Ladies who are 5'4 please respond! :)

5'4.5" I started out at 168.5. Went primal/paleo Lost 20 lbs in the first two months. Got Cocky and gained 7 back. I'm trying to get back on it now. I'd only like to get down to 140 with some defined muscular areas.

I'm 5ft 4in and started at 160.5 lbs. I am now 146.5 lbs. My goal is 130 lbs. I just try to make sure that I get my recommended servings of vegetables and fruit according to mypyramid.gov. When I do that...I definatly stay full and within my calorie limit.

5'4....just started hopping on a treadmill (or power walking around the neighborhood) a couple times a week, and doing 30 day shred a couple times a week and watching the calories. I stayed about 1300 and definitely ate most of my exercise calories, and I drink a ton of water. Currently at 134, mainly focusing on toning. wouldnt mind getting down to 130, but not really a big deal.

i am 5'5 and i started out weighing 146 pounds. I am now down to 130.8 pounds (15 pounds w00t w00t) and my goal is 125.

i stopped drinking alcohol during the week and i drink 12 - 15 cups of water every day. I watch my sodium and keep it around 1500-1800mg a day. I eat a lot of whole grains, and fresh fruit and vegetables. I also eat vegetarian 3 days out of the week. I hardly ever eat red meat anymore and started incorporating a ton more fish into my diet.

i work out 5 days a week. tuesdays and thursdays i run a mile and a half and take zumba, and on Saturdays i do weight training and run as well. the other two days i normally do one of my many workout dvd's or the elliptical at my house

I don't count cuz I'm only 5'2".
BUT - to all the people here that are at a healthy weight but want to get leaner check out the link in my signature (be prepared to read a little - it's a long thread but the goods ones usually are).

Relatively light looking to get leaner. It's all about lifting heavy weights and less about cardio. Women can't bulk up just lifting - they need testosterone. Not saying to give up cardio - just need to focus less on it and more on strength training. It's really, really interesting.

Here's the last post from the thread:

This thread generates a lot of emails where people ask me questions pertaining to the information presented. I thought I'd share part of a recent exchange since I don't believe it was covered in the thread already and I get these questions numerous times.

QUOTE:
My questions begin here: If I'm to focus more on toning/growing my muscles with strength training, how much of a deficit should I still be working with (if any)? You said several times throughout the thread that in order to grow muscle most people need a surplus of calories, not a deficit...so should I start off just lifting with my current level of caloric intake, and just see IF I seem to need a few more calories?


That's a question I can't answer, unfortunately.

Your choices are:

1. Try losing more fat while maintaining the muscle you currently have.

2. Try maintaining the fat you currently have while adding more muscle.

Each require strength training. But ultimately it's a call you have to make on your own. If you feel you're becoming too thin, then maybe it's time to go on a muscle building phase. If you don't, maybe focus on getting rid of some more of the soft stuff while working to maintain the muscle you do have.

QUOTE:
I don't want to be counterproductive and gain any more fat from not using all of the food I'm eating supposedly for muscle gain.


That's impossible. If you're in a calorie surplus, you will gain some fat. None of us partition all of our calories into muscle. Just as when we are in a deficit some of the weight we lose will be muscle, when we are in a surplus, some of the weight we gain will be fat. The goal is to optimize these ratios the best we can which is where proper nutrition and training come into play.

Look at it like this...

I've many female clients who've come to me looking to "tone up." Invariably most of them do in fact have some more fat to lose. So they're not left looking frail and soft once the fat is gone though... I'll have them strength train. In fact, strength training will be prioritized well ahead of "cardio." Once the fat is reduced to a satisfactory level, if they're still not happy, we'll go on a surplus phase in an attempt to add muscle.

Sure, fat will be gained during this surplus phase, but that's not the point. Once we add an appreciable level of muscle, we'll then diet the fat off again but this time we'll be maintaining a larger base of muscle than the base we had during the first deficit phase.

Very few of us reach our "goal weight" and are left content. More often than not it requires multiple phases of gaining muscle and losing fat to get things as "right" as our genetics are going to dictate. This isn't always the case... but I've found it to be the norm.

QUOTE:
I think I'd still like to do about 30 minutes of cardio 3-5 times per week to try and accelerate the fat loss...so this is where I'm a little confused. Do I need to be eating with a deficit, at maintenance, or running at a slight surplus? Or should I just forget about doing cardio for the time being?


Even when my clients are in a surplus phase, I still have them doing cardio 3 times per week. It's not mandatory... but if for no other reason, I suggest it for the maintenance of cardiorespiratory health.

QUOTE:
And in our original conversation, you recommended 2-3 full body exercise days. Would I consolidate the days in the example plan to make it a 2 day workout instead of a 4 day workout? Or would splitting it up over 4 days be better?


In the beginner who has never strength trained before, I suggest 2-3 full body days per week. If the goal is muscle gain, I'd shoot for 3. If it's fat loss... muscle maintenance doesn't require as much volume as does muscle growth, so you'd probably be fine sticking with 2.

QUOTE:
Lastly, I have been thinking about getting a HRM to see how many calories I really do tend to burn during workout sessions and throughout the day; do you have any specific thoughts on HRMs? I would like to get one without a chest strap, but wonder how accurate those are in reality.


I don't get into all of that for my fat loss clients. I'm not a fan of worrying about how many calories you expend via exercise as the "process" I outlined in the calorie requirements thread will iron out any wrinkles.

I do use HRM for some of the athletes I work with but that's not for tracking energy expenditure at all.

when i first started i thought i was 5'4 so i aimed for 120 but then i measured and saw im 5'3 so now its 115 :bigsmile: