nutrition and workouts

[jogym]

Hi all.

I can only manage three times a week to hit the gym. I have a husband and a little girl!

My diet could be improved but I have a weakness for carbs particularly bread, chocolate and more bread. I would say I'm still on the three meals a day at the minute but it can be improved with a little help. Breakfast is cereal/weetabix, lunch a chicken,sweetcorn,cranberry brown sandwich and tea could be turkey, chicken stir fry.

In the last month I had put quite a bit of weight round my gut (lower half not good due to caeserean birth and always have had a bit of a gut anyway come to think of it) and round middle area in general. Have been doing the Matt Roberts fat loss plan now for about three weeks where you mix interval cardio with weight training with no rest for about just over an hour. It seems to be doing the trick though not sure what my body fat would be. It was at one stage 18% on the scales type and about 23% on the caliper type. Have not had it done recently.

I am going to be going off this routine now soon and going back to the x3 sets with cardio afterwards. What would be the best way to incorporate my weights and cardio into these 3 days and also how can I improve my eating habits. At the minute I have Lean Body for Her MR/Precision Protein/Betagen but don't seem to incorporate these into my nutrition at the minute apart from maybe some Precision Protein after I come home from the gym.

I am 5'1 very petite but weigh 118 lbs, when I tell people this they think I'm only about 110lbs (which seems to be quite heavy actually but I am only a size 8 (size 4 US). I do not seem to be able to lose weight but I can definetly see that I have trimmed down. Why is this?

I would like to get a nice broad look to my shoulders (for someone so petite is this possible) with a nice tapered waist.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

I have been doing weight training now for about 2 years on and off and I know a fair deal about it.

[jogym]

Hi I know I am new here. Would any women out there like to reply to the post I put on this morning. I would really appreciate anyone's advice about diet and workouts.

[Chain]

Originally Posted by jogym

I am 5'1 very petite but weigh 118 lbs, when I tell people this they think I'm only about 110lbs (which seems to be quite heavy actually but I am only a size 8 (size 4 US). I do not seem to be able to lose weight but I can definetly see that I have trimmed down. Why is this?

As you workout and lose fat you also build muscle. Because muscle weighs more than fat, you can actually stay at the same weight even though you are losing fat. So you'll lose fat, get trimmer and "more toned" but your weight may not drop because of the gain in muscle. For this reason, bodyfat % is a better indicator of progress than weight is.

If you only have 3 days to workout and want to incorporate strength training and cardio into those workouts there are 3 basic ways you can do it: 1)You can do strength training for about 30 minutes and then cardio for about 30 minutes or vice versa. 2) You can do a set or couple sets of a strength training exercise and then do some cardio for a few minutes, and alternate the two or 3) You can strength train in a manner where you use short rest intervals, so you'll get a cardio effect as well.

To offer anymore advice though you'd have to post your routine.

[teresamari]

there are some great back/shoulder exercises that will make you look broader in the shoulders, which will make you look smaller in the waist. thereby giving you an hourglass shape. i don't know all of them, i do the wide grip pulldown.

i am so greatfull for this site. to know that there are other women out there who are in the same, still male dominated, sport. it is different for us. we are doing the same exercises, but we want different results.

good luck.