Not lean enough?

Voca_Star
Voca_Star Posts: 140
in Motivation and Support
I'm sorry for reposting this, honestly. But I haven't gotten a lot of advice so I don't know what to do. :((

So two weeks ago when I weighed myself i was 141 pounds. Last weekend I was 138. This weekend I was 139.5.
I'm not stressing that anymore, weight fluctuates. I want to get down to about 115 - 120, hopefully by my 19th birthday, next February. By the way, I'm only 5'3". So I have a couple of questions and as many answers as possible would be greatly appreciated.....^^

First of all, I usually burn about 250 -400 with my exercise, depending on what it is. So should I eat those calories back or just stick with the 1250 that MFP recommends for me daily? I want to lose fat, so keeping a calorie deficit is a MUST. Will it still count as a calorie deficit if I eat my exercise calories back? Also, if I burn more calories than MFP recommends....is this bad?

Second of all, for exercise I do: Sun, Tues, Thurs, Friday, I do 35 - 45 minutes of intense cardio. Depending on what I do for cardio, it burns between 250 - 400 calories. And then on Monday and Wednesday, I do a circuit routine. This is my routine:

5 minutes of rope jumping
20 crunches
25 squats
10 - 15 (all I can do...for now) push ups)
5 minutes of running in place
25 leg lifts
15 lunges on each leg
25 chest flies (ten pound weights)
*****And, repeat. About, 3 - 4 times.******

Is this a good routine for losing fat? The cardio alone will burn about 300 - 400 calories (according to MFP)

Third, with doing all of this and keeping a diet high in protein, low in sugar, and eating lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free dairies, and drinking lots of water, will that be a good way to get a flat stomach? I have an event next May I want to look lean for so any advice is great!

The reason for the title is basically, I told some friends of mine about this Cosplay I want to do (if you don't know what Cosplay is, to sum it up, it's dressing up in a costume of sorts) and they told me I wasn't lean enough. It made me realize I'm not as healthy as I want to be so I'm challenging myself to get as lean by next May as possible!

Replies

  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    you have to seriously lift heavy to burn fat.
  • trkilpatrick
    trkilpatrick Posts: 37 Member
    I am certainly no expert (i am still a newbie here) but i would first suggest getting a heart rate monitor. The numbers given on MFP for calories burned tend to be a little inflated (in my case). I have found since i bought mine that cardio work gets your heart rate up more thus burning more calories in the time period but i am pretty sure that you will want to incorporate some strength training in as well. The reason i say this is because i have seen lots of pictures of people that weigh the same but because one was lifting, looked quite a bit more trim than the one that did just cardio.
    I guess the main point here is that it is important to do both cardio and weight training to get the most out of your time. There are varying opinions on this matter so i am curious to see what the other responses are...
    Hope this helps! Good luck!
  • wolfpack77
    wolfpack77 Posts: 655
    How tall are you?

    EDIT: Oh wait.. 5' 3'' duh. :smile:
  • hamiltonba
    hamiltonba Posts: 474 Member
    she is 5'3"
  • postrockandcats
    postrockandcats Posts: 1,145 Member
    Two things come to mind- eat back your exercise calories and start heavy lifting. Remember that MFP already includes a deficit with their caloric goals for you. If you eat back what you burned, you're still fine. Not to mention that you're fueling your body for building muscle, which is what helps burn fat.

    Also, f**k those people who told you that you weren't lean enough.

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