Well here’s a question I just had to answering straight away:
Question: Hi there. Im looking to lose some weight and tone up. Currently my daily diet consists of 2 cups of coffee, 2x 500ml Energy Drinks, 1.5L water, Tin of soup and 2 slices of granary bread.
My daily workout consists of 2 sets of 30 sit ups, increasing by 5 reps each day, 20 dumbbell curls, 2x 20 rep 35 kg barbell press.
I don’t go to a gym, i just train at home with the equipment i have there, do you think that i will start seeing results quickly given this program?
Answer: You will see results quickly, but you know all that muscle you’re trying to build .. your body is gonna eat it up.
You’re eating NO where near as much as you should be, as a rough calculation, you’re getting about 400 calories from ‘food’ per day, a woman should have an absolute minimum of 1200 (1500 minimum for men).
Stop drinking energy drinks, they’re just sugar and do nothing for your body. Eat healthily and lots of protein - you won’t even need them!
If you are serious about losing weight and toning up, you need to eat more and also put some cardio into your workout (to burn fat) if you run/jog/cycle/swim for 30-60 minutes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you can then do your planned workout on Tuesday and Thursday, or mix it up so you do 2 cardio sessions and 3 strength session.
If you do my plan, then yes, you will see results.
If you follow your plan, your body will be in starvation mode and when you eat normally again, you’ll end up putting on even more weight than you started with.
Good luck!
A tough weight loss question this week. Let’s dive straight in
Question: I had a baby 3 1/2 months ago. I gained a lot of weight but have lost half of it already. I still have 25 pounds to lose, even though I look pretty good for just having my third baby!
I want to lose the extra fat, strengthen and tone my muscles (tummy, arms and legs) and hopefully get my hips to go back from being spread.
This is what I currently TRY to do everyday.
20 minutes of elliptical training
7-10 min stretching routine that targets the arms, legs, back and sides
40-45 min toning routine that targets the arms, legs and tummy using no more than 3 kg weights.
5-10 min of various crunch exercises on the ab lounge
Is it ok that I do all of this everyday or should I do something else? What could I do differently? How long before I start to see results? Losing inches? Seeing muscle tone?
*My legs were pretty sore yesterday after woking out Sunday but I did my routine yesterday anyways. They are still sore today. My tummy and arms feel just fine. I have also adjusted my diet and calorie intake to help shed the pounds.
Answer: Do 30 to 45mins of cardio at least 5 times per week instead of 20mins, as fat burning normally doesn’t kick in until after 20mins of cardio.
Toning routine ok but you need to increase the resistance (weight) over time to force muscles to grow more. Remember the more underlying muscles you have the more calories you burn to maintain the muscles. Fat is also burned in muscle so makes sense to build your muscles up. They are not sore as you are too used to the 3kg weight. Don’t worry about increasing the weight upwards as you won’t grow like a man! You haven’t the testosterone levels to do so.
Crunches ok but also do some deep core muscle work such as the plank, side plank etc
You shouldn’t train any muscle which is sore as you are hampering the recovery of the muscle. This leads to overtraining, exchaustion etc and is the main reason why people do not stick to a routine. When using weights it is not advisable to train any muscle group more than once per week. So if you are doing squats or lunges for legs today, you wouldn’t do them again until 1 week from today. You need to split your routine up so that you are covering your whole body and not just your arms, legs and tummy. Do some work for your chest, shoulders, back etc as well. So on rest days from legs you would do one of these instead. Also take a rest day every 2 or 3 days to help you recuperate. Eat healthily as you are doing and you will see the benefits soon. Good luck
This week’s question is as follows:
Question: Okay i have been dieting the past month keeping track of my calorie intake as well as drinking water and cutting out the bad foods/drinks.. exercise is an issue for me due to the fact that im recovering from a lower back injury suffered from football.. i am beginning to think i have a thyroid prob since the weight isnt seeming to go down no matter what i do.. i ran some this morning and got on the scale this evening and im up 5 pounds form YESTERDAY.. should i go see my doctor and have some blood work done i have put on 40 lbs since my injury and i cannot figure a way out of this hole… i understand i need to exercise more but with a torn rotator cuff and a l-5 fracture in my back its hard to work out without severe pain
Answer: Yes, see your doctor. He/she can recommend exercises that will not cause pain. While it may be a thyroid problem or something else, you need to realize it takes your body a while to make adjustments, except where exercise is involved. Building your muscle mass by exercising will cause weight gain because muscle weighs more than fat. Exercise should only be used in weight loss to tighten your skin so you don’t end with a lot of lose skin. But the most important element in weight loss is your mind. If you don’t love yourself and have purpose, no matter what you do it won’t work well for the long term. There are many self-help books available on this. Balance your mind and your body will follow.
