Posts by petite_for_life

Original Post by healthymadison:

nsgu: My thighs are 22.5 right now. Down from 123.75 -- they are huge at the top. That's my real reason for losing weight, those damn saddlebags. My goal is to get them to 20.5". Is that too big still do you think. Might be because I'm so small up top... ggrrrrr HATE THEM! I have always thought that you don't need to worry about 'bulking up' unless you are eating more than maitenance and doing a lot of weight lifting.

Honestly, you don't have to worry about bulking up regardless: you're a woman. It just doesn't happen unless you are a genetic anomaly or are using performance-enhancing drugs. I've been lifting weights for 20 years and have yet to bulk up. I did sort of feel that way at one point, but that was because my body fat wasn't low enough for the muscle to become clearly defined. (BTW, my thighs are 20": they have gotten smaller, not larger, since I started lifting. My arms are also smaller. In fact, everything is smaller.)

1,300 calories is not necessarily too little for someone who is 5' 3", 122, and trying to lose weight. It depends on age, activity level, fitness level, etc. I do eat far more than this and I am 5' 3 1/2" and 37 and weigh less than the OP, but I also work out a lot and have a lot of muscle. (Wanting to lose weight at 122 is also not necessarily a problem. I, for example, have a small frame and look better at a lighter weight. The key is just to make sure that your weight is healthy for your body type and sustainable.)

Do you find yourself in this situation a lot—eating a lot early in the day and then starving yourself in the evening? I ask because it's a cycle you can fall into: your body keeps trying to compensate for being starved the previous afternoon and evening by loading up with calories early the next day.

Also, what are you eating? Good fats, fiber, and protein will help you stay full. Good carbs are also essential for energy. But if you eat too much sugar you can end up just craving more, and there is no nutritional value there so your body will encourage you to eat in an effort to get what it really needs. It's a double whammy.

I do think you might want to consider going up to at least 1,500 calories a day. At 122, you shouldn't be expecting to lose a lot of weight in a short period of time. It will go more smoothly for you, and the results will likely be more sustainable, if you eat enough to stay satisfied.

If your job is physically demanding, you should eat even more.

ETA, after typing all of this I saw that you have suffered from an eating disorder in the past and appear to still be struggling with that. You are also young.

You need to eat.

You absolutely will not "bulk up" doing low reps using the heaviest weights you can while keeping good form—lifting to muscle failure. I am definitely not bulked and I always lift this way. That is probably the most egregious statement anyone can make about women and weight lifting. (The other one is that whole "lengthening the muscle" thing. It pains me every time I hear these things.)

Women don't "bulk up" period without taking enhancement drugs. While you can build some muscle under fat if eating enough, and can therefore look a little larger, you won't have BIG muscles, and as soon as you drop the body fat you will be lean.

Seriously: any women out there starting a weight lifting program, do not be afraid of lifting heavy to muscle failure. You won't turn into an 80s Arnold Schwarzenegger in a dress. Rather, when this plan is paired with a sensible eating plan that helps you drop your body fat, you will simply get the results you want: a leaner, more sculpted you.

That said, maybe it's an issue of aesthetics. I know there are women—and I suspect many women—who consider any discernible muscle on a woman, no matter how lean it may be, to be unattractive and "bulky."

I have no studies to which to refer, but I started lifting in 1991 and I can eat as much today at 37 (almost 38...) as I could back at 17 without gaining weight. Well, no: I eat much more now. And I weigh 20 pounds less. I do not expect to see any changes as I age as long as I continue to work out and eat right, and my doctor agrees.

The thing is, although as a people we are less healthy than we have ever been, we are also healthier than we have been, too. We are proving every day that what we believed to be true about the body is anything but. I don't know that there are a lot of studies out there currently because women haven't been into weight lifting and the like for all that long now. I fully expect to see a revolution in the way we look at aging once those who started a fitness program young star aging and proving our beliefs about the body wrong. I look forward to being one of those people.

She didn't start eating properly and exercising again until ten days after Christmas. Ten days after is also when she stepped on the scale and saw that she was up 7 pounds. That was two weeks ago, not three.

Personally, I find that I can lose five pounds of water weight in about four days if I only indulged for a day or two. If I was over my calories for ten days or so, though, well, that's different. It takes longer. In fact, I've gained 7 pounds on a 7-day cruise before—nine days total including travel—and had it take three weeks before I lost the water and fat weight both.

Don't worry about it. It was Christmas. Did you enjoy yourself? Then let it go. You'll be back to 175 in no time.

There is nothing that you can do to specifically target belly fat. Your body is genetically programmed to gain and lose fat in a particular way. That's why some women are "pear" shaped while some are "hourglasses" and "apples," etc.: because we all store fat and lose it in different ways. No amount of exercising the stomach will change that: you will lose belly fat when your body is ready to let it go. All you can really do is work on lowering your body-fat percentage overall by eating right and at a calorie deficit and exercising.

If you lift weights in addition to doing cardio—and especially if you engage the largest muscles in your body, which will help you burn the most calories while lifting—you will actually end up smaller overall than you would without weight training. Muscle is denser than fat, so your body is smaller than that of another person the same weight and height who doesn't lift. In addition, engaging your entire body via free weights will help to improve your core strength, and thus, as you lose fat, will also improve the appearance of your stomach.

It is true that you can end up looking a little larger if you build muscle under fat. But, once you lose the fat, your body will be leaner than it would be otherwise. Because you are concerned about your stomach looking larger, though, I am specifically not suggesting that you target your abs with muscle-building exercises. I do this, but that's because I like the six-pack look and my body-fat percentage is already low. (In truth, you wouldn't build that much muscle while eating at a calorie deficit, anyway, but regardless....) What I am suggesting for you is just that you engage your core with full-body strength training: lunges, squats, deadlifts, Bulgarian split squats, etc. The strength training, along with cardio, will help you burn fat. And your core will get stronger and will look leaner as the fat comes off.

I like the Elite whey protein brand, particularly the toffee, which makes a great Snickers-flavor protein shake when you add peanut butter, milk, and if you like a little chocolate flavoring. The chocolate flavor makes a great PB & Chocolate, too.

I'm another who only experiences this when I am running with poor form. I'm tensing my shoulders without realizing it. Typically, I just need to exhale carefully and relax for the pain to go away. It can take five or so minutes. I will sometimes also let my arm hang loose and limp for a bit, but typically I just need to make sure I am relaxed in the shoulders and through my arms.

For every tidbit you find online about drinking a ton of water, you can find one that talks about how it isn't necessary. The amount of water a person needs varies widely from individual to individual and one day to the next.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses. asp

My skin looks and feels no different when I drink what I feel I need compared to the period when I tried to train my body to take in a lot more.