My Stats and Fitness Regimen

[OneSupernova]

With all due respect, I hope this thread is in the right category. I posted elsewhere, without much luck though. So, much appreciated feedback from ladies and gentlemen would be great!

Basically, I want to improve my overall physical strength and body image.

My Stats

Height: 5 feet 5 inches
Current Weight: 128-130 lbs
Exercise: I don't go to the gym, and I don't engage in any intense physical work outs. Although, I try to walk as much as possible.
Meal Plan: Incorporate vegetables, fruits, and dairy products at moderate levels. But other than that, I eat pretty much anything - unless it has excessive oil, fatty components. I don't eat fast food, and all that sweet junk.

My goal is to lose a few pounds, preferrably 10-20 lbs. Hence, get down to about 115-120 lbs. Does this sound reasonable? I'm, currently, at a healthy BMI. So, I've never had an overweight problem.

(1) Should I be toning first then losing the pounds, or the way around?
(2) What type of exercises will help me lose the pounds, and tone at the same time?
(3) Is losing 20 lbs too much? I don't want to look anorexic in any shape or form. I'm trying to work on tightening my abdomenal, and butt muscles.
(4) What should be meal plan/diet consist of?

Thank you for reading. Opinions/thoughts/ideas are welcome. Oh by the way, I'm female.

 

[Sassy69]

First welcome to the boards Suggest you start by looking at the stickies at the top of the board, particularly "Are you new to EF Ladies Board - START HERE!" You're going to get the same questions - primarily about your diet. It helps if we can see what your eating schedule is and what specifically you are eating. If you want to get results specifically within an amount of time, its just easier to keep a log of what youa re eating instead of randomly just avoiding junk food, etc. - that's all good, but it will get u better, more predictable results to follow something with a little more thought for yoru goals.

Also -- I woudln't set goals on a weight number - instead go by how you look / feel and maybe bodyfat. If you dont' train now I'm guessing you look fine but are probably lower in muscle mass than you'd prefer. You can easily keep your same weight, change the composition of your body (muscle to fat ratio) and look 1000x better, leaner, stronger.

First - toss that godawfulannoying word "toning" from your vocabulary. Its bullshit - you either build muscle / lose fat or you do nothing. Don't worry about the pounds. Like I said - body composition is SOOOO much more important. Ratio of lean muscle mass to bodyfat. Don't even bother gettign on the scale. Its sorta not really important. Dont' worry or even set a goal of "losing 20 lbs" - its irrelevant. What matters is getting an increase in muscle mass, drop bodyfat and look better,. Also you can't "spot reduce" so don't spend time worrying about what exercises you can do to "bring up your 6-pack" -- that's all about diet -- when you drop your bodyfat, your muscle structure is revealed. Also the places where you carry the most bodyfat are there because you have estrogen - all women have it. So that just means you have a a higher concentration of fat cells in those areas and to reduce them, you just keep workign on diet, training, cardio and the results will eventually show there - you reduce bodyfat proportionally across your body - so if you lose 2% bodyfat, on your upper body it will probably show more because you have a smaller concentraiton of fat cells there - it wont' show as much as quickly in the butt / hips / thighs area because there's more fat there.

So again, suggest you look at the START HERE sticky - there are all sorts of top links to info in there. The Shadow Project is also in there & is a fantastic program to follow for both diet & training. Lots of girls here have used it very successfully as the basis for their move into the world of the fitness lifestyle!

 

[*Bunny*]

With all due respect, I hope this thread is in the right category. I posted elsewhere, without much luck though. So, much appreciated feedback from ladies and gentlemen would be great! You came to the right place Welcome to EF!

Basically, I want to improve my overall physical strength and body image.

My Stats

Height: 5 feet 5 inches
Current Weight: 128-130 lbs
Exercise: I don't go to the gym, and I don't engage in any intense physical work outs. Although, I try to walk as much as possible. Any reason why? Can you join a gym? Do you have access to weights?

Meal Plan: Incorporate vegetables, fruits, and dairy products at moderate levels. But other than that, I eat pretty much anything - unless it has excessive oil, fatty components. I don't eat fast food, and all that sweet junk. Can you give us an idea of what you do eat & how much (i.e. cals) so we know where you're coming from? i.e. if you eat ~ 800 cals a day, a jump to 1400 may make your body hate you right off the bat


My goal is to lose a few pounds, preferrably 10-20 lbs. Hence, get down to about 115-120 lbs. Does this sound reasonable? I'm, currently, at a healthy BMI. So, I've never had an overweight problem.

(1) Should I be toning first then losing the pounds, or the way around?I'd probably drop the word tone since you can either build a muscle or you can't Can't really 'tone' it I say you see to start training with weights 3-5 days a week to build yourslef some sexy muscles

(2) What type of exercises will help me lose the pounds, and tone at the same time? You can build muscle that will help aid in the fat loss process. How many days can you get to a gym or have access to workout?

(3) Is losing 20 lbs too much? I don't want to look anorexic in any shape or form. I'm trying to work on tightening my abdomenal, and butt muscles."Abs are made in the kitchen ..." Honestly I think you should not rely so much on scale weight and try to focus on adding some muscle... since it is impossible for you to get HUGE (unless you are taking something to make you that way or your parents are The Hulk + Superwoman) Tightening comes along with a healthy diet & training program

(4) What should be meal plan/diet consist of?
What have you tried before? More background on what you currrently eat & when? Can you be more specific? Do you eat alot of packaged / Processed Foods?

Thank you for reading. Opinions/thoughts/ideas are welcome. Oh by the way, I'm female.

Again, welcome female

 

[*Bunny*]

Danggit LOL what Sassy said!!!

 

[jenscats5]

Welcome to EF!! Basically, every single thing Sassy & Bunny said.....

Lil fyi - about 6 years ago...I started *really* lifting weights & didnt' change my diet - but within about 3-4 months I lost 15lbs scale weight.....SO - if you want to increase your metabolism, consider adding weight training to your regime.....

Also - a FREE calorie/food tracking site is: www.fitday.com

If you do nothing else at first - begin tracking what you are eating to see where your calories and protein/carbs/fat are coming from....you may be undereating & you may be overeating.....

 

[Gymgurl]

Welcome and yes you are in the right place!!