Losing 5-7 more pounds-advice please

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

Since I started on MFP, I have lost almost 10 pounds, but still feel like I could stand to lose another 5 to 7 in the long run. I am currently 128 +/-, 5' 6.5", 23 years old (F). I have a desk job and go to the gym for 45 minutes to an hour an average of 3 times per week. My work outs are typically: jog 1 mile, stretch about 10 minutes and then weights for 30-40 minutes. I have my daily calorie goal set at 1400, which according to MFP would be .5 lb weight loss per week. I don't expect to lose that much each week but I try to keep my calories lower throughout the week because I do take in more calories on the weekend. I guess I am just wondering if this seems reasonable. I figure my TDEE is around 1900, is it okay for me to have a 500 calorie defecit for 4-5 days out of the week and then no defecit and even surplus for 2-3 days? 121 pounds seems really small for someone over 5 foot 6 inches tall, but like I said, I still have quite a bit of extra cushion. Just wanna know what you guys think!

Thanks! :drinker:

carrieberrie · October 2009

Since I started on MFP, I have lost almost 10 pounds, but still feel like I could stand to lose another 5 to 7 in the long run. I am currently 128 +/-, 5' 6.5", 23 years old (F). I have a desk job and go to the gym for 45 minutes to an hour an average of 3 times per week. My work outs are typically: jog 1 mile, stretch about 10 minutes and then weights for 30-40 minutes. I have my daily calorie goal set at 1400, which according to MFP would be .5 lb weight loss per week. I don't expect to lose that much each week but I try to keep my calories lower throughout the week because I do take in more calories on the weekend. I guess I am just wondering if this seems reasonable. I figure my TDEE is around 1900, is it okay for me to have a 500 calorie defecit for 4-5 days out of the week and then no defecit and even surplus for 2-3 days? 121 pounds seems really small for someone over 5 foot 6 inches tall, but like I said, I still have quite a bit of extra cushion. Just wanna know what you guys think!

Thanks! :drinker:

In my recent issue of Womens Health it said when you go up and down on calories that will make your metabolism slow down. Your metabolism will be confused. One day its getting 1400 the next 2000. You want to stay at a consistant range.

carrieberrie · October 2009

Since I started on MFP, I have lost almost 10 pounds, but still feel like I could stand to lose another 5 to 7 in the long run. I am currently 128 +/-, 5' 6.5", 23 years old (F). I have a desk job and go to the gym for 45 minutes to an hour an average of 3 times per week. My work outs are typically: jog 1 mile, stretch about 10 minutes and then weights for 30-40 minutes. I have my daily calorie goal set at 1400, which according to MFP would be .5 lb weight loss per week. I don't expect to lose that much each week but I try to keep my calories lower throughout the week because I do take in more calories on the weekend. I guess I am just wondering if this seems reasonable. I figure my TDEE is around 1900, is it okay for me to have a 500 calorie defecit for 4-5 days out of the week and then no defecit and even surplus for 2-3 days? 121 pounds seems really small for someone over 5 foot 6 inches tall, but like I said, I still have quite a bit of extra cushion. Just wanna know what you guys think!

Thanks! :drinker:

also for your height, you are at a perfect weight

In my recent issue of Womens Health it said when you go up and down on calories that will make your metabolism slow down. Your metabolism will be confused. One day its getting 1400 the next 2000. You want to stay at a consistant range.

vitabella · October 2009

My opinion would be to continue eating as healthy as possible on the weekends, and avoid drinking alcohol. It might not be any fun but youll lose the weight.

melbellmead · October 2009

I checked your BMI- Body Mass Index and your wieght range is -Healthy- you can still be healthy at a weight as low as 116.4 or up to 157.3, But this really depends on your bone size... now you can check your bone size simply by taking your thumb and your middle finger on one hand and reaching around the wrist of your other hand. (like making a bracelet with your fingers)
Small bone structure you should be able to overlap your thumb over middle finger.
Medium bone stucture your fingers will just touch each other.
Large bone stucture your fingers will not touch.

Then when your done with that you can divide the body mass index into the three groups. The lower end will be for small bone structure, middle for medium bone structure, and the high end will be for large bone structure. Hope this info helps...

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

Since I started on MFP, I have lost almost 10 pounds, but still feel like I could stand to lose another 5 to 7 in the long run. I am currently 128 +/-, 5' 6.5", 23 years old (F). I have a desk job and go to the gym for 45 minutes to an hour an average of 3 times per week. My work outs are typically: jog 1 mile, stretch about 10 minutes and then weights for 30-40 minutes. I have my daily calorie goal set at 1400, which according to MFP would be .5 lb weight loss per week. I don't expect to lose that much each week but I try to keep my calories lower throughout the week because I do take in more calories on the weekend. I guess I am just wondering if this seems reasonable. I figure my TDEE is around 1900, is it okay for me to have a 500 calorie defecit for 4-5 days out of the week and then no defecit and even surplus for 2-3 days? 121 pounds seems really small for someone over 5 foot 6 inches tall, but like I said, I still have quite a bit of extra cushion. Just wanna know what you guys think!

Thanks! :drinker:

also for your height, you are at a perfect weight

In my recent issue of Womens Health it said when you go up and down on calories that will make your metabolism slow down. Your metabolism will be confused. One day its getting 1400 the next 2000. You want to stay at a consistant range.

That's what I was worried about is screwing with my metabolism by having a 600 calorie difference on some days. I know that some people "zigzag" their calories or eat more every now and then but I would basically be doing it consistently. I just eat more and less healthy (not horrible things really) on the weekends and drink beer to be honest!

I know that my current weight is ideal, but like I said, I still have some fat that could come off.

TheMaidOfAstolat · October 2009

[/quote]

That's what I was worried about is screwing with my metabolism by having a 600 calorie difference on some days. I know that some people "zigzag" their calories or eat more every now and then but I would basically be doing it consistently. I just eat more and less healthy (not horrible things really) on the weekends and drink beer to be honest!

I know that my current weight is ideal, but like I said, I still have some fat that could come off.
[/quote]

I had a similar problem. I was only wanting to loose 5 pounds when I joined the site. I know...not much but it took me months to loose it because it was such a small amount. I now weigh 90 pounds...and that's the lower end for me...I'm only 5 feet tall and very thin framed. (I always feel that I have to explain or else I get nasty remarks from people)
It'll take time to loose that last bit since you are healthy but it can be done. I did give up alcohol for one full month and it seemed to help. But now that it's Fall...I really do enjoy having a cider (alcoholic) or a glass of mead once a week.

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

That's what I was worried about is screwing with my metabolism by having a 600 calorie difference on some days. I know that some people "zigzag" their calories or eat more every now and then but I would basically be doing it consistently. I just eat more and less healthy (not horrible things really) on the weekends and drink beer to be honest!

I know that my current weight is ideal, but like I said, I still have some fat that could come off.
[/quote]

I had a similar problem. I was only wanting to loose 5 pounds when I joined the site. I know...not much but it took me months to loose it because it was such a small amount. I now weigh 90 pounds...and that's the lower end for me...I'm only 5 feet tall and very thin framed. (I always feel that I have to explain or else I get nasty remarks from people)
It'll take time to loose that last bit since you are healthy but it can be done. I did give up alcohol for one full month and it seemed to help. But now that it's Fall...I really do enjoy having a cider (alcoholic) or a glass of mead once a week.
[/quote]

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I know I'm not going to be losing pound after pound month after month. My long-term goal would be to be around 122 pounds. Someone else mentioned frame or bone size. If I take my finger and thumb around my wrist I can put my thumb over to my first knuckle of my finger. I would say that I am small framed and carry my weight in my midsection, butt, hips, thighs. I wear a size 8 pants (loosely).

iplayoutside19 · October 2009

drink beer to be honest!

I found your problem.

Track what you eat on the food diary here, be honest with yourself...count the beer. And see where you really stand.

You cannot out excersise a bad diet. It's very possible you're drinking all the calories you burn at the gym.

I Love Beer, but to get where I need to be I can't be drinking it every weekend. I've busted my *kitten* too much to give it all back.

TheMaidOfAstolat · October 2009

It took me 6 months to loose 5 pounds...I gained and lost during those months as well. I'm now happy with my weight...just need to get my abs back in shape...if possible (one of the lovely things about having a baby...she streched them out so much that mine actually split, ugh...only real option left is to have surgery).

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

drink beer to be honest!

I found your problem.

Track what you eat on the food diary here, be honest with yourself...count the beer. And see where you really stand.

You cannot out excersise a bad diet. It's very possible you're drinking all the calories you burn at the gym.

I Love Beer, but to get where I need to be I can't be drinking it every weekend. I've busted my *kitten* too much to give it all back.

I agree with you. I guess my theory is to be very good during the week so I can be bad on the weekend. :blushing: I just need to know if that is such a bad idea? I think I still eat better on the weekends than a lot of people I know do all the time!

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

Boss? Help? :flowerforyou:

Wills1816 · October 2009

I kind of struggled with the same thing for a bit. The easiest way to explain it is that a pound of fat takes 3500 calories to burn off. So, each week you want your calories you lose to be 3500 calories higher in outtake than what you eat (if you want to lose half a pound each week it is 1750 higher). My only advice would be make sure you put in all the beer/alcohol you drink and keep count (haha I know that's no fun). Also, you could maybe try lighter beer (MGD 64, Beck's Light, Mich Ultra, or some lower calorie mixed drinks). Another choice would be to hit the gym for an extra session to make up/cancel out the extra calories on the weekend, which made me slow down a little more on the weekends. Hope this is helpful

keiko · October 2009

The alcohol really is a waste of calories. How many drinks are you having a weekend? Add up the calories and look at how much real food you could be getting for that. A drink or maybe two is ok, more than that and you really are sabatoging the work you do in the gym.

Plus jogging 1 mile three times a week isn't much for cardio. I've read that just to maintain you need 30 min of cardio, 5 days a week. That's about what I get and it works for me. When I've wanted to drop some I up that to about 45 min, 5 days a week. I try to run 3 days and walk the rest. Usually trying to take walks with the dog on the weekend too. With that keep up your strength training.

But remember your body needs nutrition and while you might make your calorie count or even go over on the weekend those alcohol calories don't count towards fuel for you body. Especially when you're cheating it out of fuel during the week.

Ripgirl · October 2009

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/62997-the-alcohol-question?hl=alcohol+question#posts-767714

Alcohol does more than give you empty calories... check out this link....

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

The alcohol really is a waste of calories. How many drinks are you having a weekend? Add up the calories and look at how much real food you could be getting for that. A drink or maybe two is ok, more than that and you really are sabatoging the work you do in the gym.

Plus jogging 1 mile three times a week isn't much for cardio. I've read that just to maintain you need 30 min of cardio, 5 days a week. That's about what I get and it works for me. When I've wanted to drop some I up that to about 45 min, 5 days a week. I try to run 3 days and walk the rest. Usually trying to take walks with the dog on the weekend too. With that keep up your strength training.

But remember your body needs nutrition and while you might make your calorie count or even go over on the weekend those alcohol calories don't count towards fuel for you body. Especially when you're cheating it out of fuel during the week.

What do you mean you need 30 minutes of cardio 5x a week to maintain?

Do you think I am not fueling my body enough throughout the week if I eat 1400 calories plus exercise cals? I don't drink during the week. And I don't count any alcohol as food on the weekend. I don't skip meals so I can have beer or anything like that. But that is what attributes to me taking in more calories on the weekend. I eat more (and less healthy) and drink on the weekends. For example: during the week my meals would consist of: Shredded wheat and milk for breakfast, I have milk in my coffee. Hard boiled egg for snack, leftovers or salad with tuna for lunch, triscuits and hummus or hard boiled egg for another snack, and dinner would be grilled pork chops, chicken, or ground beef with broccoli, salad, sweet potato, baked peppers with olive oil. On the weekends it's more like: Buckwheat pancake with honey or peanut butter and 1-2 pieces of bacon for breakfast, Deli sandwich and chips for lunch, Cheese and triscuits for snack or chips and salsa, then like, pizza (homemade or delivered) or smoked ribs or homemade chili or whatever if we're at a party or something. I drank 14 beers this weekend. :blushing:

The original point of my post was to find out if it is a bad idea or not to eat 1400 (500 cal defecit from my TDEE) calories net throughout the week and then have a 500 or 600 calorie surpluss for 2 days. So basically I would be cancelling out any defecit for the week. I only have a MAX of 7 pounds that I would want to lose. My goal is just to continue eating right and getting into good shape, and if I lose a few more pounds in the process, great. I know that alcohol is not helping me to do that but I have cut back from what I used to drink and actually will try harder to drink less on the weekends from now on.

keiko · October 2009

:grumble: I'm having computer issues.

Sorry for being confusing on the 30 min thing. My main point with that is that if you are jogging 1 mi. that is not much cardio time. If you want to lose you will have to up the cardio. Strength training is good and will help but cardio is key to losing.

It sounds like you eat good during the week. It's the weekend and alcohol that are undoing everything you work for. Did you read the article that someone above me posted? It was eye opening for me. It talks about how alcohol stops our metabolism and that's after a couple of drinks. I think (and yes it's only my opinion) that the alcohol is what is keeping you from reaching your goal. Really it's my problem too. I like to have a glass of wine or a beer with dinner, depending on what we are having. That article really made me think about this. Now I need to make the choice. Which do I want more?

I'm selfishly glad you posted because it got me thinking.
Hope you have a good Monday:flowerforyou:

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

:grumble: I'm having computer issues.

Sorry for being confusing on the 30 min thing. My main point with that is that if you are jogging 1 mi. that is not much cardio time. If you want to lose you will have to up the cardio. Strength training is good and will help but cardio is key to losing.

It sounds like you eat good during the week. It's the weekend and alcohol that are undoing everything you work for. Did you read the article that someone above me posted? It was eye opening for me. It talks about how alcohol stops our metabolism and that's after a couple of drinks. I think (and yes it's only my opinion) that the alcohol is what is keeping you from reaching your goal. Really it's my problem too. I like to have a glass of wine or a beer with dinner, depending on what we are having. That article really made me think about this. Now I need to make the choice. Which do I want more?

I'm selfishly glad you posted because it got me thinking.
Hope you have a good Monday:flowerforyou:

Thanks! I hope you have a good Monday as well.

I did read the link someone posted about how alcohol affects your metabolism. I've read some information on here about it before.

Since I'm not really trying to lose much more weight, running for me is just kind of a warm-up before weight lifting, which is why I only go for 1 mile. (Plus, I am really bad at running so more than a mile for me is not happening. I would like to start running more just as a goal to build my endurance).

Anyway, I'm still looking for the answer to my original concern. Is it okay to have a 500 calorie defecit 4-5 days out of the week and then have a surpluss 2-3 days out of the week? Basically cancelling out the defecit for the week overall? Thanks!! :flowerforyou:

ShellyLee · October 2009

I checked your BMI- Body Mass Index and your wieght range is -Healthy- you can still be healthy at a weight as low as 116.4 or up to 157.3, But this really depends on your bone size... now you can check your bone size simply by taking your thumb and your middle finger on one hand and reaching around the wrist of your other hand. (like making a bracelet with your fingers)
Small bone structure you should be able to overlap your thumb over middle finger.
Medium bone stucture your fingers will just touch each other.
Large bone stucture your fingers will not touch.

Then when your done with that you can divide the body mass index into the three groups. The lower end will be for small bone structure, middle for medium bone structure, and the high end will be for large bone structure. Hope this info helps...

I don't think that really works for everyone. I, for one, have a "small" bone structure. I can very easily overlap my fingers around my wrist.. I can even overlap some using my thumb and pointer finger BUT I don't consider myself petite. If I were to get into the lower category (5'7": 123-136) I would look unhealthy . I've been 148 at a low in the past and honestly don't think I'd want to get below 140.

I would attempt to eat your allotted amount of calories per day. If your body doesn't have fuel to burn it will start to use your muscle protein to fuel the body. Make sure you're getting plenty of protein after you exercise. Also if you're body goes into starvation mode from not getting enough calories per day.. when you do "make up" those extra calories on the weekends then your body will automatically try to store them as fat. Check on this article someone posted about a person eating 700 calories a day and still weighs 185 : http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

I checked your BMI- Body Mass Index and your wieght range is -Healthy- you can still be healthy at a weight as low as 116.4 or up to 157.3, But this really depends on your bone size... now you can check your bone size simply by taking your thumb and your middle finger on one hand and reaching around the wrist of your other hand. (like making a bracelet with your fingers)
Small bone structure you should be able to overlap your thumb over middle finger.
Medium bone stucture your fingers will just touch each other.
Large bone stucture your fingers will not touch.

Then when your done with that you can divide the body mass index into the three groups. The lower end will be for small bone structure, middle for medium bone structure, and the high end will be for large bone structure. Hope this info helps...

I don't think that really works for everyone. I, for one, have a "small" bone structure. I can very easily overlap my fingers around my wrist.. I can even overlap some using my thumb and pointer finger BUT I don't consider myself petite. If I were to get into the lower category (5'7": 123-136) I would look unhealthy . I've been 148 at a low in the past and honestly don't think I'd want to get below 140.

I would attempt to eat your allotted amount of calories per day. If your body doesn't have fuel to burn it will start to use your muscle protein to fuel the body. Make sure you're getting plenty of protein after you exercise. Also if you're body goes into starvation mode from not getting enough calories per day.. when you do "make up" those extra calories on the weekends then your body will automatically try to store them as fat. Check on this article someone posted about a person eating 700 calories a day and still weighs 185 : http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

I have read that before. I am eating 1400 per day plus my exercise calories thru the week and then probably around 2500 on Saturday and 2000 on Sunday including beer calories.

Would it be better for me to eat my maintenance calories every day and go over on the weekends? Obviously I know it would be best to eat my maintenance EVERY DAY, but I know that I just go over on the weekends, which is why I was thinking I could create a defecit throughout the week and end up breaking even so to speak.

thumper44 · October 2009

I Love Beer, but to get where I need to be I can't be drinking it every weekend. I've busted my *kitten* too much to give it all back.

X 2. The weeks where I had 1 or 2 beers on a saturday thinking it was ok. I didn't lose any weight that week.
It's been mentioned on here several times.
Doesn't matter if their 67 calorie beers or 200 calories beers. Alcohol slows down the metabolism.

The original point of my post was to find out if it is a bad idea or not to eat 1400 (500 cal defecit from my TDEE) calories net throughout the week and then have a 500 or 600 calorie surpluss for 2 days. So basically I would be cancelling out any defecit for the week.

Is that including your exercise calories? I would say it's a bad idea to just eat 1400 each day and 2400 on weekends(2 days). if your burning ~300 calories exercise per day
Net caloric intake is 1100 during week , (2100 for 2 days)? that's if you work burn 300 calories each day.
Not sure why you would want to cancel out all your hard work.
You might think your canceling your defecit, but you could be steping backwards as well.

FWIW, That's not much of zigzag. from what I read people who zigzag they go up and down each day 200-300 calories.

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

I Love Beer, but to get where I need to be I can't be drinking it every weekend. I've busted my *kitten* too much to give it all back.

X 2. The weeks where I had 1 or 2 beers on a saturday thinking it was ok. I didn't lose any weight that week.
It's been mentioned on here several times.
Doesn't matter if their 67 calorie beers or 200 calories beers. Alcohol slows down the metabolism.

The original point of my post was to find out if it is a bad idea or not to eat 1400 (500 cal defecit from my TDEE) calories net throughout the week and then have a 500 or 600 calorie surpluss for 2 days. So basically I would be cancelling out any defecit for the week.

Is that including your exercise calories? I would say it's a bad idea to just eat 1400 each day and 2400 on weekends(2 days). if your burning ~300 calories exercise per day
Net caloric intake is 1100 during week , (2100 for 2 days)? that's if you work burn 300 calories each day.
Not sure why you would want to cancel out all your hard work.
You might think your canceling your defecit, but you could be steping backwards as well.

FWIW, That's not much of zigzag. from what I read people who zigzag they go up and down each day 200-300 calories.

I am eating my exercise calories throughout the week, getting 1400 NET.

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

Alright, now I'm just really confused. :sad: Would it be better for me (((take any kind of weight loss out of the picture))) to eat my maintenance calories throughout the week (1680 according to MFP), and continue to eat the way I do on the weekend where I usually eat (and drink) around 2500 per day (Saturday and Sunday). I have lost 10 pounds by eating 1200 during the week and my normal weekend. I just don't want to screw up my metabolism.

SHBoss1673 · October 2009

OK, so I was asked to post on this thread, maybe offer up my take on things. So I'll do that. Again, like the rest of you guys, I'm not an expert, so take what I give for what it's worth, I'm just a guy who's been doing this with a pretty fair amount of success for a few years now, and have taken the time to do loads of research.

That being said a few things I'd like to mention.

1) Alcohol is evil. Alcohol (specifically the actual chemical alcohol, not alcoholic beverages) starts to be absorbed the moment it passes your lips, but the majority enters your blood as it enters your stomach, it enters the blood very rapidly, and in effect replaces carbohydrates as the main fuel for the body. This is bad, as those replaced carbs instead are converted to fat. And this doesn't even take into account the carbohydrates and sugars involved with drinks, this is just talking about the alcohol itself. Besides the obvious immediate problem stated above, alcohol also lowers inhibitions, which may lead to eating more things you shouldn't (whether that's amount or quality matters little, both are bad news). Add to that the adverse affects alcohol has on the liver, and you have a recipe for disaster with weight loss. That doesn't mean you shouldn't or can't ever drink, it just means that over the long term, drinking more than 1 or 2 (or maybe 3 or 4 for some of the larger men out there) in one sitting, more than once every couple of weeks can lead to serious set backs with weight loss.

2) Specifically to your case AwMyLoLo, I have some questions. 1st, what is your Body Fat %? 2nd, why are you combo training every day (cardio and weights same day)?

With less than 10 lbs to lose, this should be in the forefront of your concerns. Put it this way, you could probably lose that last 5 or even 10 lbs and maybe still have some pudge hanging around, because once you get down into that "normal" range, it's not about weight any more, it's about body fat. For most of us the transition from "I need to lose weight" to "I need to lower my body fat %" is a difficult one.
Who cares what you weigh, it's how much of that weight is body fat that really matters, I'll say this, at
5' 6", you could be 120 or 130 or even 135 and still look spectacular if you get your body fat to lean mass ratios correct.

Generally I usually tell people that the last five to ten pounds takes a lot more dedication than 45 minutes a day, 3 days a week, it takes more like 1 and a half hours a day 6 days a week. AND (and this is big), you need to keep very good track of your diet, VERY good. When I say that I mean, not only just calories, but when you have those calories, what macro nutrients are in each meal, and what your total macros are every day. Also, when you're talking about being at a healthy weight, and trying to drop body fat, you need to eat very close to your maintenance calories, and that INCLUDES exercise calories. Put it this way, 250 calorie deficit is about the maximum I would recommend, anything more than that and you're probably causing your metabolism to run in an inefficient manner to some degree (depending on how tolerant your specific body is to caloric deficits).

Lastly, On the subject of exercise, straight moderate cardio and regular weight training probably isn't good enough at this point. We're talking about you being at a point where your body feels comfortable where it is, jogging a couple of miles and doing 5 to 10 isolation weight exercises 3 times a week with moderate weights probably isn't going to do a heck of a lot more than maintain your current physique. You need to do some serious work, some kind of boot camp, some kind of hard core circuit training, and/or some hypertrophy training. That's the only way to really body sculpt. And lets face it, a 1/2 inch of pudge around the middle isn't a lot, in order to remove it, you're going to have to battle the body, it's not going to want to give up that fat, it's your body's security blanket, so you need to tear away that blanket by force, literally work your body hard enough and long enough so that it has no choice but to use up those energy stores.

Hopefully this will help you. I know some of this doesn't sound easy, and lets face it, it's NOT easy, but then again, if it was easy, everyone would be ripped, and nobody would have any fat around their middle. You gotta work HARD to have abs and see them, and to lose that little bit of left over gut.

For specific question or if you need some suggestions on workout routines or anything, you can PM me, I'm always happy to lend a hand. But remember, everyone's different, some tweaking will almost definitely have to occur to get it right for you.

-Banks

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

OK, so I was asked to post on this thread, maybe offer up my take on things. So I'll do that. Again, like the rest of you guys, I'm not an expert, so take what I give for what it's worth, I'm just a guy who's been doing this with a pretty fair amount of success for a few years now, and have taken the time to do loads of research.

That being said a few things I'd like to mention.

1) Alcohol is evil. Alcohol (specifically the actual chemical alcohol, not alcoholic beverages) starts to be absorbed the moment it passes your lips, but the majority enters your blood as it enters your stomach, it enters the blood very rapidly, and in effect replaces carbohydrates as the main fuel for the body. This is bad, as those replaced carbs instead are converted to fat. And this doesn't even take into account the carbohydrates and sugars involved with drinks, this is just talking about the alcohol itself. Besides the obvious immediate problem stated above, alcohol also lowers inhibitions, which may lead to eating more things you shouldn't (whether that's amount or quality matters little, both are bad news). Add to that the adverse affects alcohol has on the liver, and you have a recipe for disaster with weight loss. That doesn't mean you shouldn't or can't ever drink, it just means that over the long term, drinking more than 1 or 2 (or maybe 3 or 4 for some of the larger men out there) in one sitting, more than once every couple of weeks can lead to serious set backs with weight loss.

2) Specifically to your case AwMyLoLo, I have some questions. 1st, what is your Body Fat %? 2nd, why are you combo training every day (cardio and weights same day)?

With less than 10 lbs to lose, this should be in the forefront of your concerns. Put it this way, you could probably lose that last 5 or even 10 lbs and maybe still have some pudge hanging around, because once you get down into that "normal" range, it's not about weight any more, it's about body fat. For most of us the transition from "I need to lose weight" to "I need to lower my body fat %" is a difficult one.
Who cares what you weigh, it's how much of that weight is body fat that really matters, I'll say this, at
5' 6", you could be 120 or 130 or even 135 and still look spectacular if you get your body fat to lean mass ratios correct.

Generally I usually tell people that the last five to ten pounds takes a lot more dedication than 45 minutes a day, 3 days a week, it takes more like 1 and a half hours a day 6 days a week. AND (and this is big), you need to keep very good track of your diet, VERY good. When I say that I mean, not only just calories, but when you have those calories, what macro nutrients are in each meal, and what your total macros are every day. Also, when you're talking about being at a healthy weight, and trying to drop body fat, you need to eat very close to your maintenance calories, and that INCLUDES exercise calories. Put it this way, 250 calorie deficit is about the maximum I would recommend, anything more than that and you're probably causing your metabolism to run in an inefficient manner to some degree (depending on how tolerant your specific body is to caloric deficits).

Lastly, On the subject of exercise, straight moderate cardio and regular weight training probably isn't good enough at this point. We're talking about you being at a point where your body feels comfortable where it is, jogging a couple of miles and doing 5 to 10 isolation weight exercises 3 times a week with moderate weights probably isn't going to do a heck of a lot more than maintain your current physique. You need to do some serious work, some kind of boot camp, some kind of hard core circuit training, and/or some hypertrophy training. That's the only way to really body sculpt. And lets face it, a 1/2 inch of pudge around the middle isn't a lot, in order to remove it, you're going to have to battle the body, it's not going to want to give up that fat, it's your body's security blanket, so you need to tear away that blanket by force, literally work your body hard enough and long enough so that it has no choice but to use up those energy stores.

Hopefully this will help you. I know some of this doesn't sound easy, and lets face it, it's NOT easy, but then again, if it was easy, everyone would be ripped, and nobody would have any fat around their middle. You gotta work HARD to have abs and see them, and to lose that little bit of left over gut.

For specific question or if you need some suggestions on workout routines or anything, you can PM me, I'm always happy to lend a hand. But remember, everyone's different, some tweaking will almost definitely have to occur to get it right for you.

-Banks

First, thank you so much for taking the time to give me your input.

1. I know alcohol is evil. :devil: Which is why I have gone from drinking 3-4 nights a week to 2. Now I plan on trying to cut out another and only have drinks one night a week. Not just because of the empty calories and the way it is metabolized, but because it really is pointless and unhealthy.

2. I have absolutely no idea what my body fat % is - how do I find out? I do cardio and weights every session because I like to get really warmed up and stretch before I lift weights. Is that bad? Plus, I have a really hard time doing more cardio than that. I read people saying they do cardio for 45 minutes to an hour, or 5-8 miles a day and it blows my mind! Plus, since I am so close to my goal weight, I was thinking that I needed to lift weights to tone instead of focusing on doing cardio to burn more calories.

I got the 5-7 more pounds to lose number just because seeing the difference from the 10 pounds that I have lost, it "looks like" I could lose another 5-7. I agree with you completely that it is not about the number. I guess I am trying to figure out the right thing for me to do get my lean mass to body fat to the right ratio, I just didn't know exactly how to put it. Obviously since I don't even know what my BF% is now, I don't know what it should be or how I find out or the best way to get there.

What kind of workout routine would you recommend as far as bootcamp or circuit training? What is hypertrophy?

This doesnt sound easy but it is exciting to me. I still feel like I am completely out of shape, and I really really want to get into shape. I need to get into a more strenuous workout routine.

As far as nutrition, I won't ask you to explain all about macro nutrients, I will try to do some research myself. Basically I just try to make good decisions on my foods. But as far as the calorie intake, I plan on starting to eat what MFP recommends as my maintenance calories, which is 1680, and eat my exercise calories too. Thanks again so much for your advice!

SHBoss1673 · October 2009

First, thank you so much for taking the time to give me your input.

1. I know alcohol is evil. :devil: Which is why I have gone from drinking 3-4 nights a week to 2. Now I plan on trying to cut out another and only have drinks one night a week. Not just because of the empty calories and the way it is metabolized, but because it really is pointless and unhealthy.

2. I have absolutely no idea what my body fat % is - how do I find out? I do cardio and weights every session because I like to get really warmed up and stretch before I lift

3 ways (basically). 1 is by asking a Personal Trainer or some other professional that has training to give you a BF% test, they use these calipers and pinch various parts of the body and take measurements, BUT depending on the person, there can be a very large variance in error. Another way is to use either a bod pod (go to bodpod.com to find one near you) or a hydrostatic test, these tests usually have between a 1 and 2% margin for error (pretty good), or 3 you can get a DEXA test done, these use x-rays and are EXTREMELY accurate, but very expensive to have done (usually 100 bucks or more). For adult women, a Body fat % of 13-15 is considered excellent (like pro athlete excellent), 16 - 18 is considered very good, 19 - 22 is considered good, 23 to 26 is considered normal, and 27- 30 is considered safe but a little above normal, above 30 usually means you're moving into the unhealthy zone (obviously the higher you are the worse off you are). These numbers are for women between 18 and about 45 or so, they skew a little up for women over 45. Also, women having under 13% BF are considered to be unhealthy as the body needs a certain amount of body fat.

I got the 5-7 more pounds to lose number just because seeing the difference from the 10 pounds that I have lost, it "looks like" I could lose another 5-7. I agree with you completely that it is not about the number. I guess I am trying to figure out the right

Right, actually getting a BF% test done will go a long way towards figuring this out. I always say to people, once you're healthy, you need to stop focusing on weight. That doesn't mean weight isn't important, it just means that you're weight isn't holding you back any more, now you can start doing the nasty, hard stuff that transforms you from a recreational person into an athlete. Everyone can be an athlete, and contrary to popular opinion, it has way more to do with your core than anything else, as your core determines how good your balance and transitional speed are (and for most sports, balance and transition from stop to go, or forward to back, or side to side are the most important aspects).

What kind of workout routine would you recommend as far as bootcamp or circuit training? What is hypertrophy?
This doesnt sound easy but it is exciting to me. I still feel like I am completely out of shape, and I really really want to get into shape. I need to get into a more strenuous workout routine.

Ahh, there are a million different boot camps out there. It doesn't really matter which one you do, whether it's the insanity DVD's (supposed to be AWESOME, but expensive), or some local trainer that kicks your *kitten* (if you're into that), or just you, putting together a grueling workout that really kicks it up 3 or 4 notches, doesn't really matter, it's the intensity and diversity of the exercise that really helps. I'm talking hard core, sweat literally pouring off you, muscles so sore you have to crawl to the shower, the world swimming in front of you type routines that you almost can't walk away from, do 2 or 3 of those a week and 2 months later you're body fat will be down dramatically (unless you're already IN top shape, then it just drops a little

)

Hypertrophy is a type of weight training that focuses on muscle size and density. It may or may not be for you, but it's one path to take (if you have no muscle definition now, it might be worth looking into initially, just to give you some "shape", but otherwise probably is more something you do later on in your "career" to give you more lines and definition.) Like, you know how Jillian from TBL has great arm and shoulder definition for a woman? At some point I'm sure she's done some good failure weight training, this builds muscle size and causes her biceps and triceps to "show" a little, hypertrophy doesn't necessarally mean "bulking up" (although it can for many men), it means just giving the muscle a little size so that you can actually see it. For some that can mean A LOT of size, for others, just "enough" size.

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

First, thank you so much for taking the time to give me your input.

1. I know alcohol is evil. :devil: Which is why I have gone from drinking 3-4 nights a week to 2. Now I plan on trying to cut out another and only have drinks one night a week. Not just because of the empty calories and the way it is metabolized, but because it really is pointless and unhealthy.

2. I have absolutely no idea what my body fat % is - how do I find out? I do cardio and weights every session because I like to get really warmed up and stretch before I lift

3 ways (basically). 1 is by asking a Personal Trainer or some other professional that has training to give you a BF% test, they use these calipers and pinch various parts of the body and take measurements, BUT depending on the person, there can be a very large variance in error. Another way is to use either a bod pod (go to bodpod.com to find one near you) or a hydrostatic test, these tests usually have between a 1 and 2% margin for error (pretty good), or 3 you can get a DEXA test done, these use x-rays and are EXTREMELY accurate, but very expensive to have done (usually 100 bucks or more). For adult women, a Body fat % of 13-15 is considered excellent (like pro athlete excellent), 16 - 18 is considered very good, 19 - 22 is considered good, 23 to 26 is considered normal, and 27- 30 is considered safe but a little above normal, above 30 usually means you're moving into the unhealthy zone (obviously the higher you are the worse off you are). These numbers are for women between 18 and about 45 or so, they skew a little up for women over 45. Also, women having under 13% BF are considered to be unhealthy as the body needs a certain amount of body fat.

I got the 5-7 more pounds to lose number just because seeing the difference from the 10 pounds that I have lost, it "looks like" I could lose another 5-7. I agree with you completely that it is not about the number. I guess I am trying to figure out the right

Right, actually getting a BF% test done will go a long way towards figuring this out. I always say to people, once you're healthy, you need to stop focusing on weight. That doesn't mean weight isn't important, it just means that you're weight isn't holding you back any more, now you can start doing the nasty, hard stuff that transforms you from a recreational person into an athlete. Everyone can be an athlete, and contrary to popular opinion, it has way more to do with your core than anything else, as your core determines how good your balance and transitional speed are (and for most sports, balance and transition from stop to go, or forward to back, or side to side are the most important aspects).

What kind of workout routine would you recommend as far as bootcamp or circuit training? What is hypertrophy?
This doesnt sound easy but it is exciting to me. I still feel like I am completely out of shape, and I really really want to get into shape. I need to get into a more strenuous workout routine.

Ahh, there are a million different boot camps out there. It doesn't really matter which one you do, whether it's the insanity DVD's (supposed to be AWESOME, but expensive), or some local trainer that kicks your *kitten* (if you're into that), or just you, putting together a grueling workout that really kicks it up 3 or 4 notches, doesn't really matter, it's the intensity and diversity of the exercise that really helps. I'm talking hard core, sweat literally pouring off you, muscles so sore you have to crawl to the shower, the world swimming in front of you type routines that you almost can't walk away from, do 2 or 3 of those a week and 2 months later you're body fat will be down dramatically (unless you're already IN top shape, then it just drops a little )

Hypertrophy is a type of weight training that focuses on muscle size and density. It may or may not be for you, but it's one path to take (if you have no muscle definition now, it might be worth looking into initially, just to give you some "shape", but otherwise probably is more something you do later on in your "career" to give you more lines and definition.) Like, you know how Jillian from TBL has great arm and shoulder definition for a woman? At some point I'm sure she's done some good failure weight training, this builds muscle size and causes her biceps and triceps to "show" a little, hypertrophy doesn't necessarally mean "bulking up" (although it can for many men), it means just giving the muscle a little size so that you can actually see it. For some that can mean A LOT of size, for others, just "enough" size.

OK. Expensive DVDs and personal trainers are out of the question for me (for now at least). I have a yearly membership to a hole in the wall gym in my town that I need to get my money's worth out of!

Why is it not okay to do both cardio and weights in the same day? How do you work out for an hour and a half doing just cardio? How on earth would I be able to eat my maintenance calories plus whatever crazy amount I would burn doing 1.5 hour of cardio?!

On a weight training day, is that when I should incorporate the circuit training? Would that be like, lifing (using free weights or machines) for 2 minutes then moving on to jump rope for 2 minutes, then doing the next weight station for 2 minutes then jumping jacks for 2 minutes, etc...? If I did this kind of routine for 1 or 1.5 hour 3 days a week and then cardio for 45 min to 1 hour 3 days a week, is that what you're talking about?

SHBoss1673 · October 2009

OK. Expensive DVDs and personal trainers are out of the question for me (for now at least). I have a yearly membership to a hole in the wall gym in my town that I need to get my money's worth out of!

Why is it not okay to do both cardio and weights in the same day? How do you work out for an hour and a half doing just cardio? How on earth would I be able to eat my maintenance calories plus whatever crazy amount I would burn doing 1.5 hour of cardio?!

On a weight training day, is that when I should incorporate the circuit training? Would that be like, lifing (using free weights or machines) for 2 minutes then moving on to jump rope for 2 minutes, then doing the next weight station for 2 minutes then jumping jacks for 2 minutes, etc...? If I did this kind of routine for 1 or 1.5 hour 3 days a week and then cardio for 45 min to 1 hour 3 days a week, is that what you're talking about?

It's not that it's not ok to do both cardio and weight training in the same day, it's just that that is more for people trying to compromise, and once you get to a certain level, you really need to focus on specific parts of training. I.E. you can't gain muscle while in caloric deficit, so weight training is more about just keeping your muscles in use and working and keeping bones strong. Put it this way, cardio is better for burning fat than weight training (both will do it, but cardio does it better).

Also if you do cardio (10 minutes is fine, I'm talking if you did 1/2 an hour) first before weight training, your sabotaging your weight training to a degree. Glycogen depletion will limit the amount of "bang for your buck" you'll get from weight training. While this isn't a big deal for cardio (as you almost never train to glycogen depletion during cardio, even extremely intense cardio, for more than a few seconds at a time), not having the energy to push to failure in weight training really reduces the amount of "good" you receive from the weight training.

As to how to do an hour to an hour and a half of cardio in a day, I don't know what to tell you, it's just something you have to learn to enjoy if you want to have that low Body fat % and not just be skinny but be trim and have muscle definition, there's no way around this. That doesn't mean you have to do it all at once, if more than a 1/2 hour of cardio is mind numbing for you, then split it into 2 1/2 hour sessions, for instance, I did 35 minutes of hard running today, and tonight I'll do 30 minutes on the heavy bag (which is INSANE cardio by the way), then 10 minutes of core.

The point is, get creative, you aren't limited to the gym machines. Find stuff you enjoy, swimming, jumping rope, riding a bike, plyometrics (I LOVE plyos, google plyometrics for more), specific training routines (there are lots of great training routines online, google boot camp routines and you'll find plenty). Funny, I do a 4 machine circuit in the gym sometimes, 15 minutes on the mountain climber, 15 minutes on the elliptical, 15 on the tredmill, and 15 on the spinning bike. All of them I push myself, but since each one has a different primary muscle movement, It isn't so repetetive and boring, and I can look forward to that end period in 15minutes instead of a full hour. Plus a good ipod really helps

ok time to drive home. Have a good one.

keiko · October 2009

OK. Expensive DVDs and personal trainers are out of the question for me (for now at least). I have a yearly membership to a hole in the wall gym in my town that I need to get my money's worth out of!

Why is it not okay to do both cardio and weights in the same day? How do you work out for an hour and a half doing just cardio? How on earth would I be able to eat my maintenance calories plus whatever crazy amount I would burn doing 1.5 hour of cardio?!

On a weight training day, is that when I should incorporate the circuit training? Would that be like, lifing (using free weights or machines) for 2 minutes then moving on to jump rope for 2 minutes, then doing the next weight station for 2 minutes then jumping jacks for 2 minutes, etc...? If I did this kind of routine for 1 or 1.5 hour 3 days a week and then cardio for 45 min to 1 hour 3 days a week, is that what you're talking about?

It's not that it's not ok to do both cardio and weight training in the same day, it's just that that is more for people trying to compromise, and once you get to a certain level, you really need to focus on specific parts of training. I.E. you can't gain muscle while in caloric deficit, so weight training is more about just keeping your muscles in use and working and keeping bones strong. Put it this way, cardio is better for burning fat than weight training (both will do it, but cardio does it better).

Also if you do cardio (10 minutes is fine, I'm talking if you did 1/2 an hour) first before weight training, your sabotaging your weight training to a degree. Glycogen depletion will limit the amount of "bang for your buck" you'll get from weight training. While this isn't a big deal for cardio (as you almost never train to glycogen depletion during cardio, even extremely intense cardio, for more than a few seconds at a time), not having the energy to push to failure in weight training really reduces the amount of "good" you receive from the weight training.

As to how to do an hour to an hour and a half of cardio in a day, I don't know what to tell you, it's just something you have to learn to enjoy if you want to have that low Body fat % and not just be skinny but be trim and have muscle definition, there's no way around this. That doesn't mean you have to do it all at once, if more than a 1/2 hour of cardio is mind numbing for you, then split it into 2 1/2 hour sessions, for instance, I did 35 minutes of hard running today, and tonight I'll do 30 minutes on the heavy bag (which is INSANE cardio by the way), then 10 minutes of core.

The point is, get creative, you aren't limited to the gym machines. Find stuff you enjoy, swimming, jumping rope, riding a bike, plyometrics (I LOVE plyos, google plyometrics for more), specific training routines (there are lots of great training routines online, google boot camp routines and you'll find plenty). Funny, I do a 4 machine circuit in the gym sometimes, 15 minutes on the mountain climber, 15 minutes on the elliptical, 15 on the tredmill, and 15 on the spinning bike. All of them I push myself, but since each one has a different primary muscle movement, It isn't so repetetive and boring, and I can look forward to that end period in 15minutes instead of a full hour. Plus a good ipod really helps

ok time to drive home. Have a good one.

Thanks for answering Awmylolo's post. I'm always inspired when I read your posts. I'm off to search for a new work out and feeling good about upping my cardio. I'm also going to look for someone to check my BF%. I've looked before for the bodpod and there is nothing anywhere around me. But calipers will be a start.
Thanks again, hope you had a good ride home:flowerforyou:

AwMyLoLo · October 2009

OK. Expensive DVDs and personal trainers are out of the question for me (for now at least). I have a yearly membership to a hole in the wall gym in my town that I need to get my money's worth out of!

Why is it not okay to do both cardio and weights in the same day? How do you work out for an hour and a half doing just cardio? How on earth would I be able to eat my maintenance calories plus whatever crazy amount I would burn doing 1.5 hour of cardio?!

On a weight training day, is that when I should incorporate the circuit training? Would that be like, lifing (using free weights or machines) for 2 minutes then moving on to jump rope for 2 minutes, then doing the next weight station for 2 minutes then jumping jacks for 2 minutes, etc...? If I did this kind of routine for 1 or 1.5 hour 3 days a week and then cardio for 45 min to 1 hour 3 days a week, is that what you're talking about?

It's not that it's not ok to do both cardio and weight training in the same day, it's just that that is more for people trying to compromise, and once you get to a certain level, you really need to focus on specific parts of training. I.E. you can't gain muscle while in caloric deficit, so weight training is more about just keeping your muscles in use and working and keeping bones strong. Put it this way, cardio is better for burning fat than weight training (both will do it, but cardio does it better).

Also if you do cardio (10 minutes is fine, I'm talking if you did 1/2 an hour) first before weight training, your sabotaging your weight training to a degree. Glycogen depletion will limit the amount of "bang for your buck" you'll get from weight training. While this isn't a big deal for cardio (as you almost never train to glycogen depletion during cardio, even extremely intense cardio, for more than a few seconds at a time), not having the energy to push to failure in weight training really reduces the amount of "good" you receive from the weight training.

As to how to do an hour to an hour and a half of cardio in a day, I don't know what to tell you, it's just something you have to learn to enjoy if you want to have that low Body fat % and not just be skinny but be trim and have muscle definition, there's no way around this. That doesn't mean you have to do it all at once, if more than a 1/2 hour of cardio is mind numbing for you, then split it into 2 1/2 hour sessions, for instance, I did 35 minutes of hard running today, and tonight I'll do 30 minutes on the heavy bag (which is INSANE cardio by the way), then 10 minutes of core.

The point is, get creative, you aren't limited to the gym machines. Find stuff you enjoy, swimming, jumping rope, riding a bike, plyometrics (I LOVE plyos, google plyometrics for more), specific training routines (there are lots of great training routines online, google boot camp routines and you'll find plenty). Funny, I do a 4 machine circuit in the gym sometimes, 15 minutes on the mountain climber, 15 minutes on the elliptical, 15 on the tredmill, and 15 on the spinning bike. All of them I push myself, but since each one has a different primary muscle movement, It isn't so repetetive and boring, and I can look forward to that end period in 15minutes instead of a full hour. Plus a good ipod really helps

ok time to drive home. Have a good one.

Thanks for answering Awmylolo's post. I'm always inspired when I read your posts. I'm off to search for a new work out and feeling good about upping my cardio. I'm also going to look for someone to check my BF%. I've looked before for the bodpod and there is nothing anywhere around me. But calipers will be a start.
Thanks again, hope you had a good ride home:flowerforyou:

Isn't he just great? :happy: Thanks again Banks!

SHBoss1673 · October 2009

Welcome guys. I hope this helps.

Losing 5-7 more pounds-advice please

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