Well hello everyone ....

[kissy]

I am Catherine. I am 27. I weigh in approx 252kgs. Basically am signed up to get advice on the best way forward and to make sure that I am not wasting my time at the gym by doing the wrong exercises for what I'm looking to do.

I have joined a gym about 2 weeks and have been gradually working towards getting a fitter and have about 98kgs to loose. I want to loose weight and tone everything up without making muscles looking too big. I have a big chest which I am looking to really work on so everything doesn't go all droopy. I find my lower back gets very sore with a bad twang when doing very little exercise. I have been working on these two areas most.


I got to the gym approx 3-5 nights per week. My routine is :-
20 mins on treadmill at speed 3.3 - 0 incline
20 mins on bike at 4 rating approx 5.2 miles
Deadlifts straight leg set 15-12-10 10kgs
Deadlifts set 15-12-10 10kgs
Bent row set 15-12-10 10kgs
Chest fly machine set 15-12-10 weight 3
Chest press set 15-12-10 18kgs
Lat pull set 15-12-10 18kgs

 

[KaraCooks]

Hi Catherine. Welcome.

I'm actually pretty impressed with your workout - not a lot of women will jump into free weights and deadlifts and presses. That's awesome.

Let me say one thing: eliminate the phrase "tone up" from your vocabulary. Toning up (in the way you're meaning it) doesn't exist. It's a myth fostered by bad trainers who are trying to calm the fears of women who don't want to bulk up. You *do* want to build muscle - because building muscle is what builds strength and fitness and gives you that lean, cut look that most people think of as "toned" and healthy. As a woman you are not going to bulk up by lifting weights - you don't have the testosterone to naturally bulk up and even men who do have it have to work their a$$es off to bulk.

That said, I'd suggest that you add a few things to your routine: squats and lunges will help strengthen your legs and your back and your core. Planks and pushups will also strengthen your core ... which will help with those back twinges.

Also make sure that you're giving a full 48 hours between weight lifting sessions. You don't want to overwork the muscles. Recovery time is the most important part of weight lifting, and if you don't allow for a full day of recovery, you'll simply build damage upon damage and then negate any progress.

You can do cardio every day if you want, although I'd say it's not really necessary. It's a matter of personal choice, really.

Finally, exercise and working out is important not just for weight loss but for overall health, but when it comes to losing weight, what you eat is 90% of the battle. And it's even more important if you're working out like you are. You must make sure you eat enough to sustain your metabolism and you must make sure that you eat healthy foods in order to get the right amount of nutrition in.

In general you should expect to lose about 1% of your bodyweight per week for it to be a healthy and sustainable way to lose.

The easiest way to figure your calories for that rate of loss is to multiple your weight in kg by 31 and then multiply that by .70. That will tell you what your maintenance calories are for your current weight and then give you a 30% reduction in calories for your weight loss number.

Hope that helps and gives you some information to work with.

 

[Omega]

I have joined a gym about 2 weeks and have been gradually working towards getting a fitter and have about 98kgs to loose. I want to loose weight and tone everything up without making muscles looking too big. I have a big chest which I am looking to really work on so everything doesn't go all droopy. I find my lower back gets very sore with a bad twang when doing very little exercise. I have been working on these two areas most.

Hi Catherine

Other people can give you better advice than me regarding the actual exercises that you are doing. You dont need me to tell you that you are aiming to lose a fair bit of weight. Since we cannot target where we lose the weight from and you say that you have a big chest - some of the weight will likely come from there.

Prior to my weight loss project (which was based on both exercise and nutrition) I will admit that I had enormous boobs... As I lost weight - a fair bit of fat came off the boob area. It would be inaccurate to imply that they are not pretty droopy these days - but it is amazing what can be done with a good supportive bra (I wear 30HH which I got from Bravissimo). Bravissimo have a number of outlets in the UK and they fit you and stock a range in fairly unusual sizes. I am sure that there will be other good organisations too. I used to get bras from Evans (which almost have a monopoly on clothing for the larger person in the UK) and in my experience they did not have either the same levels of stock or expertise. When I was big I used to regularly suffer from back pain. A well fitting bra supports the boobs by targetting the load on the back area whereas an ill fitting bra puts the load onto the shoulders which can cause back pain. I think that you may benefit from getting a new bra soon - and then every so often as you lose weight.

The fact that my boobs are now a bit droopy does not in any way make me regret my weight loss project. They look fine while I am fully clothed - and I am 50 and therefore not surprised to have a loose skin problem. I plan on eventually having loose skin surgery to bring things back to normal there.

I can say that I agree with all of Kara's comments above.

Good luck with your project.

Best wishes
Margaret