Loose Weight & Tone Up - Best Practice?

RoxyleanJeanz

Hey ya!
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and ready to kick start the new year!

Ok, so I've been going to the gym for a few months now but my eating has been pretty slack esp this time of year and with a stressful job I always seem to turn to food for comfort! ... .or just unnecessary cravings LOL! - so with the new year I am kicking those bad habits to the curb! - Watch this space!

I need your help - advice - just throw in there please will really appreciate your feed back....

So I am wanting to loose about 15-20kgs, I am female and 26 years old (27 in a few weeks eeeekkkk!!!).....what is the best way to go about dropping this weight? What has worked for you?.... Lately I have been going to the gym about 5 times per week and do a bit of weight training - I try and focus on a part of the body and chuck in some cardio and when I can I add in some ab exercises (sit-ups with yoga ball and leg raisers) and then the next day I flip it - eg Monday legs with cardio Tuesday arms abs and cardio and so on...

What I want is to loose all this flabbiness and tone nicely - not a body builder look tho just nice and tight - so do I flag weights and just do cardio for a few months? Do I keep doing what im doing? is there something I should eat more or less of - I know people cut out carbs but then some people say we need carbs for energy! - With weights I have been doing semi heavy 4 sets of say 12-15 - but now I feel like my arms are getting fatter!

So please let me know what is working for you or what has worked for you or any other tips etc!

Thank you for taking the time out to read and help me out here!!!!

Have a beautiful evening!

alikonda

Roxy: Let's hit the basics and if you want more information, we can go into more detail later.

- Weight loss happens with a calorie deficit. Period. Eat fewer calories than your body is spending, and you will lose weight. (Please use "lose" instead of "loose" -- sorry, pet peeve of mine!)

- Lifting weights (even heavy ones!) will not cause "bulking" or give you a "body builder look." You can't put on muscle mass without consuming excess calories, so losing weight and "adding muscle" is not an option - and women, in general, have a really hard time gaining muscle, regardless. You CAN, however, gain strength and "tighten" the muscles, by which I only mean that working a muscle causes it to fill up with glycogen and water, making it feel harder and less "flabby."

- You mentioned that your arms seem to be "getting fatter." When you start any new workout routine, muscles will retain excess water which can stall scale changes as well as make you look/feel a bit bloated. Keep up a calorie deficit and stay properly hydrated, and once your body figures out that you're going to keep USING these muscles, that will go away, leaving you with a more "toned" look.

- I know I already mentioned this in the first point, but weight loss really comes from diet, not from exercise. For years I have tried and tried to out-exercise a bad diet ("bad" as in number of calories, not composed of "evil" foods) but when all is said and done, if I honestly track *everything*, weight loss happens. It's magic!

- Every person may have a special combination of foods that works better or worse for weight loss, but unless you have a REALLY low BF%, it probably won't make a difference as long as you have an appropriate calorie deficit. If you want to eat bread, chocolate, ice cream, go for it ---- as long as it fits your calorie goals. If you're considering eliminating a certain item or food group from your diet, consider whether or not you could live the REST OF YOUR LIFE without it -- if not, then it's probably not a sustainable choice and not worth your time and effort now. Besides, if you feel that you are depriving yourself, you are less likely to stick with the changes that actually make a difference.

Some of my favourite links to get you started:
http://sophieologie.me/2013/04/30/strong-is-the-new-skinny/
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Good luck! :flowerforyou: