HELP! I need advice!!!!

[Adrienne81]

Hello everyone!

I have finally gotten back into the swing of things (after about 2 months away from the gym - eeeek!) and am trying a new diet/exercise program. I have a lot of good muscle mass, but have some fat to loose!(maybe a lot) -Mainly in my lower body. I am 5 foot 3 inches tall and 160 pounds. ( eeeeek !) although I do have a larger frame -so I want to aim to weigh maybe 135-140 pounds -and to loose fat, but i am not too concerned if i loose a little muscle either. I currently do 1/2 hour of lower intensity cardio on my lunch break and then after dinner do 45 min of moderate to high intensity cardio on a few different machines and then 1/2 hour walking on the treadmill on an incline to try and firm up my rear! so cardio 5 days a week. I have heard sooooo many different theories on cardio - but i beleive in just busting my ass at it! (right or wrong?) I lift weights twice a week - upper and lower body - then do stomach every other day. I also attend a total body toning class - with very light weights 3 times a week. I eat about 6-7 small meals a day - getting carbs from oatmeal and sweet potatoe. (no carbs after about 3pm or so) I have about 125 grams of protien in isopure shakes split up throughout the day - ( 25 grams post workout at night) I also eat about 50 grams of protien a day in eggs (mostly whites) and lean chicken or beef, for a total of about 175g protein a day. The only thing i eat after 6 is my post w/o shake. I get my veggies and no more than 2 pieces of fruit a day - also lots of h2o! I would really appreciate some advice - ! I am very motivated to loose my fat and become stronger! I know it wont happen overnight, and am willing to continue making this a way of life! Thanks so much!

[chicmuscle]

busting your ass during cardio philosophy or theory,,, yes! im doing it 6 days a week now between 30-50 minutes. run the incline if you can. so far what you wrote looks good to me. have you been getting results thus far? how many meals with carb sources? either oatmeal and such or fruit.

chichy

[Frosty]

I'd replace the shakes with meat and lift heavy. That should help get the weight off.

[Adrienne81]

Hey thanks for responding -

chichy: My breakfast has carbs- (oatmeal), then one snack of 1/2 cup high fiber cereal and then lunch has sweet potatoe (1/2 of one) then post lunch snack has the other 1/2 of the potatoe - ... oh! and the snack after breakfast has 1 fruit - apple, peach or grapes etc.....

Frosty: lift heavy? really? how do I gague what is heavy for me? I am pretty strong! How many reps? Like as much weight i can do for about 8-10 reps before failure??? What is your theory on cardio? oh - and the shakes are 0 carb isolated whey - is meat still better??

Thanks both for the advice!!! )

more would be greatly appreciated!

[Frosty]

Originally posted by Adrienne81
Frosty: lift heavy? really? how do I gague what is heavy for me? I am pretty strong! How many reps? Like as much weight i can do for about 8-10 reps before failure??? What is your theory on cardio? oh - and the shakes are 0 carb isolated whey - is meat still better??

3 sets of 8-10 reps of the core lifts would be great. 70-75% of your 1 rep max.

You could do a very basic routine like the following:

Monday
Squats (all the way down) 3x10

Wednesday
Bench press or dips 3x10

Friday
Seated rows 3x10

The reason is this will help you burn calories AND keep muscle tissue. The more muscle you keep, the easier it is for you to lose fat (1 lb of muscle burns 50 calories a day doing nothing but existing). If you get nice and lean and discover you have TOO much muscle (unlikely), you can always just lose the muscle quickly lol. That would be easy if that were ever the case, but I doubt it would be the case.

My theory on cardio is you need to burn calories while maintaining muscle tissue (to help you to keep burning fat).

Jogging for a long time is probably the most catabolic thing you can do in terms of normal cardio. I tend to suggest against jogging for long times because of this.

I perfer high intensity cardio for short times along with low intensity cardio like walking for a longer time.

The high intensity cardio (sprinting, or "sprinting" on a bike) burns a tons of calories, but it also ups your resting metabolic rate for the whole day. This helps burn fat. Not to mention sprinting is a muscle-building activity, while jogging is a muscle-catabolising activity (just look at any sprinter and any distance runner!).

Walking is good because it burns calories, and mostly in the form of fat since it's nice and low intensity. An hour a day is nice if you can, but any walking helps. It's easy enough that it's not going to eat away your muscles like jogging would.

As to the meat issue...yes, meat is still better. Meat is ALWAYS better because it takes calories to digest the meat! You could burn an extra 100 or more calories a day by simply eating lots of meat. This is not the case with protein shakes. Not to mention the meat will help you keep your muscle better since it's slow digesting.

[Die$eL~Man]

WINNY >>>>

[Adrienne81]

Heh heh - Yea - but I really dont wanna get manly or anything! And isnt winny anabolic??

[Adrienne81]

Thanks a bunch Frosty!!!!! This really helps!!!!!

[Adrienne81]

Frosty - Oh - is there any alternatives to dips and bench that you would recommend...... cant do either.....breast implants under the muscle (sorry if that's TMI!)- very uncomfy!!!! Make me wanna vomit!

[Frosty]

Originally posted by Adrienne81
Frosty - Oh - is there any alternatives to dips and bench that you would recommend...... cant do either.....breast implants under the muscle (sorry if that's TMI!)- very uncomfy!!!! Make me wanna vomit!

Hmm, I'll make a list of acceptable alternatives, lemme know if you can do any of them:

overhead press, incline press, close-grip bench press, dumbell variations of all these, and finally, push ups.

If you can't do any of these, then I would do lying barbell extensions and delt raises. Can you do flies?

[Adrienne81]

Hmmmm...can do tricep pushups - not regular though... um, flies yes...havent tried close-grip bench...ill have to give that a go....um could you explain the lying barbell extensions and delt raises? sanx!!!!

[Frosty]

Originally posted by Adrienne81
Hmmmm...can do tricep pushups - not regular though... um, flies yes...havent tried close-grip bench...ill have to give that a go....um could you explain the lying barbell extensions and delt raises? sanx!!!!

Give the close-grip bench a shot. Try to do the widest grip you can. If you can do this, then you won't have to do the lying extensions.

[Adrienne81]

Thanks a bunch!!!!!!!