Please Help me tone!

[Reyza]

Please help, I'm trying to get my body toned. I'm 22 and I'm tall and I weigh around 127lbs, which is a lot for me since I have been 108lbs till I turned 21. I just started the gym and I do 1hr of cardio, I do abds and lift light weights. I have changed my diet to a low fat, low carbs. People tell me that I look great, but when I take my clothe off, I'm unhappy mostly with my tummy, it used to be cute, now it's just fat. How much and how often should I do abs? And this might be a stupid question but if I follow a strict guideline, how long it will take for me to start seeing results? You help is very much appreciated.

 

[Womb Raider]

how much and how often are you eating?

Low carbs is the way to go for cutting imho but make sure you're getting your EFAs. Take two tablespoons of flax seed oil per day in addition to six high protein moderate fat meals.

If possible do your cardio in the morning before you eat. You might want to throw an ECA stack in there and take it before your workout for extra energy.

There's not much you can do to target the gut. Eat clean, work out hard, and be patient.

Good luck

 

[Reyza]

Thank you for rsponding I just have one more question, I'm so new to this that I'm no familiar to terms. What is EFAs and ECA? Thanks

 

[Womb Raider]

EFAs -
Essential Fatty Acids. You need these dietary fats to burn body fat. Remember that all fats are not created equal. Stay away from foods that are hight in saturated fats. You want foods that have mono and poly saturated fats. Flax Seed Oil has these plus other good fats like Omega-3. It's hard to get accustomed to the idea that a moderate amount of dietary fat is good for you and promotes weight loss when we have been tought that dietary fat --> body fat.

When cutting, I consume around 2000 calories per day with the protein/fat/carb ratio = 70/20/10. Remember not to ler your calorie intake go to low or your body will go into starvation mode, lower your metabolism, and you will lose muscle.

ECA- Ephedrine/Caffeine/Aspirin - Thermogenic stack that promotes weight loss and increased energy. You will have more energy when doing cardio and weight lifting. Xenadrine is a popular one but I just use a homemade one - cheaper and more effective.

I don't post here a lot because I've found out that most of my questions have already been answered. The search button is your friend. George put this here for you and me. Take advantage!

Hope this helps

 

[einstein1]

Reyza- I'm assuming that you are following a healthy diet. Here is some info as to how often should you train your abs. Most people are under the misconception that doing hundreds of sit ups will get the fat off of the mid section. This is not true. The only to get fat off your mid section is with cardio, just like getting fat off any other part of your body. There is no such thing as a localized fat loss. DOn't forget about using that ab wheel for your lower abs. As with the cardio, you need to find a chart that shows your optimum heart rate. Then, compare your heart rate to the chart. This will tell you if the cardio you're doing is intense enough. I advocate doing cardio for 45min-1hr 4-5/week for fat loss. Here is a couple of facts that may help you develop your own cardio program:
1. Within 24hrs of stopping a cardio wrkout, your body will burn off an equal amount of calories that you burned during the workout.

2. After starting cardio, your body doesn't start burning fat until appox 25min into the workout (assuming you haven't lifted weights before hand).

 

[GenetiKing]

1. Within 24hrs of stopping a cardio wrkout, your body will burn off an equal amount of calories that you burned during the workout.

Interesting. Can you elaborate?

 

[Maximum Intensity]

Yes -- I too would like to hear more about this. I haven't not heard this theory before.

Hey Gentic -- what part of TN you from.

 

[SSAlexSS]

Please help, I'm trying to get my body toned. I'm 22 and I'm tall and I weigh around 127lbs, which is a lot for me since I have been 108lbs till I turned 21. I just started the gym and I do 1hr of cardio, I do abds and lift light weights. I have changed my diet to a low fat, low carbs. People tell me that I look great, but when I take my clothe off, I'm unhappy mostly with my tummy, it used to be cute, now it's just fat. How much and how often should I do abs? And this might be a stupid question but if I follow a strict guideline, how long it will take for me to start seeing results? You help is very much appreciated.

CARDIO MAKES YOU FAT! Stay away from it like a plague! Cardio burns muscle!

Get bigger muscles! Muscle burns fat! More muscle you have, the higher yout Basal Metabolic rate is.
Higher your metabolism, the harder it is for you to gain fat.

Do heavy sets! Squats , deadlifts, rows, and bench pressess will burn fat in now time (assuming you get some muscle. Don't try to tone)


I bet that all "treadmill potatoes" are fat by now (if they stopped exercising, or even worse if they are still exercising)

Have any questions? I can answer them!

 

[keiko]

I don't think cardio makes you fat, but "toning" is one of those expressions that make me want to hurl! Lift real weights, build some lean muscle mass (NO, you won't get big, unless you're a freak of genetics) and then burning fat will be easier.

I'll be you have a fairly high Body Fat %, and thus, have not much muscle any where.

The good fats are vital to any body fat reduction.

 

[Exodus]

go to www.drsquat.com and read up on Dr Fred Hatfields "zig-zag diet"

heres just a brief example....... you go 3-5 days taking in a very low number of calories..... (im a 205lb man - so about 1700 calories)

then you swap it up for a day or 2 and bump it up tremenously..(again for me around 5000 calories)

but make sure you eat foods on a 1-2-3 ration...... that means it should be 1 part fat, 2 part protein, and 3 part carbs....... ( and complex carbs like potato and brown rice, and whole grain breads)

then on the 2 days you eat a higher amount of calories......eat the same foods...... just more of them

cardio is fine...... it burns muscle but its fine...... i prefer to loose by dieting and keep my hard earned muscle