Cardio, strength training and diet help!

dlj1405

Hi I am 18 years old and just getting started on my weight loss! I was just hoping someone could pass judgement and advice on my plan if possible? Thank you! (After failing a few times I really need reassuring!)

Calorie deficit each day: 1200
Breakfast-bran flakes with green tea OR oat so simple with green tea
Lunch in school/work-brown bread chicken or ham sandwich with a muesli cereal bar and Special K mini bites
OR a chicken salad with a yogurt and a rice cake (both options with water)
Dinner in evening-varies between chicken and veg, fish and veg, a salad etc
Snacks- sometimes fruit like grapes carrot sticks Special K cereal bars, rice cakes etc

I am going to attempt 4 days a week exercise to start off and hopefully go up to 5. I attempt jogs in the evening but I'm very unfit at the moment. When I go to the gym I normally spend about 20 minutes on each of the following; cross trainer, treadmill (walking fast uphill), exercise bike and the rowing machine. Is this all ok to loose about a stone and tone up? What strength training do I need to be doing? Thanks!!!!

ana3067

1200 calories isnt' enough for you at your age unless you are very very slim already.

It also doesn't matter what you eat, just how much you eat. You can eat your caloric goal in apples if you want and lose, or you can eat it in peanut butter and lose, or chocolate and lose, etc. For me, your outline wouldn't work because it's too carb-heavy in the morning and probably isn't protein-heavy enough overall. I also don't eat snacks.

You don't need to exercise to lose weight. IF you exercise for an hour and a half 4-5x a week then you will simply be logging that and eating back 50-100% of the logged calories anyways, meaning your deficit will not really change all that much.

If you want to "tone up" it means you want to lose body fat to increase definition of musculature you already possess. So a higher protein diet, a low-moderate deficit (20% from maintenance needs, which I can tell you now, 1200 is probably not 20% for you unless you are already very very slim and net about 1500 cals to maintain your weight), lots of sleep, and a good strength training routine will be what you need to do. I utilize a routine based on Wendler's 531 Periodization version, so I do my main lift once a week but I am working each muscle group twice a week. I don't follow the plan itself because it i s not conducive to people eating at a deficit and because I am not aiming for hypertrophy right now. I also do my own rep range and my own warm ups, and I replaced one of the quad exercises with a hamstring exercise because quads are worked more than are hams.

exrx.net for both exercise ideas and a calorie needs calculator (estimate your net needs without exercise, subtract 15% from it since you indicate only needing to lose 15lbs, 20% might be a bit much), or health-calc.com for a calculator (again, net and sub 15%). Then log exercise using either info from the machine itself or from a HRM. Eat back at least 50% of the cals.

ETA: BAsically, weight loss is not a diet, it's just a time in your life where you are eating a bit less food so you can lose a bit of weight. So don't do things you won't maintain long-term, or that you don' t enjoy doing. E.g. if you normally eat like you outlined, you'll have no problem eating those foods. I'd have a problem because i mean... where the eff are the potato pancakes, or eggs, or margarine, or chocolate, or peanut butter?! These are basically things I neeed in life. 0.8g of protein per lb of total weight would probably be more than enough. I find that 1.1-1.2g of protein per lb of lean body mass works well for me, although I am realizing that SLEEP is suuper duper important. It helps reduce over-trianing, and over-training can lead to muscle tissue loss in my experience. I've lost a bit of muscle actually because of a lack of sleep and overtraining. I am aiming to sleep 8hrs a night now, and I will only be doing my 2-3 working sets for all exercises and having adequate rest for each set.

malibu927

What is your height and weight? As the previous poster said, 1200 is probably too little for you, especially if you only want to lose a stone.

La5Vega5Girl

i agree...up the calories. also, wayyyy too many carbs. eat more protein and add some fruit and healthy fats.

bajoyba

Kind of a loaded question.
The first response pretty much nailed it, I don't think I can really say it much better myself.

The approach that worked for me:
-I ate whatever I wanted as long as it fit into my calorie goal for the day, but I aimed for a balanced diet overall
-After calories, I focused on hitting my protein goal for the day
-I ate back all of my exercise calories but made sure my calorie burn estimates were on the conservative side
-I did light cardio/circuit training a few times a week (like 30-60 minutes per day total) for my cardiovascular fitness
-I did strength/resistance/body weight training a few times a week (usually as part of my circuit training) to gain strength and balance and to maintain my muscle mass

Your profile says you only want to lose 14 pounds, so you should really only aim to lose half a pound a week, and certainly no more than a pound a week. Find a way of eating and exercising that is sustainable for you so that you're comfortable sticking with it long-term. Try to hit or exceed your protein goal every day, and consider incorporating some sort of strength or resistance training into your regular exercise plan to help with your body composition and to help maintain your muscle mass.

happyfeetrebel1

She said her caloric deficit each day was 1200, not that she was consuming 1200.

BUT, I concur with the rest. More protein, less carbs will probably help you feel better in general. All those cereals and cereal bars are pretty carb heavy with a lot of extra sugar. Try some protein foods instead

Good luck

bajoyba

She said her caloric deficit each day was 1200, not that she was consuming 1200.

BUT, I concur with the rest. More protein, less carbs will probably help you feel better in general. All those cereals and cereal bars are pretty carb heavy with a lot of extra sugar. Try some protein foods instead

Good luck

If she really meant that her caloric deficit every day is 1200, then she definitely needs to eat more. That's a huge deficit (more than 2 pounds a week) for someone who only wants to lose 14 pounds. Her daily deficit should really be more in the 250-500 calorie range.

Liftng4Lis

Okay seriously, that menu has to go. Eat what you would normally eat, only within your caloric allowance.