:d_smile: Hi, im a 23 year old woman who has decided to commit to losing weight getting fit and living a healthier lifestyle. Since deciding this i have given up smoking and also plan to massivly reduce my alcoholic intake over the weekends, I once had a spell of working out at least 3 times a week mainly cardio work and lost inches from my waist but let the regime slip and now im back to the starting blocks.

I am desperate for some guidance as i want to follow an appropriate programme effecting both diet and excercise, I wouild like to lose 2 stones, but i dont know if that will be possible due to my large build, i have "big bones" and have a very muscular build, to look at nobody would be able to guess by weight (not even the nurse at my last medical!!!)

If anyone can give advice on what workouts i should be doing, how regular and what food my diet should consist of i would be over the moon thanks

:gl: to all on their quest for a leaner body and a healthier lifesyle

I know this isn't a detailed or "professional" answer, but oh well... :D

What worked for me was self control and moderation. I only ate until i was nolonger hungry, NOT until I felt full. I think that was the hardest part for me. I also try to not drink my calories (Ie. water,diet drinks), which sounds like something that might be a small hurdle for you. I tracked all my food for the first few months in http://FitDay.com . After that time, you kinda learn about what calories foods have in them and it's easier to keep a more accurate running total in your head.

It always suprises my friends/co-workers when they asked me what I did to lose weight and get in shape. Low Fat ? Atkins ? Then I just tell them I go to the gym 3 times or more a week and I watch what I eat. No fad diets... Nothing Crazy.... Just good old common sense.

Thats just a few things that have helped me in my journey. Making the dedicaited decision to get fit, is the first hurdle.... and you've past that one already. Now just follow through....

Your on your way - :gl: to you !

Welcome to the Forums!

I'm no expert, so I'm not going to give you the low-down, but I will vouch for the guys and gals on this forum. They know their stuff, and they've got the results to prove it. And now, because of them, I'm getting results, too. It's pretty awesome.

You should check out the Nutrition section; there's a good thread up at the top called "Guide to Nutrition for Weight Loss" that has everything you need to know. Of course, it's comprehensive, so if you want shorter bits of advice, by all means, ask more specific questions.

One thing I have learned from all this is that changing your body composition is at least 75% diet, and at most 25% exercise. For a while, I ran five miles a day three or four times a week and didn't know why I wasn't losing weight; these guys set me straight. If you exercise but don't change your diet or lifestyle (alcohol, more sleep, more eating breakfast, etc.), you're not going to see the results you want.

Look around. There's lots of quality info on this site. I'll leave the more detailed stuff to the experts. And good luck!

My suggestion would be "baby steps". AWD makes plenty of great points. Self-control and moderation are paramount - but don't expect to develop it overnight. Many people on these forums, John Stone included, jumped into a fitness regime with both feet, full force. I, on the other hand, don't like massive change. I have slowly integrated fitness in its various forms into my life over the past 18 months, losing almost 50-lbs. in the process.

I started by taking a proven fitness program - specifically, Body-for-Life, and molded it to fit my world. I ate six times a day, a small portion of protein, carbs and fat at each meal. I kept my total calories around twelve times my body weight (you could go as low as 10X your body weight) and adjusted my caloric intake accordingly as I lost weight. I did cardio every morning, seven days a week (daily cardio is THE KEY!) and performed weight training exercises three to four days a week, addressing each major muscle group twice per week with lighter weight, higher rep workouts.

This allowed me to lose 2.4-lbs. per week on average. I wouldn't recommend losing more than 1~1.5 lbs/week to avoid stretch marks, as I have some on my ass as a result. Nothing bad, because I wasn't obese, just heavy for my size.

Start with this rule of thumb, which worked well for me. 3,500 calories is roughly worth 1-lb. of body fat. If you cut back 500 calories per day from your current eating schedule, that pretty much guarantees that you'll lose 1-lb. per week. Please be sure to do some form of weight training as you need to in order to retain your lean body mass (i.e., muscle!!). Cutting calories and doing cardio is great, but adding resistance training is what firms and tones as you lose weight.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something here... but this is a good program to start with. Later, as you learn what works for your body, you can tweak your program as you go. Believe it or not, you will eventually gain a feel for fitness, and you'll learn as you go. I highly suggest you spend some time reading these forums for information and ask questions as you go.

Good luck...

-R

Well, I'm no expert like some of the guys on here, but I was inspired by John and have done my own thing..

I took up cycling. Now I'm pretty hardcore. Not like professional level, but definetely way above the standard hobby cyclist.

I lost an average of 5 pounds a week!
I started eating 5 times a day, clean foods, and never felt hungry or full.. a find balacne.

Tons of banana's, grains, basically hippy foods. ;) Lot's of cheeses and yogurt, and not much meat actually. Some yes, but I never kept logs of any of it. I focused on burning the fat first and now I'm getting into the muscle building phases.

I have to say it's turned out GREAT. Here's my logs in case you're interested. 34.6 pounds in 2 months. :spaz:

http://sweb.uky.edu/~sdgrea0/activity

:gl:

-The Rooster

Feline
Could you give us your height in feet and inches and your weight in pounds. Measure your wrist, too. With that we might be able to provide an estimate of calories and etc.

I am one that believes weights or resistance training is the best exercise for lasting fat loss. A simple basic full body routine. Are you a member of a gym?

I am one that believes weights or resistance training is the best exercise for lasting fat loss.

I agree and (if I remember correctly) resistance training burns more calories after a workout than cardio does. Granted, cardio is important, but I think you'll find cardio after an intense leg workout nearly impossible. Best of luck! :tu:

Im 5,9" 210lbs my wrist measures about 8 inches, i did work out my calorie intake to sustein my current weight, but cant remember what if was i have it written down at home.

Im 5,9" 210lbs my wrist measures about 8 inches, i did work out my calorie intake to sustein my current weight, but cant remember what if was i have it written down at home.

It's not a matter of what you're eating now to maintain your current weight. It's a matter of knowing what you need to lose weight, which for most of us here is somewhere on the order of 10~12 times your body weight, as I said above. I.e., your calories should be between 2100 and 2500 in conjunction with a weight resistance and cardiovascular improvement program.

(daily cardio is THE KEY!)
-R

I've been doing cardio 5 days a week. Is 7 definitely better? I'm worried about wearing myself down and not getting any recovery time. Bluestreak, you would definitely endorse going with the cardio every day?

I've been doing cardio 5 days a week. Is 7 definitely better? I'm worried about wearing myself down and not getting any recovery time. Bluestreak, you would definitely endorse going with the cardio every day?

It's what I did to initially lose 37-lbs. in 14 weeks last year. It's also what I'm doing now on the SGX program. My wife did as much as 90 minutes per day of cardio in splits when training for competition. I've seen it work very well with aesthetically pleasing results on our bodies.

After talking to a fellow SGX'er last night, I dug up my old spread sheet from last year's transformation. In going from 187-lbs. to 150-lbs, I lost about 7-lbs. of LBM, personally. I'm not positive of its effects on female LBM as my wife didn't track her contest prep as closely as I did my transformation.

So yes, I recommend it - when you support the effort with proper nutrition. I can put a decent diet together myself to get started, but making nutritional tweaks is something I'm scared of, as the wrong change could cost me hard-fought LBM. For this reason, I've sought professional help to assist with nutrition and training.

Thanks! I'll give it a shot! It's about time for me to change up my routine anyway.

I did cardio up to 2 hours a day almost everyday, and lost 34.6 pounds in 2 months.. which is really crazy when I think about it.
http://sweb.uky.edu/~sdgrea0/activity