DanniB

First off, hello everyone! Ive been having a look round the site for a few days now, and it would seem i'm in the right place!

Im 25, and in hideous shape, have been as long as i can remember and have finally had enough!

Ive started getting up off my butt and going to my local gym a few times a week.
Been swimming 60 lengths ( swim hard, and fast, no stopping.. im a good swimmer, so its no problem) on a Monday night..

Tuesday night ive been in the gym for roughly an hour, doing 10-15 minutes light cardio type stuff, walking on treadmill, cycling & cross-trainer to warm up.. then some basic weights, ( i dont know what these are all called, so bear with me and i'll describe em)

sitting on a medicine ball, raising 2kg dumbells from shoulders up over my head to meet in the middle... 2 sets of 20

Pull down thingies, where i pull down a rope with both hands, elbows in, and only release back up half way.. 2 sets of 20 at 15kg..

Leg presses, on a machine, with 45kg, legs apart, 90degree knees, press thru the heels..

More pull down things, on a machine, with a bar, hands shoulder width apart, pull bar down to chest, hold briefly and release, 2 sets @ 20kg

Bench presses, 25kg 2 sets of 18.. can only really hit 15-16 on second set, my arms&chest shake and burn like crazy

Abdominal stuff, normal ones (using one of those ab roller cages) 2 sets of 25, followed by one set of triple crunches, basically reachng across body to opposite knee, then straight forward sit-up, then across body in other direction x 30 reps.

Lol.. sorry for the essay.. but my terminology sucks.. ;)

I have wednesday nights off

Thursday nights i go to a water aerobics class for 90 mins, mostly cardio type stuff.. with some aquaweights..

friday nights off.. saturday 60 lengths swim.. sunday off..

Im reeeally struggling with my diet. Ive been doing Atkins for a while now, and have dropped 2.5 stone.. was 17st. am now 14.5, so still a way to go.. Im looking at around 12.5st mark.. Im 5'11.

I still want to continue to lose weight (fat) and im really enjoying doing the weights ive mentioned, and would love some new ones too!

If you guys have any advice on what i should be doing,(eg, should i be eating carbs now, or can i stick to high protein, very low carbs without harming muscle growth?)

or if you know anywhere a girly should look for advice on diet and exercises, i would be really grateful!

(I would, eventually, love to look a bit more muscly than fitness models ive seen, with a bit more definition between muscles,(particularly arms and legs but still with girly bits!)

leeston

hi there, welcome to the site. This is a positive thing as education and knowledge is always the key with life.

The training looks good but make sure you are not getting carried away. Too much training may be damaging but you will learn what you can and cant do.

There are plenty or personal trainers on here so someone will help you here.

With fat loss (not weight loss) diet is nearly always the key. You say that you are on the Atkins diet. Please exuse my niavity but what actually is that?


Could you list what your diet consists of on a typical day, include the times and we will go from there.

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Tasty

Atkins diet is a no carb diet am I right?

Heard lots of good things in term of fat loss but bad things in term of side affects, massive depression and halitosis being some of them...

there are plenty of better diets out there!

DanniB

Hi!

Atkins is pretty much a low carb diet.

My day usually goes like this..

7am.. 2 scrambled eggs, tin of tuna..

mid-day (ish, work dependant) 2 x Chicken breasts (no coatings/sauces)

rest day - 7pm - chicken/turkey breast stir fry, 2 chicken breasts, stir fried with handfull beansprouts, carrots, brocolli, onion..

gym/swim day - around 8:30ish.. omlette( 3eggs) with 2 handfulls cheese, red onion

Right now im really struggling to eat that.. and have been skipping breakfast a couple of times a week.. i just dont seem to be hungry.. apart from when i leave the gym, then i could eat a horse! ;)

leeston

why not train in the morning then on an empty stomach?

or

why not train straight after work and go home and get two meals in then

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DanniB

Ive read that a few times now. I'll probably be able to do that once i finish my job in a couple of weeks! Do you think cardio in the mornings?

leeston

i do my cardio in the morning. I prefer it now. Also, if this is difficult why not do your training after work? You will have a relatively empty stomach and then afterwards you can have two meals before bed time.

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DanniB

Ive only been using the gym after work so far, usually between half 7 and 9... but i will give the morning cardio a go as soon as ive given up working.. i commute 2 hours each way and work 12 hour shifts at the mo.. so its a bit tricky to fit in.. (im a student, back to uni in a couple of weeks, so will have loads more time to get out there and do more ;)

DanniB

I havent found that, but i guess its different for everyone. I found that im less moody now than i was before the diet. Probably massive sugar rush/crash type things have disappeared.. or im just happier for getting off my butt ;)

ah24

I wouldnt train on an empty stomach.
And, unless your trying to trying to get in model sort of shape for a certain date, wouldnt recommend the Atkins diet. Especially not if your in 'hideous' shape.

Firstly if your pretty damn fat, and you lose the weight, if you intro carbs back into the mix too quickly you'll just fill back out.
Secondly, your breath will stink from the ketone bodies
Thirdly, if i remember correctly, you can end up eating away at your mucles then your liver...

(glycogen is stored is the muscles and liver, so when muscle glycogen is used up the body uses it from the next stores...liver)

Your needing a bog standard 6-8 meal a day diet around 500cal deficit, keeping carbs and fats low-moderate and protein moderate-high.

gym rat

dani get on to bodybuilding.com and go to the womans section, there should be good diets on there, gudluck and welcome

ah24

Also Dr Atkins was an idiot! He preached about diets etc even though he died at 116KG....which at his height would put him as clinically obese;)

gym rat

i agree with ah, having 6-7 small meals a day will stimulate your thyroid gland therefore raising your metabolism

steve.t

welcome to the board danni. hope the diet goes well. avoid the uni bar and that will help


leeston....as soon as i saw the title of this thread i just knew youd be there 1st

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Pscarb

Gym rat when you eat smaller meals it creates thermogenis(sp) thus causeing an increase in the metabolism i dont think your Thyroid outputs everytime you eat....

Atkins was not an idiot but his initial way of doing things (not monotoring saturated fat) was later changed.

i used a modified Atkins diet for my older sister a few yrs ago giving her a high carb day once a week she dropped from a size 22 to a size 12 in a year.

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