|
2012/01/18, 01:33 AM
I'll start off with my 'stats' so to speak
21
Female
200 Pounds(eeppp)
5"1
DD Cup.
I've been going to the gym almost everyday for about 2 weeks.
When I get there, I usally go to the cardio cinema room(they have DREADmills, bikes and elpticals and they play a movie). I'm always super confused on how LONG to do the exersise machines. I honestly feel like I SHOULD be doing it for 6 hours. ahaha. But, that being said, I usually just do: Eliptical:20 Dreadmill: 15 and the bike for 15 as well. Then I go do the weight machines: Leg press 2 reps of 10, Leg Abduction 2-10,Chest Press 2-10, Lat Machine 2-10.
As for what I eat...not much. Right now I'm in a financial crisis, and NORMALLY during one of these I'd just go buy dollar cheeseburgers, but I've been sticking to fruit, veggies, and chicken. So, that's pretty much my diet, as an example today
Breakfast: Mixed Berry Smoothie 150 Cals
Lunch: 1/2 Chicken Breast with Broccoli and Manderin Oranges in all fruit juice.
Dinner: 1 Chicken Breast with Brown Rice.
plus about 7 bottles worth of water.
Am I doing okay?
Should I work out more?
Helllppp.
As for my goal?
Iuno. 40 pounds in 5 months? I figure, that's 2 pounds a week.
Reachable?
|
|
2012/01/19, 01:50 PM
I'm certainly no expert, and you may take this advice with a grain of salt, as so far I'm not dropping much weight, but I do have more energy, and it seems to be about all the progress I can expect for now.
First, this is a long term committment, and progress will be slow. Expect that. Get used to it. Dropping 5 lbs a week is unhealthy, and you risk gaining it all back later, which further demoralizes you. Stay committed, and think of other goals than watching the weight disappear before your eyes, because it takes a LONG time, and that's if you don't cheat on the diet and exercise, which just draws it all out further. Instead, think of being able to fit into a smaller size outfit in the summer. In the summer, think of being able to buy a whole new wardrobe in the fall...Plan on going and getting some "glamour shots" done after a year on the program...Think LONG term. This is going to be the rest of your life, here.
Second, if you're really interested in *seeing* progress, you need to keep logs. Diet logs, exercise logs, etc. If you don't know how much you're currently eating, you don't know how to change your diet. Also, if you don't know how much you're eating, it's hard to tell how many calories you need to cut out of your diet...a 500 calorie deficit a day will generally drop a pound a week. More than 2-2.5 lbs lost in a week can become unhealthy. (Yes, lots of people say different things, I'm not going to argue or defend that, but it's a good rule of thumb)
Third, what I find to help keep my workouts effective and efficient is to use a heart monitor strap. There are many different kinds depending on what you want. Most of the commercial gyms have equipment that will detect a telemmetric heart monitor (basically a radio signal that broadcasts your heart rate, and the treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike, etc. picks it up). Polar makes a good one, but there are several out there. This helps you to accurately see how much effort your putting out, and that way you don't have to compromise your exercise style by keeping your hands on the heart rate pads...plus if you have a watch or a phone that works with it you can take it off on hikes in the mountains or other places that don't have heart rate pads. It will take some research to find out your target heart rate zone, but if you can keep yourself in that zone for the recommended amount of time, you should start to notice more energy and better fitness in 3 weeks' time. I personally use a bluetooth heart monitor made by Zephyr. This connects to my android phone (running a heart rate tracking program called sports track live) and I can then get very accurate statistics about my workout...I can see when I was working the hardest, how much of my workout was spent in each zone (resting, fatburn, aerobic, anaerobic, peak), and that helps me judge if my workout was effective...plus it helps me see how many calories I burned, which ties back in to my calorie counting in my diet.
My last advice would be to make sure you're eating properly. I have a hard time eating breakfast. I'm always rushed in the mornings and getting the kid to daycare the wife to school and myself to work are all higher priorities than eating breakfast. Breakfast is KEY to speeding up your metabolism. Also, what you eat matters. Lots of fiber and "real" food. Fresh veggies, fresh fruit, sufficient protein. All that stuff is harder for your body to digest, which, in turn, helps raise your metabolism. Control your portions, eat as much "real" food as possible (canned applesauce is not as "real" as a fresh apple), and eat small portions frequently.
tldr; you're doing fine, but if you really want to see what your body is doing, you need to measure and log data, and eat properly!
Good luck, and keep it up.
Herald
|
