Fitness & Exercise Community

Your exercise program sounds good; keep it up. You are on the road to becoming fit and strong.

However, to get onto the weight loss road, I suggest you cut your calorie/food intake. If you can stick to 1200 calories a day you should see the pounds dropping off gradually.

Three smallish meals daily (consisting of lean protein, veg, fruit, healthy fat and low-fat or skim dairy, with a little bit of starchy carbs like brown rice or oats) and 1 or 2 small snacks (not more than 100 cal each) should get you there.

Good luck.

Thanks for the encouragement. I have no intention of quitting; I'm sure that I will start losing inches soon. I'm just a little annoyed that I can't fit my clothes right now, you know what I mean?

I did read somewhere that there are some people who build muscle faster than they burn fat, so I'm telling myself that's what my situation is. One day I'll be fitting my clothes again... =>

There are a lot of variables to think about and since I don't know your entire situation forgive me for generalizing. If you began working out recently then you are going to be building muscle and yes genetics has a lot to do with things, so you may build it faster than normal people. When you build muscle it is built closest to the bones and under the fat layer, so as the muscle gain volume, especially in women they push the fat out and start to burn it off. This is why many of the ladies that I work with get frustrated early on because they gain an inch or two in the first few weeks. It will reverse and burn off. You said your BMI was 135, I am guessing you meant 35, which is still a little high, but don't let that get you down. My BMI is always high even though I am in pretty good shape. I just have wide shoulders and short legs, so I carry more weight across my chest and I am a larger frame then the average guy.

You have a pretty good program, just remember to switch it up every couple of months so your body doesn't plateau and get used to the workouts. Nutrition is a big part of slimming down. As active as you are now you can make huge gains by splitting your meals up and rather than 3 larger meals make it 5-6 smaller ones. This keeps your body fueled and burning fat rather than storing food as fat because your body has to wait another 4-6 hours to eat. You can email me directly if you have more questions, but I hope that helps. jasonandtami@rippedcorps.com.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

J

Hi Random,

Some thoughts to consider.

1. The gain in mass you're experiencing is natural, especially if you weren't lifting before. Part of it could be gains in the size of the muscle fibers, and part could be fluid build up from the workouts (your body sends fluid and nutrients to repair the muscular damage from the lifting, there's weight gain as a result because water is heavy).

2. Results vary based on body type, genetics, and more. You may have a predisposition to building mass.

3. One option is to take a break from lifting for your legs for the moment until things settle down. If you stop lifting the increase in size should stop too.

4. You're doing lots of leg work, and if it's not your goal to get muscular, then I don't see why you need to do three exercises for your legs. You run, and that will keep your legs toned. If you want to do any leg work, do the leg press (and you can have your trainer show you deadlifts as well). If you find your legs are getting too weak you can always add it back.

5. No matter what exercise(s) you decide to continue doing for your legs, keep the intensity light. That means weight you can comfortably lift 12-15 times without going to full exhaustion. Your body is responding, and you don't want to push harder if you don't like the results. Lighter weight will tone you without the bulk. If you like how the lifting makes your legs feel, then by all means continue, just keep the intensity lighter.

6. I'm not clear to me how much cardio you do or what you do. If it's just 2x/week of running as you say, then you could add more days. If you meant the running is in addition to more, then watch what you're doing. For instance, heavy duty intervals on a bike will bulk up your legs.

7. I like that you're doing stretching. That will help reduce some of the bulkiness you might be feeling.

The mass people gain from lifting obviously stops at some point. No one continues to get bigger, and women tend to gain mass less than men. But since you're unhappy with what's going on, I suggest that you take a break or modify it to make it lighter so that you don't continue to gain. There's no downside to stopping or modifying it at the moment. Keep in mind that the largest gains typically happen in the beginning and then subside, but no one will be able to tell you how long the gains will go on for. Tune in and listen to how your body is responding, and experiment..

Let me know how it goes.
Take care,
Rich

Thanks for the replies.

Jason, I meant that I was at 135 lbs, not BMI of 135. I'm not sure the number my BMI is on the chart, but I remember that I was shocked to find that I am overweight.

I'm trying to split my food into 6 smaller meals a day so I don't feel so hungry during the day, too, while also making sure I'm not eating anything that's too unhealthy (processed foods, lots of sugar, etc.). I tend to do a lot of cardio. I run 2x a week with a friend in the mornings, and then on the days I don't do the strength training in the afternoons, I also do more running/cardio (I vary between the elliptical and the stationary bike and the treadmill). I also do a bootcamp class 4x per week. It seems like a lot when I spell it out, and I hope it's not too much.

I'll take your advice on backing off on the leg exercises. Most of the inches I've gained are around my thighs and my middle. But I'm also going to talk to my doctor about checking my thyroid, because my mom has hypothyroidism (or hyper, I can't remember which). I'm really hoping that I will stop gaining and start losing some of these inches around my belly, because right now I can't fit into most of my clothes. It's really discouraging to have to buy a bigger size when I just want to fit better in my clothes.

You're very welcome. Please post back and let me know how it goes. It's always nice to get a follow-up. Thanks. Rich

Hi, sorry it took so long for me to respond. I don't get online very often. So I've started to notice some change, beginning with the fact that I can wear some of my pants now. (Still can't wear all of them, but I have a feeling I will never wear those pants again.) I can tell that there is much less fat on my legs, and the fat around my middle is starting to dwindle (yay!). Still holding steady at about 135, so I'm ok with that. I was telling a friend of mine, I don't mind what the number on the scale is, I just want to fit into my clothes again. I've noticed that I feel a little slimmer, if that makes any sense. I'm straigtening my workout schedule out and trying not to work myself too hard, but not to let myself slip out of it completely. I'm also working hard on my nutrition, but I know I need a lot of help with that. I'm sure that once I can get the basics of nutrition down pat, I'll be looking the way I want to look in no time. Nobody ever told me how hard it is to eat right!!!! So I'm trying to get myself on a high protein, low carb diet, because I read that that kind of diet is good for losing inches and burning fat. Maybe I'm wrong? At any rate, that's where I am now. Thanks for the help, everyone!

Thanks for the update. Here are some other reosurces thatw ill help.

http://exchanges.webmd.com/diet-exchange

The Food and Fitness Planner
http://www.webmd.com/diet/food-fitness-planner/summary

And the exercise calorie counter:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-fitness-calorie-counter

Take care,
Rich