Newb needing advice..

L

Lyric

0
Hi,

I’m a newb here! I have looked around though and there is a great wealth of knowledge here, so I am hoping to tap into it. I am just learning still, so I bet I will have a ton of questions. Hopefully I can help out a little too..When I know things.

First of all a little about myself. I’m 26, female, medium build/frame, I tend to gain muscle quickly when I work out with light/medium effort, but that being said I tend to gain weight in the usual ‘problem’ areas for women. Abs, thighs and love handles (Im not loving them..whoever is..well #@$#@$!) and my breasts (good or bad..however you look at it!). I know I will never be a super thin girl, but I would like to be a healthier one for my frame and height. Oh by the way I’m about 5'9/10 and 180lbs (or maybe less now..I don’t own a scale). I’m certainly not in my best shape. I use to be really active, but that stopped a lot after I sold my horse.

I have recently started working out at home. I bought a rebounder and I work out on it about 30 mins, use free weights about 20 mins, do exercises (abs/thighs/arms) about 20 mins and use resistances bands about 20mins a day. Sometimes I jump rope for about 20 mins, though it can really hurt my knees..so I try to avoid it.

I am a vegetarian, which I have been my whole entire life. I use to eat horribly. And yet my weight maintained pretty level most of the time, which makes me believe my metabolism must be decent? I have a french fry weakness =(

However lately I have started really cleaning up my diet. I usually eat breakfast (which I never did before) and I try to stick to the most 300 calories. At around 10:00/30 am I have a baggie of fresh cut veggies, which total about 35-45 calories. I usually drink 1 cup of coffee every morning, with both sugar and whitener (I know!). I drink about 1L of water or sometimes more before lunch. Then 710ml refilled through out the day. And 710ml more when I get home. Needless to say if drinking lots of water doesn’t help me lose weight...walking to the bathroom every ten mins WILL!

=)

At lunch I usually have around 300-500 calories intake. Usually soup, sammich, veggies/fruit. More water.

Dinner, I stick to salad or something light.

Normally I eat about 1200-1400 caloric intake per day.

Does anyone have any suggestions (positive or negative) to help me reach my goal weight of 140lbs?

Is there anything else I can be doing?

Some other things about myself are...I work behind a desk most of the day typing about 6 hours a day. Walking around a little..mostly to use the bathroom =P

I walk my two dogs about 20 mins or more a day, I’m trying for more. I walk them moderately on flat ground (there’s no hills around here!). I usually do housework for 30mins every single day. And I sleep 6-8 hours a day.

I think my biggest weakness food wise is: French fries, pasta and garlic bread and salty things.

I have really good will power so far food wise..but the exercise is harder.

Sorry this is so long!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Nik.
 
my advice would be to look closely at your diet first of all. it sounds like you've already made some good changes - that's a good calorie amount for losing weight, IMO. but you can probably fine tune the diet more - lose the fries, they're terrible to eat on a fat reduction diet. and cut back on the pasta. also, you werent specific on your sandwich, make sure those are not high calorie/high fat. in fact skip restaurants and fast food joints altogether. really watch that diet, vegetarians often eat way too many carbs in their diet, and not enough balanced food. i'm a vegetarian myself and no how easy it is to do that. also, do a lot of cardio, if you cant run maybe take some spin classes? my personal belief is that after a good workout you should be out of breath and soaked with sweat. i run about 3 miles every morning myself, and occasionally in the afternoon. cant beat cardio for weight reduction/fat burning.

lastly, losing weight can be tough and you have to make sacrifices if you REALLY want it. also it takes time, expect to lose between 1 to 2 lbs a week. hang in there and it will happen. good luck. i'm sure other's here will have suggestions as well.
 
If I eat pasta it's always whole wheat/multigrain, organic pasta. And low fat sause.

I have cut back on fries by about 90% I use to eat them alot. Like a couple times a week. Now I have them maybe once a month. And only a few. Bread wise, I eat calorie reduced multigrain. And it's all veggies inside and some low fat tofu veggie meat sometimes. And low fat dressing.

Everything I am eating pretty much is low carb and or low fat. But I watch the low fat stuff for high sugar and avoid that.

I have to be careful what type of exercising I do, simply because I broke my hip a couple of years ago. And now it tends to get sore quickly. I was thinking about buying an Elliptical trainer? Because my doctor suggested it would be low impact enough for me to use. Swimming is out, since I am not a fan of water.

Any other suggestions would be awesome.

Thanks for yours shimmering =)
 
well on that diet you should definitely be losing weight. you said you've only "recently" been doing this so i'd say give it time and you'll see the results you want. :)
 
photo312: I would hire a trainer but due to location, I cannot. I live in the boonies pretty much. The closest city with trainers is over an hour away, I just don't have that kind of time for travel every single day.

Trust me if I can train my two dogs..I can certainly handle this. ;)

I know they are not the same, but I think as long as I learn before trying anything to drastic I should be ok.

If I run into any major problems, that's when I will most certainly make the drive to the city.

I never mentioned my goal for losing weight, but it is because I want to healthier, stronger and happier. I feel so much better now that I am eating right and becoming more active. I use to ride horses every single day and I miss having that kind of outlet and activity level.

I will admit if I end up looking lean and mean..then great. I think if working out made you look ugly..a lot of people wouldn't do it as much. Come on now.

lol

Thanks for your advice. You don't sound like my parents, my parents sound more like this "Nik you have put on weight since you broke you hip". Thanks Mom!

I am not in a huge hurry to lose weight, I know it will take time and thats fine by me. I also understand there isn't any short cuts and so on, if you want to do it right.

I have being doing for about a month and I already see some changes. Mostly in my mood, energy level and my dogs..because they sleep more...since we walk more.

I would love to know what some low/moderate impact things I could do at home?

I am trying to walk more and more. Tonight I went for a moderately paced walk with my dog for over an hour. Which was uninteresting till we both spotted a fox on the road and then it became a light sprint dragging session.

Thanks for the advice!
 
give me a break, you can definitely work out at home. just be careful. i've never worked out in a gym in my life, i do running and strength training exercises daily. never had an accident yet. gyms arent for everybody, nor are personal trainers.
there is so much you can do on your own without buying any equipment, hiring anybody, or leaving your home. there is lot's of information available these days for everyone. i'm sure some others on this forum will offer some further advice on this.
 
You can hurt yourself anywhere. I workout at home and that will never change. The idea is to WORKOUT.
 
photo123: I dont think you have to work out with a trainer to avoid injury. But that's my opinion. Thanks for sharing yours, but I don't share it. =)

newf and shimmering: I do however agree with both of you!
 
Give photo123 a break, he only wants the best for ya!

I worked with a trainer last year for about 6-8 months, and I must admit that even though it was a bit pricey, it made a tremendous difference. Even now, with all the knowledge I gained during those months, I can NOT get a workout that equals those I could get with my trainer. So if you're very, very serious, give a trainer a shot. Otherwise, yeah, working out at home is okay if you at least take time to learn your form and are careful when working with weights.
 
I totally get what photo123 and you are saying. And I wasn't get down on him what so ever. I am simply explaining my situation and sharing my opinions. I am not going the trainer route, I understanding why it would be better. But I am not in the current situation to do that route.
 
No worries, Lyric, I wasn't really talking about you - rather some of the other posters. I think it's really cool that you're looking into validating your healthy lifestyle and making sure everything's kosher, so to speak. It's always nice to get a new face here, and when you come with a positive attitude, you usually leave a much healthier person :)

What we do get a bit of is people who come onto the boards with a defeatist attitude, and they often don't come back, or they tell us later that they haven't been able to stick to their plans. When you plan to fail, you literally can do nothing but.

Finally we have the dependents - people who come onto the boards looking for advice, but never get the self confidence to realize that they have the knowldge, and they can take care of themselves now. So they keep coming back asking "Should I do this?", "This is what I'm doing now!" and end up complaining about how they don't get results. Honestly, they spend too much time worrying, and less time getting healthy :)

Of course, I've only been a member of these boards for a few months but I'm very active (it's a great learning experience for me, too, to ask questions as well as help people out), but I'm happy to say that you seem to be on the right track.
 
Yeah, yeah... obviously if she wanted a trainer, she would get one, and she wouldn't be hear asking us for our opinion. That said, I have worked out at home for 21 years! Did I just date myself? I have yet to injure myself working out at home. However, I constantly injure myself racing motorcycles at the track, rock climbing, mountain biking, paintballing, snow boarding (I think you get the point)...

Nik, here is my take... If you are truely doing ALL of that EVERY day, you are probably overtraining. It sounds like your calorie intake is unreal to sustain your current weight mixed with your workouts! But, you might want to try the same calorie level in small meals. Try eating 5-8 meals per day. And, keep up the high water intake.

As far as big thighs, love handles (BTW - they aren't called love handles because you love them... *wink* *wink*) I see where you are coming from... But big breasts?? I mean... Hey... That is fine with me.

In order to trim those thighs... You mentioned that you do abs, thighs and arms with weights. For a good fat burning weight routine, you want to hit large muscle groups. So, you should include your pecs (this may shrink them a tiny bit too, which I GUESS would be good) and upper back in addition to the thigh routine. And, do not neglect your lower back (core), especially since you are already doing your abs.

What exact weight routines are you doing? And, how often for each?

You should track your progress, you said you don't own a scale... More important than weight, perhaps a BF caliper is in order. Measure once per month and see what is working and what isn't... Then, adjust your workout and diet accordingly.

Photo321, did you REALLY tie an EXPANDING rubber band to a door knob??? What the!

Look man (Fil too), I see where you are coming from, and it is fair advice to tell her that a trainer would help (because, without a doubt, it would), but, plenty of people are VERY successful without one. When someone comes to this site, obviously, they are trying to avoid the PT route... It's not like we are this secret society that no one knows exist until they read about us here!

I hope I don't offend anyone (but, I almost always do anyway),
Rip
 
There are days where I vary the work out. Such as I don't always use free weights, and just stick to cardio. As far as what exercises I am doing:

Crunches (sometimes with a 10lbs weight in my hands) - 10 rep/3 set
Side Crunches - 10 rep/3 set
Leg Lifts - " "
Weight Side Raises - " "
Front Raises - " "
Standing Rear Raises - " "
Kickbacks - " "
Curls - " "
Lunges - " "
Reverse Curls - " "
Reverse Crunches - " "
Crunches with raised legs - same deal

On top of some other resistance band exercises.
 
No not everyday. I usually do ab's three times a week. I usually try to work a different group of muscles each work out.
 
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