deekaydee Member

Win.

There's no reason the majority of your workouts should be cardio. That's personal preference. Weight loss comes from a calorie deficit, plain and simple, how you create that deficit is up to you. If you prefer to do cardio to create that deficit, fine, if not, you can still create a deficit by eating less. Weight lifting…

When? Yesterday. Seriously, if your goal is to minimize muscle loss while losing fat, there is no reason to wait.

Oh, and there's also a SL5x5 download for your iPod/iPad that I LOVE. Super easy to use and great at tracking your progress.

Stronglifts is a free download. Google it. It comes with a 'tracker' spreadsheet and a rather lengthy manual. The manual is wordy and 'gimmicky', but once you figure out the basics of the program, you're golden. There's not much on proper form, however, so I strongly recommend doing your own research on form, getting a…

I have to echo this. I started off doing New Rules of Lifting for Women, but switched to Stronglifts 5x5 a month ago. I LOOOOOVE Stronglifts, love the results, love the simplicity of the program. New Rules was a good read, and I liked the first few stages, but I find Stronglifts much more effective. With New Rules I was…

I am also 5'7" and currently 150. At about 162-163 I hit a plateau, and broke it by eating at maintenance level for two weeks. I gained a couple lbs in the first few days, but lost them quickly, then actually dropped a couple more during maintenance mode. After two weeks, I dropped my deficit back down (to only 250-300…

Check out the MFP Group -- there's a whole lot of people doing it..... http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/102-new-rules-of-lifting-for-women-nrol4w

1200 calories is pretty low. I think it is a great idea to slowly increase your calories. If you have been at 1200, I would say find out what maintenance would be for your goal weight, and then increase by roughly 100 per week until you get there. I've heard people suggest eating at maintenance for your goal weight in…

Log each ingredient separately, then when you are done, click "Tools" and save it as a recipe. Then when you make it again, you can add it from your "My Recipes" tab. If you make a few things fairly regularly, you really only have to take the time to log it once.

I think the general consensus is that isolation lifts (e.g., bicep curls) are often less effective than compound lifts (bench press). Bicep curls isolate just one muscle as opposed to using multiple muscle groups together. Compound lifts are better for functional strength because you are training your muscles to work…

Seconded. (on both counts....I almost didn't try the program because it sounded so gimmicky, but heard such good things about it. I'm very pleased with it.)

How much of a calorie deficit are you at? 1200 is really low. Expect the last 10 to come off much slower, your max calorie deficit should be 250 per day. I've actually manually set mine to about 150 deficit and fully expect these last ten pounds to take five or six months.

One more thing, the book recommends a max of 300 calorie deficit. You may be fine with a higher deficit, but I would just pay attention to your body, eat your exercise calories, and make sure you feel like you have plenty of energy.

I did NROLFW for several months. (i've now switched to Stronglifts). At the time, I had a very similar schedule to yours. I typically only took Saturdays off, lifted MWF, ran TThSun. It worked for me. I think you'll do fine. No particular leg day in New Rules. Each is a full body workout.

You can buy calipers, they're not totally accurate, and you likely need to have someone help you get the measurements, but I believe is more accurate than the scales. http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Health-6575XXXX-Skinfold-Caliper/dp/B000NN9SDO I just recently purchased these.

Thanks -- and to be fair to this nurse, she did tell me that *too* low of cholesterol is not a good thing -- but she said generally you worry about that when it dips below 100. The "normal" range for this test was 120-199, so I was just a hair below at 114. I've always had relatively low cholesterol, I'm genetically…

Thanks -- not a bad idea. I would note that her advice regarding calcium had nothing to do with any of my screening results, but just because I happen to eat a lot of animal proteins. I personally have not ever worried about my calcium level and I'm not sure I'm worried about it now. That's one of the things that kind of…

Another vote for Stronglifts. I'm in my 3rd week of it, and I like the simplicity (in concept, that is!), and the structured plan for increasing and deloading.

It can be so hard to not get hung up on scale weight, but DON'T GET HUNG UP ON SCALE WEIGHT!! Particularly when you are seeing results, like clothes fitting better! That's what your true goal is, right? To be smaller -- not just to have gravity exert less force on your body. That's all scale weight is.....a measure of the…

I pay no attention to it. It's a mathematical formula only, and is only based on calories. (It doesn't care about your sodium levels.) It makes a few assumptions: 1) a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories equals exactly one pound of weight loss, all the time. 2) you net the EXACT same amount of calories as you did that day…

Start by doing negative chin-ups. Jump up so your chin is above the bar, hold it, and lower yourself as slowly as you can. Do 3 sets of those a few times a week. That really helped to improve my chin-up ability. Lat pull-downs are a good exercise as well.

The "complete this entry" function just tells you that if you netted the EXACT same amount of calories as you did that day every day for the next five weeks, then mathematically you would be at a certain weight based on the calorie deficit you're creating. It means nothing. Because, even if you ate exactly the same way for…

LOG EVERYTHING! That was what really helped to change my poor eating habits. I didn't promise myself I would stop eating chocolate. I DID promise myself I would log EVERYTHING. There was no reason I couldn't keep that promise, and it made me much less likely to go for a second handful of M&Ms.

1800-2000 seems like a reasonable amount to eat -- do you think you are measuring portions accurately? You might just want to try upping your calories to "maintenance" for a while -- (whatever that is -- maybe eat about 2200-2500 daily) -- then go back down and see if that helps? That is what I did to break my plateau. At…

I'm not sure anyone will really be able to answer you accurately, as all calorie estimates are just that -- estimates. You may have to play with it to find out what works for you. How many calories have you been eating up until now?

NROL says that with regard to its program because each workout is a full body workout. I do 3 days of lifting, and cardio on my 'off' days, because my lifting days focus on compound lifts that work my whole body. If you split your lifting up into certain muscle groups per day, you can lift more often during the week. You…

Most races I have been in it is only enforced for those "competing" for the top spots. But if you are going to wear an iPod, PLEASE turn it down so you can still hear the people around you, emergency vehicles, race officials, etc. I second those that say try to run without it. I used to think I could NEVER run without…

Theoretically...you have it right. BUT, if you only have 15 lbs to lose, you likely will struggle to lose 2 lbs per week. That's doable for someone with, say 40+ lbs to lose, but as you get closer to goal, your body fights against that rate of weight loss. With 15 lbs to go, you should be shooting for no more than 1 lb per…

MFP calculates your TDEE behind the scenes, and then uses it to calculate your deficit. It figures your BMR, then takes your "activity level" that you enter and uses that to figure a multiplier for your BMR. For example, if you are generally sedentary (desk job), MFP will take your BMR * 1.20 (20%) to calculate your TDEE,…