16 year old Aspiring actress looking for advice

[Phantom69]

OK so I am a entertainer....have been since I was around 10 or so but mostly for singing.

Last year I decided that I wanted to do more then that and become an actress......a lot of people thought I had the personality for it but I was always a little bit overweight (and short...which didn't help). I told parents that I wanted to try it they put me into an acting class and away I went.

It wasnt long before Hollywood agents were sniffing around. In particular I had a top 20 agency rep who would routinely come out and watch class....eventually she approached me. She wanted to sign me but told me that I needed to get much more serious about look and weight and that I was carring about 10-12 pounds too much weight. She told me that once I had done that and changed some other features (to look more hispanic) they would revisit it.

This is something I wanted really badly......and so I started doing doing some things that were healthy (like dieting and exercising) and other things that were not (like taking ephidrine, asperin, caffine together) and water pills to drop water weight. I hid it from parents because I didnt want them to know. Went from 125 pounds down to 110.

So anyway....I ended up dropping the weight quick......got signed by the agency.....then I backed off the stuff that was harmful and started trying to do it the right way. Now I am around 110 pounds (Would like to be about 105) but have a new problem.....loosing that weight has caused me to have some problems with slight stretchmarks, loose skin, and I still need to biuld some tone and muscle in certain areas.

This is what I have been doing for around the 6-8 months ( exercise routine has remained pretty much the same since I started) but I am looking for suggestions on how I might change it up to meet the goals I am really looking for (toned and fit.....smaller arms....smaller shoulders.....slimmer hips, lifting the butt, cutting down the mid section a bit more, slimming the hips and thighs.

I have come a long way......but I want to continue to improve:

16 Years old female (just turned)

- 4 meals a day….spaced over the course of the day (3-4 hours apiece). Nothing after 8 PM. No soda. Meals consisting of eggs, oatmeal, chicken with no bread, tuna fish. Slim fast shakes, carrots, broccoli and cheese, meal replacement bars. An occasional wheat tortilla.
- Rollerball in the morning for abs when I get up in the morning every morning…..5 sets of 10.
- Supplements are a daily multivitamin, fish oil, vitamin C tablet, and 3-4 cups of hot green tea

Exercise (3-4 days a week….typical week is)

Sunday – Gym. 40 minutes cardio (combonation of running on treadmill, cardio glide, stairmaster)
- 150 crunches (abs)
- Hanging leg raises (abs) 3 sets of 10
- Chest and triceps exercises 3 sets of 10 (machine weight room)
 Chest press (3 sets of 10)
 Butterflies (3 sets of 10)
 Assisted pull up machine (3 sets of 10)
 Assisted dip machine (3 sets of 10)
 Tricep push downs (3 sets of 10)
 Squats (Pro Smith Machine) 4 sets of ten (no weight bar only)
 Lunges (bodyweight only) I do these down a hallway of the gym and back

Monday (Rest…but I do the rollerball in the morning for abs)

Tuesday – Gym 40 minutes cardio (combonation of running on treadmill, cardio glide, stairmaster) rollerball in the morning
- 150 crunches (abs)
- Hanging leg raises (abs) 3 sets of 10
- Back and bicep exercises 3 sets of ten (machine weight room)
 Seated rows (back) 3 sets of 10
 Reverse butterflies (back) 3 sets of 10
 Pull downs (back) 3 sets of 10
 Cable curls biceps 3 sets of 10
 Bicep pulldowns 3 sets of 10

Wednesday (Gym) 40 minutes cardio (running on treadmill, cardio glide, stairmaster)
- 150 crunches, leg raises 3 sets of 10
- Rollerball in the morning 5 sets of 10
- 40 minutes cardio
- Pro smith squats, bar only, 4 sets of 10
- Lunges body weight only up and down the hallway

Thursday Dance class (hip hop) rollerball

Friday (rest Church) rollerball

Saturday (Acting class, rest) rollerball

[Boss Man]

Do big muscles before small ones in a workout. You need small ones to assist the bigger ones.

Do the Abs stuff after the rest of the weights not before, as some compound exercises, indirectly target the Abs, so it might be more beneficial to keep the Abs fresh then you can target them afterwards.

Also, why did this person speaking to you say you needed to change a few things to look more hispanic and did they tell you what you would have to do?

[Phantom69]

I am multi ethnic (hispanic, caucasion, apache indian) so what I ended up with is fair skin but dark features.....at the time I was dieing hair blonde and I was a little chunky......so I was asked to dye hair back to its natural black color and get a little more serious about physique.

You can do that and get away with it as a singer.....but the way acting coach (and the agent) explained it to me is I needed to decide if I wanted to gain 15 pounds or lose 15 pounds so that I had a "market" as heavier set kids also have a market in film and television.....

I decided that it was time to get serious about health and lose the weight....both of parents are heavy and dad has diabetic problems....he is always going to the gym and would try to drag me along telling me to get everything under control now while I was young. I think I needed that little extra push/incentive but now that I am there I love it.

Since that time things are rolling along....I have done plenty of commercial, tv, and movie auditioning this year......and once I got a taste of success I wanted to keep it rolling and do even better.....now I want to progress past the "girl next door" roles into the "cheerleader" or "female teen athlete" type roles....which means to continue to work on myself.

Dont get me wrong...I am happy with where I am at....I am just not satisfied. Hopefully I will never be satisfied. dad has this saying and he says it to me on the time....."you are like a little cuddly hamster on the treadmill in the cage......you are either going backwards.....or forwards....you are never staying exactly the same" I always thought that was a good way to put it.

[Boss Man]

Okey, well if someone is telling you to not dye your hair, or go back to an original look that's fine. If they were telling you to dye your hair a different colour that would be entirely different, as you might be being asked to do something you didn't want to, or something that might cause a reaction to a chemical in the chosen dye.

As for the weight, losing the weight might be good, as long as you don't become too obsessed and try to aim too low on your weight and hopefully not start using bad principles as well, like those you highlighted in your original post or others.

I was concerned you might be being asked to do things you wren't comfortable with, but clearly you are not being asked to do such things which is good .