SteppinEm

Hi all

I'm looking to lose body fat around my stomach/hips. I'm a 26 year old female, 5"2 in height. My body weight fluctuates between 54k and 55k.

I do thai boxing training two or three times a week, play squash once a week and go to the regular gym once or twice per week.

My diet, usually consists of something like:

7am - 1 weetabix or small bowl of cereal.

12pm - A sandwich made from wholemeal bread and meat, chicken or ham, or a low fat ready meal, such as tuna pasta, chicken breast and rice.

6.30pm - A main meal that consists of rice/pasta/potatoes, with either chicken/beef/fish and some veg.

If I want a snack, I'll have a low fat yogurt, or something similar. As I'm only human, I occasionally eat the odd takeaway, or have steak and chips in the pub, but this isn't a regular occurrence. I don't drink very often (maybe once per month).

Despite my calorie intake being fairly low, and my lifestyle fairly active, I still have wobbly bits around my waist and its doing my head in!

I've read about cutting diets and these seem like they'll bulk me up? I'm just a bit confused and wondered if someone could put something in simple terms that will help me!

Greekgoddess

Welcome to one of the best muscle sites on the net, if not the best! There are lots of diets and plenty of advice on here to help you, have a read of some of them.

To avoid confusing A bulking diet is literally to bulk up. To eat enough to enable muscle growth and mass gains. This is usually done in the off season if you are a competitor in bodybuilding comps so that you can gain more quality muscle.

A cutting diet is to cut down the bodyfat levels while hopefully preserving muscle. This is often undertaken before a contest for instance.

Your main problem is your diet. Have a look at the diets on this site and find one that suits what you want to achieve. You need to eat the right thing often during the day, as many as six times a day is not unusual. This applies whether you want to lose the bodyfat or gain muscle.

Good luck with your aims

BabyYoYo

Hey SteppinEm!

Welcome to the board first of all, it's a great place! You'll find all the info regarding diets here either in the losing weight section or in the ladies bit! Have a look around!! It will soon start making sense.

So first off, in simple terms, you need to eat more!!!!

I know it sounds silly but to lose weight you will more than likely need to eat more! (and more often!)

These are simple steps that might help you achieve your goal

Eat every 3-4 hours This will keep your metabolism stable, prevent dips in blood sugars
Reduce your carb intake and limit it to early in the day, no later than lunch time carbs = energy - carbs not used are stored as fat
Eat much more protein
Try and get some protein in each meal
Aim to do 30 mins cardio before breakfast 6 days per week
Drink 2-3 Litres of water per day
Do some resistance (weight) training 3 times per week incorporating compound movements and include 30 mins cardio after session. Low intensity only. More muscle = more calories burned overall

It's all pretty simple when you know how!

Let me know how you get on!

Kate xx

SteppinEm

Hi and thanks for the replies.

I've tried eating at regular intervals before and it just didn't work for me, I didn't feel hungry enough to eat! However, that may have been to do with me eating the wrong types of foods. I think I need to improve my knowledge on what nutrients the foods I'm eating contain, this will enable me to try and follow a diet plan.

I do plenty of cardio but never get round to doing weights. I've got a basic multi gym in my spare room, and a free weights set, so there's nothing to stop me from doing them I suppose. I've just always concentrated on cardio, but as I've said, it hasn't ever reduced my body fat to a level I'd like to achieve. If I could reduce my body fat I think I'd then be interested in gaining some muscle, but I deffo need to cut before bulking!

BabyYoYo

Hun you got it the wrong way round!!

By increasing your muscle slightly will help you decrease body fat overall! This is not bulking. Bulking is eating a surplus of calories to gain weight! Cutting is eating less calories to lose weight in simple terms.

I also meant to put this link in so you can work out what your daily requirements are:

http://www.uk-muscle.co.uk/measureme...your-diet.html

Never go below your maintenance level i.e what your calorie intake should be before you add the level of activity to it. Any lower and this will cause the body to go into mini starvation mode and hold on to any extra cals/energy it gets! Not good in the long run!

SteppinEm

I've had a good read through that post, and it did help to shed light on a few things. Now I just need to get a plan together, try work out a diet, adjust my training routine and wait for some results. I'm guessing I'll see an improvement after a few months...

SteppinEm

Just one more question - any recommendations on where to get protein bars/shakes from?

BabyYoYo

Look at the sponsored links here on the site, most of them give you discount for being a member here

or try

www.mosn.co.uk

www.extremenutrition.co.uk

I think!

LOL