Ask me anything! [FROM FAT to FIT]

Here's my question:

I am 5'2" tall and currently weigh 173.4 pounds (down almost 41 pounds from my starting weight in February 2013). I have a relatively sedentary job (desk job). I participate in a boot camp class 4 x a week (with weights), run about 3 x a week and do Zumba 3 x a week. I'm active but not necessarily at my job.

How many calories should I be eating per day? MFP set me at 1200, which I followed for a bit, but now I've had them set at 1550. Am I eating the right amount now? Should it be less? I don't want to stall my progress by eating too much/not enough.

Thank you.

What is the best way to lower body fat from 27% to 20%? I am particularly trying to lose a few inches from my belly.

How many training days, how long should I do per week? Should I include HIIT based workouts for faster results or just stick with weight training?

What is the ideal macro ratio for this? 40 -40 -20C?

How long will it take? Did you find the last 10-15 lbs hardest?

Thanks a lot in advance?

I really like this thread so I will ask a question

I'm in maintenance mode right now due to lots of life changes. I recently moved and don't have access to my bike, a gym, or even my scale for the time being.

I have been doing the C25K program 3 times a week and also an at home body weight based strength program 3 times a week. The strength program is a 4 week program with workouts that change each time and include things like squats, pushups, burpees, etc. The strength program is a pretty short (10-20 minutes) workout but very intense (done in a circuit). In addition to that routine I do some core exercises on my strength days like crunches, front and side planks, supermans or opposite arm/leg extensions. My husband even started doing this with me since we moved and he likes it well enough even though he prefers to lift in a gym.

Is this strength routine adequate? I have been tracking my progress and I have definitely improved quite a bit over time, for example there is one workout that is 50 burpees and the first time I did it in February it took me over 20 minutes and when I did the same workout in July it took me less than 10.

What home-based workout would you recommend? I do have a few hand weights in a box that I don't use but I think the heaviest are only 8 pounds. There might be some resistance bands in there too Since we just moved our budget is pretty tight so we can't purchase any new equipment or a gym membership right now although down the road we would like to have our own home gym.

First as many have said thank you for taking the time out of you day to answer questions.

I have a couple (maybe more of a rambling question)

I weigh 389.0 right now I use the MFP suggestion of 2,450 calories (after reading your other posts i'll go use one of the calculators you posted and see if it matches up with MFP closely. Never really knew what formula to use b4). At 2450 cals I lost 4lbs first week than had a 3 day "fat" weekend so gained 2 back but 2450 seemed to be working wasn't ever hungry even the occasional day that I was below 2450. I'm doing 30 min walks 3-3.5 mpg (calculated by the Endomondo pro app so not guessing there (unless the app is)) partly to walk the dog partly b/c blood pressure is a little high so I think I should keep that up (as you have stated cardio good for health reasons). I guess my rambling question here is should I start weigh lifting (sounds like I should from this thread and others that I have read) and do you know of a site (you have listed a couple here. Just use those?) that has lists of exercises and proper form (also I can youtube but you seem to know what your doing so if you have a great place to go then hey why not).

I know that the macros are important but for someone as overweight as I am would just losing the weigh matter more or still try to hit the macros while losing the weight?

also for the 389 to have context I'm a 28 year old male 5'10.

hope I didn't ramble so much that i didn't make any sense.

Thank you for your time

What do you think about the 16/8 eating regimen, some refer to it as intermittent fasting = meaning you eat the entirety of your food in a 8 hr window and fast for the other 16 - leangains.com. I've been doing this for a while and have had good success, though just curious to see what you think about it.

I follow Intermittent Fasting myself only differences is I do 18/6. Aside from health benefits that have been studied etc, I found it removed ALL my hunger issues, I didn't lose my appetite (don't confuse the two). I just never had that urge to eat for no reason anymore, so it was great.

I recently wrote an article about it actually, over on my Facebook page. If you are interested send me a private message and i'll forward it to you.

Hey quick question about your 18/6, Do you eat all your recommended calories and/or macros for the day in that 6 hour window?

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question Ritch! You confirmed what I think, too

Hi So I've been having major problems trying to lose weight. I've been seeing a nutritionist monthly and it hasn't helped thus far. I've been sticking to around 30-40 carbs a day and about 1300 calories and I try to workout most days of the week. I have yet to lose any weight and it's been over 5 months. I NEED to lose 20 pounds in order to have a gastric bypass. Do you have ideas that might jump start weight loss?

I'm a such a dork, but the Zombie Run is a mud/run, obstacle course where you are chased by volunteers dressed as Zombies.

female 24 yrs old
5'2
sw 220 lbs
cw 166 lbs
gw ~120lbs

no gym access currently owns set of 2,5,8,10 lb dumbbells and one 35 lb dumbbell and am looking into buying a barbell. I do Zumba one or two times a week for one hour at a time, use fitness blender videos and videos by jJessica Smith to do cardio and strength with dumbbells, 3 days a week, most have multiple reps and I am comfortable using the ten lb weights. I am interested in lifting heavy but not super knowledgeable. oh I eat approximately 1500 calories a day.

with what u kno about me, give me your best advice to achieve optimum results of lmm and low bf

:-)