Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below
napsgear
genezapharmateuticals
domestic-supply
puritysourcelabs
UGL OZ
UGFREAK
napsgeargenezapharmateuticals domestic-supplypuritysourcelabsUGL OZUGFREAK

newbie needs direction & help Please!!

Beauts

Beauts

Banned
Hi everyone!!

I'm brand new to this forum, so let me tell you a bit about myself. I have struggled with an eating disorder since I was 8. A cycle of starvation, then binging & purging, then just binging and then after a few months - starting the whole thing over again. I decided that I'm not doing this anymore. I finally got up off my ass and got a gym membership and started eating better. I decided that instead of doing harm to myself, I will take care of myself and concentrate on getting the best body I can. I realize that my former way of eating will only hurt the goals I want to achieve, so I believe that actually having a goal and working towards it will change my life - and I'm so happy about it. In the mean time, I need some, no, a lot of help from all of you..that is if you're willing. Right now at the gym I am doing a minimum of 45 minutes of cardio 6x a week and some weight training a minimum of 2x a week. I know I have been blessed with great genes (muscular) but also have a slow metabolism from all of the "great" things I have done to my body up until now. I do have a lot of muscle - AND a lot of fat. You would think from the numbers that I was HUGE, but I am not. I am overweight, don't get me wrong, but not as large as people normally would be at my height and weight. I am 5"4 and 210 and I carry it mostly in my hips and thighs. Even at this weight, I can see a shadow of the outline of my abs (not just the obliques but the middle and horizontal breaks as well). I have muscular shoulders and VERY muscular legs - it's just that everything is beneath a large layer of fat. Yuck. Anyway, my meals right now are as follows:
Breakfast - 1 slice 100% whole grain toast
egg beaters & 1/2 cup cottage cheese
Lunch - 1 can tuna, a piece of fruit and a string cheese

snack - 1 oz almonds and a string cheese

Supper - lean meat and veggies (broccolli) and a salad (with 1 tbs flax oil)

Post workout snack - a protein shake or bay (homemade with pp, oats, milk & ff/sf pudding mix)

Give me your thoughts girls!

Beauts
 
I'm not the best on diets myself so I'll let some of the other girls respond to you about that. First things in order - Welcome!!

The only thing I will suggest to you is that you increase your weight workouts. You believe you are muscular underneath your bodyfat. I just wonder how working out 2 times a week has accomplished this for you?? Are you lifting heavy or are you performing lighter weights with higher reps.

at 210 pounds I'm sure your legs are muscular but did you know that lifting good quality weight will help increase your metabolism? Cardio is good, but you almost have to ensure you are doing it under the right conditions to actually get good fat burning results (example: timing when you eat as to when you do the cardio, etc). When you build muscle though, you have more lean mass to feed and thus, your body will more readily tap into the fat stores for energy and use what you eat as fuel for your increased muscle mass.

I'll be honest with you, I don't speak as effectively or as "matter of fact" as some of the others here because they area so much more knowledge than I. I just love lifting the weight mostly :). So I'll stop here and hopefully others will read your post and be able to help you with the partculars.

Good Luck to you Beauts!!
 
Beauts said:
Hi everyone!! Welcome :wavey:

I'm brand new to this forum, so let me tell you a bit about myself. I have struggled with an eating disorder since I was 8. A cycle of starvation, then binging & purging, then just binging and then after a few months - starting the whole thing over again. I decided that I'm not doing this anymore. I finally got up off my ass and got a gym membership and started eating better. This is great! I hope you stick with it ... your body will thank you & you will LIVE longer .... healthy! I decided that instead of doing harm to myself, I will take care of myself and concentrate on getting the best body I can. I realize that my former way of eating will only hurt the goals I want to achieve, so I believe that actually having a goal and working towards it will change my life - and I'm so happy about it.Food is NOT the enemy ... it will help you reach your goals, you just need to learn how to USE it to help you ... not hurt you In the mean time, I need some, no, a lot of help from all of you..that is if you're willing. Right now at the gym I am doing a minimum of 45 minutes of cardio 6x a week and some weight training a minimum of 2x a week.I'd try to get weight training to 4 days a week and not focus so much on cardio ... you will NOT get big & bulky ... this muscle you build will help you burn more cals, and look damn good too :) I know I have been blessed with great genes (muscular) but also have a slow metabolism from all of the "great" things I have done to my body up until now. I do have a lot of muscle - AND a lot of fat. You would think from the numbers that I was HUGE, but I am not. I am overweight, don't get me wrong, but not as large as people normally would be at my height and weight. I am 5"4 and 210 and I carry it mostly in my hips and thighs. Even at this weight, I can see a shadow of the outline of my abs (not just the obliques but the middle and horizontal breaks as well). I have muscular shoulders and VERY muscular legs - it's just that everything is beneath a large layer of fat. Yuck. Anyway, my meals right now are as follows:
Breakfast - 1 slice 100% whole grain toast
egg beaters & 1/2 cup cottage cheese
Lunch - 1 can tuna, a piece of fruit and a string cheese

snack - 1 oz almonds and a string cheese

Supper - lean meat and veggies (broccolli) and a salad (with 1 tbs flax oil)

Post workout snack - a protein shake or bay (homemade with pp, oats, milk & ff/sf pudding mix)

Give me your thoughts girls!

Beauts
Click to expand...
Have you checked out the stickies at the top of the forum??? Great info in there! Lets see exactly what you are eating ... can you sign up for www.fitday.com ? it's free & will help us see your calories & macros (Protein, Carbs, & Fats) AGAIN, Welcome :wavey: *SHORTCUT*
 
Beauts said:
Hi everyone!!

I'm brand new to this forum, so let me tell you a bit about myself.

...

Anyway, my meals right now are as follows:

Breakfast - 1 slice 100% whole grain toast
egg beaters & 1/2 cup cottage cheese
Lunch - 1 can tuna, a piece of fruit and a string cheese

snack - 1 oz almonds and a string cheese

Supper - lean meat and veggies (broccolli) and a salad (with 1 tbs flax oil)

Post workout snack - a protein shake or bay (homemade with pp, oats, milk & ff/sf pudding mix)

Give me your thoughts girls!

Beauts
Click to expand...
Hey honey ... my first thought is that it's probably not enough food but until you start measuring and logging food it's guess work.

Your body absolutely WILL hold onto fat if you don't feed it, that's what it's wired to do -- SURVIVE. If your body gets the message that it's in a famine situation it will burn muscle before it burns fat ... and will sock MORE fat at any opportunity, it's tough cycle to beat and the worst part is that coming from an eating disorder means you have to overcome the thought that you're eating too much. But you have to trust that if you don't consume sufficient calories you'll never kick your furnace up.

There's a lot of girls out there who would say increase your weight workuots and cut back and reduce the cardio, trade up to HIIT. Might be something to think about. Our bodies adapt and things become less effective.
 
Couldn't really add more. The first place to start is w/ diet. What you're eating looks good at the first pass - like suggested above, try putting your daily meal plan into a food counts program like www.fitday.com to get a REAL understanding of what you are eating. Then we can start from there. Bodies are weird when they seem to want to hold onto bodyfat forever & it becomes a matter of finding out what works for you.
 
Hi everyone and thanks so much for the great replies. I am going to the fitday site today to check the stats on what I'm eating and then I'll report back.
2dagym, the reason I am muscular is because I have been very active since I was 4 years old, with figure skating, dance and swimming. Even as a child, I look at pics of myself at 8 yrs old and think "Wow! a little muscle woman!" My family is quite muscular as well so I guess it just boils down to good genes. Thats one reason I get so mad at myself sometimes! A lot of people have to work and fight like hell for just a bit of muscle and here I am, with all this potential and I feel like I've wasted it for so long. My best friend is 140 pound and 5"6 with lots of muscle and low bodyfat and she still can't see her abs. I can actually see mine under there - at my weight!! That tells me one thing. get off your butt, work hard and be thankful for the advantage you've been given!!!!!!
Back later with my fitday stats. BTW, when I listed my menu, I forgot to mention that at supper time I usually add in either a yam, some brown rice or whole wheat pasta to that.
B
 
Welcome! When I was heavier, I too had a good muscle base 'underneath it all' and carried my weight well.

I had to change my excerise routine - adding a seperate session of AM Cardio did the trick... keeping my weights 3-4x a week.

Do you really and truly measure your portions? That makes a difference as well. 4oz of chicken is smaller than you think!
 
So I entered my food in Fitday and here is what I got:

Totals 1558 43 130 172


The 43 grams of fat seems really high though! Its mainly from the 1 oz of almonds (16) and the large chicken breast I had for supper last night. How does this look to you guys? Remember, I do a minimum of 45 minutes of cardio every evening. Should I cut out the almonds? I also eat a whole chicken breast when I have chicken (skinless, boneless and grilled). Sould I be cutting that in half for less fat? Almonds are good fat though, right??
Help!!

B
 
Beauts said:
So I entered my food in Fitday and here is what I got:

Totals 1558 43 130 172


The 43 grams of fat seems really high though! Its mainly from the 1 oz of almonds (16) and the large chicken breast I had for supper last night. How does this look to you guys? Remember, I do a minimum of 45 minutes of cardio every evening. Should I cut out the almonds? I also eat a whole chicken breast when I have chicken (skinless, boneless and grilled). Sould I be cutting that in half for less fat? Almonds are good fat though, right??
Help!!

B
Click to expand...

Hi, Beauts! ...and WELCOME to EF!!!

a couple of things here.....at your weight, you need more food. As you start dropping bf, you will drop your calories accordingly. Your minimum cal. intake right now should be 2100 a day. It may sound high, but at 1500 - your body is in starvation mode and you will NOT loose the fat. I PROMISE you that! You will loose MUSCLE at those calories and you will KEEP the fat...so get your calories UP, Girl!!!!!

Your fat intake is NOT high! It's fine right where it is. Keep the almonds - and yes, they're the good fat.

I think your doing way too much cardio and not enough weight lifting. I think MM said it above. To get your metabolism up, you need to get to lifting those weights. As far as cardio, I would drop it to no more than 30 minutes per day.

....I have more....but I've got a client....be back in a few....... :)
 
Scorpiogirl,

What do you suggest I add to my diet to boost my calories?? Any ideas? I'm definately not starving, but I could have something extra in the afternoon to add to my snack which is presently a chhese string and 10z almonds.
I'm going to the gym tonight and will start with weights (after a brief warm up) and then do 30 minutes of cardio (intervals), relax in the steam room then go home.
At the gym where I am right now, there is mostly machines (which I'd like to start with anyway before moving to free weights). Are these going to be effective at all? If so, which ones do you suggest I do?
Thanks again everyone!

B
 
In addition to the above questions:

Do any of you recommend a fat burner?

If so, which ones have worked for you?

Do they really work/can they rally help?


B
 
Beauts said:
Scorpiogirl,

What do you suggest I add to my diet to boost my calories?? Any ideas? I'm definately not starving, but I could have something extra in the afternoon to add to my snack which is presently a chhese string and 10z almonds.
I'm going to the gym tonight and will start with weights (after a brief warm up) and then do 30 minutes of cardio (intervals), relax in the steam room then go home.
At the gym where I am right now, there is mostly machines (which I'd like to start with anyway before moving to free weights). Are these going to be effective at all? If so, which ones do you suggest I do?
Thanks again everyone!

B
Click to expand...
Log your food in Fitday. A good place to start is 40/30/30 (40%protein, 30% fat, 30% Carbs). These would be the "ratios" or "macros" that Sassy is talking about above. You need to sit down and figure out what amounts of each food you eat will give you those macros. Yes, a pain in the butt, but you have to do it.

Yes, the machines WILL be effective! However, as soon as possible, start moving into the free weights. Free weights allow the stabilizer muscles to work (the muscles that help you keep good form). The weight machines have a guided range of motion, so they're not good for stabilizer muscles.

I would START with 2 exercises per muscle group and see how you do with that. You also need to figure out your training split. I do 3 days on, one day off. Some people do 5 days on, 2 days off. The best place for you to start would be the STICKIES at the top of the threads. Look at the sample diets and sample training programs and find the ones that interest you the most.

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=388278

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=363631

READ THESE IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!!!!! A lot of your questions will be answered in the above threads.

Good luck and keep us posted! :)
 
Beauts said:
In addition to the above questions:

Do any of you recommend a fat burner?

If so, which ones have worked for you?

Do they really work/can they rally help?

B
Click to expand...
Yes, they do work. Have you used a fat burner before? If not, I would recommend Cardio Breeze for you. www.anafit.com - BUT, work on your diet first and foremost.
 
Do you think I will get better results lifting 3 sets of 10 or 5x5? I personally think I would be able to lift heavier with the 5x5, but I'll give it a try tonight.

What do you guys think??


B
 
Beauts said:
Do you think I will get better results lifting 3 sets of 10 or 5x5? I personally think I would be able to lift heavier with the 5x5, but I'll give it a try tonight.

What do you guys think??

B
Click to expand...
5 x 5 is more for power (you're absolutely right), 3 x 10 is more for hypertrophy.

Don't overdo it first time out of the gate, it's tempting to do and can make you suffer.
 
Good morning girls!!
So I hit the gym hard last night, did weights first and finished up with 30 minutes of cardio (which I could barely get through due to the workout I did before hand) and I need to bother you guys with a few more questions:

1. WHy am I not sore today? When I did my weights last night I was at failure by my last rep and when I left to go home, I was walking like a newborn calf. I can feel it when I flex my glutes or stretch but other than that, nothing? I just seem to remember several years back when I used to start up with weights - I practically needed a wheelchair the next day. Could it be because I have been doing so much cardio and a lot of it on an incline for the last 2 weeks??

2. I ordered my Cardio Breeze yesteday and assuming it gets to me (I'm in Canada) how many/when do you suggest I take them. I'm sure there are instructions on the bottle but I'd be interested to know what works best for all of you. Remember, my goal is a big fat loss in the next 2 months (or as much as possible).

3. About 1 hour after my workout, I feel like I'm going to hurl - bad. I've read that this could be low blood sugar. Anybody experience this or know if it's dangerous? I usually have a homemade protein bar after my w/o which does seem to take the edge off, but it still happens and is quite bothersome. It actually prevents me from working out in the am (I need to be well to get ready for and head to work).

Also, I'd just like to thank all of you for your help and responses! I'm totally pumped and I'm going to do this! I will be sure to post some pics in a few months for all of you to see.

Thanks,

B
 
yesterday I had a meal at 6:30 which was:


1 cup of steamed rapini (broccoli Rabe)

6 oz grilled top sirloin

1 small yam

1 tbs flax oil on the rapini


I went for my workout at 8:00, finished at 10 and immediately had a protein bar (homemade with pp, whole oats, skim milk & sf/ff vanilla pudding powder.

B
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
female advice help with turinabol
Replies
6
Views
198
2Thick
2Thick
Z
best female cycle for more gains
Replies
11
Views
1K
jerseyshoremuscle
jerseyshoremuscle
H
best semaglutide dosage for newbie
Replies
7
Views
318
Ulter
Ulter
K
Guidance needed
Replies
9
Views
514
ballin2504
ballin2504
G
need help with weight loss female
Replies
10
Views
902
ceo
ceo
Top Bottom