Routine/Diet ??'s

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Anbshilling

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Hi! I'm female, 26 yr old, small frame, 105lbs, 5 ft 3in. I have about 19% body fat. I currently am eating around 1200 cals a day to stay this size. I was skinny all my life until I quit smoking a couple years ago, then started putting weight on. Now I'm skinny with a belly and thighs :eek: I only went up to 115 once, but that was enough! I just started getting back on the elliptical for 30 min every other day sometimes steady pace sometimes intervals in addition to cutting calories. I just started a weight routine twice a week like this (3 sets 12-15 reps):

abs -crunches on ball
chest - bench press on ball
back- one arm dumbbell rows/dumbbell good mornings
butt - dumbbell squat & lunges
tricep - kickbacks & extensions
shoulders - dumbbell bench press
quad/ham - dumbbell squat
calf- raises with weights
biceps- concentrated curls on ball

How often should I be doing cardio in addition to this routine? Is this routine good enough for 2-3 times a week? Also, I have a hard time adding calories mentally. I know I should be adding more. How much should I add for my size? Thanks in advance!
 
well I have a BMR calculator right here.

for your current stats, I put you at 1,200 cals a day for BMR alone...that's not counting any daily activities like working, house chores, or gym time. 1,200 cals is kinda like your 'comatose calorie needs'.

we'd take 1,200 and multply it by 1.x to get an estimate of your BMR + activity needs.

what sort of work do you do for a living? seated mostly? standing? lots of walking? lots of lifting?
most normal people's activity modifier is 1.4-1.55, but a construction worker might be more like 1.6-1.7.

assuming 1.4, that's about 1800 cals a day for maintenance. you'd drop 10-20% off that for a diet to shed fat. I'd say 1500-1600 is where you'd wanna be for significant fat loss...but that's just an educated guess. best thing to do is eat 1500 cals a day for two weeks, weigh in at the start and again at the end, and see if you gained, lost, stayed the same weight, and adjust calories from there.

I'd also work towards heavier weights after a few weeks. learn proper form, and get the joints/tendons strong, then lift heavier for lower reps.

i'll leave the rest of your routine for someone else to comment on, as I don't wanna dominate the conversation.
 
You seem to be the perfect candidate to lose fat through building some nice toned muscle. For you to lose fat strictly by cardio and restriciting calories will be hard and annoying :)

My theory is that anyone that has a smaller frame and is thin, but has some fat to lose... the best thing is to start with a full body strength training routine 3 days a week. Your set/rep range is okay. I'd change it to 10-12 reps though.

On days you don't do strength training I would do a day of 30 minutes medium intensity cardio. The other days I would do 15-20 minutes of interval training (low intensity for 2 minutes and then higher intensity for a minute then back to 2 minutes of lower intensity, etc)

Keep one day as rest.

Once you get used to lifting the weights and you feel confident in your form (as malkore said) I would change and focus on lifting heavy weights. You won't bulk up and look like a guy. Instead you'll add some beautiful muscle and lose fat in the process.

The trick though is to eat around 150-200 calories over your maintenance level. To add some muscle you need a little more calories that usual. I'll PM you a link to a caloric intake calculator.

Fill in your stats and then get your maintenance levels. Then add 150 calories to that number. Eat that many calories per day. Divide it by 6 so you know how many calories to eat at each meal.

If this all sounds too confusing, just PM me and I'll help you a bit more. I'll be away all next week though so be a little patient with me :D
 
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