What do I have to do to reach my goal??

CountryGirl8542

Okay soo I am super confused with what I should be doing for physical activity to reach my goal of being 150lbs with a low body fat%(not sure what percentage I want to be at yet) at 5' 2" (I am currently 234 with 40% body fat).

First off... I understand that the first 20 minutes of a cardio workout burns the sugar stored in your muscles and anything after that burns stored energy... (I am assuming this with "burn fat")? and that if you want to build muscle using a full body workout you need to take a break every second day to allow your muscle to heal and get bigger... however you also need to eat a surplus to build muscle... but to lose fat you need to eat at a deficient...

I am interested in starting a boxing/kickboxing circuit with is a full body cardio workout for 30 minutes/5-6 times a week(http://www.30minutehit.com/index.php/Circuit/circuit.html) but I would like to know what results will come of doing this?? Will I lose fat and build muscle? What will happen?

CountryGirl8542

bump

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Where are you getting 40% body fat from? That would put your total lean mass higher than my entire body weight and I'm half a foot taller than you. 150lbs with low body fat at 5'2" would probably take about 2-3 years on a quality lifting program.

Who told you that the first 20 minutes of cardio burns sugar and that after that it's from fat? It doesn't work that way. Your body uses a combination of sources of energy like glycogen (sugar) and free fatty acids. Earlier into your workout you'll burn off more glycogen from your liver, then muscles but you'll also use FFA's.

You don't have to take a day off in between if you do a split. I lift every day but I don't hit the same muscles every day.

When you're new to lifting and/or overweight you can still make gains in a deficit. After you've been lifting for a while you'll need to decide to bulk or cut.

You will not build any sort of substantial muscle from any sort of cardio. If you want to build or retain muscle you need to lift. Cardio is optional.

astronomicals

Where are you getting 40% body fat from? That would put your total lean mass higher than my entire body weight and I'm half a foot taller than you. 150lbs with low body fat at 5'2" would probably take about 2-3 years on a quality lifting program.

@40% she only has 93# of fat... that wont take 3 years.... she could lose most of it and be pretty happy with her image in one year.. Id think she could drop ~50# in ~6 months and put her in the mid to high 20s on BF%...

i dunno how you're doing our math... its kinda late where I am.. maybe you had a brain fart...

KarenJanine

You are unlikely to build muscle only following a cardio/HIIT program. You would get better results from doing a full body strength training program 3x per week. If you're eating at a deficit you will not gain much, if any, muscle but you will maintain your current amount of muscle while losing fat, thus improving your fat:LBM ratio.

Ed98043

Where are you getting 40% body fat from? That would put your total lean mass higher than my entire body weight and I'm half a foot taller than you. 150lbs with low body fat at 5'2" would probably take about 2-3 years on a quality lifting program.

@40% she only has 93# of fat... that wont take 3 years.... she could lose most of it and be pretty happy with her image in one year..


i dunno how you're doing our math... its kinda late where I am.. maybe you had a brain fart...

But that would mean that she has 140 lbs of lean body mass - very high for a 5'2" female that's not an athlete. Typical 5'2" women have LBM of less than 120 lbs. I've had mine measured (I am 5'7") and it's only 107 lbs because I'm a weakling - I should shoot for about 120 lbs. So if the OP wants to be 150 lbs and low body fat, she'll have to build a LOT of muscle.

astronomicals

ovrweight people typically have more muscular mass than other people of their height... hence fat people cutting down to a nice physique without ever doing a bulking phase.... she may have underestimated a bit, but, 3 years to get to a nice physique is just not realistic... it wont be near that long..

ETA:

Im guessing JustSomeRandomGirl was assuming that she would need to put on a lot of lean mass and thats whats she gave the 2-3 year figure. Though, thats not the way it read and she didnt specify that. It just seemed discouraging.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Where are you getting 40% body fat from? That would put your total lean mass higher than my entire body weight and I'm half a foot taller than you. 150lbs with low body fat at 5'2" would probably take about 2-3 years on a quality lifting program.

@40% she only has 93# of fat... that wont take 3 years.... she could lose most of it and be pretty happy with her image in one year.. Id think she could drop ~50# in ~6 months and put her in the mid to high 20s on BF%...

i dunno how you're doing our math... its kinda late where I am.. maybe you had a brain fart...

I'm questioning the accuracy of the 40%. For your average non lifting female of her height, average lean mass would be about 90-100lbs. To reach 150lbs with low body fat (let's say 15%) would be 127.5lbs of lean mass. For most women to put on 30-40lbs of muscle that would take quite a while. Like I said, I'm half a foot taller and I'm fairly muscular. If she's really 40% body fat she'd have 140lbs of lean tissue already which is a lot.

Here's an example, this woman is 5'2", 145lbs and 15% body fat.

Something is making me doubt that OP has this level of muscle mass.

kw1452

Right now you should just do any physical exercise. Anything that you enjoy. Maybe thats lifting. Maybe thats Zumba. Maybe its just going out for a walk with the dog. When you are first getting started it can be really confusing and you may be getting mixed messages with your research, but the primary message is find something you like that burns more calories than sitting on the couch and do it often.

Try out different things like the class you mentioned. If you like it, stick to it, and later when you get used to it add in some other exercise to improve your abilities in that class. And if you dont like it, do something else.

I haven't really found my niche yet. There is just so much out there and everyone recommends different things. I'm just working on walking more and trying to do something for my muscles a few times a week. And I do take a day off at least - until you build up some strength you will probably need to take days off. Thats ok.

And when you work out, eat protein. Eat a tiny snack before working out, like a yogurt or some nuts. Then eat a good protein meal after the workout too. Protein is your friend when you are building muscle. I like to drink chocolate milk right after a workout - science says that is the best snack you can have when your muscles are tired. The rest of the day just try to eat a calorie deficit, but not so extreme that it hurts your ability to build muscle.

CountryGirl8542

Where are you getting 40% body fat from? That would put your total lean mass higher than my entire body weight and I'm half a foot taller than you. 150lbs with low body fat at 5'2" would probably take about 2-3 years on a quality lifting program.

Who told you that the first 20 minutes of cardio burns sugar and that after that it's from fat? It doesn't work that way. Your body uses a combination of sources of energy like glycogen (sugar) and free fatty acids. Earlier into your workout you'll burn off more glycogen from your liver, then muscles but you'll also use FFA's.

You don't have to take a day off in between if you do a split. I lift every day but I don't hit the same muscles every day.

When you're new to lifting and/or overweight you can still make gains in a deficit. After you've been lifting for a while you'll need to decide to bulk or cut.

You will not build any sort of substantial muscle from any sort of cardio. If you want to build or retain muscle you need to lift. Cardio is optional.

40% is from my scale

CountryGirl8542

You are unlikely to build muscle only following a cardio/HIIT program. You would get better results from doing a full body strength training program 3x per week. If you're eating at a deficit you will not gain much, if any, muscle but you will maintain your current amount of muscle while losing fat, thus improving your fat:LBM ratio.

So if I do the HIIT circuit I will lose fat but maintain muscle mass?? and then when I am down to a lower body fat % if I want to build muscle I can start lifting weights and eat at a surplus.

CountryGirl8542

ovrweight people typically have more muscular mass than other people of their height... hence fat people cutting down to a nice physique without ever doing a bulking phase.... she may have underestimated a bit, but, 3 years to get to a nice physique is just not realistic... it wont be near that long..

ETA:

Im guessing JustSomeRandomGirl was assuming that she would need to put on a lot of lean mass and thats whats she gave the 2-3 year figure. Though, thats not the way it read and she didnt specify that. It just seemed discouraging.

I have lots of muscle under all my fat.... I need some muscle to carry all of the weight I have been since being in high school.... I guess what I wanted to know was what is the best way to maintain as much of the muscle I currently have and get rid of the fat all around the muscle.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Don't over complicated things. Eat less. Move more. You don't have to worry about if you are burning sugar, fat, or building muscle. It doesn't matter what your body fat percentage is or isn't at this point.

A calorie deficit will burn fat (and usually muscle). Lifting weights and getting adequate protein will preserve as much muscle as possible. I'd recommend a good beginner compound program like Stronglifts 5x5. Get someone to help you with form if you can or really study the youtube videos. Get about 120grams of protein in a day.