female freind wants to lose a little weight and "tone up"

[tallnskinny]

hey i got this freind who needs a good routine that wil manly focus on body weight excercises and the equipment i will name below, and a diet that will help her shed off some excess fat. she's 5'6 125-130 pounds, never realy worked out before besides maybe sit-ups.. she owns some equipment: an abslide, a stair-stepper, some dumbells 3 pounds lol , and a 50 pound punching bag with gloves. thanks in advance

( and no she deos not have acces to a proper gym ...and wont for a while)

 

[velvett]

.

 

[tallnskinny]

well she eats very little during the day ..sometimes nothing. shes italian lol ..so as u would guess when she eats a full meal its got alot of carbs. i would make a diet myslef for her ..but shes a girl and weighs alot less than me so im not sure if my cutting diet would work for her. so a little help is needed

 

[tallnskinny]

bump

 

[Gladiola]

with her weight & height, sounds to me as if she may be a bit 'skinny fat'. She certainly is not over weight - sounds as if she just needs to BUILD some muscle in order to be 'toned' b/c how can you have "muscle tone" (visible, firm muscles) without the muscle?! Right?

Is she scared of bulking up? Getting her over that fear is goal #1! most ppl don't put much hard work into their workouts (I'm an aerobics instructor - been leading people (non -athlete ppl) in workouts for 4 years) If she is AFRAID of "getting big" then she is certainly not going to put forth effort. I highly recommend the sticky article 'reasons why women need strength training' at the top of this board. Should clear up any fears.

Otherwise - diet - clean, close to nature, UNPROCESSED CARBS (lose the pasta), lots of veggies, lean protein, fruit, healthy fats. 6 small mini meals a day, lots of water. She can try fitday.com to get an idea how her diet is - i.e. total caloric intake, % split amount carbs, fat & pro- just check up on it, the #'s aren't always right. Small changes bit by bit are often helpful in making a complete, FINAL transition to a really healthy diet. -> this is NOT for the short term!

As for a gym, she can spend only about $25 & get an awesome set of adjustable dumbells & have all the weights she needs!!! She can use her aerobics step as a bench to lay & sit on - she can even turn it into an incline & decline bench (with the risers on the step).

 

[Confused]

Wow, that is really good advice Gladiola!