I'm new to this forum. I will turn 30 in September. Although I'm fairly happy with my body, I need to loose a little and tone up. I have set a, what I consider, reasonable goal for myself....to fit into a pair of jeans I have kept from my senior year in high school. I weigh 145 right now and I am 5 foot 2 inches tall. When I graduated from high school I was between 130 and 135. I have two small boys (5 and 2) and feel pretty good that I've kept my weight fairly in check. My goal is 125. About a year ago I hit 134 and apparently felt over confident and relaxed myself too much. I thought I was dieting healthy (1200 calories a day) until I came upon this site and read quite a few posts that this may be too low. I am *trying* to exercise daily either riding my stationery bike or doing a workout tape or using my exercise ball. On the days I don't feel I'll have extra time to do a workout, I try to make up for it in daily routine (making extra trips up the stairs, etc). I don't feel I'm doing nearly enough though. I don't need to drop 10 pounds in a week to be happy but when I don't see results, I get discouraged. I would be happy with 1 pound a week. Any advice on if 1200 calories is too low and if I need to pick up the pace exercising? Thanks in advance!
Newbie Advice
- Thread starter Shanesmommy
- Start date
Welcome
First, welcome to the forum. Secondly, if you could post a typical day's diet I think it would help us in giving you more guidance. Do you drink enough water ? Do you do any strength training ? If you could reply to these questions, I think we'll have a better idea on how to inform you. Again welcome aboard
First, welcome to the forum. Secondly, if you could post a typical day's diet I think it would help us in giving you more guidance. Do you drink enough water ? Do you do any strength training ? If you could reply to these questions, I think we'll have a better idea on how to inform you. Again welcome aboard
Typical Day
My typical day's diet usually consists of:
Breakfast: Coffee with Spenda and either fat free or sugar free creamer and a bagel with 1 tsp real butter or Slim fast shake
Lunch: Fruit Salad (banana, apple, orange, grapes whatever I have on hand) and a ham or turkey wrap with lettuce, tomato, fat free cheese, 4 oz juice/4 oz water
Snack: Piece of fruit or 1/3 cup nut and dry fruit trail mix
Dinner: Steak or chicken breast, some form of potato (no butter with skim milk if mashed) or rice, fresh or frozen veggies, tossed salad made with spinach greens with homemade french dressing (same amount of calories as store bought fat free without any artificial sweetner), diet pepsi
Evening snack: frozen yogurt or cup of popcorn
I don't drink near enough water as you can see. I go through spurts trying. Always seems like when I do drink more I end up spending my day in restrooms!
I am a coffee fanatic and I'm trying real hard to slow down....I went from 5-6 cups a day to 2-3. Also switched from sugar and regular creamer which was, no kidding, 500-600 calories A DAY in just coffee drinking for me to splenda and fat free or sugar free creamer.
My typical day's diet usually consists of:
Breakfast: Coffee with Spenda and either fat free or sugar free creamer and a bagel with 1 tsp real butter or Slim fast shake
Lunch: Fruit Salad (banana, apple, orange, grapes whatever I have on hand) and a ham or turkey wrap with lettuce, tomato, fat free cheese, 4 oz juice/4 oz water
Snack: Piece of fruit or 1/3 cup nut and dry fruit trail mix
Dinner: Steak or chicken breast, some form of potato (no butter with skim milk if mashed) or rice, fresh or frozen veggies, tossed salad made with spinach greens with homemade french dressing (same amount of calories as store bought fat free without any artificial sweetner), diet pepsi
Evening snack: frozen yogurt or cup of popcorn
I don't drink near enough water as you can see. I go through spurts trying. Always seems like when I do drink more I end up spending my day in restrooms!
I am a coffee fanatic and I'm trying real hard to slow down....I went from 5-6 cups a day to 2-3. Also switched from sugar and regular creamer which was, no kidding, 500-600 calories A DAY in just coffee drinking for me to splenda and fat free or sugar free creamer.diet
Yeah you do need to drink more water, your body will get accustomed to it and you won't be spending your day in the restroom. You also need to include more protein in your diet, especially in your 2 snacks and breakfast. I personally would completely change your breakfast. The coffee I don't think is not so bad, but the bagel and slim fast should go. Eat some cottage cheese with fruit or maybe eggs with some fruit or whole grain toast, just be sure it is WHOLE grain. And drink more water, did I already mention that . More water and more protein would help you. Also you didn't mentioned if you weight trained or not. Hope this helps a little anyway. Keep us posted. I'm sure others will give you more useful advice.
Yeah you do need to drink more water, your body will get accustomed to it and you won't be spending your day in the restroom. You also need to include more protein in your diet, especially in your 2 snacks and breakfast. I personally would completely change your breakfast. The coffee I don't think is not so bad, but the bagel and slim fast should go. Eat some cottage cheese with fruit or maybe eggs with some fruit or whole grain toast, just be sure it is WHOLE grain. And drink more water, did I already mention that
. More water and more protein would help you. Also you didn't mentioned if you weight trained or not. Hope this helps a little anyway. Keep us posted. I'm sure others will give you more useful advice.Protein and water
I can definitely add more water. I can, with no problem, have eggs, fruit, and toast for breakfast. The cottage cheese is a little iffy. I don't mind the taste, and have eaten it consistently in the past, but it's not really something I enjoy. I'm just restarting my dieting and exercising, I fell off the saddle a little over a year ago. At that time I moved up in my full time position to bigger responsibility, less time for ME made it extremely easy to munch all day and extremely hard to exercise after a 12 1/2 hour day with two small children and a hubby at home. Long story short, I quit that job and now work part time...4 days in a two week time period...yahhh! Anyhow, I'm not weight training right now, but would really like to. I've been giving serious consideration into joining our local gym or Curves. I'm not sure what Curves offers exactly, not sure if they have weight machines.
What is your opinion of my calorie intake? I'm only at 1200 calories and from what I've been reading on here, I may end up storing fat if my body thinks it's in starvation mode.
I have one more comment...about 13 years ago (in high school) I put myself on an extreme calorie restricted diet for about 3-4 weeks. I ate no more than 900 calories a day during that time. I lost somewhere around 8-10 pounds. During that time I was also active in and out of school running cross country and track. What finally made me give up that extremely low calorie diet was that I passed out in the school cafeteria....I smelled the food and couldn't take it. I don't want to diet unhealthy. I've only been on my 1200 calorie restriction for a week. I feel pretty good as long as I don't think about what I could be munching on
Thanks again!!!
I can definitely add more water. I can, with no problem, have eggs, fruit, and toast for breakfast. The cottage cheese is a little iffy. I don't mind the taste, and have eaten it consistently in the past, but it's not really something I enjoy. I'm just restarting my dieting and exercising, I fell off the saddle a little over a year ago. At that time I moved up in my full time position to bigger responsibility, less time for ME
made it extremely easy to munch all day and extremely hard to exercise after a 12 1/2 hour day with two small children and a hubby at home. Long story short, I quit that job and now work part time...4 days in a two week time period...yahhh! Anyhow, I'm not weight training right now, but would really like to. I've been giving serious consideration into joining our local gym or Curves. I'm not sure what Curves offers exactly, not sure if they have weight machines. What is your opinion of my calorie intake? I'm only at 1200 calories and from what I've been reading on here, I may end up storing fat if my body thinks it's in starvation mode.
I have one more comment...about 13 years ago (in high school) I put myself on an extreme calorie restricted diet for about 3-4 weeks. I ate no more than 900 calories a day during that time. I lost somewhere around 8-10 pounds. During that time I was also active in and out of school running cross country and track. What finally made me give up that extremely low calorie diet was that I passed out in the school cafeteria....I smelled the food and couldn't take it. I don't want to diet unhealthy. I've only been on my 1200 calorie restriction for a week. I feel pretty good as long as I don't think about what I could be munching on
Thanks again!!!
Curves
I think Curves is good for someone that has never worked out before because they provide a lot of guidance and do kind of "circuit training" with cardio and weights. It's also good for overweight people because it provides a non-threatening environment to start working out. However, if you're in reasonably good shape and know how to work out on your own I would go to a "regular" gym.
I'm glad you're worried about the starvation mode because soooo many people come on here and think the less the eat the better I think 1200 calories is probably a little low. I'm almost 5'4" and weigh 130-135 and I eat 1500 calories a day when I DON'T exercise. When I weight train I go up to about 1800 a day.
~teresa
I think Curves is good for someone that has never worked out before because they provide a lot of guidance and do kind of "circuit training" with cardio and weights. It's also good for overweight people because it provides a non-threatening environment to start working out. However, if you're in reasonably good shape and know how to work out on your own I would go to a "regular" gym.
I'm glad you're worried about the starvation mode because soooo many people come on here and think the less the eat the better
I think 1200 calories is probably a little low. I'm almost 5'4" and weigh 130-135 and I eat 1500 calories a day when I DON'T exercise. When I weight train I go up to about 1800 a day. ~teresa
Diet
I tend to agree with Teresa that 1200 calories does seem a bit low. It's gonna kinda be like a trial and error process to see how many calories you should be eating. Everyone is different, even with similar builds, one person may flourish with 1400 calories and the other would need 1700. Maybe you can start with something like an average of 300 calories in each of your 5 meals in a day. that would be 1500 calories. See how your body responds, you may need more or maybe less. When you start exercising, your number of calories may change again. You'll get it, we have faith in you. Did I mention to drink plenty of water.
I tend to agree with Teresa that 1200 calories does seem a bit low. It's gonna kinda be like a trial and error process to see how many calories you should be eating. Everyone is different, even with similar builds, one person may flourish with 1400 calories and the other would need 1700. Maybe you can start with something like an average of 300 calories in each of your 5 meals in a day. that would be 1500 calories. See how your body responds, you may need more or maybe less. When you start exercising, your number of calories may change again. You'll get it, we have faith in you.
Did I mention to drink plenty of water. Thanks
Thanks so much girls! I think I will add the additional 300 calories and try 1500 for a little bit. I'm a little discouraged.....I know it's only been a week....but I had lost a total of 4 lb, I gained 2 back somehow. I also realize that I'm scale obsessed. It'll wear off in a week or so, once I see the numbers going down. Thanks again for your encouragement, I know I'll continue to need it!!!
Thanks so much girls! I think I will add the additional 300 calories and try 1500 for a little bit. I'm a little discouraged.....I know it's only been a week....but I had lost a total of 4 lb, I gained 2 back somehow. I also realize that I'm scale obsessed. It'll wear off in a week or so, once I see the numbers going down. Thanks again for your encouragement, I know I'll continue to need it!!!
uh oh
Ooooppsss, sorry, yes I'll gladly take the help!!!
Ooooppsss, sorry, yes I'll gladly take the help!!!
A friend of mine had tried Curves and didn't feel she got much out of it. Then she tried Cardinal and hated it because it was not a clean facility.
See if you can get free passes to various places and try them. Test drive the facility and employees.
I made a choice that is way more expensive than the other options, but it offers a lot and has a great atmosphere (ie NOT a meat market!). I will keep going because I love the place.
See if you can get free passes to various places and try them. Test drive the facility and employees.
I made a choice that is way more expensive than the other options, but it offers a lot and has a great atmosphere (ie NOT a meat market!). I will keep going because I love the place.
I'll just add in there that you could probably stand to eat a bit more and drink a bit more water. I would also look into getting some free weights and a stability ball if you do not have them already.
You can do almost any exercise using those two pieces of equipment. Toss that scale The most important number you can gain is your body fat %. That will give you an idea of how much fat you have and how much muscle you have.
You can do almost any exercise using those two pieces of equipment. Toss that scale
The most important number you can gain is your body fat %. That will give you an idea of how much fat you have and how much muscle you have.I agree about the trial and error process. Don't obsess too much about numbers (calories and weight) and just try to "wing it". It's hard for some people I know!
~teresa
~teresa
I have a stability ball my husband bought me the other day, that I've played around with it with a few of the exercises that the poster shows. I have weights on my shopping list...I had a few different size weights that I must have either given away or sold at my yard sale! Any idea if those scales that also measure body fat are accurate? I'm almost more scared to see what my bf% is, than what my weight is! lol
I also ordered the celebrity fit club's dvd...anyone have any thoughts on it? I honestly like the show, it's not the usual type of reality tv I like, but it's surprisingly motivating to me. I haven't received the dvd in the mail yet, but there's a 30 day return policy on it so I figured if it wasn't what I was expecting I'd return it and find something else. I just hope it's not another one of "those" workout dvds, that celebrities put their name to and it shows more fashion styles than real workouts. I'd love any opinions!
One more question (you guys are a wealth of info)....what's your thoughts on exercise bikes? Not the new everything's digital and has all the bells and whistles styles, the old 80's style exercise bikes with a needle odometer and screw type resistance? Worth the time or should I pack it up? Thanks again!
I also ordered the celebrity fit club's dvd...anyone have any thoughts on it? I honestly like the show, it's not the usual type of reality tv I like, but it's surprisingly motivating to me. I haven't received the dvd in the mail yet, but there's a 30 day return policy on it so I figured if it wasn't what I was expecting I'd return it and find something else. I just hope it's not another one of "those" workout dvds, that celebrities put their name to and it shows more fashion styles than real workouts. I'd love any opinions!
One more question (you guys are a wealth of info)....what's your thoughts on exercise bikes? Not the new everything's digital and has all the bells and whistles styles, the old 80's style exercise bikes with a needle odometer and screw type resistance? Worth the time or should I pack it up? Thanks again!
I don't think that the bodyfat scales are very accurate. I would go see a personal trainer and get your bodyfat measured that way. If you go like once a month you should be able to see progress.
The stability ball is great for soooo many exercises. Do some searches online too if you get bored with the exercises on the poster. There's so much you can do.
I didn't know they made Celebrity Fit Club DVDs but I like that show too. What's on the DVDs?
I think if the exercise bike gets your heart rate up it's worth the time.
Good luck!
~teresa
The stability ball is great for soooo many exercises. Do some searches online too if you get bored with the exercises on the poster. There's so much you can do.
I didn't know they made Celebrity Fit Club DVDs but I like that show too. What's on the DVDs?
I think if the exercise bike gets your heart rate up it's worth the time.
Good luck!
~teresa
I like body fat analyzers like this one from Omron...
Yes there is a margin of error, but so long as you know the ballpark you are in.. you'll be fine. Going to a personal trainer is another option. They will use calipers but you should know there is a margin of error there as well and NOT all trainers know how to use calipers correctly (thereby increasing the margin of error).
I like Celebrity Fit Club too. Let me know how the DVD's are. Harvey is a punisher Keep us updated.
If you have an old 80's workout bike and like it... then by all means use it Cardio is cardio is cardio. Anything that gets your heart pumping will count. The trick is to do it at varying levels and at varying intensities.
Yes there is a margin of error, but so long as you know the ballpark you are in.. you'll be fine. Going to a personal trainer is another option. They will use calipers but you should know there is a margin of error there as well and NOT all trainers know how to use calipers correctly (thereby increasing the margin of error).
I like Celebrity Fit Club too. Let me know how the DVD's are. Harvey is a punisher
Keep us updated.If you have an old 80's workout bike and like it... then by all means use it
Cardio is cardio is cardio. Anything that gets your heart pumping will count. The trick is to do it at varying levels and at varying intensities.I haven't got my Celebrity Fit Club dvd yet, I'm anxiously watching the mail!! But I'll tell you what I think as soon as I try it.