Hi everyone,

After many years of training at the gym on and off, I turn 34 this year, and if I am honest with myself have never once in my life been happy or achieved any of my fitness goals, and I dont want to carry on the rest of my life disgruntled and unhappy with myself.

I am 5ft 2 1/2 I weigh 149lbs, would like to lose about 25-30 lbs, I dont actually look that fat, more a bit heavy. I carry most of my fat on my butt, hips thighs right down to and including around my knees. I am someone that puts on muscle very easily, and have quite a bit of it under my thick layer of fat!

So basically I want to maintain the muscle I have, (dont want anymore) but lose all the fat. My dream has always been to have a pair of killer legs, as that is my problem area, and i have never once in my life worn a bikini,sad I know, but I would look terrible in one, that is also a dream of mine.

I know that I should be eating 5-6 small meals a day, balanced with protein,carbs,fat, I am not really sure what my calorie intake should be.
Training for me, I am so confused, what kind of training, 3,4,5 day split? Circuit? If so how many sets,reps? heavy to light weights Light to heavy? How much cardio?
I have a new job which makes it worse, I sit all day, and can only got to the gym around 6pm. If anyone could point or steer me in the right direction, i think I have almost too much information about training and nutrition, from years of reading everything, and am now completely confused as to what direction I should be going in.

Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance....

Hey! Welcome to the forum. I'm new here as well, and you will find tons of useful information.

http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=1222

Read through the above to start off with. It really helped me in setting up my current diet.

http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=19229

That is an excellent article. Very basic, everything is spelled out for you, and it answers a lot of questions.


As far as this goes...

heavy to light weights Light to heavy?

Light weights are evil. :mad:

I have links to other really good fitness forums that I recommend, but I'm not sure if I can do this on this board?

I have links to other really good fitness forums that I recommend, but I'm not sure if I can do this on this board?

From the forum rules:
5) Spamming and advertising are not permitted. Links to commercial web sites with which you are in any way affiliated are not permitted in posts, profiles or signatures. Even if your site is non-commercial, you may not start a thread or post specifically to promote it. Links to 100% non-commercial sites are allowed in signatures. If your site has any kind of ad (Google ads, banner ads, etc.) it is considered commercial and may not be linked to. If you spam your post/signature/profile will be deleted and your account may be terminated. If you are interested in advertising on this site, then please contact us.

So beyond that, anything's fair game. If you're not affiliated with the forums you want to recommend, go ahead and post 'em. These forums seem to be about a free exchange of ideas and I think John only put that concession in there to combat spam and viral marketing.

Gypsy - Your BMR is 1437 (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/). That's the base amount of calories you burn per day doing nothing. You'll want to keep your caloric intake above that number if you want to preserve the muscle you already have. You can find out more about BMR and how it relates to your fat loss goals by checking out the posts that VSPink86 provided.

I find it extremely helpful to track the calories and macronutrients of the food I eat every day. I do this using FitDay.com (http://www.fitday.com/). It's a free site with a great deal of personal fitness tracking applications. I highly recommend you set up an account and start monitoring your caloric intake there.

I think that wearing a bikini and showing off the awesome body you worked so hard to build is a fantastic goal. Please take reference photos now (for yourself, nobody else ever has to see) so that you can use them as a visual indicator of progress. The scale too often lies to you and gets in your head. Without those photos you can find yourself upset, distraught, and thinking you're making no progress even as you feel fitter and your clothes fit more loosely.

Welcome and here's to your success! :tucool:

M@

Sounds like your body type is similar to mine. I'm a mesomorh and I carry more of my weight on my hips and thighs. I'm 40 pounds lighter right now that I was at my heaviest.

There's a few different approaches to take. I follow a diet and training program that is most enjoyable to me, not necessarily the one that's the most effective. Because of that, I've maintained my current weight for almost two years.

Reading the stickies at the top of each forum is the best start for you. There are formulas there to figure out a starting point on how to estimate your calorie needs on a cutting diet, but I never personally counted calories, just started eating healthier foods and being more conscious of my full feelings.

If you don't need to gain any muscle, you might decide on a full body circuit training program (with very little rest) with light to moderate weights and 12 to 15 reps. This will give more of a cardiovascular element to the workout while still keeping you strong. It's the same way I started out. Here's my journal from June 2004. It might give you some ideas. Peak Season for Guava (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=5762&)

Light weights aren't necessarily evil, they're just not all that effective at building muscle. If your goal is muscle maintenance, light weights are fine for you (pick ones that are difficult to lift after 12 reps), but if you're looking to build some muscle, you'll want to lift heavier.

So beyond that, anything's fair game. If you're not affiliated with the forums you want to recommend, go ahead and post 'em. These forums seem to be about a free exchange of ideas and I think John only put that concession in there to combat spam and viral marketing.

Thanks, Matt! I read the forum rules before signing up, but I forgot about that part. I went ahead and PM'd the original poster, just to be on the safe side. :)

Light weights aren't necessarily evil, they're just not all that effective at building muscle. If your goal is muscle maintenance, light weights are fine for you (pick ones that are difficult to lift after 12 reps), but if you're looking to build some muscle, you'll want to lift heavier.

I was under the impression that if you train w/light weights, your muscles will just end up looking soft (as in, not that muscular) as opposed to looking hard (as in nice and firm, I think it's called myogenic tone?). If you do light weights while in a calorie deficit (to burn fat), you risk losking muscle, IMO.

Plus, even if you do lift heavy weights, if you're in a calorie deficit, you're not going to be building tons of muscle to begin with. And the OP should be in a caloric deficit to lose fat.

Just my $0.02!

I was under the impression that if you train w/light weights, your muscles will just end up looking soft (as in, not that muscular) as opposed to looking hard (as in nice and firm, I think it's called myogenic tone?). If you do light weights while in a calorie deficit (to burn fat), you risk losking muscle, IMO.

Plus, even if you do lift heavy weights, if you're in a calorie deficit, you're not going to be building tons of muscle to begin with. And the OP should be in a caloric deficit to lose fat.
Not really too sure about that. I think as long as you stick with weights that feel heavy after 12 reps, you're okay. I didn't lose any muscle while starting out, but I made sure that if the 13th rep wasn't difficult, I upgraded my dumbbells.

Thanks everyone for all of your responses, I really appreciate it.

So if I keep my calorie intake around my bmr, lift moderate weights with cardio and have patience, I will lose the weight I want? Or is that not specific enough. I think for me my problem is I am impatient,and also I am a picker, for example, I have alittle bit of food here, tsp honey there, I guess if i do that all day it soon adds up in a week. Sometimes I also think that hey maybe this is the way I am meant to look and I should just accept it, but it is not like that is it? Another problem as well, is I get bored really quick of the food Is it possible to have a timeframe for losing say 25-30lbs, for example 2months.

Thanks once again for all the reponses.:)

To lose fat, you need to keep your calorie intake between your BMR and your TDEE (http://www.femalemuscle.com/nutrition/calculate.html).

The most common guideline for calorie deficits for fat loss is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more than 1000 below your maintenance level. (TDEE)

The longer you take to lose the weight, the longer it will stay off, in general. I think it's wise to aim for about a pound a week, maybe a little more when you're just starting out. With changes that gradual, they are more likely to end up as permanent lifestyle changes instead of weight loss strategies.