Hayley

Hi

If being 35 and hormonal hasn't scared everyone off I am hoping to get some advise and direction from all you experienced gym users.

6 months ago I had major surgery (hysterectomy) and ever since then have found keeping my weight down a real battle. I have never been large and am frightened I will head that way if I do not take charge of myself now. Apparently because of my surgery my hormones have gone into overdrive and I am at a point where weight gain would be very easy.

I go to the gym 3 x a week. This involves a couple of classes, I have just started with pilates and I also do a general go around the machines in the gym aswell, so don't really have any structure, but am unsure as to where to begin. I did ask in my gym, but the lad didn't seem to have much of a clue and so I thought I would have a look around the internet and see what I could find.

If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be eternally grateful.

Hayley

Pscarb

well you have made the first step in seeking advice...

i would not do any thing drastic though so what i would do first is to make sure your diet is Higher in protein than both carbs and fats then make the carbs low to medium and the same with fats, eating 5-6 small meals a day along with drinking 3-4L a day.

As for your gym workout i would do both cardio and weights as this has been proven to burn more fat than either one alone, imo you need to stick with one exercise equipment for 45min session rather than skip from one machine to another every 10minutes...
then go onto a small weight workout maybe looking at doing
back/chest one day
arms/shoulders another day
quads/hams the final day

hope this helps please ask any questions you have.

Hayley

Thank you for your quick reply. Can you recommend anywhere for researching what carbs are medium etc ? At the moment I do try and drink 2 litres of water a day so will have to up that - eating lots of meals a day will be no problem though !!

thestudbeast

Carb sources: Brown long grain rice (It's either low or med I forget), brown basmati rice (Low), whole meal bread/ pita (Med), wholemeal pasta (Med), New potato (Low), Sweet potato (Low), Yams (Low) and everyones fav carb Oats (Low)

I guess I don't need to add that veg and fruit are important, most fruit is low GI, with banana's and kiwi's being two exceptions I can think of.

Pscarb

Hayley by medium i mean in amount so say 100g per day instead of 300g...

what is your weight i have just helped out another women and i could manipulate the diet to suit yourself if you want.

Hayley

I am 5ft 3 and weigh 9stone give or take a pound.

I did take some pics but wasn't sure about putting them up

Pscarb

post them up when you feel you are ready...

Hayley

OK here goes. Im not sure the pics are of any use but this is how I look and as you can see I have no definition at all :(

welsh_ryan

personaly i think you got a awsome body as you are and thats how i like women to be :}

but if u looking to get more defination the boys with help u on here as i'm new myself so
i'll leave it for the boys whos been doing it for yrs help u out.

good luck with what your after hun and stick around be nice to see u in a month or to see how u progressing.

dusty

hi hayley seeing your pics you have no problem in getting the definition you want you have a perfect shape and if you upped the intake of protien and lowerd carbs and fats it wouldnt take great deal of effort to get were you want the drinking of water is very important often overlooked by many but keep up the good work kepp me posted how it goes.

Pscarb

well you certainly have a decent base to start with Hayley here is a diet i would look at using for yourself.
Diet:
-4 egg whites 2 yolks scrambled(you can add a little low fat cheese for taste)
-1 scoop protein drink + 1 serving of seeds or nuts approx 30g or 1tbsp of natural peanut butter(ingrediants read only peanuts)
-Tuna(1 tin) or 150g chicken + salad(lots of)
-1 scoop protein drink + 1 serving of seeds or nuts approx 30g or 1tbsp of natural peanut butter(ingrediants read only peanuts)
-200g chicken or turkey + veg (twice a week have 200g salmon instead)

once a week maybe on a sat or sun eat whatever you want within reason this will help stimulate your metabolism again plus raise your leptin levels.
drink 4L of water per day.

supplements:
2g vit C ED
2 x B complex ED
2 x Multi Vit(am\pm) ED
a decent fatburner Extreme nutrition have a very good one that worked great for my sister

Hayley

Thanks guys, and especially Pscarb for posting a diet, which I will be following. I do have one question though - what do you mean by ED at the end of the supplements ? Looks like I need to double my water intake too.
Thank you again for being so helpful

bigden

ED means everyday

welsh_ryan

and water is realy realy important so make sure u drink enough a day

whats your goals to keep wight down or cut the fat u have atm as well just out of intrest

Five-O

I think Paul has given you a really good, nice, simple plan to follow which shouldn't be too hard to follow.

My gf is following something similar now she has started training again after giving birth to our daughter, she was in a similar frame of mind as yourself, she has made good progress so I think you will too.

I also think you should be proud of the pictures you've put up, not too many women at 35 look that good, they definetely made me look twice.