Please could you offer your thoughts on my weightloss plan

B

betty77

0
Hello all,

I have listed my weightloss regime below and I was wondering if you could offer your thoughts on it.
I am 28 years old and I wiegh approx 76Kg/11 stone and 13lbs/167lbs
I am of medium build and I am 5 foot and 5 inches.
I want to get fit and healthy and my short term goal is to go down to 140lbs (10 stone) as soon as I can while trying to improve my body shape as I currently have very heavy legs, butt and hips.
Other important information to know is:
I am in the UK
I have one rest day a week
I am eating around 1500 cals a day approx.
I am a strict vegetarian, not a vegan though so I do eat milk and eggs.
Other than my workouts I have a fairly sedentry lifestyle and I only work four hours a day.
I have been doing this current regime for a week now and I feel well on it but I wanted to know if people more expert than myself could point out any ways to make it more efficant or better.

Thanks for taking the time to read at this post and I look forward to your feedback.

Betty :)

My Regime

Morning:
Up at 6.30 am
Drink: Water & Lemon
Exercise: Cardio-Sculpt 45 minutes 3x a week or 15mins of resistance for upper and lower body (These are from David Kirsch's: New York Body Plan)
8am Breakfast: Porridge with stewed prunes, milk and a little honey or yogurt and fruit.
11.00am Snack: Carrot sticks and hummus or an apple and a hand full of nuts + 1 cup of green tea
1pm Pre-Gym Snack: a piece of fruit
Gym work out: 90 minutes of cardio at 65% - 75% of my MHR (which in my case is about 140 – 155 ish) 4 X a week
Or 45 minutes IT training on the treadmill eg: alternate walking for 2mins and running for 90 seconds followed by a further 45 minutes of moderate exercise on a cross trainer or bike 2 X a week.
I also do about half an hours gentle swimming (breast stroke) about 3-4 times a week for toning.
4.30pm Post work out snack: a soy protein shake
5pm: A healthy vegetarian meal for example: Bowl of soup followed by Vegetable stew with lentils and rice with a side portion of broccoli or a baked potato with cottage cheese and salad.
Evening snacks: One or two of the following:
Hummus on oatcakes, slice of fruit bread with butter, fruit, a yogurt, a little soup, toast and peanut butter, 3 small squares of dark chocolate.
I will also normally have 2 cups of decaff black tea with milk and sugar in the evening or a cup of cocoa made with skimmed milk.
I do not exercise in the evening apart from a little Yoga a few times a week.

I also try to drink at least 1.5 L of plain water a day as well as herb teas.
 
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Hi,

Glad you posted. Since your morning workout involves strength training I thinkit's relaly important that you eat first. You'll have a much more effective and safer workout if you do.

Can I ask why you are doing 90 minutes of cardio? Are you training for an endurance event? Cardio over an hour is really not necessary if you are not training for an endurance events, and it is not going to be helpful for fat loss. Even manmy endurance athletes (I am one myself) don't do that many long cardio sessions. And if they do, they are eating twice what you are. That much exercise needs a heck of a lot more fuel than you are eating.

You are making healthy food choices. The only comment I have there is that lower glycemic foods in the evening is a better choice.

I honestly think you need to cut down the amount you workout or start eating more. Your body is running on empty. You might do better with fewer cardio session, and a variety of high and low intensities, as well as high intensity intervals.

Sarah
 
thanks!

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for your reply and your advice.
I am not trining for any even I just do that much cardio beacuse even at the end of 90 minutes I don't really feel fatigued at all and that I could just keep on going unless I have been running I can only run for about 20 minutes without a break (because I am so heavy the running really takes it out of me as I have to carry all my own weight). I am worried though that I could be burning off muscle which I know is counter productive. I am just burning off the energy I don't use during the day due to my sedentery job and studying.
I don't really like to eat much before a work out as it makes me feel sick but I will try adding another protein shake and cutting down on the carbs at night.

Thanks again for your advice!
Betty :)
 
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Be very careful with cardio Betty. Cardio is a double edged sword. You may in fact burn calories but calories can come from the food you eat, muscle or fat. 90 minutes is too much.

Your nutrition needs tweaking these rules to the game will help you get it right (get your food macros right before messing with caloric intake).

Using weight to judge fat loss results can be very decieving. There are basic principles that go into play for fat to be burned. Check out this outline to understand the madness behind the training:


also look around this forum for other fitness and diet journals to help tweak yours.

Good luck to you
 
If you don't feel like you're exerting yourself you could trade in some of those long cardio sessions for HIIT training. With HIIT you might warm up with a 5 minute walk and then alternate 20-30 second sprints as fast as you can possibly go with 1 minute walk intervals for 20 minutes. Then walk to cool down for 5 minutes. Trust me, you will feel exerted.
Trainerty is right about using weight to judge fat loss. You could have lost weight, but it could be because of muscle wasting, which is not helpful int he long run.

Sarah
 
Hi, Betty. I just wanted to jump in because I am also a vegetarian. It is vitally important for us to eat often and enough :D

I agree with the others... you're doing too much cardio and not enough strength training. I'd focus on strength training over cardio. Here are some tips that may help you... remember that a protein/carb combo meal doesn't have to include meat :D

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.
 
thanks

Thanks to everyone who has posted a reply to my post it is all very useful information. It seems that weightloss and fitness are very much a science and not so straight forward as I thought :confused:
It seems that you have to vary the activity you do a lot also or the body just adapts and you use less energy to do the same thing.
So the main information that I seem to be getting here is to vary the cardio and do more strength training as well as get the nutrition right.
I think I will have to do some more reading a research to get this right.
Also a I am still a good 25lbs over my ideal wieght would I be better to focus on gaining muscle and burning fat for the time being and leave things like pilates until I am at my goal wieght/size or would it be better to add something like that now to ensure that I get a good shape when the fat is gone.

Thanks again to all who responded to my queries I will look into and try your suggestions and let you know how I get on.

Betty:)

P.S. Lynn do you know of any books or websites that would give good nutrition advice for veggies trying to get in shape?
 
Thanks, Smax :D

Betty and I'll get you going. I'll provide a sample menu for you as well. Just remind me of who you are :)

And to post a response here for general knowledge... I'd focus on nutrition, weight training, and then cardio. Fat loss is really simple once you clear out all the muck.

I would ditch Pilates now. Once you get a fitness program... keep it for about 6 weeks and then change something about it. You can change the exercise (change a chest press to a chest fly as an example), change the intensity, change the method of strength training (from a full body program to a split routine as an example)...
 
Thanks again everyone for the advice and thanks Lynn I have contacted you as you advised.
Many thanks,
Betty:).
 
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