I need help!

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alyssarenea1996
alyssarenea1996 Posts: 90 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello, my name is Alyssa! I'm new to this fitness journey. I've been eating about 1,200 calories a day, I am 5'1, and 200.3 lbs. I have a goal body in mind, but am not quite sure how to reach it. I want to be muscular but I have no idea where to start. As of right now I do high intensity zumba on Wednesdays and walk anywhere between one and six miles a day. I hope to start doing Piyo Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday plus my zumba and walking, but I know that isn't going to build my body the way I'm going for. So, I interested in opinions on what I'm doing now plus opinions on starting Crossfit?

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  • kyleliermann
    kyleliermann Posts: 156 Member
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    I have done crossfit and it will for sure get you in shape, and I would be careful with insanity, I did it for about 3 weeks and got Achilles tendinitis from it. no fun
  • giantrobot_powerlifting
    giantrobot_powerlifting Posts: 2,598 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Without doing the math, and all the activity you've listed that you do or will either do, you probably should increase the calories some. Lose weight at a steady healthy rate and incorporate strength training to maintain LBM -- muscle is what burns the calories at rest.
  • alyssarenea1996
    alyssarenea1996 Posts: 90 Member
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    I've been loosing the weight very steadily. I've lost about eight pounds in 30 days, but I've lost a lot of my waist (I should've taken measurements and didn't) I can tell I've built some muscle, especially in my calves from walking the hills I have around my house. I'm honestly considering a personal trainer, but I would rather not take that route.
  • IGbnat24
    IGbnat24 Posts: 520 Member
    edited March 2016
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    You're cutting too many calories for your weight and activity. You should lose on several hundred more if you're accurately tracking. Any tried and true lifting program is definitely a good idea as it's important to build muscle.
  • lauralou93a
    lauralou93a Posts: 50 Member
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    I would def increase cals if you want to build muscle and increase protein if you haven't already.
  • kwtilbury
    kwtilbury Posts: 1,234 Member
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    nakedraygun wrote: »
    Without doing the math, and all the activity you've listed that you do or will either do, you probably should increase the calories some. Lose weight at a steady healthy rate and incorporate strength training to maintain LBM -- muscle is what burns the calories at rest.

    Agreed. That's too much of a caloric deficit.
  • wilsoncl6
    wilsoncl6 Posts: 1,280 Member
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    1200 calories is enough to survive but not enough to support your energy needs for all of the exercise you're doing. You won't be able to keep it up with what you're eating and will likely burn out from exhaustion. Eat more calories, at least 50% of what you burn for exercise and if you're looking for a more muscular body, add a really good weight training program in there. 5X5 is a good place to start. You are at a good place right now because you can do a body recomp more easily since you have a lot of stored up energy for muscle growth. It's more difficult to gain muscle in a caloric deficit but having a built up reserve is very helpful and adding muscle size will help keep the caloric and fat burning going as the weight comes off and you're less likely to plateau early.
  • alyssarenea1996
    alyssarenea1996 Posts: 90 Member
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    Thank you all :)

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