Beginner Female

Bigger Stronger Leaner Beginners
21

[quote]Belle Curvy wrote:
I debated in my head where I should put my thread, but I don’t see a lot of guys posting in the women’s threads, but I have seen the women over here. I just wanted the widest audience for suggestions.

And I hate to say it, but I thought the men might tell it like it is a little more. I don’t want a bunch of insults, but I also have a lot of friends that already tell me that I am fine just the way I am and that little thing I do is enough. I have a lot of cheerleaders for how I am living now. I need someone (and me) to hold me to a higher standard and work for what I want. =)
[/quote]

That’s a very good attitude to have coming in to this. Being honest to yourself about yourself and the people you care about is not an easy task. But I’m proud to say you’ll get neither insults nor misguided cheerleading from anyone on this forum.

Very few here will lead you astray.

22

[quote]Belle Curvy wrote:
I was thinking that if I had less choices it would make it easier. So you think I may be dooming myself that way?

I love to cook and I love to eat
[/quote]

What are your dietary vices? Are you starches person or a sugars person?

23

Thanks for all the suggestions. I already made the change with the sweet potato with my eggs for breakfast and that is great.

I can do little changes and that does seem less daunting.

the 3x a week I did last week!!! I am very proud of me. I even went Christmas eve day and am going to night for some cardio. I am very sore.

I love carbs. I could eat potato chips or french fries all day long, or toast.

I had Christmas with family and ate lots of white meat turkey and yes some stuffing and mashed potatoes but I did better this year then other years.

I bought those little cans of tuna to have for my snacks. Not the flavored ones just the little pop top packed in water.

I had one workout but it was with a trainer that shows you how to use the machines but I hurt even from that! And I think I like it. I was telling everyone at work today how sore I was.

I really like cheese, but I can drop it and add olives? maybe, instead?

Drinking all that water will be a challenge.

24

In my opinion cheese is great, it adds some fat and protein. There are worse things you could be eating. Glad to hear you did so well during Christmas, here’s to hoping you keep it up.

25

[quote]chimera182 wrote:
In my opinion cheese is great, it adds some fat and protein. There are worse things you could be eating. Glad to hear you did so well during Christmas, here’s to hoping you keep it up.[/quote]

Thank you! Good to know about the cheese because I had just bought the value pack of the string cheese sticks.

26

[quote]Belle Curvy wrote:

I love carbs. I could eat potato chips or french fries all day long, or toast.

[/quote]

I love carbs to, but unfortunately I’ve had to cut them out from my diet. Just don’t eat chips all day long :stuck_out_tongue:

Cheese is good too. Just try not to get all your fats from saturated fat. Olives are good, they add nice flavor to salads and any meal really.

The water is really easy. All you do is keep a bottle of water with you ALL the time. I have a bottle next to my bed, on my desk, I take one when I go out, in my car and in front of me at work.

By having it near all day, you will take sips all the time. Plus, if you’re hungry you will tend to reach for the bottle and often hunger is mistaken for thirst so this could help you also.

27

[quote]hardgnr wrote:
Belle Curvy wrote:

I love carbs. I could eat potato chips or french fries all day long, or toast.

I love carbs to, but unfortunately I’ve had to cut them out from my diet. Just don’t eat chips all day long :stuck_out_tongue:

Cheese is good too. Just try not to get all your fats from saturated fat. Olives are good, they add nice flavor to salads and any meal really.

The water is really easy. All you do is keep a bottle of water with you ALL the time. I have a bottle next to my bed, on my desk, I take one when I go out, in my car and in front of me at work. By having it near all day, you will take sips all the time. Plus, if you’re hungry you will tend to reach for the bottle and often hunger is mistaken for thirst so this could help you also.[/quote]

I didn’t know about the hunger-thirst thing. I had heard about drinking water than waiting 20-minutes to see if you are still hungry.

I cannot imagine a day without bread! So maybe that is where I need to cut back.

28

[quote]hardgnr wrote:
I do not know why anyone would make an insult to somebody who is making an effort to improve the quality of their life, if they do its out of jealousy.

Everything seems to pretty much be covered already but I just want to mention 2 things. Don’t train every day. I know of alot of people in similar situations who started doing this and lasted 2-3 months. Think long term. If it becomes a chore you probably won’t stick with it. Don’t underestimate rest either. I think 3 days might be enough also.

Like somebody said, its not a diet, its a lifestyle so you will need to form new habits.

Regarding diet, don’t be afraid to eat some junk occasionally. It can really help keep you sane, just don’t go overboard. One pizza or piece of cake in a week of good eating will have little effect overall and there’s no need to feel guilty.

I recommend reading as much of John Beradi’s stuff as you can.

And don’t waste your money on the trainer. From reading the stuff on this site you probably already know more of what to do then whatever trainer you get.[/quote]

This is some great advice. You definitely don’t want to make working out a “chore”. If you could fit things into 3-4 days a week I think that should be plenty. If training with intensity and eating properly the weight is going to melt off. Be patient and if you can assess yourself somehow regularily, i.e. body fat levels that would be great too.

Don’t waste your money on a trainer like he said above. Go to this site http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?tid=51 to see how to do exercises properly. Use the mirrors in the gym to monitor your form and so on.

My suggestion exercise wise would be to do plenty of multi joint exercises. For example: Squats, deadlifts, lunges, push-ups etc. There are plenty more obviously but just a few examples. If your only doing your body weight to start off then that’s fine. Doing tricep kickbacks aren’t gonna do ya much good…actually don’t ever do them!! ha There worthless but I needed an example.

And don’t be intimidated by the people at the gym. Have a plan before you go in there and kill it!

You’ve come to the right place. The people on here are awesome and knowledgeable. If your ever in need of advice or help you know where to come

29

[quote]plaws wrote:
This is some great advice. You definitely don’t want to make working out a “chore”. If you could fit things into 3-4 days a week I think that should be plenty. If training with intensity and eating properly the weight is going to melt off. Be patient and if you can assess yourself somehow regularily, i.e. body fat levels that would be great too.

Don’t waste your money on a trainer like he said above. Go to this site http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?tid=51 to see how to do exercises properly. Use the mirrors in the gym to monitor your form and so on.

My suggestion exercise wise would be to do plenty of multi joint exercises. For example: Squats, deadlifts, lunges, push-ups etc. There are plenty more obviously but just a few examples. If your only doing your body weight to start off then that’s fine.

Doing tricep kickbacks aren’t gonna do ya much good…actually don’t ever do them!! ha There worthless but I needed an example.

And don’t be intimidated by the people at the gym. Have a plan before you go in there and kill it!

You’ve come to the right place. The people on here are awesome and knowledgeable. If your ever in need of advice or help you know where to come
[/quote]

I do feel a little intimidated so for right now the “no eye contact” and pretending in my head that I am alone is working for me.

thankyou for the link!

30

Just think of it this way. When you reach your goals and you have kick ass body you’ll be the intimidator!

31

Also, you now have the knowledge (or at least know where to find it) to do what you want with your body, whether it’s losing or gaining weight.

32

Yea if your gonna eat bread try to aviod white
bread.

Keeping a food log is probably a good idea for a beginner to, it makes you more aware of whats actually in the food your eating and can help massively in staying on the right track.

I use www.dailyplate.com every now and again to check my calorie intake. Only takes me about 2 mins to enter everything for a day, but if your new it will take a little longer at first. Its free to make an account.

There’s no reason to feel intimidated at the gym either. Most people don’t have any idea what they are doing and we all had to start somewhere.

33

The number 1 thing you need to do is figure out how many calories you burn. Then Count your calories.

34

I think this would be helpful to you.
http://www.figureathlete.com/readArticle.do?id=2398993

35

[quote]Belle Curvy wrote:
I do feel a little intimidated so for right now the “no eye contact” and pretending in my head that I am alone is working for me.
[/quote]

Something else that can help with this, is to put some motivating stuff on your ipod or whatever and just focus on your music and the exercise.

A female friend of mine used to wear her headphones and a cap pulled down low, so people couldn’t make eye contact, chat and distract her while she was training. It might help you until you find your feet in the gym, as it will not only block out people chatting to you, but will make you feel like you are in your own zone.

Remember also that January is the time of year when the gym is full of newbies, so you won’t be the only person feeling nervous.

Regarding bread. If you find it difficult to give it up at present, try to limit eating it to after your workouts at the moment. That way it will do less damage as it will be used to refuel your muscles.

36

[quote]MarvelGirl wrote:
I think this would be helpful to you.
http://www.figureathlete.com/readArticle.do?id=2398993 [/quote]

That article was just where I am at. I have sent it to some friends at work. You can just never smoke again if you want to kick the smoking habit, but you have to tempt yourself every day with eating!

I have bought better foods, but just this morning without thinking I ate a cookie someone gave to me. No thought, just popped it into my mouth.

37

Good point about the new people. There does seem to be a lot of people in there that seem to be like me. I have been wearing my headphones and that is a life saver. You would think at my age I would be over that feeling you had in school about being the new kid and hoping people like you.

38

I’m tellin’ ya man… http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/diet_performance_nutrition_supplements/minimum_calories_per_day

2000 to start, and subtract 200 - 300 till you start losing 1 - 2 lbs a week… :wink:

39

[quote]VibeAlive wrote:
I’m tellin’ ya man… http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_forum/diet_performance_nutrition_supplements/minimum_calories_per_day

2000 to start, and subtract 200 - 300 till you start losing 1 - 2 lbs a week… ;)[/quote]

That does sound like the best way, but I am actually afraid of 2000 calories! But I can always drop it the next week if the scale doesn’t move.

40

[quote]I am a 41yr old woman, 5.4", 215lbs. I am sporadic on working out and I in regards to my diet I can go for stretches of good eating and then I crash and eat tons of junk.

This is the hard part ot confess, but I also had gastric bypass surgery 7yrs ago. I had been 258lbs. At my lowest I got down to 178lbs and I was feeling so good. Then I was dumped by my boyfriend, got into a car accident and lost my job. I caved and turned to food for comfort and that is where I am now.

I came to this website to learn how to live a healthier life. The quick fix did not do it for me.

I have been reading everything before I made my account.

My question is should my calories be based on wht I weigh, or what I should weigh? [/quote]

What you weigh.

Kleiner’s “Power Eating” is good. Get that, go from there as far as calories are concerned.

Lift the same way as the men. You MUST lift to make a long-term transformation in your appearance. “Starting Strength” is a great beginner strength program/book.

Up the protein.