Some basic questions

smnovosad1
smnovosad1 Posts: 36 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi! I'm new here -- about 3 weeks. 130 lbs, 5'5", calories 1290 to lose 1 lb a week. Lost 3 lb so far. Goal weight 125, maybe? I arbitrarily made that up. I am going on a cruise in April and want to look slim and fit. I am at my high school weight, but I was a major athlete then and I'm sure I had more muscle then.

I work out 6 days a week, doing quick stuff like t25, mix in insanity or p90x on days when I have more time. I have 4 kiddos and can't go to the gym, so I work out at home. I have some Dumbbells.

My questions: I don't weigh my food and probably won't. I try to guess high and I do log everything. I haven't been eating back my exercise calories because I am not certain what they are. I usually eat 1200-1250 calories, and since I work out pretty hard daily I am probably netting less than 1200 a day now. I meet my protein macro. Is this ok? I don't want to hurt myself in any way.

2). Should I be doing anything else? I just want to not be embarrassed in a swimsuit. I have decent muscle definition naturally, but I always hear "lift heavy". I have no idea how to do that, and with all my kids' activities I really can't make it to a gym. Are there things I should do with my Dumbbells at home? Most of my workouts are body resistance things or incorporate light weights.

3) if I should lift more, should I give up on my arbitrary weight loss and eat at maintainence to build more muscle? Would that look better? I can see my ribs on my chest now, and I don't like that, but I certainly don't have. 6 pack so my body fat percentage must be too high.

Any thoughts? I appreciate anyone who was able to read all the way through this!

Replies

  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    With your stats, and your goals--I would not be aiming to lose 1 lb per week. Especially if you are not resistance training. You are netting low calories which is not really healthy, and you're not doing anything to save muscle mass which we lose along with fat (but we can help maintain it by resistance training/weight lifting).

    If you ARE happy with where your body fat% is, you can eat at maintenance and run a full body weight program such as Convict Conditioning and You Are Your Own Gym. Or you can continue to lose .5 lbs per week (I really don't suggest 1 lb), and do a program like these. Whether you are using weight or just body weight, your must increase volume/intensity-you need a progressive overload.

    130 at 5'5" should be pretty slim already.

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