T3....

[Gymgurl]

Welcome!

 

[KrisBee]

Hi kris & welcome to EF! Buns pretty much nailed it - its the diet. You know that old saying, "You are what you eat'... its true! If you eat random shitty food whenever, your body has to filter thru a lot of excess sludge to get to the nutrients it needs, it never knows when it is going to get the next meal and then you ask it to lift 5x/week and do an hour of cardio / day. There are lots of degrees of strictness & speed of progress depending on how diligent and consistent you are in your program - so if you want a cheat meal a couple times / week or you can't get in the food prep time or whatever limitation, then you have to expect a slower progress rate, but you will still get progress. But just as you've put in the time for consistent lifting & cardio, you need to go the extra mile and be consistent in your eating as well. I guarantee you will see quick results!

RE: your stats - if it helps at all I'm 5'7" and consistently my body settles in between 162 - 165 lb. My bodyfat is probably around 16-17% but I also consistently wear a size 4-6 pants and the last thing anyone would call me is "fat". I'd enjoy being leaner, but for the stats I've got I wear it pretty well.

If you've stayed pretty consistently at 15% I'd guess your body has adapted to that point given the consistent training regimen and inconsistent diet. So this is what your body now considers "normal" and this is the best response it can give you. The fact that your bf hasn't changed means you need to change something to spur some progress. Diet will be a very easy thing to change. May take a day or two to figure out the best way to prepare & pack your food choices for the next day - but every one of us has been under duress and figured it out. I've been carrying food for a whole day (I'm completely self-contained and ready to accommodate any change in my schedule from 6 am until the next day if I have to because I have everythign with me & ready to go) for more than 6 yrs straight. This is with leaving home for 5 am cardio and coming back after 10 pm after a full days' work, commute, gym and home again. Just takes a little planning & organization to see what works best for you. But once you figure it out, you are golden. YOu'll probably save some money on buying the take out food too.

15% is absolutely not a bad bodyfat - what is your goal? Drop bodyfat? Lean out? More muscle? Get rid of fat in a certain area? More strength? What?

Really i would like to drop body fat... even though i have alot of muscle in my legs I dont have so much in my stomach area... any suggestions?

 

[wlmcrae]

Well thank you for all of yalls help... I know I need to change my diet.. BIG time...
I just don't understand why my weight isn't just dropping off... i mean don't kill me for saying this but I used to eat Mc Donalds atleast once if not twice a day just a month ago! I knew that if I really wanted to change my body diet was going to be my number one but I guess I just expected too much just from not eating the fast food. Do yall have any suggestions for other cardio routines I could do other than my hour of running?

My dear, cardio is only one part of a balanced program. Why isn't the fat 'just dropping off'? My guess would be that your diet, no matter what calorie level you are at, is telling your body 'store fat, store fat, store fat'. Your body is VERY good at following instructions. Bunny gave you excellent advice, the stickies are excellent advice. Your McDonalds days may have been giving your body enough calories in a reasonable period of time to allow your body to feel it wasn't starving to death.

Personally, I can cardio and weight myself to death, but I can't drop fat if my daily calories are regularly below 1850 (my maintenance at this activity level is 2200). Counterintuitive, but I come from a genetic line (American Indian/Irish) that survived famine on a regular basis and the bod's not letting go of that fat unless it is darn sure that there's lots of food around on a regular (six meals a day) basis.

You're a college student - do some research on your subject. All the classes you're taking may be important, but they're going to have NO bearing on your life for the next seventy years like doing your health research now is. If the stickies are too much, get a copy of the book Body for Life from the library. Buy a copy of the e-book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. No one can do your research for you . . and cheating in THIS class has lifetime consequence.

Good luck - I wish I'd started at your age.

 

[the-short-one]

Really i would like to drop body fat... even though i have alot of muscle in my legs I dont have so much in my stomach area... any suggestions?

if you're trying to get your abs to show - again, diet is key. "Abs are made in the kitchen". Sad, but true. lol I'm guessing you'll need to get your BF down to about 12-13% for them to start showing. Some women need to get their bf lower to see abs.

Are you wroking your abs? If you're looking for more definition, 3x a week on abs is plenty.

 

[the-short-one]

...plus - how your abs look is really based A LOT on genetics.

 

[badgergrl]

if you're trying to get your abs to show - again, diet is key. "Abs are made in the kitchen". Sad, but true. lol I'm guessing you'll need to get your BF down to about 12-13% for them to start showing. Some women need to get their bf lower to see abs.

Are you wroking your abs? If you're looking for more definition, 3x a week on abs is plenty.

Agreed. You probably do have abdominal muscle, but you just can't see it because there's fat covering it up...it's usually one of the last places to go. Really, you never know how much muscle you actually have until you diet down. I think a lot of women think they have really muscular legs, but until you cut down, it's hard to see what's muscle and what's fat.

Welcome to EF and good luck with your goals!
You can really learn a lot about diet here....check out other people's logs and ask questions.

 

[The Shadow]

out on a limb here BUT

If you arent losing on a great diet/training - t3 wil make things worse.


Forget about using it