What can I do?

[GirlRaver]

Hi all, I'm new here and this is my first post.

I'm not overweight, however, I was 8 stone 3 when I got married 4 years ago. I'm now 9st 9. While I am still ok, I am unhappy with the extra bit of fat around my tummy, bum and love handles. I've gone up one dress size.

I was verging on being underweight when I was 8 stone 3, but I want to be around 9 stone ideally. My exercise is sporadic. I go to the gym and do cardio based classes maybe 2-3 times a month. I walk to and from the bus stop everyday (I power walk, a total of about 20 mins). Thats about it. Now and then I will do 3 lots of exercise a week for a while, but then I stop. I'm a student nurse and do shift work and I find it very hard to keep a regular exercise routine.

My diet is generally good. I constantly obsess and think about what Im eating and make sure its healthy. My problem is I can eat a LOT! I never used to be this way, and had mouse size portions. Now I can out-eat my partner! He is not too bothered about fitness etc and has chocolate bars and puddings every day. This has been my undoing I think, as I tend to eat what he eats. My will power is fairly low when it comes to puddings!

My main question is, shall I focus more on exercise to tone up my middle, or on my diet to lose those few pounds? Or a bit of both? I'm 5 ft 6 btw. I basically want my washboard stomach back, and want to ave a streamlines look, whereas at the min, my sides hang over my underwear a bit.

Sorry if this is too long, any insight would be appreciated!

 

[Waitwhat?]

I think you already know the answer.

You are going to need to continue to exercise while you can AND eat clean. You could increase your exercising but if you continue to eat sugar and crap you are never going to get your tummy area where you want it.

 

[stingo]

You'll get the most bang for your buck if you work on your diet first. I'd suggest getting a food scale for weighing out your portions, as well as maintaining a food log of EVERYTHING that goes into your mouth. It's the only way to really know what you're taking in, and therefore what to change. There are stickies on site in the nutrition subforum about what foods to choose and how much protein, fat and carbohydrates you should take in.

Past diet, getting adequate sleep will help you lose weight too.

As for working out, you spend far more of your time not working out than working out. (3-5 training hours a week, possibly a little more, vs all the rest of the time in the week). That said, just moving around more will help burn a lot more calories - things like parking in the farthest space in the lot, taking stairs wherever you go, standing instead of sitting - it all adds up.

When you go into a caloric deficit, the body will start using fat and muscle for fuel. To help retain your lean body mass (i.e. muscle) some sort of resistance training is helpful in avoiding the skinny fat look many people get when they arrive at their goal weight.

Hope this helps.