Newbie .. needs diet/fitness advice

[ashwini]

Hi all:

I am new to this group and I am looking for advice.

I am a 26 year old female, 5'8" weighing anywhere from 223 to 226 lbs. According to my scale I am 43% body fat. Two weeks ago, I had my one year mark employee physical at work and I realized I gained 51 lbs in exactly one year. Granted it was a pretty hard year I had to move away from all my family and friends and I do have a office desk job. I knew I had gained weight and kept telling myself I would but I guess this experience made me realize I need to fix things!

Anyways, I have never gone on a diet in my life. I do not have a physical exercise regiment at all but I want to correct all my wrongs. And do it as best as I can. Last Monday, I went for my first workout session in my entire life with a trainer, we are doing weights for 30 min and I do cardio (like treadmill and some other machine sorta like a elliptical but its not) for about another 20 min. I get winded very quickly.

Last week I did my cardio before my personal training. Today I went for my 2nd session, and I did treadmill for 10 min then weights for 30 min with trainer and 20 min of cardio again.

I have not changed my diet an ounce yet. I do not eat breakfast and typically eat a large lunch or dinner. I do not drink much caffiene but I may drink one cup of coffee or tea once a week. I do not drink any soda. For 3 days, I am drinking 64 oz of water a day. I also ordered Liporexin and it came in the mail today. Not sure if that was a bright idea but it seemed cool from what I was reading on the other board. I was contemplating starting Liporexin tomorrow. I do not take any other medications, the pill, vitamins etc.

And I really hate Peanut Butter, just adding that cause I read a thread about a peanut butter diet.

I would of course like to lose as much fat as possible but I read thats bad for some reason. I want to do it the healthy way. I do not mind taking legal supplements but I do not want to do anything unhealthy or illegal. My goals are to lose as much weight as possible obviously but realistically I would like to be at 180 lbs (lose 45 lbs) in 6months to one year. 160 lbs (losing 65 lbs) would be best case scenario.

I am not sure if you need any other details but if you could take a few minutes and give me your candid thoughts I would really appreciate it.

Thank you so very much, Ashwini

 

[Miss24k]

First thing that you would need to change, before the training, and cardio is your diet, because all the training in the world won't help if you're eating bad. I would suggest you start eating breakfast.Your meals should get smaller as the day goes on, so that would mean having a bigger breakfast, and a small dinner. Cut down on the carbs, and definiately don't eat any at night, because if you don't burn you carbs throughout the day, at night your body will store them as fat.

This is just my suggestion, I'm sure the other ladies on this site, can offer you more advice. Good luck

 

[Miss24k]

Oh also why don't you post a sample of the foods you are eating in a day, with the quantity and at what times you're eating.

 

[poopmonkey]

My single best bit of advice would be to go to the store and buy the Body For Life book. There, you will find consistent (and correct) information on diet and exercise. It even has a section in the back of the book that diagrams the correct way to perform the exercises.

I truly beleive that the book (coupled with the advice on boards like these) has given me all of the information I need to acheive my goals.

 

[FigureSkater]

My single best bit of advice would be to go to the store and buy the Body For Life book. There, you will find consistent (and correct) information on diet and exercise. It even has a section in the back of the book that diagrams the correct way to perform the exercises.

I truly beleive that the book (coupled with the advice on boards like these) has given me all of the information I need to acheive my goals.

I second that reccomendation. It's simple to follow and probably the most sensible diet/exercise program you can find in a book, because it touches on diet/food/and also motivation and self esteem issues surrounding weight loss and teaches you a LIFESTYLE CHANGE, not a "diet" in the "eat less for a temporary time" sense that the word commonly refers to nowadays, making the changes in your body more permanent. I started with that when I wanted to get more cut several years ago (I had always been an athlete but knew NOTHING about how/what/when to eat). My boyfriend, who played hockey for many years but whose diet of crap was starting to catch up to him (and he had never lifted a weight before!) also started it and has lost 10 pounds in the past month and a half. Of course, no diet is perfect for everyone...I'd reccomend starting with that but evaluate what you are doing and tweak it as you go along.

There are also plenty of threads on here that prove to be very helpful (go back a page or two even, there is plenty of good stuff).

And don't worry...I doubt that there is a single person on this board who hasn't gone through a period of down time where she wasn't happy with her body. We've all been there (or are trying to get away from there!)

 

[lil nasty]

My single best bit of advice would be to go to the store and buy the Body For Life book. There, you will find consistent (and correct) information on diet and exercise. It even has a section in the back of the book that diagrams the correct way to perform the exercises.

I truly beleive that the book (coupled with the advice on boards like these) has given me all of the information I need to acheive my goals.

I agree, you can get great advise from www.bodyforlife.com. This is a great beginners site, I would learn everything I could about nutrition first.

N

 

[MandieG]

You can do this!! I was over 300 lbs and was 35% body fat.....now I'm down to 220 lbs and 22% body fat I just started my weightloss in October of last year, it does take time but it is worth it!!

Just some words of encouragement, take it each day at a time, don't look at the big picture you will get discouraged. Day by Day, if you have a rough day, tomorrow is a new day!!

Join a gym where they are knowledgable about weightloss not just body building...some gyms their trainers are all about building and don't really know about the weight loss or anything. Start slowly you don't want to injure yourself or get discouraged.

If you want any encouragement or a shoulder to lean on this is a great place!!!

 

[ashwini]

Thanks to all who posted. I will take a look at the book and the website. *keeping my fingers crossed* I really appreciate everyones help and words of encouragement. I think I am moving in the right direction by asking for advice and doing the little exercise I am doing.

My big question is about diet and what mix I should be eating.. but I guess the book will answer this and of course all the mysteries in life

Thanks again!

 

[ashwini]

P.S. I once saw a thread by a girl named daisy about all she did .. diet, exercise, etc. I cannot find it. Does anyone know which thread I am talking about offhand? I was quite good but I forgot to book mark it.

 

[FigureSkater]

Here you go:
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=278522

It's a great thread, very inspirational. And Daisy knows her sh!t.