Toning

R

runkel

0
Hello,

I just joined this site and I am on my second post. I have so many questions. I have been running now for about a month and have not really seen any results. In fact I have gained 5lbs. I am 21 years old 5ft 6in and weight 147lbs or at least I did before I started running. I run every other day (about 4 times a week for 2-2.5 miles) averaging around 8 miles a week. I was thinking on my days off I could weight lift. Hopefully that would help with losing weight. My goal is to drop about 15lbs. I want to get down around 130lbs. My question is what kinda of program should I start for myself that will help me burn more fat. I want my upper body to lose weight first. I carry most of my weight in my chest and stomach. I want to look very slim and toned. Can anyone help with certain machines I should use or what program would be good. Thanks!!
 
1. You cannot spot reduce, so weight train the entire body, not just the upper.

2. cardio (running) doesn't build significant muscle, so gaining weight indicates you're diet is in poor shape.

3. Diet - eat 5 times a day, or 6 if you can manage it. protein at EVERY meal (at least 15g). aim for 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight. In your case, aim for 130-140g of protein a day.
Aim for that much in carbs as well, but stick to complex carbs: oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes, the occasional white potato, fruits, veggies. Try to limit your pasta and bread intake, and stick to whole grain varieties.
Fiber: 20g a day minimum, try to shoot for 30g. Several good cereals out there to help with that: Fiber One, Fiber One Honey Clusters, most of the Kashi line, and of course old fashioned oatmeal.
For fat intake, you'll want between 40-50g of fat per day, which would be 25% of your daily calories from fat, on a 1600 calorie a day intake.
1600 calories may be too low, or too high..but you need to set a starting point, go with it for 2 weeks, and then see if you're losing about 1-1.5lbs per week...thats your target weight loss per week. Any more, and you're losing muscle...any less, and you're taking in a little too much food.

You'll probably find that on a clean diet, you won't get enough fat. Take Fish Oil capsules, and a little natural peanut butter to get healthy fats (omega 3, 6 and 9)


The only way to 'tone' is to lose body fat, so that your muscles become more visible. By losign fat and weight training to gain muscle, you'll begin to look more toned as you tip the fat & muscle scales to the opposite of where they are now.

Also, don't rely on your scale too much. I can weigh 190 at 7am, and 195 at noon due to food & water intake, and bloating if I've eaten too much sodium in the last 24 hours. Use the mirror and how you feel as indicators. If you have someone who can take your body fat %, that will be a good indicator too, but not 100% necessary. It is nice because, when you start to weight train, you'll likely gain weight, because muscle weighs more than fat. It can be frustrating if you can't see that, although weight went up 1 lb, body fat dropped by 1%. Beginners gain muscle quickly for a few weeks, then they 'normalize' and weight should drop weekly, body fat drops and muscle mass gains come slower.
 
Thank you for the very detailed reply. I printed out the full body workout. I am going to try it and see how things go. Thanks again!
 
I just thought of another thing I forgot to mention. Since I am going to try and follow the total-body training will I get big? When I say big I mean have big thighs and arms, not like a body builder b/c I know my body can't get like that just a little beefy. I only want to be slim and toned not beefy. I just don't know if this workout was geared towards men who want to really weight train or men and women who want to get in shape.
 
men and women should train the same way, and eat the same foods...only the calorie intake is different.

Diet is going to determine if you get bulky, or lean out. Too many calories, you bulk up (muscle, and some fat gain), too few, you lean out. A calorie intake that does neither is your maintenance intake.

Should you start to look too bulky for your own good, post again with your diet and such, and we'll tailor it better.
However, you'll most likely end up looking more like Linda Hamilton from Terminator 2 (lean, chisled, but not bulky), and not a body builder.
 
Malkore,

Thank you for all of your responses. One thing I am a little worried about is that you say if my calorie intake is high I will get bulky. I don't want that. I am worried b/c a year ago when I first attempted to workout my appetite increased by a lot. I felt like I was hungry all the time. I felt like I was burning a lot of calories but also taking in so many b/c I was hungry. In the end I gave up b/c I thought I am exercising to lose weight but I am eating more, resulting in weight gain. All I want is to lose weight the quickest most efficient way possible.
 
but were you eating 5-6 smaller meals a day, or were you eating the typical breakfast (or skipping it?) lunch and dinner?

5-6 smaller meals that total up to the same caloric intake as 3 larger meals will increase your metabolism even if you don't exercise one bit.

You might want to avoid starchy carbs (bread, pasta, potatoes) as many people find that starchy carbs, especially later in the day, trigger hunger. This is why, if you do enough research, you'll find lots of proponents of protein+carbs in the a.m. and protein+healthy fats in the p.m. with your only carbs being veggies, and a couple servings of fruit.

so if eating 5-6 small meals a day is new to you, definitely use fitday.com or something to accurately track calories and stuff for a week or so, so that you can get used to the smaller portion sizes. You'll probably want about 2oz of chicken, some veggies and no more than a half cup of brown rice for a typical meal. That'd be around 300 calories, x5 meals, 1,500 calories.
 
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