Hi Girls,

I don't know about you, but I can stand to lose some weight to better fit into my new cloths and my new lifestyle. I've started to diet and have begun to work out (running). Here's my dilemma....

G-Girls have had their whole life to understand what to do to get and/or keep their girlish figures . Us T-Girls are beginners at this.....

I've heard that aerobics + light weights will burn fat and tone, but not cause you to bulk up.

I've also heard that bicycling or running on some days and alternating with something like Pilates is best .

Question: What are you girls doing....What has worked? .Any advise?


Hugz....oxox,

MichelleLynn

PS... I wonder if I could ever join a Pilates class as Michelle...

Michelle,

I should know a thing or two about fitness as I was in the army. I have been trained by people whos sole job it was to hurt me.... they claimed it was to keep me fit

What I learned, that I liked is this is eat well, lead a busy life and go for long walks, or push bike rides. This will actually keep energy levels up and will help to lose some of the weight.

Having said that, I guess I need to go for a ride now.... I have some I want to lose myself.

Michelle,

There is no perfect diet/fitness plan as each has to be tailored to the individual and their needs. However, saying that the basic principles are pretty much written in stone:

Calories in less than Calories burnt = weight loss (and obviously the reciprocal is true)

Simple, well not entirely as if you lay in bed all day and consumed less calories than you burn (which is more than you'd think) not only would you lose weight but you'd lose muscle mass, which is not so good, as its muscle that boosts our metabolism and enables us to do all those things we love; walking in heels, shopping, dancing etc.

So the trick is to combine the reduction in calorie consumption with exercise to maintain or even increase muscle mass. And here's the dillema - muscle weighs more than fat so you may lose the lard and actually gain weight!!! So ditch the scales and use the tape measure instead, watch that stomach reduce and feel happy.

Me, personally, I try to eat a healthy balanced diet with a little of everything (including cheese, chocolate, biscuits etc), why punish yourself by cutting out the stuff we love its all good for us in moderation. I try to eat the recommended 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, snacking on carrot sticks isn't as much fun as choccy biscuits but I feel more satisfied afterwards. With a balanced diet you shouldn't need any supplements like multi vitamins, but with our hectic lives sometimes they are useful for a top up.

3 tips to help you eat less.

1) Drink more water, we often confuse dehydration with hunger, a glass of water might stop the biscuit tin raid.

2) Chew your food as much as possible. This helps the brain realise the body actually is eating and aids digestion.

3) Buy a smaller dinner plate. Looks full but will have less on it than a large one. Silly I know but it works.

Exercise wise I cycle, swim and go to the gym. Because of my back injury I can't do heavy weights or run so I decided to opt for the Cardio-Vascular approach and minimum impact. So I use the rowing machine, the elliptical thingamebob and occassionally the step trainer. When I'm swimming I generally do the breaststroke as its my best stroke and I've found its made my chest more defined (added boobs) but I try to do 1 length in 4 of front crawl to exercise other muscles.

Sounds like a lot but its not really. 1 evening at the pool, 1 at the gym and out on the bike at weekends, when I'm not snowboarding that is. You can even include doing the housework in your exercise quota and do stretches whilst you wait for the kettle to boil. Time is no excuse as we all waste it in so many ways, look at your day and see where you could fit in some extra exercise and you'll be surprised.

Basically this has enabled me to keep my slim figure and I'm probably fitter now than I have ever been, so I can vouch for it working for me anyway.

Good luck and let us know how you are doing.

Alex
working her way back down to a 29 inch waist (again!)

Diet's and exercise, Mmmmmm me i have two bowls of special K a day one in the morning and one at lunch with a peice of fruit and a proper meal at evening meal. I drink 8 glasse's of water a day,Exercise 1) Walking two or three miles a day, on a good day 5 or six 2) i do floor exercise's half an hour every day ie: tummy crunches x 30, leg raise's 5 mins and seal raise's x 30. But you must eat some fat in any balanced diet too along with the rest of the mumbojumbo to substain the fitness level like Alex has said..........Hugz Julie xx

Hi Alex, Julie and Girls,

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm ok on the diet portion, and have been losing around 2-3 lbs (1-1.4 kg) per week. Your idea of a smaller dinner plate would help.

From a muscle point of view, my goal is to tone and slim instead of bulking up. Realistically, the ballet dancer look is well beyond me, but it's a slender look I would like to achieve by this time next year. I know that fat burning is not something you can target to a specific area. However, I would like to target certain muscles, so that as I work off the fat, it would leave a nice femenine look. (espcially the "love handles").


Any suggestions on toning exercises? Has anyone tried Pilates or Yoga?

Hugz,
Michelle oxoxox

Michelle,

I do Pilates, and I eat about one third the amount of food I used to eat. If you can divide your meals into 5 or 6 as opposed to the typical "three squares" that helps increase your metabolic rate.

Jaimie

Michelle,

Any CardioVascular (CV) exercise will burn fat stores if done for more than 20 minutes as you will have exhausted your bodies glycogen stores so you will switch to aerobic fat reserves for energy.

The good thing about CV exercise is it speeds up your base metabolism without bulking up the muscle mass to much. You will notice an increase in muscle definition but this is not the same as bulking up. An increased metabolism means you burn more calories just generally living so you can have your cake and eat it so to speak.

And slow steady weight reduction is better than a rapid crash loss, less likely to put it back on again.

Alex
xxx

My problem is underweight. I eat normally except for sugarless tea/coffee, skim milk, but anything else I eat including plenty of fruit. Re alcohol, I restrict myself to one glass of wine or a nip of whiskey (sorry alex its Irish - I also like the scottish malt when I can afford it). I also walk about 8 km three or four times a week and park my car far from the shopping area when shopping. I am a fairly trim 70 kg (154 lbs). Despite being about 5'11", my friends call me skinny. I also have my main meal in the middle of the day.
Hugs Joanne
Hugs
Joanne

Hi Girls,
Joanne, I wish I had your problem.! Thanks all of you for your responses. As Alex pointed out there is no magic bullet so to speak. I will stay on the slow course with a sensible CV program. However, I will avoid the cake (unless it is chocolate). Jaime, I am curious about your Pilates efforts. How have you found Pilates? What are the +'s and -'s (if any)? This might be a good addition to my running.

Hugz,
Michelle Lynn oxoxox...

Joanne,

according to Men's Health you and I are about the ideal weight for our height, especially if you have a slim frame like me. The ideal weight for someone 5'11" (180cm) is 174lbs (79kg) but you can add 10% if heavy build and reduce it by 10% if slight build.

So all your friends are wrong your perfect!!

Michelle,

Not sure about Pilates as I don't practice it but I know Tai Chi helps me with my back injury and allows me to carry on snowboarding and mountain biking. I think the main benifit of both is they help prevent the muscles and tendons tightening up which results in injury, as both are gently dynamic stretching exercises.

Alex
xxxx

Here's a little something I learned on my last trip offshore which might help.

1lb of fat is equivilent to 3500 calories.
To burn that off with exercise alone takes the equivilent of a 44 mile run!!
Aim for a 500 calorie a day deficeit and lose a pound a week of fat by doing 300 calories of exercise (a 20 to 30 min walk, vigourous dysonning etc) and not drinking that can of soft drink and not eating that packet of crisps.
If you want to lose 2lbs a week just double up.

Believe me it is scary how easy it is to cut 200 calories (or more) from your diet: not having biscuits with your cup of coffee, not having the mid morning danish, not having sugar in your tea. One of the best things I heard recently is not eating standing up, have you ever done that in front of the fridge and wondered later where the cheese went?? I have!

And here's something else:
I tip the scales at around 70kg (154lbs) and have a low body fat percentage (for this example I'm using 25% but I'm actually a little less) so that works out at 17.5kg (38.5lbs) body fat which is (wait for it!) 134,750 calories!!!
Which means I could lie in bed and do nothing, eating nothing for 72 days and just survive on my fat stores!
Makes you think doesn't it.

Alex
xxxx

I do aerobics and light weights because it tones your muscle and doesn't bulk. It is not WEIGHT losss that is the issue, it is SIZE loss, reducing measurements. Muscle weighs more than fat but is less bulky. When you reduce calories in your diet you lose weight. BUT, if you do not exercise you lose muscle. If you exercise you replace fat with muscle. Muscle is good, it is smaller in bulk/size, it burns more calories at rest as well as in exercise. A V8 engine burns more calories than a 4-cylinder, driving and idling. When you lose weight without exercise, you increase the fat to muscle ratio of the body, gain the weight back as more fat and it cycles to produce a fat-body as you now burn fewer calories and must eat even less to stay at your weight/size. Good news. A 1 1/2 mile walk a day will be enough to change your body significantly over 6 months if your diet is calorie restricted to 15 calories/day/pound of body weight GOAL that you set. 100# = 1500 calories/day. 150# = 2250 calories per day. If that includes a lot of fruit and veggies you will not be hungry. 60Gm a day of protein is enough, even exercising.

It's simple. All the fancy diets don't change these basic facts. Calories in must = calories out to maintain a stable weight. Exercise is not an anwer by itself 40 x 8-min miles a week = one pound of body fat lost. That is about 6 miles a day at 8 minutes/mile. Can anyone say "marathon". My ex ran 7 miles a day but she ran circles around me and spent an hour a day. 22-30 min a day is more realistic for 1.5 - 2 miles. If you add 2 miles a day to a stable diet you can reduce weight steadily and tone your entire body. Those 40 miles over a month mean the same pound of fat off and muscle built and MEASUREMENTS REDUCED at only 1.5 miles a day with Sunday's off. Finish up with some stretching and then light weights and calesthetics on alternate days. I lost 45 # in six month's this way and never have been more than 15# over my end weight since, 8 yrs later and sometimes even under my low weight. And I feel good.

Other excercises like cycling, swimming, tennis, dancing can be substituted but times required increase as you move away from running. Walking is a nice compromise but you can mix activities. AEROBICS by Dr. Cooper and the sequels are great books on cardiovascular exercise and weight control.

I have moved through my goal of 20T into the 18T sizes and I am still slowly melting off the inches. As we say in psych: "It takes a long time and you have to want to change".