What am I doing wrong?

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Keriann23
Keriann23 Posts: 37 Member
edited June 2016 in Fitness and Exercise
I am currently 167 lbs I lost 71 lbs over 2 year period. I am struggling to lose my remaining 15 lbs I wanted to lose by a trip mid August. I go to the gym 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day (before and after work) I want to tighten my thighs (jiggle monsters), arms (flapping wings) and lose the remaining weight. What am I doing wrong at the gym? Any suggestions. I only have about 1 to 1.5 hours a session to cram both cardio and weights in.

What I normally do
Use the Leg Machines/Arm Machines at the gym. 3 sets of 10 for all of them.
then
I hit either the Treadmill or Eliptical
Treadmill - 30 min cardio. I have trouble running so I start at 3.1 mph, then every 3 min speed it up to 4.2 and run for 2 min, then bring it back down. DO that until I have 10 minutes left, then the last 10 min I go at a speed of 3.1 and increase the incline every minute all the way up to 9. (says burns about 180 cal)

Eliptical, I go at a 3.8 speed for 20 min (says burns about 200 cal)

My legs, I can see are fat and bumpy. Arms are thicker flabbs. so I think they both still haves some fat in them. I just want to have them tone up while losing thickness

Replies

  • danhib
    danhib Posts: 290 Member
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    Any cardio you do is good. Try working more of your larger muscles. Do a day of working say chest & back, then a day legs & shoulders, day core & arms. You decide when you do cardio. Working you legs with weights is good but you neglect chest & shoulders. Machines also isolate your muscles if you use free weights you will have better form & will be better for you.
  • ew_david
    ew_david Posts: 3,473 Member
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    Keriann23 wrote: »
    I am currently 167 lbs I lost 71 lbs over 2 year period. I am struggling to lose my remaining 15 lbs I wanted to lose by a trip mid August. I go to the gym 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day (before and after work) I want to tighten my thighs (jiggle monsters), arms (flapping wings) and lose the remaining weight. What am I doing wrong at the gym? Any suggestions. I only have about 1 to 1.5 hours a session to cram both cardio and weights in.

    What I normally do
    Use the Leg Machines/Arm Machines at the gym. 3 sets of 10 for all of them.
    then
    I hit either the Treadmill or Eliptical
    Treadmill - 30 min cardio. I have trouble running so I start at 3.1 mph, then every 3 min speed it up to 4.2 and run for 2 min, then bring it back down. DO that until I have 10 minutes left, then the last 10 min I go at a speed of 3.1 and increase the incline every minute all the way up to 9. (says burns about 180 cal)

    Eliptical, I go at a 3.8 speed for 20 min (says burns about 200 cal)

    My legs, I can see are fat and bumpy. Arms are thicker flabbs. so I think they both still haves some fat in them.

    The answer to the bold is nothing. While it doesn't look like you follow any particular program, I would suggest reevaluating your diet before changing anything at the gym.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    OP, what is making you think that you are doing anything wrong? You didn't indicate if the problem is just that you can still see fat or if you are losing weight slowly or something else.

    I am going to note that losing 15 pounds before now and mid-August (8 weeks from now) would be pretty difficult. I don't know your height but a loss of something between .5 and 1 pound per week is going to be more likely than almost 2 pounds per week.
  • Keriann23
    Keriann23 Posts: 37 Member
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    I am losing it slowly. about 1 lb a week or .5 a week yes. I am 5'3" so I am on the shorter female side. 5'3" and 167 lbs. Should I just push myself harder doing cardio?
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
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    Keriann23 wrote: »
    I am losing it slowly. about 1 lb a week or .5 a week yes. I am 5'3" so I am on the shorter female side. 5'3" and 167 lbs. Should I just push myself harder doing cardio?

    What you're doing wrong is not having reasonable expectations. 1/2 to 1 lb a week loss is pretty much perfect, especially with only about 15 lb or so to lose.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    Keriann23 wrote: »
    I am losing it slowly. about 1 lb a week or .5 a week yes. I am 5'3" so I am on the shorter female side. 5'3" and 167 lbs. Should I just push myself harder doing cardio?

    you are losing a pound per week, what is the problem?

    weight loss slows down over time and is not linear..

    I would suggest getting on a structured lifting program like strong lifts or something, as this will help with body composition.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Keriann23 wrote: »
    I am losing it slowly. about 1 lb a week or .5 a week yes. I am 5'3" so I am on the shorter female side. 5'3" and 167 lbs. Should I just push myself harder doing cardio?

    You are losing at a good rate. There's nothing going wrong here. You just need to adjust your expectations. One half to one pound per week is good for you at this point. It is also reasonable, considering your height and weight, to still have visible fat on your legs. Don't stress yourself out unnecessarily. Keep doing what you're doing and no, I absolutely would not suggest pushing harder on cardio.
  • ew_david
    ew_david Posts: 3,473 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Keriann23 wrote: »
    I am losing it slowly. about 1 lb a week or .5 a week yes. I am 5'3" so I am on the shorter female side. 5'3" and 167 lbs. Should I just push myself harder doing cardio?

    The only thing you're doing wrong is having unrealistic expectations. You're doing a great job; don't change a thing!
  • Scamd83
    Scamd83 Posts: 808 Member
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    Just to back up what everyone else is saying, you're losing fine, lower your expectations, you can't lose anymore fat than you currently are. Accept that and carry on with what you're doing.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,444 Member
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    You're not doing anything wrong. Just one question: are you ever increasing your weights? If you always just do the same, doesn't matter whether it's cardio or weights you're not getting better or getting more muscles.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    The only thing I would suggest is a progressive weight training program like Stronglifts or Strong Curves that has you adding weight to your lifts as you progress. I used Stronglifts and loved it. You can check it out at stronglifts.com and download the app to track your progress at the gym.
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
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    You can build all the muscle you want but if there's a layer of fat over it then it's never going to show the way you want it to. In order to drop your body fat percentage you're going to have to take a serious look at your diet and adjust as necessary to incorporate less carbs (no need to go Atkins, you get what I mean.. just don't go overboard), more protein (up to 1g/lb of goal weight) and keep your fat intake to a medium level. Try out iifym.com's calculator for macros, it's done wonders for me over the last six months. I'm down to around 12-13% body fat and building muscle. As far as your workouts they sound good, only thing I'd add is body weight training, but definitely keep the cardio.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    Spliner1969 wrote: »
    You can build all the muscle you want but if there's a layer of fat over it then it's never going to show the way you want it to. In order to drop your body fat percentage you're going to have to take a serious look at your diet and adjust as necessary to incorporate less carbs (no need to go Atkins, you get what I mean.. just don't go overboard), more protein (up to 1g/lb of goal weight) and keep your fat intake to a medium level. Try out iifym.com's calculator for macros, it's done wonders for me over the last six months. I'm down to around 12-13% body fat and building muscle. As far as your workouts they sound good, only thing I'd add is body weight training, but definitely keep the cardio.

    or just eat in a deficit and keep lifting heavy...carb intake has nothing to do with it, unless of course OP has some medical condition that we are not aware of.

    and sorry to break it to you but it is pretty unlikely that you are dropping body fat and adding muscle...the only caveat being newbie gains....
  • pmm3437
    pmm3437 Posts: 529 Member
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    Your description of your body composition and training routine lead me to believe you have lost a lot of muscle mass while dieting long term. You are heading for a condition refered to as "skinny fat".

    My recommendation would be to start on a progressive strength training program like StrongLifts, Starting Strength, etc., or have a trainer design a custom routine for you. Make sure you are getting adequate protein to preserve muscle while you continue to lose.

    For your stats, your Sed TDEE is only ~ 1665. Since you shouldn't be limiting yourself to < 1200 cals/day, you only have room to lose up to about 1 lb./week safely, with the time you have available for training.

  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
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    ndj1979 wrote: »
    and sorry to break it to you but it is pretty unlikely that you are dropping body fat and adding muscle...the only caveat being newbie gains....

    I'm eating between 2500-3k calories a day on average it's not impossible to gain muscle. It may be slower than someone who eats 4k calories a day but it's possible, albeit slow. Maintenance calories for me is around 2070 per day without exercise factored in. If I were still at 1800 calories a day then yes, I'd agree with you.

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