Opinions on loosing last 10lbs

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Penniedo

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Hi. I need help!! I have been trying to loose 10lbs for over 5 months now and nothing seems to be working. My upper body looks great, toned arms, shoulders, upper back and chest. My calfs and lower thighs look great too. My problem area is right under my belly button
where I have a roll that goes all around my middle section. (those freakin love handles!) My upper thighs could use some help too. I know this is where my extra 10lbs is but no matter what I do I can't get it to move. Here's what I have been doing-- I'm 43yrs old, female, 5'3" and weight 130lbs. My goal weight is between 117-120lbs. I have been following Atkins as my way of eating, I started at the beginning of the year and I really love this plan. My daily food percentages are averaging around 65% fat, 25% protein and 10% carbs. I am wheat sensitive so most of my carbs come from fruits, vegies, cheese and nuts.
For exercise I do cardio 5 days a week and weight train 3 days a week doing a whole body workout consisting of 3 sets of 10 reps using med to low weight. I also do 120-160 crunches 6 days a week.
Any suggestions??
 
No offense at all- but your routine is pretty bad. There are 5 basic rules to becoming fit. I call them the 5 tips to fat loss. Take a look at them and then compare them to what you are currently doing.

Before I post them though: 65% of your calories coming form fat? Are you sure? Atkins is NOT good and has been shown to INCREASE weight when you go off the plan. Crunches everyday is also not advisable. Light to medium weights won't do much for you either.

1) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Each meal should be 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should contain one protein and one carb. The first meal should be eaten within an hour after waking.


2) Drink a cup of water at each meal.


3) Rest properly. This means taking at least 48 hours between strength training the same muscles, and it also means getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lastly, it means taking 1-2 days off from exercising per week.


4) Cardio. This should be done at different intensity levels and different session lengths. Consider doing a low intensity/long session, a high intensity/short session and a few medium intensity/medium length sessions.


5) Strength Training. Strength train each muscle 1-3 times per week. You should lift a proper weight and perform the proper amount of sets/reps for your strength training method. If you need more guidance or exercise ideas you can head over


All of the above things combined will result in fat loss.
 
yikes 65% fat?! I know it may seem really important to lose weight and you've found something thats working but think of what your doing to your body. . .find a healthier plan and i would talk to your doctor. . .you may also want to consider hiring a nutritionist

g'luck
 
Each day I track my food intake on Fitday.com and almost all of my fat comes from eggs, cheese, nuts and meat--all the foods that I get my protein from. I do use some butter and mayo and occasionaly have bacon but not that often. As for finding a healthier plan, besides the foods that I have mentioned above, I eat at least 3 cups of fresh vegetables each day, fruits, berries, and whole grain breads and oatmeal. Everything I eat is all natural, no sugars, starches or flour. Since starting this way of eating my blood pressure has dropped and so has my cholesteral so I really don't know where I could find a "healthier" plan!

Trainer Lynn, thank's for your suggestions and no offense taken. Could you please tell me why I shouldn't be doing crunches everyday? I was once told your abdominal muscles heal quickly and can be worked everyday. I was also told that if you want to "tone" your body and not "build" you should use lighter weights. So for instance when I work on my inner thighs I use 55lbs and do 3 sets of 12 but I probably could do 75lbs.
 
Atkins is really a very bad diet plan. If at any point you stop do it, you will see all the weight you had before come back plus some newcomers. Losing fat in a successful and long term manner simply takes the proper diet and good training/cardio. No fad is needed in this area despite what has been told. "Toning" is just a adjective used to not scare women into lifting weights. No matter which way you cut it, you are building your body. You need muscle to loose fat. Women don't get bulky unless they are training really hardcore AND taking hormones. Trust me lifting a 10 pound dumbell is not going to make you buff.

Your abs are like any other part of your body, you need to rest them, no muscle bounces back quicker than another. When you over train a body part you actually lessen muscle growth. When building muscle that tissue tears/breaks down. During that day of rest it rebuilds/repairs and grows stronger. However if you are not giving it that day of rest you just keep tearing into it with no positive reinforcement of rest. A good full body routine 3 days a week and cardio 5 days a week with a better diet will show you fast AND long term results. The good news is that this will all be a change to your body so you are likly to push through this plateau, the bad news is you have been doing some damage by eating the way you have been. You want your ratios of protein and carbs to be even and your fat to be no more than 30% of you daily intake ( i persoanlly do 25%).

Its good that you have made a effort to get into shape, now just rework those efforts in a healthy and better direction and i am sure you are going to lose the fat.
 
Trainer Lynn, thank's for your suggestions and no offense taken. Could you please tell me why I shouldn't be doing crunches everyday? I was once told your abdominal muscles heal quickly and can be worked everyday. I was also told that if you want to "tone" your body and not "build" you should use lighter weights. So for instance when I work on my inner thighs I use 55lbs and do 3 sets of 12 but I probably could do 75lbs.
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I know. There is so much information out there, but unfortunately a lot of it is wrong. Doing abs everyday or doing 100 crunches a day is like doing 100 bicep curls every day. Too much and it's not advisable in any situation.

Lifting light weight is not for toning. To tone means to lose body fat to show off what muscle you have. To lose body fat means you have to increase muscle while losing fat. Women CANNOT bulk up unless they are dedicated to the body building lifestyle (which takes major dedication).

The only time lifting light weights for higher reps (15-20 reps) is when you are working on your endurance. Not for losing body fat. Higher weights and medium reps/sets are recommended.

Your ab muscles are just like any other muscle. If you work abs today, let them rest tomorrow. The rest day is really really important. Otherwise you over train your muscles and that leads to injury, illness, imbalances and a host of other things.

Fitday is notorius for having skewed calculators. But it is good for knowing a general idea of what you are taking in. 65% fat is way too high. Even if it comes from healthy foods.
 
Theleip and Trainer Lynn, Thank you both for your good advice and knowledge. I am new to working out and lifting and have so much to learn!

I agree with 65% fat being way too high. It makes perfect sense that my fat intake has been the reason I still have this extra 10-12lbs after 5 months of working my butt off trying to loose it! When I made the decision to get myself back into shape I wanted to choose an eating plan that I knew I could live with the rest of my life, not a diet, but a total way of life. My past attempts at loosing weight have always been lowfat plans which worked great at first but after a month or so I wouldn’t be able to keep it up and I would end up gaining everything back plus some. I am going to try your suggestions of 5-6 small meals and try to keep my rations at ½ carbs ½ protein and fat no higher than 30%. Ok, so now that I have made this decision, does anyone know any good websites where I can get meal ideas from?? :)
 
My website is not too shabby. Gives lots of strength training information for women.

Also, acefitness.org and/or exrx.net. Good luck!
 
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