Relatively light people trying to get leaner

ceebs9

This idea of feminine softness has me confused? intrigued? I guess I don't know what that means. Having a hard time putting my thoughts in to words, but the soft parts of my body (my stomach, basically) drive me crazy. It seems that that even at my leanest i still have some softness there. Maybe it's time to embrace that as acceptable? Such a foreign thought!

rautaty

The problem with me is that, i tend to scare away from weight training, because i tend to build muscle faster then most women especialy in my lower body, the only ones i work are my oblics and abdomen and i do squats. The problem is that once i get to my desired shape, how am i going to keep it, because cardio could just deminish my weight.

Well the only way muscles grow is with sufficient overload. If you're not increasing the load lifted, you're not going to grow muscle. Plus, you're not going to grow appreciable muscle even with overload if you're not eating a calorie surplus.

Thank you:)) I know there is the genetic factor that plays a role in it ( my mom looks like an athlete but she doesn't do any sports what's so ever), but i'll try to combine your advices.
Hmm, i know, we all have our sins and follow crash diets at times, but i am going to be a good girl this time. I know that it's my crazy diets, from the past, that brought me to the weight gain in the first place. I'll do it the right way this time, i realy hated the chubby version of me. lol

You are right, the protein only diet is not a safe option for weight loss, but i know many men do it because it provides fast results and keeps the muscle mass stable, but the nitrogen waste could put a good streign on your liver.

chrisdavey

Loved your interview with Lyle McDonald by the way. "A Guide To Flexible Dieting" trounces so many other well marketed, over hyped and just sadly deficient "diet" books out there.

Do you have a link to that?

hellen72

Hi, I have not quite finished reading the whole thread, it is great with lots of good advice, I also wanted to ask some advise.

4 years ago I was just under 9 stone (I am 5'7), I then started training for a marathon and stopped being careful with food as I thought 'I run therefore can eat what I want'. Over the last 4 years I gradually put on around 1.5stone, I have recently lost 1/2stone.

My weightloss has not been that fast as I have not bee v discliplined with my food. I have been having about 1500-1800 cal a day but think I fall into that under reporting catagory.

I have been injured so not been running much recently, instead I have been going to the gym for 1-2hours per day doing a lot of carido to make up for not running (I normally run about 60miles a week and do a lot of marathons/ultra marathons).

My main reason for losing weight is to get faster at running but I also want to rid the flabby bits which have grown! As well as runing I do body pump twice a week but no longer lift weights in the gym.

To achive my goal I know i need to get better control of my eating but should I ditch the body pump in favour of heavier weights in the gym?

myofibril

Loved your interview with Lyle McDonald by the way. "A Guide To Flexible Dieting" trounces so many other well marketed, over hyped and just sadly deficient "diet" books out there.

Do you have a link to that?

The interview is here: http://www.body-improvements.com/Articles/Interviews/LyleInterview.html

bodyrocks365

Love love love this thread.
Re: feminine softness, my fiance wants me to gain both fat and muscle for that well-rounded soft look. I have a pretty pulled face from years of EDs, so my face has less fat deposits and it would be nice to have a more rounded 'softer' look.
I've changed my purpose on here from the typical calorie restriction to a training log.

bodyrocks365

excellent read! Thank you so much for helping dispell so many misconceptons. I would like to see this put out in front for all the newbies to see. I just stumbled across this post today.:drinker:

Thanks and glad you enjoyed the read. I'd like to see this "stuck" at the top of the forum as well like some of the other threads. I get emails about this thread daily, so obviously it's impacting a lot of folks. But that's up for the admin to decide. If they wanted it stuck I think they would have by now.

I think the reason this thread (to my knowledge) is not stuck is because it flies in the face of the calorie/food restriction myth. Sure, there are overeaters who need lower calorie diets, but there are also lean people who are stuck with the misconception that going lower and lower in calories/fat/carbs will bring them to a better looking body.
Another myth they don't want to give up is calorie expendature due to long cardio workouts. I stopped going hardcore cardio 4 years ago because my boyfriend told me I was doing it all wrong, that I should be lifting. Once I started I never went back! I've never loved my body more.

stroutman81

Thank you SO MUCH for taking so much time to write your responses - they're brilliant :flowerforyou: I'm going to go through everything tomorrow and write myself up a routine like you suggested

If you want to run it by me, feel free.

and your website look great too! I'll look through it properly tomorrow after work

Thanks. It's a huge work in progress. Very slow progress at that. I'm not like some of these other fitness "gurus" on the web. My primary responsibility are the gyms owned by my company. My website is just a side "gig" I like toying around with. And anymore, when I do get free time for the web, I prefer to come onto forums like this and chit chat.

and figure out my form in front of the mirror - not going to lie, it's pretty embarrassing doing that at the gym.

Don't feel embarrassed. Look at it this way... I've walked into a lot of gyms in my time and can count probably on my two hands how many times I've witnessed a good squat. Nobody squats good. They're not taught to, they're too lazy to do it right, and/or they don't have the mobility/stability to do it correctly.

It's not expected for you to walk into the gym an expert. And following the herd is the last thing you should aspire to, as the herd generally doesn't know a dang thing.

lol, good answer
I think I'll work on building up some more muscle in the next few months and see how I feel later... these 14lbs have taken like 5 months to come off so if anything it'll be nice to have a change in routine.

Right. I think it's a good plan. And it's not like you're signing any contracts here. Remember, you've a firm grip of the reigns. If you're not liking what's happening simply switch it up.

Oh, and 14 lbs in 5 months for a non-obese female is nothing to be upset about. I've worked with women who've average about a pound per month.

stroutman81

Lol - you must have read my mind. I've been meaning to give front squats another try recently so I just might do that...

They can be a pain in the you know what if you've mobility limitations. Especially inflexible wrists and excessive kyphosis of the thoracic spine. When these are present, it's almost impossible to execute the FS without almost losing the bar each time you descend into the squat.

But that's just more reason to fix the limitations, assuming you have them.

Goblet squats are great as well.

Loved your interview with Lyle McDonald by the way. "A Guide To Flexible Dieting" trounces so many other well marketed, over hyped and just sadly deficient "diet" books out there.

Thanks for taking the time to read it... I know it's a little wordy. But Lyle's a great author - truly brilliant. And sadly, as he noted in the interview, AGTFD is one of his lowest selling books. And crazily, it's probably the one that's most applicable to the masses.

stroutman81

This idea of feminine softness has me confused? intrigued? I guess I don't know what that means. Having a hard time putting my thoughts in to words, but the soft parts of my body (my stomach, basically) drive me crazy. It seems that that even at my leanest i still have some softness there. Maybe it's time to embrace that as acceptable? Such a foreign thought!

Well here's my 2 cents. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. This should be obvious to everyone. There are men who love their women rail thin, men who love their women extremely lean and ripped, men who love their women curvy and soft, men who love their women big and fat, and damn near everything in between. Right?

It has been my experience that most guys don't like their women lean. At least not as lean as many women aspire to be. They prefer curves and some "feminine fat." Yet, many women seem to be obsessed with getting as lean as possible since that's the overall cultural push. It's an interesting oddity where shallow, idiotic marketing defines what's acceptable and what's not opposed to "the people on the ground."

At the end of the day though, I wish more people would accept the fact that we all can't look like cover models and the very real fact is because you're not cover model material doesn't mean you're not beautiful.

Don't read me wrong... I'm all for people getting as thin and lean as they healthily can assuming that's what they want. I just hate the emphasis some people place on it for reasons that don't at all seem worth it.

Plus - I like me some big booties.

stroutman81

Thank you:)) I know there is the genetic factor that plays a role in it ( my mom looks like an athlete but she doesn't do any sports what's so ever), but i'll try to combine your advices.

Well that's certainly true. Partitioning is one of the primary players on the genetic side of things. This is your bodies genetic proclivity to store and pull from fat and muscle. Some people are blessed in that their bodies naturally pull most of their calories from fat and store most of their calories in muscle, to put it overly simply. These are the same folks who seem to be ripped regardless of diet and exercise.

But even with the women who are blessed in this category, I've found that what they're calling "bulky" isn't bulky at all. You certainly may be an exception... keep in mind I'm speaking in generalities.

You are right, the protein only diet is not a safe option for weight loss, but i know many men do it because it provides fast results and keeps the muscle mass stable, but the nitrogen waste could put a good streign on your liver.

Actually research doesn't indicate this unless you've predisposed complications with your liver.

stroutman81

Hi, I have not quite finished reading the whole thread, it is great with lots of good advice, I also wanted to ask some advise.

4 years ago I was just under 9 stone (I am 5'7), I then started training for a marathon and stopped being careful with food as I thought 'I run therefore can eat what I want'. Over the last 4 years I gradually put on around 1.5stone, I have recently lost 1/2stone.

My weightloss has not been that fast as I have not bee v discliplined with my food. I have been having about 1500-1800 cal a day but think I fall into that under reporting catagory.

I have been injured so not been running much recently, instead I have been going to the gym for 1-2hours per day doing a lot of carido to make up for not running (I normally run about 60miles a week and do a lot of marathons/ultra marathons).

My main reason for losing weight is to get faster at running but I also want to rid the flabby bits which have grown! As well as runing I do body pump twice a week but no longer lift weights in the gym.

To achive my goal I know i need to get better control of my eating but should I ditch the body pump in favour of heavier weights in the gym?

Do you mind me asking what was injured? I ask simply b/c almost invariably the women I encounter who log serious running mileage wind up hurt. There's a camp of industry experts who actually believe most women shouldn't run long distance due to their biomechanics and anatomy. Women are wide hipped in general which can create problems at their narrower knees when exposed to repetitive impact from running. Research calls this the Q Angle. Of course there are exceptions to the rule - most females who excel at running don't have large hip-to-knee angles as they're generally built more like a man - no offense intended. It's just that they typically don't have the curvy/wide hips.

Which is why I was wondering about your injury.

Regarding your question, bodypump for most will stand as another form of cardio. Of course for rank novices it can provide adequate overload to enhance strength and muscle. But that will be short lived. In my experience, it's much more effective to program the different attributes (strength, hypertrophy, power, endurance, etc) separately. When you throw them all into one session, there's a watering down effect.

And in truth, I've never been a fan of strength training cardio, if that's what you want to call it. At it's core, lifting weights is built on proper form. Well guess what. Cardio makes you tired. And when people become fatigued, generally speaking, form goes out the window. Thus, it's unnecessarily risky if you ask me, especially when there are more efficient ways of getting stronger and growing muscle.

BodyPump might be a great entry for some people as it's comfortable for them... they're too afraid of the weight room. But beyond that, I think there are much more optimal ways of going about things.

stroutman81

I think the reason this thread (to my knowledge) is not stuck is because it flies in the face of the calorie/food restriction myth. Sure, there are overeaters who need lower calorie diets, but there are also lean people who are stuck with the misconception that going lower and lower in calories/fat/carbs will bring them to a better looking body.
Another myth they don't want to give up is calorie expendature due to long cardio workouts. I stopped going hardcore cardio 4 years ago because my boyfriend told me I was doing it all wrong, that I should be lifting. Once I started I never went back! I've never loved my body more.

Interesting. To be honest, I came across MFP in a google search a while back. Up until then I never heard of it. And oddly enough, I've never even poked around this place beyond the forum and the blog section. I've not checked out the logging capabilities, the calculators, or anything else. And I imagine those are the things that attract most people here.

I was merely looking for another active forum to participate on. I don't even count calories or track energy expenditure.

But hopefully the admin don't view me as MFP bashing. I love this place.

moe5474

@strout I know you've probably done this several times for people on here but I was wondering if you could help me with my calories. Just like everyone else has said, MFP sets me at 1200/day. My stats are below

Height: 5'8
Age: 25
Weight: 142
Goal Weight (I was at this previously before I started a desk job): 134
Body fat %: 20

Should I be eating more? Also, what are your thoughts on eating your exercise calories? Normally if I exercise off 500 calories I eat those back in order to net 1200. I typically exercise 4 days/week for an hour. I used to do only cardio but have begun adding in weights.

Thanks SO much in advance!

stroutman81

@strout I know you've probably done this several times for people on here but I was wondering if you could help me with my calories. Just like everyone else has said, MFP sets me at 1200/day. My stats are below

Height: 5'8
Age: 25
Weight: 142
Goal Weight (I was at this previously before I started a desk job): 134
Body fat %: 20

What's your exercise like? And what's your lifestyle like?

Should I be eating more? Also, what are your thoughts on eating your exercise calories? Normally if I exercise off 500 calories I eat those back in order to net 1200. I typically exercise 4 days/week for an hour. I used to do only cardio but have begun adding in weights.

Thanks SO much in advance!

Read this thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/173853-an-objective-look-at-eating-exercise-calories

hellen72

Hi again

I have a knee injury. Physio has said weak vmo and weak glutes so knee not tracking properly

Originally got it in September and was just told about weak glutes and poor balance so worked on that and got back running taping my knee. 3 weeks ago I did a crazy event - 45 miles sat then 45 miles Sunday- my knee was ok but after was agony. After a week saw a diff physio who also identified weak vmo so now working on that with leg press and leg extension ( toes pointing out) any other vmo suggestions?

moe5474

@strout I know you've probably done this several times for people on here but I was wondering if you could help me with my calories. Just like everyone else has said, MFP sets me at 1200/day. My stats are below

Height: 5'8
Age: 25
Weight: 142
Goal Weight (I was at this previously before I started a desk job): 134
Body fat %: 20

What's your exercise like? And what's your lifestyle like?

Should I be eating more? Also, what are your thoughts on eating your exercise calories? Normally if I exercise off 500 calories I eat those back in order to net 1200. I typically exercise 4 days/week for an hour. I used to do only cardio but have begun adding in weights.

Thanks SO much in advance!

Read this thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/173853-an-objective-look-at-eating-exercise-calories

I have a desk job from 8-6 everyday but then most days of the week (usually 5 or 6 if I'm good) I hit the gym. I do spring intervals for about 50 minutes (run at 7.5 mph for 2 minutes, then walk at 4 mph for 1 minute) and then I do a bit of weight (2 sets of 15 lunges on each leg, 3 rounds of arm reps with 5 lb weights, ab twists and sit ups).

I'm also trying to eat a lot of protein and don't eat hardly any bread or pasta because i'm borderline gluten intolerant.

kilojoule

great thread with lots of great info! Im about 5lbs off my goal! But i cant seem to make the last stretch...starting to wonder if I am being unrealistic in my goal. Im around 10% BF and I want to get to 8%. Dig deep for a couple of weeks or adjust goal.

hroush

There is a lot of great material and I appreciate you taking the time to answer everyone. Speaking of which, I think I'll jump in. I am male, 27, 5' 10", and around 205 lbs. I don't really have a set weight in mind, I want to look good without a shirt. Currently I have about a 1/2 inch of fat around my stomach that I have never been able to get rid of. This semester (still in school), I am doing a spin class twice a week with a www.hundredpushups.com pushup, situp, and 25 lb. bicep curl work out afterward and then on a third day I am doing interval running with the third day of the aforementioned lifting workout (if all that made any sense). So far doing this I have lost some (about 10 lbs.), but I feel as if I will plateau again. My diet isn't the best (probably best place to improve), but I think I stay around 1700 calories on most days. So after all of this, my question is:

Should I increase the weights for the lifting portion? I have almost completed the workout, which means I am getting into more of an endurance mode (about 5 sets of 25 pushups and bicep curls).

Should I focus on eating better? Right now I eat a lot of pastas / meats which contain some veggies, though last week I had popcorn everyday for lunch (gotta love the college diet).

Deborah214

Hi! After reading through the thread I am convinced it is time for me to start lifting. I am 39 year old female and am sedentary. I exercise very little (jog 3x week for 30 min with my baby in a jogger-just for the shear enjoyment)

I have almost reached my goal weight of 116lbs (I'm 5'4" with a very small frame) This is my prepregnancy weight.

So my question is; are there any good videos to follow that can help me with weight training. I do NOT want one that combines cardio with weights. Going to a gym is not an option nor is hiring a PT. We do own free weights, a bench and adjustable dumbells. I'm just at a loss, as far as, where do I start :-/