Help for my particular body type?

muimuimui

Hello all.

I'm new to this website, so I just wanted to introduce myself. But putting it into the "Introduce Yourself" thread, and then creating another one here seemed a little counter-productive. So. Down to business.

I've been going to the gym about 3-5 times a week for the past four weeks or so, and I've lost about 3.5 pounds. This will be my first post, but I just wanted to thank you all for writing your progress and stories on the boards, it's been inspiring.

But see, I've been thinking about a little something something for a while now. I'm not very tall.
Specifically 4'11.
But at the same time I can't classify my body type as petite. Currently I'm about 106 lb. I realize it's technically a 'healthy weight', but at the same time I've gained over 5 pounds from September to February due to the lack of exercise i've been getting while studying for school. So this current endeavor is about slimming and toning.
And feeling good about myself for prom. : D

So I'm wondering how much my size should change my calorie intake and my exercises, of if it should at all. I've been eating around 1200 a day, but sometimes I feel like I don't even need that. I get the thought every now and then that if I ate even less I'd slim faster, but I'm dead set on not taking the easy way out and simply not eating.

I've also read that more weight means burning calories faster. So are there any exercises you guys know that are great for burning calories fast?
I currently run for my cardio.
Bicycles, butterflies, and a leg lifts, and side crunches for my abs
Leg presses and a number of different arm exercises for weight training.

And I've typed quite a bit.. so kudos if you're still with me, just one more question.
I often get a headache during leg presses that I can't shake unless I leave the gym. It's a huge downer. Watching how I breathe doesn't help and decreasing the weight only stalls the headache.
Bwah?

muimuimui

Hello all.

I'm new to this website, so I just wanted to introduce myself. But putting it into the "Introduce Yourself" thread, and then creating another one here seemed a little counter-productive. So. Down to business.

I've been going to the gym about 3-5 times a week for the past four weeks or so, and I've lost about 3.5 pounds. This will be my first post, but I just wanted to thank you all for writing your progress and stories on the boards, it's been inspiring.

But see, I've been thinking about a little something something for a while now. I'm not very tall.
Specifically 4'11.
But at the same time I can't classify my body type as petite. Currently I'm about 106 lb. I realize it's technically a 'healthy weight', but at the same time I've gained over 5 pounds from September to February due to the lack of exercise i've been getting while studying for school. So this current endeavor is about slimming and toning.
And feeling good about myself for prom. : D

So I'm wondering how much my size should change my calorie intake and my exercises, of if it should at all. I've been eating around 1200 a day, but sometimes I feel like I don't even need that. I get the thought every now and then that if I ate even less I'd slim faster, but I'm dead set on not taking the easy way out and simply not eating.

I've also read that more weight means burning calories faster. So are there any exercises you guys know that are great for burning calories fast?
I currently run for my cardio.
Bicycles, butterflies, and a leg lifts, and side crunches for my abs
Leg presses and a number of different arm exercises for weight training.

And I've typed quite a bit.. so kudos if you're still with me, just one more question.
I often get a headache during leg presses that I can't shake unless I leave the gym. It's a huge downer. Watching how I breathe doesn't help and decreasing the weight only stalls the headache.
Bwah?

SelkieGhost

I would probably suggest at looking to round out your weight training to cover the whole body, not just focusing on legs and abs. Weight train at least 3 times a week - each day picking a certain group of muscles to focus on (I'd highly recommend giving a look to The Body Sculpting Bible for Women) On days not weight training - hit the cardio. The more lean muscle you build, the more calories over all you'll wind up burning throughout the day.

Definitely avoid the not eating route - however, a closer look at your nutritional habits may or may not be in order. There's a great section on caloric intake and nutrition in the book I recommended above. It even touches on the calorie numbers per day, and recommends cycling your calorie intake every 2 weeks to keep the body from adjusting (just as it suggests changing up the exercise routine a bit every 2 weeks to avoid plateaus). The baseline it suggests to start with is 2 weeks at 1200 calories, and 2 weeks at 1500 (and in both cases broken up into 5 or 6 small meals, as it will help keep insulin better regulated, and the body will be less likely to store excess calories) - but that it should be adjustable to the individual as some folks actually need less calories, and some more. At this point it suggests altering the caloric intake + or - 100 calories and see how it goes from there... Pay attention to the body, if you start to feel tired of sluggish, you've probably dropped your calories too much, or you've started off at too low a level... and likewise, if you're putting on fat - not muscle (and here is where a scale is less important than just keeping track of physical/visual changes), then you're probably taking in more calories than your body can burn...

On the headaches - the first thing that comes to mind is water intake. I'm not sure how much water you drink daily, but try to get in at least four 16 oz bottles of water a day. It could be something else though... heck, it could even be caffeine withdrawl if you've recently altered the amount of caffeine taken in a day.

And of course - it never hurts to consult with a physician - and is usually recommended by all new exercise programs and routines. If problems persist - I'd definitely recommend it. It could even be something unrelated to exercise, and that just happened to pop up at the same time.

muimuimui

Thank you for your tips! I'll go check out the book some time.

I'm wondering though, are you implying that weight training and cardio should not be done on the same days at all? After I weight train, I end up running anyways, albeit less than my cardio days.

SelkieGhost

You can do it on the same days - and actually in the book I have, there's a separate section outlining the best way to approach this - but there is definitely focus on nutrition and timing if doing this, and making sure that you have at least one full day of rest - which means no cardio or weight training...
I'm not too read up on this section, since I'm only a little over a month into the program again (restarted it after a little over a year off).
I'm sure there's some folks on here who are more versed in the programs that have both weight and cardio done on all days throughout the week - so hopefully they'll chime in on this one.. :flowerforyou: