Newbie to site with questions...

[workoutgirl]

I need advice. I am age 38, 5'2" and weigh 175, have always worked out but not always watched my diet. I do atleast 5-6 (just increased to 6)days of cardio for 45 minutes, weight train 4-5 days and want to get my diet in order. How many calories should I be consuming? How often should I be eating and what examples of a good eating plan can you give me as far as daily intake of protein, fat, carbs, etc. Please let me know. I have a Bakers cyst behind one knee so that has prompted me to kick it into high gear as getting weight off that knee can only help. Can I do cardio 7 days a week and weights 6? Should I be doing lighter weights with higher reps since I am not wanting to compete obviously. Since I am short I can bulk and I am ok with that and not like alot of women in that respect. Oh darn, I bulked up..no that ain't me. Lay it on me, all advice is welcomed. My husband found this site and we both hit the gym today, on a Sunday which is rare for us but we are both motivated to get in better shape and mainly lose weight.

Oh and I love caffeine, what about diet sodas or nonsweet plain iced tea (southern girl here). Are those ok or should I ditch all and just deal with the caffeine withdrawel. I work for AIG and need the pick me up to get me thru the day. If you watch the news then you know all about the woes at AIG.

 

[Built]

Hey there girl

As a former fattie who is older than you, let me be the first to say you can NOT exercise off your weight and expect to keep it off that way.

Please don't try.

You are doing too much cardio as it is.

I need to know what you are eating. Please log onto FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal and enter a typical day's worth of food. When you've done so, report back with the total calories and grams of protein, carb and fat. We'll take it from there.

 

[workoutgirl]

I'm not trying to exercise it off. I want to do both, diet and exercise.

 

[Starpsl]

Hey there girl

As a former fattie who is older than you, let me be the first to say you can NOT exercise off your weight and expect to keep it off that way.

Please don't try.

You are doing too much cardio as it is.

I need to know what you are eating. Please log onto FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal and enter a typical day's worth of food. When you've done so, report back with the total calories and grams of protein, carb and fat. We'll take it from there.

excellent point and I think that is how I failed the first time I lost weight. I did a ton of exercise while going very strict on my diet. When I tried to maintain I started putting it back on and didn't have time for all the cardio I did to get it off. That is probably why some of those biggest losers gain it back.

I am trying twenty minutes of cardio on most days and whole body training every other day. I am counting calories this time and trying to have foods I enjoy and learning to make meals that don't blow my daily calorie allowance.
Hopefully this will be a way of life for me instead of a diet. I have only been doing this for three weeks. I just think I did not realize how many calories were in some foods. We had pizza the other night and I had a couple of those dessert pastry things that Papa Johns has. I am sure that was half my calories per day. I didn't look that up but I ate like a bird the next day.

I just looked it up. Those little chocolate pastries are 180cals each. I had two. They are only two inches square and I had two small pcs. of pizza. So I had about 1200 calories right there. Doesn't look like a lot of food but theres almost a whole days calories for my reducing diet.

Fit day is great!

 

[Built]

Workout girl - don't get me wrong. Exercise is important - if you do it right, it helps you lose more fat and keep more muscle.

Please don't try to use it for weight loss though. It'll just bite you in the ass. The process is not at all obvious at first - short workouts, heavy-for-you lifting, very little cardio, and a caloric deficit with plenty of protein and as much fat as your calories will allow.

Can you tell me what your fitday numbers look like currently?