Confused plz help

[alamb3]

I'm female, 21 y.o., measurements 33B-30W-36H, I'm 5'3 and 121 lbs.

I cut out fast food, soda, basically all sweets (excluding occasional peanut butter or honey). I'm trying to drink more water, usually 2 bottles a day at least (I'm not a very thirsty person). I switched all bread to whole grain wheat and started eating more protein (more eggs, fish, turkey, whey protein shakes). Mon-Fri I do around 70 squats, 40 vert. leg crunches, and a lot of walking, occasionally 15 mins of yoga. I'm just trying to lose muffin top. I have a pear shaped body, and all fat is in that one muffin-top place. I have low energy all the time (college kid) and can't take caffeine pills. What can I do to speed up process and am I even going about this the right way?
-In one day I'll eat 1500 calories, burn at least 100. Eat 60g of fat, 213g of carbs, and 65g of protein < I think that's a little high in carbs, but besides that, is that good?

[Boss Man]

Hi Alamb, good to speak with you.

Your dietary changes seem pretty effective in promoting long term progress, but the calories could be around 40% higher, as sedentary females need 1,800 a day and you could have another 200-300 a day for exercise and keep them a bit lower on non-exercise days.

I'd alter the workouts however as they're a bit hit and miss.

Have you got access to a gym or do you intend to do body weight stuff at home?

[alamb3]

Hi Alamb, good to speak with you.

Your dietary changes seem pretty effective in promoting long term progress, but the calories could be around 40% higher, as sedentary females need 1,800 a day and you could have another 200-300 a day for exercise and keep them a bit lower on non-exercise days.

I'd alter the workouts however as they're a bit hit and miss.

Have you got access to a gym or do you intend to do body weight stuff at home?

I intend on doing everything at home (apartment, actually so workouts are limited to nothing like jumping and so forth) . I have access to a gym but I don't like the atmosphere. And do you mean I should be eating 1800 calories a day? I've had websites tell me anywhere from 1200-1600. Which is right if I want to speed up the process? And what can I do about low energy if I can't take caffeine pills? (It's because of low energy that I don't work out more or really stray into too difficult or straining exercises).

[Boss Man]

Yes I mean 1,800 calories a day and another 200-300 a day when you workout. 1,200 is too low and might promote a lack of nutrient intake which won't be good for you, as you'd struggle to get close to some RDA's on that kind of intake I believe.

May I ask what it is about the atmosphere of the gym you don't like as maybe it's something you could learn to get over.

[alamb3]

Yes I mean 1,800 calories a day and another 200-300 a day when you workout. 1,200 is too low and might promote a lack of nutrient intake which won't be good for you, as you'd struggle to get close to some RDA's on that kind of intake I believe.

May I ask what it is about the atmosphere of the gym you don't like as maybe it's something you could learn to get over.

It's a college campus gym so I just feel like the girls are judging me and the guys are checking me out. I used to go to the gym until those kinds of things started happening so it was just another of the many reasons I decided to stop going.

[Boss Man]

Well I can understand your concerns of course I do and I could tell you that you shouldn't need to worry about such things and that it doesn't matter, but you obviously feel strongly about this and you want to avoid that scene, so of course we can try and do something else to help you .

What I suggest is you do a workout that can be done in your own living space when you want to, so I'd recommend this sort of thing, which will be body weighted stuff.

Squats, 2 sets 10 reps

Lunges, 2 sets 10 reps

Good mornings, 2 sets 10 reps

Vertical flyes, 2 sets 10 reps

Bent over Rows, 2 sets 10 reps

Shrugs, 2 sets 10 reps

Planks 30-45 seconds.

You could increase the planks by 5 seconds a week, until you're doing around 75-90 seconds.

You do this workout 3 times a week every other day.

Hopefully that helps.

If you need any clarification or anything else you might want to ask don't hesitate, but be proud of yourself, because looking after yourself is a life long commitment, but if you believe in yourself and remember your own worth, you CAN do this and you have the potential to succeed.

Maybe in time you will learn to overcome the possible issues with other people in the gym and perhaps find a way to workout there without feeling bothered by anything, although if guys are checking you out as you think they might be, you must have something worth noticing, but the most important part of you is what is on the inside and you seem like a lovely person capable of human warmth and inner beauty, so I wish you all the best and want you to know we as a community will be here for you anytime .

please do keep us updated and best wishes.

[wesleytimmons41]

It sounds like you are on the right track ,eating whole foods makes a big difference, and your goals can easily be reached thru a quality diet.
It will take time and consistency with your diet.
we all store fat in certain areas, everyone is different,and you only need minimum loses at your weight, but it can still take quite a bit of effort to change your body composition.
your energy levels would likely be served best by dividing your meals into about 5 small meals of around 300-350 calories at a time ,with possibly a little more from protein/healthy fat and a little less from carbs.

Going to a gym is not at all necessary, there are lots of great HIIT cardio videos that only take 25-30 minutes that will likely transform your body more then a gym ever could.

[Ryan15]

There are a lot of great home exercise you can do without going to a gym. However, using the machines at the gym could get you faster results. I like to wake up every mooring and do:

10 burpees
20 push ups
1 min wall squat
100 crunches
10 lunges (each leg)

This gets me going in the morning or can also be done when watching TV!

[Boss Man]

That workout is not that great to be fair to you Ryan. 1 minute of wall squats is not comparable to 10 reps of lunges per leg.

10 front lunges per leg and 10 normal lunges per leg would address this, by creating an equal working of the opposing muscle groups.

Also pushups don't address the lower back very well, so you'd be as well to keep those, but include something like good mornings as an example and substitute all those crunches for stuff like 60-90 seconds of planks, or 40 leg raises, or 30-40 v-ups, a.k.a. bananas, as other examples of abs exercises.

[t_keesh]

Well I can understand your concerns of course I do and I could tell you that you shouldn't need to worry about such things and that it doesn't matter, but you obviously feel strongly about this and you want to avoid that scene, so of course we can try and do something else to help you .

What I suggest is you do a workout that can be done in your own living space when you want to, so I'd recommend this sort of thing, which will be body weighted stuff.

Squats, 2 sets 10 reps

Lunges, 2 sets 10 reps

Good mornings, 2 sets 10 reps

Vertical flyes, 2 sets 10 reps

Bent over Rows, 2 sets 10 reps

Shrugs, 2 sets 10 reps

Planks 30-45 seconds.

You could increase the planks by 5 seconds a week, until you're doing around 75-90 seconds.

You do this workout 3 times a week every other day.

Hopefully that helps.

If you need any clarification or anything else you might want to ask don't hesitate, but be proud of yourself, because looking after yourself is a life long commitment, but if you believe in yourself and remember your own worth, you CAN do this and you have the potential to succeed.

Maybe in time you will learn to overcome the possible issues with other people in the gym and perhaps find a way to workout there without feeling bothered by anything, although if guys are checking you out as you think they might be, you must have something worth noticing, but the most important part of you is what is on the inside and you seem like a lovely person capable of human warmth and inner beauty, so I wish you all the best and want you to know we as a community will be here for you anytime .

please do keep us updated and best wishes.

That's a great program. I think you can achieve great results if you do this every other day. Also, I wish you to overcome the issues with people in the gym. You can have some faster results by using the equipment there. Good luck.