How to get a Victoria´s Secret model type body?

[Austrian_Babe]

Hi everyone,

I´m 5´8, currently 125 pounds, and finally got off my lazy ass to join a gym. Yay me! I´m constantly look up information on various workouts to achieve my goal: the Victoria´s secret model body (skinny & lean). I think I used to be (and am still a bit) skinny fat, due to being naturally skinny and being able to eat what I want (well, until I turned 22 at least..now I´m 25). I had my body fat % measured on a special scale (but I hear that´s not the most accurate way?) and it came out to 20%, after 2 months of working out. I thought it would be higher so I was quite happy, but then again I think I need to drop mode body fat.


So what I do at the gym is:

3 sets of 15 reps (with weights that are heavy to me, I can barely do 15 on my last set)
interval training cardio (I tried the actual high intensity interval training to burn fat quicker, but my endurance is just not good enough yet). I do cardio (around 40-50min) everytime I`m at the gym, after my weights routine.


My questions: is the low weight, high rep route really the way to go? I´ve been going to the gym since the beginning of January, and I am seeing results. But I´m impatient, and since I was slim to begin with I though my body would magically transform within like months. I figured if I go from a pizza eating couch potatoe to a fitness lover with a healthy diet I would see results SUPER fast.

Now am I just being impatient and should I give my body more time? Or am I doing something wrong? Do I need more cardio, or do the high weight, low rep route instead?

 

[musclemom]

Virtually 90% of how your body looks is diet. Working out gives you muscles, but it's only by eating right that you give your body the building blocks to build the muscles. Without the muscle, there's no toned tight look that everyone wants.

Before we even begin to address the workouts we need a detailed look at your diet, what you eat and drink, when you eat it, how much you eat. You can get a free calorie diary at Fitday.com and use that, but for now put down what you normally eat, on an average day, with as much detail as you can.

And you could very well be busting your ass at the gym but if you aren't doing it the right way it's a little like a hamster in a wheel, and again, if you're not feeding the machine properly, you could be working twice as hard as anyone, and get half the results.

 

[Austrian_Babe]

Virtually 90% of how your body looks is diet. Working out gives you muscles, but it's only by eating right that you give your body the building blocks to build the muscles. Without the muscle, there's no toned tight look that everyone wants.

Before we even begin to address the workouts we need a detailed look at your diet, what you eat and drink, when you eat it, how much you eat. You can get a free calorie diary at Fitday.com and use that, but for now put down what you normally eat, on an average day, with as much detail as you can.

And you could very well be busting your ass at the gym but if you aren't doing it the right way it's a little like a hamster in a wheel, and again, if you're not feeding the machine properly, you could be working twice as hard as anyone, and get half the results.

very true. I´ll be graduating from med school soon, so I know how to eat healthy. And I like eating healthy, but I can finish pretty big portions, and I can eat many meals a day. I still have my bad eating habits from when I weighed 110 lbs and could get away with eating chocolate every day. I have a fat tooth, and a major sweet tooth.
So if I´m being honest, I was probably consuming 2000 cals a day the first 1 1/2 months of my "diet" lol. It was healthier than before, but not as good as it can get. I have been eliminating my bad habits though, so hopefully I will loose more weight.

I had a mini training session with a personal trainer and she showed me the right way to use the machines...and since then I can finally feel the burn! So yeah, basically I was yanking at the machines, not using my muscle strength. So I guess until that training session I wasn´t reaching my workout´s full potential


I guess I was patting myself on the back for going to the gym and ordering pizza once a week instead of 3 times. Since I was already slim I was expecting miracles with minimal effort. Ugh, I gotta stop being such a baby

 

[musclemom]

Well, as I said, if you'd put down what/when you eat every day we can go over that and see if anything needs tweaking If your diet is perfect, then we'll look at your workouts.

 

[Austrian_Babe]

Well, as I said, if you'd put down what/when you eat every day we can go over that and see if anything needs tweaking If your diet is perfect, then we'll look at your workouts.

alright, here´s a typical day for me

breakfast: bowl of cereal (21g of carbs, 110 cals) with low fat milk

lunch: chicken or fish with vegetables (usually broccoli). Either cooked fresh (I can´t really cook though) or microwavable dinners (if it comes with rice or anything I only eat like one spoon of it)

dinner: whole wheat toast with low fat spread, turkey breast and low fat cheese. Sometimes a salad too. In my country we have bread for dinner a lot so it´s hard for me to give up bread. I try to not go crazy though

snacks: low fat yoghurt, bananas, apples, fiber crackers, cereal etc


My issue is that I get hungry frequently, that´s been the case since I was a baby. I need multiple small meals throughout the day, so of course I snack a lot but I try to keep it healthy.

 

[musclemom]

alright, here´s a typical day for me

breakfast: bowl of cereal (21g of carbs, 110 cals) with low fat milk

lunch: chicken or fish with vegetables (usually broccoli). Either cooked fresh (I can´t really cook though) or microwavable dinners (if it comes with rice or anything I only eat like one spoon of it)

dinner: whole wheat toast with low fat spread, turkey breast and low fat cheese. Sometimes a salad too. In my country we have bread for dinner a lot so it´s hard for me to give up bread. I try to not go crazy though

snacks: low fat yoghurt, bananas, apples, fiber crackers, cereal etc


My issue is that I get hungry frequently, that´s been the case since I was a baby. I need multiple small meals throughout the day, so of course I snack a lot but I try to keep it healthy.

You knew what you were going to hear:

1. Not enough food, period. I mentally roughed you out at barely 1200 calories, WAY too low, your BMR is 1400.

2. Nowhere near enough protein.

3. You're hungry all the time because you're eating a lot of carbs, no quality fats (nuts, omega oils) and insufficient protein.

Read this thread:

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/w...e-fitness-womens-forum-start-here-678961.html

Then check this thread, which outlines a very simple diet scheme:

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/w...raining/beginning-again-diet-help-693017.html

I think your main problem is way under-eating. You're 25, 5'8" and weigh 125. Your BMR is 1400. You should be able to eat 500 OVER that and still lose weight, easily, even more, actually, with the exercise you're getting. The general rule of thumb of 10x to 12x your bodyweight in calories doesn't work for you, because you're nowhere near overweight. NOBODY of normal size (i.e., not a little person) should ever eat under 1200 calories. So, assuming you're barely eating 1200 calories (200 under your resting metabolic state), your body will not gain muscle, you'll find you have virtually no endurance, and your body will fight losing every ounce of fat. It will burn your muscle in fact to further lower your metabolism, because it perceives you are in a famine situation.

 

[Austrian_Babe]

You knew what you were going to hear:

1. Not enough food, period. I mentally roughed you out at barely 1200 calories, WAY too low, your BMR is 1400.

2. Nowhere near enough protein.

3. You're hungry all the time because you're eating a lot of carbs, no quality fats (nuts, omega oils) and insufficient protein.

Read this thread:


Then check this thread, which outlines a very simple diet scheme:


I think your main problem is way under-eating. You're 25, 5'8" and weigh 125. Your BMR is 1400. You should be able to eat 500 OVER that and still lose weight, easily, even more, actually, with the exercise you're getting. The general rule of thumb of 10x to 12x your bodyweight in calories doesn't work for you, because you're nowhere near overweight. NOBODY of normal size (i.e., not a little person) should ever eat under 1200 calories. So, assuming you're barely eating 1200 calories (200 under your resting metabolic state), your body will not gain muscle, you'll find you have virtually no endurance, and your body will fight losing every ounce of fat. It will burn your muscle in fact to further lower your metabolism, because it perceives you are in a famine situation.

First of all, thank you for your input!
I have to say I never calculated the cals I consume in one day, but I´m pretty sure it´s at least 1500 cals. What I listed doesn´t sound like much, but I don´t just snack once between meals like most people, more like twice or three times. And I eat like 3 cheat meals a week. I´m really not one of those girls who barely eat anything, I love eating way too much to be that way.

I agree that I´m not eating enough protein though! I was thinking the diary products and turkey breast +meat for lunch is enough protein but I guess it´s not?

 

[trex74]

just wanted to say I think some of the victoria's secret girls (i.e. allessandra d'ambrosio), while very pretty, just look bony, not healthy.
you're going to find a lot of great info here, so welcome!

 

[Austrian_Babe]

just wanted to say I think some of the victoria's secret girls (i.e. allessandra d'ambrosio), while very pretty, just look bony, not healthy.
you're going to find a lot of great info here, so welcome!

Alessandra is definitely too bony! Most of the other girls like Adriana Lima have great bodies though IMO..not to mention such gorgeous faces

 

[superqt4u2nv]

First of all, thank you for your input!
I have to say I never calculated the cals I consume in one day, but I´m pretty sure it´s at least 1500 cals. What I listed doesn´t sound like much, but I don´t just snack once between meals like most people, more like twice or three times. And I eat like 3 cheat meals a week. I´m really not one of those girls who barely eat anything, I love eating way too much to be that way.

I agree that I´m not eating enough protein though! I was thinking the diary products and turkey breast +meat for lunch is enough protein but I guess it´s not?

If you have never calculated them how do you know... I can guess my daily calorie intake but that is only after years of counting. Start recording your food ever day FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal is free tool.

A side from the fact there is not enough protein in your diet there is WAY to much processed food. Ceral, whole wheat breads, crackers etc are not part of a trully clean diet. I am also not a fan of most lowfat yogurts again way to processed however a plain greek yogurt made from goats milk is amazing for you.

Turkey breats lunch meat is overprossed and filled with additives. Simpliest way to eat clean is to plan it out. Cook it all head of time have it packed ready to go there is no way you will slip when doing that.