Am I doing this right!?

[Gingernut65]

I'm a 5'4 female weighing currently 140lbs. I'm not fat, I do have big thighs, bum and a BIT of a however.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I will need to lose some weight if I want to see some defined muscle on body. That includes a six pack, biceps, triceps and just an overall toned, fit body!

At the moment I'm eating high protein low calorie "meals", I walk allot (however that is just an anxiety related coping mechanism) , I do bicycle crunches, squats, press ups, planks and cardio on the exercise bike. I will be lifting weights also at some point.

Depending on how much time I have I will burn on the bike a minimum of 300 calories or a maximum of 1000 calories. Extreme there.. I know, but I enjoy doing this.

I eat on average 1000 calories a day, probably sometimes abit less than that or more, and on Wednesday I have a cheat-meal where I obviously consume more than 1000

For breakfast I have a bit of oatmeal, lunch is a tuna and lettuce sandwich (plain whole brown bread) , and for tea I have salad.

Usually I have a protein shake with lunch and a few fruity or high protein snacks that are VERY low in calorie, but not everyday, most days.

I exercise after I consume the last calories for the day, not before otherwise I'd feel like work out was mostly pointless.

Am I on the right tracks? Please give me any advice you feel I could take to do better

[Boss Man]

Hi Gingernut good to see you.

Firstly sedentary females need around 1,800 calories per day and could have more for exercise days like another 200-400, so 1,000 or less is too low and you could risk losing muscle mass which can weaken your metabolism, as 1lb of added muscle burns around another 45-50 calories per day, but losing it would have an adverse effect and also you could cause something called a starvation mode, where the body thinks it's being starved and will not relinquish fat very easily.

Coupled with the fact you're burning sometimes as much as 1,000 calories from exercise and you have a recipe for limited and eventually stalled weight loss and even to the point where you could put weight back on.

This kind of system might work for you. It's something I've posted before.

Breakfast

Option 1.

Bowl of Whole-grain Cereal and scrambled Eggs, (2 Egg Whites + Yolk)

Option 2.

Protein shake, small portion of Nuts, (excluding higher carb ones like Cashews, Chestnuts and Grapenuts).


Snack

Option 1.

Portion of Turkey + Orange

Option 2.

Small Portion of Peanuts, some Chicken


Lunch

Option 1.

Large Beef Sandwich with trimmings, I.E. Tomato, Lettuce, Cucumber etc.

Option 2.

Bowl of Chicken Soup, + Pot of yoghurt.


Snack

Option 1.

Turkey + Cashews

Option 2.

Ham + 2 large Tomatos


Dinner

Option 1.

Pork with mashed Potato.

Option 2.

Chicken and Rice

Option 3.

100g Halibut + Broccoli


Snack

Option 1.

Beans on Toast

Option 2.

Ham Sandwich, no trimmings.

Easy on the bread with both options.

You could add a few things to certain meals, like Sea Salt, Cracked Black Pepper, Parsley, Mustard, Herbs, Garlic.

As for the training you could do a schedule something like this using just body weight.

Squats, 2 sets, 10 reps

Lunges, 2 sets, 10 reps

Deadlifts, 2 sets, 10 reps

Bench Press, 2 sets, 10 reps

Bent over Rows, 2 sets, 10 reps

Shrugs, 2 sets, 10 reps

Planks 30 seconds.

You would do that 3x a week every other day.

This is how your schedule could look per week

Day 1. Weights

Day 2. Cardio

Day 3. Weights

Day 4. Day off

Day 5. Cardio

Day 6. Weights

Day 7. Day off.

This prevents you doing 5 days straight and 2 days of nothing, as I think that's allowing too much consecutive taxation and 2 days of your body doing nothing, slowly starting to adjust to it, before 5 days of grind again, which might take the edge off progress potential, so the 5 split days should be better for you.

[blaqqula]

Everything in moderation is what I've found out

[RichardSmith]

Sounds like you're not consuming enough like Boss Man said, your body could think it's in starvation mode. When you exercise you actually have to eat more to increase metabolism , so it comes down to diet. Follow the advice and you should see an improvement good luck