Help Needed

[FlexManning]

Hello Ladies...I was wondering if any of you could give me some advice. My hubby is really into bodybuilding/weightlifting (im posting on his id by the way), and I would like to be able to share his interest and at the same time get back into shape. I want a body to be proud of, not something that I don't even want to see in the mirror.
A little about myself: I am 29 years old, 5'6" tall, 132 lbs. I'm pretty lean, just have the typical fatty areas that a woman has after having kids (I've had 3). I've never been the type of person that really "diets". BUT......I have the motivation and I'm ready to get started!!! My typical day......the first thing that I grab when I get up in the morning is a coke....and thats what I drink all day long. I don't really have a set eating schedule. I just basically snack all day long and have one big meal. If I get hungry.....I'll grab a pack of Fig Newton's or a can of pringles. So, not exactly the best eating habits.
I'm still in the process of reading the stickies at the top of the forum. But I would appreciate all of the advice that I could get. But the thing is.......I don't even know where to begin!!

 

[Sassy69]

Hey girl welcome to EF!

Sounds like your goals should be pretty easy given the diet you are mentioning now - a couple weeks on a clean diet should do wonders. My suggestion is to start w/ The Shadow Project - its laid out every day + training - lots of the girls on here have had great success w/ it.

Start w/ the "Are you new to EF Ladies Board? START HERE!" sticky - there are a couple links to The Shadow Project you can read over to get a feel for it. Otherwise there are several sampe diets on Daisy_Girl's "TOP THREADS" sticky.

 

[*Bunny*]

^^^
Great place to start is here:
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=388278

welcome to ef!

 

[needtogetaas]

good luck girl.

 

[FlexManning]

Thanks for the quick replies to my post. A few more questions if you don't mind?? 1). About how many calories do you think that I need in a day?? I'm right at 132 lbs right now.
2). Ab. exercises......I have a bikini cut c-section....and very weak stomach muscles. What should I do there?
3). Can anyone recommend a grocery list to me? (Ex. fat burners, supplements, foods??)

 

[Sassy69]

Good rule of thumb for total cals - 1 - 1.2 x your weight = cals. But don't get real hung about how close you stick to that - its a ball park. I compete at 135-140 lb, I cut down to 7% bodyfat on 17-1800 cals/day.

Use a food counts program like www.fitday.com to enter what you are eating on a given day & it will tell you exactly how many cals & how they are broken up - % protein, fat, carb.

For ab muscles - if you are following something like The Shadow Project, it has ab exercises in there - you really don't want to over train them either so don't go in like you want to train them every day - they are still an individual muscle group just like back, legs, chest, etc. Also remember that to get your "six pack" to show isn't all about how many sit ups you do but rather getting the bodyfat off that set of muscles -- therefore its also not about training abs every day - instead let the diet do what it is supposed to do & eventually you get there.

Grocery list - if you are just getting your diet straight you really dont' need to worry about fat burners and all the other shit. There are no magic pills that "make the difference" if your diet isn't doing what it should do first. Probably a good multi vitamin is a good place to start.

Foods: good options are:
- proteins: chicken breasts, steak, fish, turkey (ground or breasts), egg whites
- fats: almonds, all natural peanut butter (ANPB), flax seed oil, pure virgin olive oil
- carbs: sweet potatos, white potatos, brown rice, oatmeal / steel cut oats

Generally would suggest taking a look thru several days of the Shadow PRoject to see what sort of things on there.

 

[Daisy_Girl]

There is a link to a list of clean foods in the stickies up top .... Here is the link:

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=448537

Use that list to help you plan foods to buy at the grocery store.


As far as ab exercises - anything pilates based will help you get your core strength back.

 

[Gymgurl]

Welcome and good luck!