Newbie needing some advice

J

JAP

0
Hi :)

I'd be greatful for any advice.

I'm 30 years old, mother of two.
I'm 5.5'', 51.5kg, I need to tone my legs and loose the excess fat I have on my hip & tummy.

I have a fairly good diet but having read through some of the threads on the forum I think maybe I'm not eating enough, could this really be why I'm not shifting my fatty tummy/hips??

My usual day consists of;

7am small glass of PJ detox smoothie
45 min dance work out (everyday)
9am porridge with whey protein or couple of boiled eggs or cereal & milk
3/4 hour walking
12pm salad (just veg - no protein which I guess is wrong)
5pm evening meal with the family, I try too keep it healthy while making something everyone will eat eg. Chicken, baked pot's & two veg.
7pm snack - fruit & some nuts or something along those lines, on bad days (which are few) I tend to eat chocolate and crisps...

I don't acctually count my calories, I drink shed loads of water, I have energy dips usually on an afternoon and crave rubbish on an evening.
I sometimes do another 45 mins dance work out on an evening in desperation to loose some of my padding!!
After reading some threads I figure I should probably be doing some weights to?? Do you think this would help any? Any suggestions would be very greatfully received.

Thanks for reading.
 
Hi JAP... First off, welcome to the forum. Good for you for wanting to improve yourself :) I would suggest adding weight training to your routine. When you add some muscle to your frame your body becomes more effeicient at burning fat. To start, I would think you should do a full body workout 2-3 times a week. As far as the excess fat on your tummy and hips, unfortunately you cannot spot reduce. All that means is that when you exercise and eat well, your body is gonna remove the fat where your body wants to remove it, not necessarily where you want it to be lost. But if you continue to fine tune your efforts in both dieting and exercise, you will get the results you want. That is why this is a lifestyle and not some quick fix.
As far as your diet goes .... yes you should eat a protein and complex carb at each meal. Your diet doesn't seem real bad other than the fact you don't eat anything between 12:00 and 5:00. You need to add at least a snack in there. That could be why you have energy dips in the afternoon, not saying it is, it's just a possibility. Well, I think I blabbed enough :) PLease post again if you need more help. There are lots of knowledgable peeps on here who can offer good advice. Best of luck with your goals :)
 
Thanks for the welcome and the advice :)

I understand I can't choose where the fat comes off.
What I've been doing has worked really well until now, I lost over an inch off my stomach in the first two weeks and can see my legs & bottom starting to tone up, but these second two weeks I haven't lost anything of my stomach which is flustrating and is why I'm seeking advice. I guess the inch+ that I lost was probably water retention...
 
As mentioned - best way to burn fat is to develop muscle via weight training. The rest of your routine sounds great - just might want to go for total body fitness rather than just your lower body. (As opposed to the men who only train their upper body and have stick legs).
 
WELCOME to the boards! As a 31 yo mom of 3 I completely understand ur desire to lose weight in ur belly. Been there! Doing that! I changed the way I eat (for the most part) and the way I workout about 3 mos ago and I can see a difference, and others can too. Although, I have not even lost a full 10 pounds yet.

Definitely add weights to your routine. I know from experience it can be daunting, but sooo worth the effort! Also, do cardio once per day, not two or three times. I'm no expert (Trainer Lynn and sarahfitchic, where are you?) but I woudl imagine an hour of cardio every day (5 days) and weights 2-3 days per week would be sufficient.

I wish you all the best!
 
I'm also a mom (of two), and am currently working off the baby fat.

We no longer get the luxury of working out whenever we want, and eating healthy is more of a chore than before having kids, but all totally worth it.

You sound like you are doing well, just need a few adjustments (balance out your eating, eat something between 12 and 5, and add in strength training). There is no shortage of information here, so you're in a good place.
 
Thank you :)

I'm going to sound dumb here but I think I've worked my weight out VERY wrong :eek:
I'm 8.11 stone, hope to get down to about 8 - 8.4 which is what I was pre motherhood.
I'm going to take all your advice and add 2 - 3 full body workouts with weights a week and start taking more note of my food intake, try to keep it at 1400 a day, does that sound ok?

Thanks again xx
 
I calculated yours out.

It comes out to 1305.58 before multiplying by activity level.

Assuming you work out several days a week, plus chasing a kid around (moderately active), that would give you 2023.65. Some people prefer to cut that number by 20% for weight loss, which would give you 1618.92 calories a day, and some say to subtract 500 a day, which would give you 1523.65.

Basically, I would say keep your calories between 1500-1650 a day for weight loss, and make sure they are quality calories, not junk.
 
Thank you deschain :)

I used FitDay today for the first time(got the link from this forum) to help me keep tabs on my food intake, after putting in what I plan to have tonight I've taken in over 6 meals;
1532 cals
20% Fat
46% Carbs
33% Protein

I found it easy to fit the 6 meals in, no light headedness this afternoon and so far no craving junk :D

Did a work out with free weights today (this is going to have to do until the kids are back to school in a few weeks and I can joint a gym), and I can feel that I've worked out, after my usual dance workout I feel nothing so this must be a good thing!

Thanks again, your helps much appreciated.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top