Group: Beginners to Exercise

Created: 2012/01/01, Members: 968, Messages: 18927

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MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/27, 12:16 PM
Hi,
I am new here and am not sure if I am posting this in the correct place. I need help. I have been working out for about 2 and a half months now. I have lost 16lbs. I do cardio and weights most days of the week. I don't know what I am doing wrong. My pants size hasn't decreased. I feel like I should be further along then this. I am eating well, most of the time, and am serious about getting healthy. I have another 28lbs to loose to be at goal weight of 130. This is really important to me which is why it's so frustrating. Sometimes I feel like I'm either getting bigger or staying where I am. Any ideas or suggestions?

Another question reguarding protien. How much in one sitting should I be eating? I just had 30grams for breakfast, is that too much? Not enough?

Thank you!
wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/10/27, 03:30 PM
What are you doing? You should go into more detail than that... what type of cardio? What kind of weightlifting???
As for protein, eat more. I would be willing to bet my certification that you are not getting enough of your calories from protein. If you are, you are probably getting to many total calories. 30 grams for breakfast is actually very good.

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To have talent is to have limits. I have no talent therefor I have no limits.
Steve Prefontaine

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/10/27, 11:45 PM
Well your first problem is your using the 10 lbs weights. Don't be afraid of increasing the weight! If each of those is a seperate day, I would put legs in between your two upper body workouts. As for lunges and squats, most, if not ALL of them should be done with weight. What kind of exercises are you doing???? They should be compound exercises.

AS for cardio, try doing your regular cardio 1-2 times per week, but do HIIT for 2 sessions a day.

1000 calories a day???? First of all, your metabolism is probably in starvation mode... What do you weigh? I would defianetly increase that.



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To have talent is to have limits. I have no talent therefor I have no limits.
Steve Prefontaine

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/28, 12:04 AM
How much more weight are we talking? 15lbs? 20lbs? How many sets and reps should I be doing with each exericise? Yes each of those are seperate days... I do them for three days and then rest a day and then start over. I will do legs then tomorrow and use my weights with all of them. I have been doing about 120 lunges both forward and backwards, squats, wall squats with the stability ball, step ups... usually by this point I can't walk. What are compund exercises?

Well, I started off with weight watchers.. where they count the calories for you in the form of points. So technically I take in about 22 pts a day... and every point is about 50 calories... some days it's a little more. On weight watchers you are suppose to take the extra 5 pts a day and when you work out you eat more pts.. I don't take the extra workout ones nor the extra 5 a day.. I stay at 22.:) Is that, that bad? I have lost 16 lbs.. but still have 28 to go be at 130. Guessing I'm going to get told to eat more! :) Oh but there's more.:) I don't eat carbs with dinner and won't eat after 7 or so. It worked at first now it's becoming really difficult to loose. So I started doing longer cardio workouts to see if that helped and it hasn't.

What about the protein.. are talking every meal? How much? End of the day too?

Thank you for your help. You are the only one who took the time to write.
wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/10/28, 12:13 AM
You should be doing around 6-14 repetitions. Start with a weight that you can only do 6-8 times. Once you can do that weight 12-14 times, then increase the weight. I would do around 3 sets, depending on what works for you.
A compound exercise is an exercise that uses more than one muscle group, something like the bench press or deadlift or a pull up.
What kind of exercises are you doing for upper body??
I know that one the weight watchers diet (which i by no means support) higher protein items are generally lower points, so focus on getting extra calories through increasing your protein intake. You should aim for at least 1/2 a gram per pound of bodyweight. At least.
And the end of the day especially. I might recommend a form of cassein protein, such as cottage cheese, before bed.

Also, don't be harsh on the other members. You only gave it one day. If I hadn't responded, someone would have. And I am sure someone else will post after me with something else.

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To have talent is to have limits. I have no talent therefor I have no limits.
Steve Prefontaine

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/28, 12:51 AM
Upper body I do : lying french press, shoulder press, bicep curl, one arm dumbbell row, lots of push ups both on and off of my bosu ball, bench dip,lateral raise, barbell front raise, crunches and a few other ab ones. From what it sounds like, I'm not doing enough of them each time.. I'm only doing 3 and 4 at most sets of 10 reps. I am sore the next day, but I will do more starting in the morning.

The only reason I choose weight watchers because it's difficult to count calories, and they have already done it for us. I will increase my calorie intake to 1500 calories. I do eat a lot of cottage cheese.. what about whey protein? I mix that in with my yogurt a lot. Trying to get that much protein, I'll have to eat it with every meal, all day! I'll give it a try tomorrow.

What do you think about cardio? From what I've read on some of the other posts, I've been doing too long of cardio workouts, too many times a week. Do I need to cut down some? (Been doing them on most days.)

I wasn't meaning to be harsh on the others. I just wanted to thank you for taking the time out to help me.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/28, 12:53 AM
okay, I read your other posts on cardio that answers that. I'll cut back to no more then 35-45 mins. I'll try 4-5 times a week. Use the rest of the time for weights! =)
flyonthewall
flyonthewall
Posts: 1,823
Joined: 2005/01/18
Canada
2005/10/28, 09:41 AM
Hi Marlena and welcome to FT. Wrestler made some very good suggestions..and he knows what he is talking about! My only comment is that it seems to me that if you're already doing 3-4 set at 10reps each and are sore the next day, that you're already training hard. 120 lunges is a massive amount, typically one would do 10-12 per legs for 3-4 sets. Same thing for squats. I think you need to set up a consistent workout routine-even try one from FT- and maybe have a critical look at your diet. If you're not already doing it, seperate your wt training and cardio days and include 1 full rest day per week. For example cardio 3X/week, wt train 3X/week rest 1day/week. I too used WW to loose weight in the beginning, but a much better method is to track everything you eat for a couple of weeks, broken down into carbs/protien and fats and see where you're currently at. Then cut back on your calories by 250 /day each week until you start loosing weight again. It's kind of a pain in the *ss to do this, but you'll learn an invaluable lesson on how to eat properly and what you're actually consuming. After doing this for a week or two, you likely won't need to track anymore because you'll know what and how much to eat. Also, check out the grocery list for healthy eating in the nutrition forum.

Another thing I highly recommend is taking measurments of yourself (thighs, chest, abdomen, arms, calf etc) and use that as your weight loss tracking tool. Measure every 3-4 weeks. Getting a %BF measurement done is also good, as long as you have it done by the same way each time.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Good Luck.

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Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/28, 11:14 AM
Thank you, flyonthewall, I will see if I can figure all of this out.

I can't do weights and cardio on the same days? I've been doing weights 6 days a week with one day of rest and cardio most of those days? Not good?

I will work on the calorie intake. I do know that I need to get rid of sugar.. so I guess I'll get started on that. Once I'm off of that for a few days it becomes easier.

Thank you again.
flyonthewall
flyonthewall
Posts: 1,823
Joined: 2005/01/18
Canada
2005/10/28, 11:36 AM
The general concensus here is to separate your cardio and weights by at least 6-8 hours...better to do on separate days. Try to really focus on a good weight training day, really push yourself, but it shouldn't take more than an hour. Same with cardio, but really you should only need to do 30-45 min at a good intensity. I tend to add in my ab work and maybe some simple lower back work (back extentions) to my cardio days. A great cardio routine is to try HIIT (high intensity interval training) once/week...you can search using fitbuddy for explanations on HIIT. For weight loss and definition, I like to focus on compound exercises: squats, lunges, bench press, pull downs, rows, asst pull ups, etc. and then finish with a few isolation groups, tris, bis, calfs etc.

It takes a while to optimize your nutrition and workout routines so feel free to ask lots of questions as you move along. There are loads of great people here with tons of good sound advice. Also, the fitbuddy search routine is a good way to get answers as well.

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Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.
wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/10/28, 01:32 PM
Whey protein is an excellent addition. I only said cassein protein from cottage cheese because at night, your body goes into a sort of fast till you wake up and eat again. It is important to keep you muscles supplied with nutrients during this time, and since cassein protein takes several hours to digest, it is very effective at achieving this.

As for upper body exercises, you are using mostly isolation exercises. I would recommend any of the exercises flyonthewall recommended.
bench press, db and barbell
rows
pull up/pull downs
And then maybe finish with a few isolation exercises. However, usually you shouldnt need much more than this.

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To have talent is to have limits. I have no talent therefor I have no limits.
Steve Prefontaine

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/10/28, 01:32 PM
if there is anything else, just ask. Right now, you are asking all the right questions to get started. I commend you on that.

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To have talent is to have limits. I have no talent therefor I have no limits.
Steve Prefontaine

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/28, 03:50 PM
Thank you both of you. These are all great tips and I appreciate them. I have printed them out so that I don't forget any of them! I guess I was trying to do too much in a day as far as exercise goes. Never thought about doing it on opposite days. I will give all of this a try this next week! Just how to figure out how to pass up the Halloween candy my daughter brings home! :)

Why are the exercises that I'm doing for my upper body, different from the ones that flyonthewall suggested? Or better yet why end with doing what I'm doing?

What about ab exercises? What are some efficient exercises for abs? I'll go to the rec center if I need to; to use their machines.
wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/10/28, 08:43 PM
upper body
bench press/military press
rows/pull ups or pull downs
do about 5 sets of one exercise from each pair.

Then finish with curls or push downs or something like that.

Why??? Because the compound exercises are the most effective exercises. They utilize greater weight, and more muscles. And you always want to do your most effective exercises first in the routine, while your muscles still have glycogen in them for full strength. Great question.

As for ab exercises, there are a few good posts on that. Theres a few on selection of exercises, and a few on adding resistance. Right now there is a popular one called "is it true?". If you need more or can't find them, let us know.
Also, fill out your profile for us. Put in your stats and goals.

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To have talent is to have limits. I have no talent therefor I have no limits.
Steve Prefontaine

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/28, 09:48 PM
I will try those, thanks.
I will fill out my profile just as soon as I can figure it out!! I've only been on here a day or two and I have been looking around trying to figure it out. :)

I will read the other posts for the ab exercises. Thank you again. I will try to put all of these things into effect this week. I will let you know how it goes!

Speaking of which, I've heard that losing 1-2 lbs a week is good.....is that true?
mikencharleston
mikencharleston
Posts: 1,585
Joined: 2002/01/09
United States
2005/10/28, 10:14 PM
That's a good goal. Lose it slow and it's more likely to stay off. If nothing else, it lets you adjust mentally to the change in life style and will keep you out of that yo-yo cycle people tend to get into.

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Mike
in Pensacola Now.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/29, 12:30 PM
I didn't catch this before but does this mean I am to do two cardio sessions in a day?


do HIIT for 2 sessions a day.

wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/10/29, 04:31 PM
sry, i meant for two of your sessions throughout the week. in other words, change two of your regular cardio sessions into HIIT sessions. keep one or two regular cardio sessions per week, but keep these under an hour, 45 minutes would be a good target time.

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The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. ~~~Hunter S. Thompson

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/29, 09:04 PM
Okay, I will give it a try! Could I do a double cardio workout? One in the am and one in the pm....not totaling more then one hour? Are there benefits from doing that or is it a waste of time?
flyonthewall
flyonthewall
Posts: 1,823
Joined: 2005/01/18
Canada
2005/10/31, 09:32 AM
Personally, I think your best to do 1 cardio session a day. Make it intense and keep it under 45min, only 20-30min if doing HIIT. I may have said this before but in simple terms a good workout scheme would be:
Monday: full body compound exercises plus isolated arm work (bis/tris etc)
Tuesday: Cardio HIIT, maybe some ab work
Wed: full body comp. plus isolated leg work (calfs, inner thighs etc)
Thurs: Cardio HIIT
Friday Full body comp. plus isolated shoulder work
Sat: Cardio -steady pace
Sunday rest!!

This is just a general example, obviously you can shift the days around. If you do this kind of routine consistently, I think you'll find it easier to keep up for the long term. That way you can keep it up even after you loose the weight! You should change the routine around every 6-8 weeks. You should have a look at the FT exercise programs, they may give you a good idea of what you should be doing. Choose the weight loss and definition option.

I don't think exercise is a big issue for you, other than tweaking it a bit...I think you may need to focus more on diet.

Again...good luck it's good to see you so motivated!!

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Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/31, 11:27 AM
Full body workouts three times a week? How am I suppose to do that in an hour? I spent an hour on my shoulders/triceps and chest this morning. Just when I thought I was getting this!! lol Maybe I don't understand what full body compound exercises are? I have been working really hard on my diet.... it's been difficult for me to eat right and to get enough calories, but I'm working on it!
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/31, 11:46 AM
or... what about this? This is what I had planned for this week.

Monday: triceps/shoulders/chest
Tuesday: legs/glutes
Wednesday: Cardio (spaced apart 8 hours) biceps/back/abs
Thursday: Triceps/shoulders/chest Cardio in the pm
Friday: legs/glutes cardio in the pm
Saturday: biceps/back/abs Cardio in the pm
Sunday off?

What do you think? Also, I've heard or I think I read it on here, that they suggest doing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomache. Is that true? Does it matter when you do cardio?
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/31, 11:54 AM
I'm sorry, one more question. I have been keeping track of everything I eat, protein and calories. What is the max amount of protein that I should have? I know that you said .5g for every lb that I weigh.. is that the min, and what is too much? With that, the amount of protein that I should be taking in is 79 grams? Yesterday I had 112g.

Thank you again!
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/31, 12:14 PM
Protein -
158 g
Carbohydrates -
316 g
Fats -
26 g
Total Calories -
2105

This is what it told me to do on here? Confused...that's a lot of protein? And calories. My calorie intake yesterday was 1562 and I ate all day!
wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/10/31, 12:28 PM
thats a good target, so dont worry about going over. I prescribe at least 1 gram per pound of bodyweight for my male athletes that I train, and up to 2 grams for those looking to bulk. .5g is a good target for a female looking to lose weight. If you want to stick with a lower calorie plan, then make sure any "extra" calories are protein calories. Again, very few people I have trained have been getting too much protein, thats how I was able to guess that you weren't getting that much right off the bat.

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The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. ~~~Hunter S. Thompson

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/10/31, 05:45 PM
I worked my triceps/shoulders/chest this morning for an hour. Shouldn't I be sore by now? I had my protein right away and I raised my weights from 10lbs to 15lbs on most exercises.
wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/11/01, 01:00 AM
You don't have to be sore to be progressing. Some of my best workouts for powerlifting are concentric based workouts, that never leave me sore. They are always extremely productive though.

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The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. ~~~Hunter S. Thompson

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
flyonthewall
flyonthewall
Posts: 1,823
Joined: 2005/01/18
Canada
2005/11/01, 10:53 AM
I hope I don't confuse you with my opinions on diet. I find that the calories given on this site are a bit high. Your protien intake looks good to me-as wrestler says 1-2g per pound of wieght. Try focussing on getting quality foods-lean protien (eggs-preferably egg whites, low fat cc/yogurt,chick breast, lean beef, fish etc) complex carbs and quality fats (olive oil, fish oil, flax seed oil). If you're not currently gaining weight, but are comfortably maintaining, try cutting your daily calories by 250 for a week and see what happens. If your still maintaining, drop by another 250....etc. Guessing, I say 1300-1500 cals per day would be a good target, but the quality of your food is equaly important. Those little extra's add up. Having said all of this, I've been trying to loose my last 10lbs for quite some time and it is a real challenge to be diligent with your diet 100% of the time...you just have to keep plugging away! I've gotten to a point where I know it is not exercise that will make the difference, since I've already got that in place-if I work out any more than I do I'll be overtrainig... it all boils down to diet and it's the hardest to control!!

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Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/11/01, 11:10 AM
No, you aren't confusing me. You both have been a great help to me! Thank you. I agree with you it's my diet that is lacking! I found a formula on here in one of the forums..someone posted if you are trying to lose weight you multiply your weight by 11 and that's your calorie intake, if you want to maintain you multiply it by 13 and to gain by 15. That puts me at 1700 calories. I still think that's a little high so I think I'll try what you suggested and cut back by 250 calories for the rest of this week and see what happens! I have done a lot of little extras.. thinking it doesn't matter it's too small of an amount until I started adding up my calories. Now I try not to waste them by taking a bite of my daughters meals or while cooking. Trying to get this under control before the holidays!! Seemed I lost 16lbs and that's all my body wants to loose! I just have to set it straight!! =)

Thank you again both fo you for all of your help. Oh and I am a little sore not as much as I use to be. I guess that is a good thing?
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/11/01, 08:32 PM
I just tried the HIIT. It kicked my butt! I love it! I burned a lot more calories then I usually do and I only worked out for 45 mins.... thanks.
wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/11/02, 01:43 PM
If you did 45 minutes, your intensity wasn't high enough.
What kind of hiit workout was it? I recommend something along the lines of 20 seconds sprinting, 40 seconds jogging... Its effective to start out with, and easy to keep track of. The sprint sessions should be all out.

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The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. ~~~Hunter S. Thompson

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/11/02, 02:56 PM
I did 10 mins of a warm up on the stair climber... then I went to the eliptical and did one min of an all out fastest I can go then I would bring it back down to half that for one min and did that for 35 mins. I burned many more calories then I usually do, 100 calories every 9-10 mins. Is this wrong? I know a lot people where watching and wondering what the heck I was doing, going as fast as I could.. but it was fun.:)
flyonthewall
flyonthewall
Posts: 1,823
Joined: 2005/01/18
Canada
2005/11/02, 03:27 PM
Sounds like a pretty good HIIT to me. Very wise to do the 10min warm up! I don't know how your ellip. works, but you should be able to increase the intensity/resistance and/or use a hills program. On the ellip. it will require you to use your leg muscles and arms more with increased "resistance' while on a "hill". Use your heart rate as a monitor-if the machine monitors it. I like to use a hills program at a level 15 for the first circuit then 17 for the second(the max is 20) each hill has increasing intensity , then when I'm in a "valley" the resistance drops-thus HIIT. What I really like about the programs is they give you a warm up then you can set the HIIT and end with a cool down. At the intensity I'm using I couldn't do more than 30min, and that's including my warm up and cool down- so really my HIIT portion is about 20min-and that's enough-I'm drenched and ready to pass out by the end of it:). You can use the same principle on a treadmill using the incline as your high intensity portion, or sprint instead-as wrestler mentioned.

BTW, it's great to see you so motivated, I'm sure you'll reach your goals if you keep at it with the same enthusiasm!
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/11/02, 04:32 PM
Thanks. That's an awesome idea. I have been using the eliptical because it doesn't have the impact on my body that the treadmil has. I had a herniated disk a year or so ago. So this is easier on me and I love it. When I did the sprinting for a minute I put it on a resistance of 5 and then went back down to 1 for a slower pace for a min.. then back up and for 35 mins. I was tired. But I like that; I like havinga challenge and pushing myself. Everyone one there was turning their heads and watching me as if I was on something!! :) That's okay they'll get use to me!

Thanks for your help. By the way I was reading a magazine.. muscle for her I think and it talked about a supplement and I wanted to know what you thought about it. It's called lean system 7 have you heard of it? Any thoughts? After taking ephedra for a year I've stayed away from these products, but I didn't find too many bad things about this one. Just wanted to see what you thought?
flyonthewall
flyonthewall
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Joined: 2005/01/18
Canada
2005/11/03, 09:33 AM
I'm not big on those type of suppliments. I use a protien smoothie after my workouts and take fish oil suppliment along with a multivitamin, and then glucosamine and celadrin for some tendonitis in my shoulder. I really believe that your best to loose weight on your own and learn how to balance nutrition and exercise for your lifestyle. You've got the right attitude and lot's of resources here to do it on your own, so I suggest you try and do it clean....just my 2 cents.
wrestler125
wrestler125
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Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/11/03, 12:25 PM
if you read it in a fitness magazine, take it with a grain of salt. listen to fly. i take two multi's, magnesium, and protein. theres no need for more than that. When I go on specialization routines (I do competitive powerlifting, and am in the middle of a 4 week double mini-cycle) i take fish oil to aid recovery.

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The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. ~~~Hunter S. Thompson

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/11/03, 06:17 PM
Try this again. I tried to post this and it hasn't been working..:)

Okay. I've been taking a multi vit with minerals, fish oil, glucosamine, coq10, garlic, and calcium. I didn't realize that fish oils aid in recovery.

I have a calorie question. I am aiming for 1500 calories a day. Is that afer a workout or do I deduct the calories burned in a workout from that 1500...confusing myself. :) I havn't seen the scale move at all.:( And I havn't lost any inches off of my waist, every where else. Kinf of frustrating, but I'll keep going. I think after using ephedra for a year 4 years ago, I lost 30lbs so quickly that in my head this should be moving along quicker then this. All I did with that was run for 30 mins every day. I can changes in my blood work. I went for a physical and my resting heart rate went from 80bpm to 60. So I know things are changing... just not always the most patient person.

Thank you both for your help. I will try to not take what these magazines say too personally. Between the magzines and commercials, I keep hearing how once you reach 30 your metabolism slows down and you can't loose body fat. I just turned 30 so I take it more personally then I did!!

I'll keep doing this at least I'll be healthy, I guess. :)
wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/11/03, 07:21 PM
I am on a completely different diet than you. My cutting diet is all about nutrient timing, and as such, I can get 2500-2700 calories and still lose weight effectively. I am on a much more advanced diet than the one I prescribe, but one of the things I take from my diet that I always apply to my clients, is don't count the calories for anything you eat within 1 hour of your workout, provided it was an intense workout.

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The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. ~~~Hunter S. Thompson

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/11/03, 09:02 PM
I've heard that it's better to not eat after an hour or so of cardio is that true? I pretty much eat as soon as I'm hungry after I work out. Then how do you count calories? Eat 1500 and whatever you burn while working out is your deficit?

I'm sorry, I probably ask more questions then most on here. It's a lot of fun learning all of this and I really do appreciate your help.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/11/15, 01:53 PM
This is what I have on the menu for Thanksgiving. A much smaller meal then my family usually does. I don't think anyone's stomach could hold a usual Thankgiving meal.
Turkey
Roasted Vegies
Honey baby carrots
Mashed potatos... make the gravy for my husband.. I can only go so far here :)
Whole wheat rolls
Smart balance butter
Stuffing
Jellied cranberries
That's only half of what my family ususally haves! I found some great low fat recipes for banana bread, zuchinni bread, pumpkin pie and individual cheese cakes. I am going to allow myself to eat on thanksgiving but back to my diet the day before and after! Oh, and my absolute favorate is the spinache dip so I'm going to alter it a bit. It'll be a low or no fat spinach dip with whole wheat bread! Maybe it'll taste bad to everyone else and I get to eat it all!:laugh:

Do you celebrate Christmas?
flyonthewall
flyonthewall
Posts: 1,823
Joined: 2005/01/18
Canada
2005/11/16, 09:34 AM
Looks like a great menu for the whole family! I always make sure my family still get their fav's, like gravy and mashed potatoes and pie with whip cream. You can't go wrong with the roasted veggies (as long as you don't dowse them with butter...mmmm butter....)

Actually, this year my family is headed for Florda for 2 weeks at Christmas to stay with my In-Laws who are "wintering" there. We're driving (takes 24hrs-yikes)-should be interesting with a 14 and 12y/o. Christmas dinner has normally been at my place with me making the meal, so it'll be a challange at my In-laws (they are typical Brit's, meat,potatoes, gravy and butter!) What will be the bigger challenge is not having access to a gym for 2 weeks. I'm going to try and run every couple of days, but I think I may just take 2 weeks off from wts. My body could probably use the break anyways-although, knowing me, I'll look into seeing if there is a gym close by that I can use. One thing I'm not going to do is fret about food and exercise while I'm away. I know how to eat and indulging every now and then is not a bad thing....everything in moderation!! I'm really looking forward to some fun in the sun and it's giving some motivation for the next 7 weeks!!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving!
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/11/16, 09:55 AM
We'll be in California for Christmas for almost two weeks, too. I will have a gym mapped out with directions before we leave. So that I can just drive there and do my workouts, probably every other day. It's always more difficult when you are away from home. Instead of weights I usually take my bands with me. It's compact and light and I can still get some strength resistance in and I can do those in my room.. After snow and cold temps we're looking forward to the beach too! We plan to move back in a year or so. But with a high of 22 yesterday we are ready now!!!

I have to fast this morning for blood work. Already not feeling too well..I havn't done all of my workouts this week, I'll catch up later today or tomorrow. I don't do well without food in the morning! Have a great day!
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/11/11, 01:02 PM
Okay, tell me what you think, here's my workout and here's my diet:

Monday: S/T: Bench press, dumbell flyes, dumbell lunges, dumbell rear lunge, plie dumbell squat, one arm dumbell row, dumbell press, dumbell uprght row, pushups with bosu ball. For isolation exercises: one for shoulders, chest and triceps.

Cardio: 9 hours later: 15min warm up on stair climber and 30 mins HITT on eliptical.

Tuesday: No ST. Cardio 15mins on stair climber and 30 mins HITT on elibpital.

Wednesday: Bench press, dumbell flyes, dumbell lunges, dumbell rear lunge, plie dumbell squat, one arm dumbell row, dumbell press, dumbell uprght row, pushups with bosu ball. For isolation exercises: legs/glutes

Cardio: 9 hours later: 10-15 mins on stir climber and 25-30 mins on eliptical HITT.

Thursday: No ST. Cardio 10-15mins stair stepper 25-30 mins on eliptical regular work out.

Friday: Bench press, dumbell flyes, dumbell lunges, dumbell rear lunge, plie dumbell squat, one arm dumbell row, dumbell press, dumbell uprght row, pushups with bosu ball. For isolation exercises: Abs/biceps/back

Cardio: 9 hours later: 10-15mins on stair climber and 25-30 mins on eliptical HITT.

Sat: Off
Sunday: Off

Diet: 1440 calories. Trying to get my protein to 50% and fat to 30% and carbs to 20%.

Does sound reasonable, effective and efficient?
Thank you!

wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/11/11, 05:07 PM
The good thing about a full body routine, is it doesn't have to be the same thing every day. Alot of people overtrain using a full body routine. That is because they don't know how to implement it properly. On a 3 day a week routine, I would have one day leg dominant, and one day upper body dominant, with the third day being a regular total body day.
I would make Monday a leg dominant day, since it is when you are freshest. Do squats first, and do more volume for legs, and less for your lower body. Friday do the opposite. Wednesday keep ow it is.
Seems like a lot of volume... Especially with cardio. I would drop a couple exercises from each day. An easy way to do this would be monday: drop 2 upper and 1 lower. And friday drop 2 lower and one upper.
Also, remember that squats and lunges are what are going to burn the most calories and build the most muscle.

Also, I don't think its so much the advice. Marlena is asking all the right questions, and making it easy... There's a lot of good info on this page.

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The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. ~~~Hunter S. Thompson

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/11/13, 09:54 PM
What about this?
Calories Eaten Today
grams cals %total
Total: 1314 calories
Fat: 20 181 15%
Sat: 9 80 6%
Poly: 1 12 1%
Mono: 1 10 1%
Carbs: 204 722 58%
Fiber: 24 0 0%
Protein: 86 342 27%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

I ate 6 times today and wasn't ever over hungry. Ate ever 2-3 hours. Does this look good or should I be eating more or less of something?
wrestler125
wrestler125
Posts: 4,619
Joined: 2004/01/27
United States
2005/11/14, 10:57 AM
hmmmm. Protein may be a bit low, and your fat numbers dont add up. Most of your fat should be unsaturated, especially polyunsaturated.

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The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. ~~~Hunter S. Thompson

If you smoke or don’t wear your seatbelt, please don’t tell me the deadlift is dangerous.
flyonthewall
flyonthewall
Posts: 1,823
Joined: 2005/01/18
Canada
2005/11/14, 11:07 AM
Your diet looks pretty good except I would still up the lean protien. I found that the real trick is to focus on eating the right healthy foods AKA "Grocery list for healthy eating". If you do this you'll not have to focus on exact numbers, although it is good to start with it so you know where you stand. I find that it's always the "extra's", especially on weekends that put me over, not my normal eating habits. I think the smartest thing to do is stick with your current goals for a few weeks, then re-asses. Make sure your consuming fibrous, complex carbs and not simple carbs. Keep your fat sources healthy and keep up your lean protien. Try and stop focusing on the scale number, I know it's hard, but very misleading!!!


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Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.
flyonthewall
flyonthewall
Posts: 1,823
Joined: 2005/01/18
Canada
2005/11/14, 11:11 AM
Wrester and I must have posted at the same time:)
Another thought though....Try to get your fat from olive oil, nuts (almonds are a good one), fish, flaxseed etc. Keep your protien as lean as possible, egg whites, chicken breast, fish, LF cottage cheese or yogurt, tuna etc. and watch those salad dressings-best to make your own!!
flyonthewall
flyonthewall
Posts: 1,823
Joined: 2005/01/18
Canada
2005/11/04, 09:37 AM
After figuring out what I generally consume in a day and knowing that I usually approach 1400-1600 calories, I don't count calories anymore. This was after doing alot of tracking of calories for 2-3 weeks, so I now know what to eat (and when I've gone overboard!). I don't try and work in my calories burnt via exercise, I just consider working out part-if I'm not working out I need to be more strict with my diet. I try and eat as nutritionally as I can and have a very regular and rigorous workout routine. When I'm trying to loose weight I aim for 1-2lbs per week. As far as not burning fat after 30, well I'm 42 and I'm leaner than I was at 32, even 22! It took me about 2 years to get to where I am now (I had about 25lbs to loose. My scale says I haven't lost much weight in the past year, but I've gone from 32%BF to 23%BF. You just have to stick with it. You loose fat all over, usually in the places you want dead last. As far as what to eat and when, people here recommend a protien suppliment after a workout and then always eating every 3 hours or 5-7 times a day. Just remember that the protien supp counts for calories as well.

Be patient and consistant and you will be amazed at how your body responds to healthy eating and exercise! Keep looking for info and asking questions and it'll all come together for you!
MarlenaM
MarlenaM
Posts: 50
Joined: 2005/10/27
United States
2005/11/04, 09:57 AM
Thank you. I know trying to get me to be patient can be difficult in itself!! I stayed up way too late last night reading many posts on here. Lots of information and I would have taken my laptop to bed with me; but I needed to get up today. :) I've been eating whey protein in my plain yogurt after I do weights, that's 30 grams of protein, I haven't been doing that after a cardio workout. I'll give it a try.

Question about whey protein. I've read that whey protein with the first ingrediant isolates is much better for you then when the first ingrediant is concentrate? Is there a better protein for you then others? The one I use is whey protein isolates and it says on it not for trying to loose weight. That was inspiring. I've been using it anyways. It's only got 100 calories, 20grams protein, 4grams sugar, 17 carbs. What do you think?
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