Hey thread!!

I am currently 158 lbs, and am a pretty thick/muscular build for a girl. My goal is to loose about 20 lbs, looking toned and fit, but not bulky.

So far, I have been trying to eat things like non-fat yogurt and fruit or granola for breakfast, things like a turkey sandwich, 6 inch turkey sub, soup, or just small portions of things a few times during the afternoon, like 1% cottage cheese, half a bagel, oatmeal, veggies, fruit, and then a reasonably portioned dinner, with some rice, meat, and veggies. I have been tacking my food intake, and my goal is between 1400-1800 calories/day, which I probably reach 5 days a week.

I go to the gym from 8:30-10PM (I eat after work, digest a bit and then go) and usually have a snack (banana, yogurt, cottage cheese) afterwards.

At the gym I have tried to do 40-50 mins of cardio (bike, run on threadmill, elliptical, stair master) and mix it up a bit, sometimes going for speed, sometimes duration, other times I do circuit type.....) and 3 days a week I'll do some strength exercises (leg day, arm day, and then core day) with stretches and sit ups everyday.

For legs, I prefer doing things like squats and lunges, with light weight. Arms I use free weights, and usually do about 6 different exercises/day, 15X2 sets. I try and mix things up as much as I can....but have some basic ones I like to do each time.

Anyway, I've been doing this for 3 weeks now, and have seen results (I started at 165 lbs), dropped to 156 really quickly, and am now back up to 158.

I am looking for input, any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.....!

Drop the granola, bagel, white rice i.e. processed carbs.

Doubt 15x2 of anything accomplishes much besides some flexibility. Try heavier weights and 5-10 reps where its actually somewhat difficult to complete the sets.

Have you tried HIIT for your cardio?

Also, pix are required to help you out here, its in the sticky.

As a girl your hormones will make it hard for you to put on lots of muscle mass, even if you're lifting heavy weights. Grue has a point - heavier weights will be better for tone and for burning fat, and the whole "you're gonna get huge" thing is pretty much bogus.

Yeah, umm... How tall are you?

Try starting strength and adding some HIIT sessions. The general patterns for beginners doesn't really change much.

Also 1800 calories may not leave you at much of a deficit at all. I'd try to be more regular with my caloric intake as you're deviating by >25% of your caloric intake. You might wanna try a online calculator for caloric intake and then adjust 250 depending on how things go.

Read up on the Zone diet. Give it a try if you think it sounds manageable. www.crossfit.com Read everything in the "Getting Started" Section.

I tried to drop all that good stuff....but I end up getting soo hungry that I feel light headed and stuff. Any ideas as to what to replace them with so I don't get that feeling? If I don't eat any of that I feel like I can't even go to the gym and run without feeling horrible during/after.

I know girls "aren't suppose to bulk up" but I am thick. I put on muscle easily......even if it is useless. I can't lift a lot of weight.....i just get thicker..

What is HIIT?

Here is a full-body pic......I dunno if it's helpful at all...

if you are having a tough time staying satiated, try green veggies...broccoli, spinach etc have lots of fiber and you can eat a ton w/ very few cals...

So you think even less then 1800 calories??
I figure u need like 1000 for basic metabolism, and I burn 500-600 (as calculated on the cardio machines) plus weights on top of that......I don't want to starve myself cuz I know that doesn't help in the long run......

I am usually around 1700...my goal is just between that range but i am usually pretty consistent except on the weekends:S

Oh and I'm about 5'6.5 ish....lol....
and currently 158 lbs, and my scale (that I dont think is right) says im 31% body fat, and 46% water.....

don't use your home scale to figure your body fat, those things vary sooooo much they aren't really reliable at all...

what kind of results have you been getting with your cals at 1700/day? if you aren't getting the results you want then make adjustments...

hiit is just variable intensity cardio...so sprint for a bit then walk for a bit repeat...normally its sprint 30s, walk 90s or something like that, whatever you can handle...takes less time than steady cardio and burns more cals over a 24hr period...

20 pounds seems like a lot to lose, at least judging from your picture...gl but don't go ano

Diet sounds pretty good, workout doesn't.

Stop the abs every day, they're a muscle just like, for instance, your biceps. You wouldn't do curls every day, would you? Let them recover, frankly ab work is overrated. Core work, like you mentioned, is better.

I'd suggest some high-intensity Yoga, I do it, and I'm in my mid-twenties and it kills me more than a good legs/back workout.

I also agree that losing 20 more lbs with your frame is a bit more excessive, some good advice, learn to live a healthier lifestyle and your body will regulate itself to it's proper weight.

I played around with a calorie counter. I guesstimated some stuff, but it said on what you're currently doing you should be losing ~1-1.5 pounds a week. And that my guesstimates for calories were way off. Regardless of that. If you stall out and want to lose more weight, you're going to have to increase caloric deficit by cutting cals or burning more.

Good luck.

Wow can't believe that worked.

lol pictures in the H&F forum, from a girl?? WTF?? Also, looks like a bunch of famous people are behind you?

anyway, i think your diet looks fine. i would probably watch the carbs as much as possible, because in my experience, that was the #1 weight loss inhibitor. It does suck though eating 0ish carbs (I did this for about a week), but I would try to keep them at a bare minimum.

As for your workouts, that long cardio isn't the most productive and is probably a big reason why you feel so bad with no carbs. HIIT is high intensity interval training, i.e. spring 20 seconds as fast as possible, jog 10 seconds....repeat 8 times. It is hard but works wonders.

I wouldn't necessarily say HIIT is necessary, but you definitely would probably get a lot more out shorter, more intense cardio.

I think the #1 thing anyone can do is just vary what you do day in and day out. It seems the second I start "doing a routine," the second progress stops.

Oh yeah and your weight loss so far is very good, you can't go much faster than that. Also don't get too hung up on the scale. Those two pounds you put on were probably completely random if you didn't have a screw up, eat 26 burritos day.

YES!

Boo, don't worry about heavy weight. It's not this magical thing that will make you look like a female bodybuilder. It just doesn't happen that way. I'm a guy, who loves to eat a lot, has way more testosterone than you, and lifts heavy. Guess what, I don't look very bulky (well besides my fat ldo).

Your body learns to get your muscles to fire to exert enough force to move the weight. This is a neuromuscular improvement which leads to big strength gains. Hypertrophy is when your body increases muscle mass. This also causes you to lift heavier loads. But when you start a program where you lift heavy, and you are a beginner (which you are), the vast majority of your progress (how much you increase your lifts by) comes from your CNS adapting and using your existing muscle.

In summary, don't worry about getting bulky.

Well I dropped from 165 to 156 the first two weeks, and now I am at like 158ish (not sure if the gain is due to muscle)....but I measured my waist before and after, and it seems to be at least 1.5 inches smaller

So yea, getting some results for sure......I just want to make sure that I am doing the optimal thing to ensure i don't reach a plateau....

My reason for picking 20 lbs was that two years ago, I was new to the city, living alone, so I basically did nothing but work, gym, and cook for myself. I weighed 145 lbs (and still could have lost an extra 5 to be ideal)......so it's not impossible for my frame. Since then I've put on 20 lbs due to drinking, eating crap, and not going to the gym. My frame might not "look huge" but I have a lot of fat on my legs and arms and tummy that I want gone. Muffin tops aren't hot.

I don't know if this makes a difference, but I used to be a competitive athlete when I was younger. I started weight training back then at like age 11.......and blame my thick legs, ass, frame, ect from that. So I am not a beginner persay......I've been working out my whole life. I guess I am just getting back on the wagon.......and it really doesn't take long to "rebuild" the muscles it seems.....guys are normally shocked when I flex my arm for them and are like "oh ****...!"

So yea.....I just can't get past the lifting heavy weights like 8 times. Isn't that what body builders do/men to do bulk up?

"So yea.....I just can't get past the lifting heavy weights like 8 times. Isn't that what body builders do/men to do bulk up?"

yes it is, but they also eat a ****ton of food, enough to cause hypertrophy and weight increase (they also juice)...we assume you are not juicing and even if you lift heavy for 6-10 reps if you are on a calorically deficient diet, to match your fat loss goal, then you can't add weight cuz you simply aren't consuming enough energy for your body to grow...

All non-starchy fruits and vegetables are good, and even ones with a little starch can be good when you consider that if you were eating something else, it would probably be higher calorie or worse for you in one way or another anyway.

But basically, you can eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and still lose weight, quite quickly even. It's actually pretty hard to even maintain weight at all until you start adding things like starches, fats, and concentrated proteins like meat and dairy.

Besides eating fewer starches and more fruits and veggies, try to get more of your fat from things like extra virgin olive oil(the REAL stuff, not the cheap supermarket crap, much of which is actually very likely to be other oils), sesame oil, fish oil, and walnut oil. You need fat to digest protein, and those proteins are all very good for you, so don't avoid fat entirely, just get it from the better sources. That means keeping your meat lean. Work a good amount of fish and chicken into your diet. Salmon is especially good for you -- again, to a great extent not just for the protein, but for the fat. Just don't eat the fat closest to the skin excessively; that's where heavy metals tend to accumulate.

Training yourself to eat many smaller meals throughout the day is a good thing to do psychologically; it trains you not to see and feel every meal as a chance to sate what has turned into a ravenous hunger because you haven't eaten so long. That satisfies but in a way it makes it easy to see food as an enemy or something you are doing serious battle with, rather than a helpmate to get you through the day and enjoy in reasonable portions. There is an Asian outlook toward meals that says you always leave a little bit of room. No need to stuff yourself. It's a healthy mind set. Remember that achieving fitness goals have a lot to do with getting your head working with you rather than undermining you, so train yourself mentally as well as physically to adapt to a healthier outlook toward food and lifestyle.

If you are bored with your veggies and fruits between meals or find they leave you still hungry or eventually feeling like you have low energy, add in some walnuts and/or almonds, both of which are quite good for you. A skinless piece of chicken can do the job very well, too. Veggies and fruits are excellent snacks and mini-meals, but if you rely on them for too long without protein, you'll find a V/F diet hard to stick to, and you may wind up losing muscle as well as fat. Make sure that among your snacks you have something with protein available, and maybe even a small amount of fat, like a flax oil or fish oil capsule, or a bit of cottage cheese.

Most of all, make a real effort to stay away from processed foods, both in snacks and regular meals. They have all kinds of sugars in them, some of which you might not recognize from a quick scan of the label, and that can call out insulin and make you start storing fat. And that kind of thing can eventually wear out your pancreas and make you more like to get diabetes. Prepared foods are usually loaded with salt too, which again can prompt fat storage, and high blood pressure. The latter can be pretty much invisible but still over the course of years contribute to everything from arterial to heart to kidney damage, chance of stroke, and premature wear. Keep processed foods to a minimum in your life and you'll have much greater knowledge of and control over what goes into your body.

By the way, you don't look like you weigh 165 in your pic. Maybe it's just the pic, but you certainly appear to be wearing it well.

You WILL reach a plateau. Multiple ones. Everybody does. Don't get too wedded to your scale.

Don't think of your progress in those terms. Remember, your real goal should be to get to be a more capable, healthier, well ... animal. If that means for a while you are replacing some fat with muscle and the scale seems to go nowhere for weeks on end, you are not failing, and you are not even plateauing. It's just that you can't know everything going on in your body all the time.

Even if you are just legitimately in stasis, during that time your body is getting more used to your work-out, and your tendons and ligaments are having time to catch up to the load you put on them. This is very important for your future progress. Your muscles are probably also getting more capillaries in them, again important for future progress.

Fitness is a slow progress that moves by fits and starts to our eyes. We can be accumulating results very nicely while telling ourselves we're failing and need to change routines from one to the next to the next in a never-ending cycle that really goes nowhere. Keep your eyes on the long-term prize. Expect the occasional difficulty, and plateau, and keep upbeat and determined despite it. Don't go looking for easy solutions or second-guessing yourself too anxiously, or no routine will ever either work for you or satisfy you.

Now go out there and hit that first plateau, little soldier! And then forgive yourself, keep on plugging away, and enjoy coming out of it too. And keep an eye out for ways to feel happy you're doing the right thing that have nothing to do with a scale or a tape measure. Maybe you feel a little firmer, or less winded doing something, or have more energy after a work-out than you used to, or find yourself gradually able to sustain a really high intensity for longer, or your form has gotten better, or you sleep more soundly or wake up with more energy, or keep more energy throughout the day, or your legs are less sore at the end of the day, whatever. You can be making huge progress that does not show up on the scale or immediately make your clothes feel any different. Don't become an expert at finding only the ways of judging your progress that ignore every other way you may have become healthier and improved your fitness and your life.

Someone move those two posts to the sticky. Nice, Blarg.

Yes I have a problem with the terminology as well. Newbie/beginner might not be the correct word, but you are definitely in the stage where you will make a lot of easy strength gains. You'll be an entirely different trainee each workout (what was your max two days ago is no longer your max).

Also, women just can't build muscle like men can, it's not possible.

Don't do a lot of volume (total reps basically, 15-20 per exercise), keep the weight heavy, small # of reps, basic compound lifts like squats lunges deadlifts, and no accessory work. That will be enough to make you stronger and does not focus on muscle building like a lot of other dudes programs do.

The guys who are big do a ton of volume on upper body exercises, which you shouldn't do. They also neglect the lower body which you aren't. So you got that going for you. Also, squats and deadlifts work the glutes, so if you want a better butt, there you go.