Strength Training & General Plan Advice

onsugarhill

I just started this program a few weeks ago, and I am interested in adding strength training to my routine. What are the best forms of strength training that I can do without joining a gym or buying a lot of exercise equipment?

Also, I'd appreciate some feedback on my plan.

I am female, 5'6", 157 lb., and 28% body fat according to my scale. I'd like to reduce the body fat to 22% at most and ideally reach a weight of 130-135, but the weight is a secondary concern.

I originally identified myself as sedentary, used the MFP calculation, and was eating 1200 calories per day, tracking all exercise (walking, etc.) and eating back the exercise calories. I was exhausted and felt like I was going to starve.

I then read the In Place of a Road Map post (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12), as well as other advice, and calculated a BMR of about 1500 calories. I live in NYC in a fourth floor walk-up and I walk and take the subway everywhere, so despite my office job I reassessed myself as lightly active, giving me a TDEE of 2080. A reduction of slightly more than 20% gives me 1600 calories. Does that seem reasonable?

I am planning get back to doing Zumba at least two to three times a week and will track that exercise and eat back the calories, but I'm not tracking the day-to-day walking, cleaning, etc. I'd like to integrate strength training as well but have never done it and have no idea where to start.

onsugarhill

bump - any advice?

Cr01502

You can look into Convict Conditioning or You Are Your Own Gym.

Both are programs designed to make you stronger without the use of Gym equipment.

As far your TDEE goes I would say experiment with it a bit. If you feel like your starving and losing too fast adjust your daily activity level.

I personally keep my settings at sedentary and just log in all exercise (i.e. walking around town, taking the dog for a walk, etc.) but that may or may not work for you.

onsugarhill

Thank you for the suggestions! I'll look into both of those options.

I haven't seen any weight change yet, but I'm telling myself not to worry about it for one more week. If there's still no change, I'll need to do a lot more research to figure out why. I'm feeling satisfied but not over-full at the 1600 calorie level without a significant change in my activity level yet.

I was tempted to log all activity, but I realized I'd go crazy trying to time everything and figured I must at least be lightly active. I guess I'll see!

Thanks again for the response.