training, working out in the morning/afternoon/evening, etc.

 

Train your entire body. For female, you cannot over train and have a large muscle. It's physically impossible with high estrogen/low testosterone not to mention weight training is one of the best fat burner exercise followed by intense cardio like HIIT. Throw the cardio in there couple times a week if not low impact after weight training.

 

So 18 lbs in 14 weeks? Very doable. If you stick with it and train harder you'll lose most of it in 10. Like I said, you don't want to cut too much calories or you'll risk losing weight through your muscles and other stored glycogen other than unwanted fat cell. There's a threshold on how much the body will use the store fat before switching to other resource. Again it's about balance the body is trying to maintain. Fat is still needed for many things and isn't necessary a bad thing. It's when you over train, over cut calories or just abuse your body (overeating, etc) is when you start to suffer the negative side.

[volvic1]

Mmm i like the sounds of orange fish oil! Im going to look up cereals similar to the Kashi one as im not sure its sold here, im looking for a low fat high protein one I assume!?

 

Yeah I love nuts, and I just looked up what defines a portion so Ill start bringing that as a mid day snack! I love wraps so ive no problem switching to them, I had gave up bread for so long but was struggling with what to bring for lunch so I know its so easy to resort back to the easy option! How would some cous cous be for lunch?

 

Yeah I don't want to over push myself, because I know I wont stick to it! Do you think its ok that I intend to loosen the regime at weekends? Do you ever have your days off?

[sidehop]

Cereal is...not okay lol. I recommend oatmeal or something more lasting. The breakfast can be higher in calories but you need that energy. Cereal and processed carbs no matter how healthy version it is, it doesn't burn steady like brown rice, oatmeal or something more complex. If you want to absolutely eat cereal, Kashi is okay, just add bit of protein and more healthy carbs.

 

Honestly one day off and even two is okay. Everyone has different regimen, it's a competition within yourself Sometimes I'll have one day off like today and sometimes on either Saturday or Sunday. Recovery is also a key for the body to grow and repair what's been worked.

[volvic1]

Thank you so much! All this really was so hard for me to understand! You made it sound so clear! Im going to keep at it and hopefully will respond to this in 14 weeks a much slimmer and healthier girl Oh and by the way in 24 and had worked out my BMR to be 1461

[volvic1]

Cereal is...not okay lol. I recommend oatmeal or something more lasting. The breakfast can be higher in calories but you need that energy. Cereal and processed carbs no matter how healthy version it is, it doesn't burn steady like brown rice, oatmeal or something more complex. If you want to absolutely eat cereal, Kashi is okay, just add bit of protein and more healthy carbs.

 

Honestly one day off and even two is okay. Everyone has different regimen, it's a competition within yourself Sometimes I'll have one day off like today and sometimes on either Saturday or Sunday. Recovery is also a key for the body to grow and repair what's been worked.

 

Yeah I love oatmeal, I also love wheat based breakfast like Weetabix, they kept me full so much longer plus I liked the taste, the problem lies where I think I have a tolerance for digesting them, after I eat them come 11 o clock im bloated and gassy and very uncomfortable so i generally avoid them, I was so lost for what to eat for breakfast, I started eating brown toast with peanut butter, but was trying to avoid bread! Breakfast is the main meal that stumps me everytime

 

Ah good Im glad to know that taking a day off wont throw me back ten steps (unless I go completely over board)

[sidehop]

Yeah I love oatmeal, I also love wheat based breakfast like Weetabix, they kept me full so much longer plus I liked the taste, the problem lies where I think I have a tolerance for digesting them, after I eat them come 11 o clock im bloated and gassy and very uncomfortable so i generally avoid them, I was so lost for what to eat for breakfast, I started eating brown toast with peanut butter, but was trying to avoid bread! Breakfast is the main meal that stumps me everytime

 

Ah good Im glad to know that taking a day off wont throw me back ten steps (unless I go completely over board)

 

I wonder if you have some intolerance to gluten perhaps? I don't have celiac disease but feel better without a lot of gluten in my diet.

[volvic1]

Yeah Im not too sure, I think im the same as you, where its not too bad but I generally avoid them as I dont like feeling bloated! Im sure there are tests that can be done, so maybe ill try them