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Hectic schedule = fatloss fail??? Help ;(


vongi

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I'm religious with training but when time is scarce and your aiming for fat loss, am I right in saying that cardio comes first?

I weight train of course (usually 5 times a wk) but during exam time (Im at uni) it gets hectic and routines start to crumble a bit...

Also, are there anyother students out there who are into bodybuilding??? I don't actually know any other girls/women who are into it (I'm not new to training but I'm new to the nutrition side of things [wish I knew this YEARS AGO] and the 'bodybuilding' lifestyle - which is awesome btw :nod:) it'd be nice to know I'm not alone!

Thanks heaps! :D

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My 2c worth - it's intensity that counts, not whether it's weights or cardio, the calories can't tell how you spent them :grin:

Seriously, if you prefer weight training, and you're going at it hard enough to raise a mean sweat, then the fact that you prefer it to dragging yourself around a jog or camping-out on a treadmill means you're more likely to do it - and that's the secret.

Sure, if you don't mind jumping on a treadmill, turning up the incline or speed or whatever and getting sweaty, then you will burn calories. But, if you keep the weights at a demanding level, keep the rest breaks short between sets or exercises, then the chances are you could burn just as many calories.

The bonus to doing weights is that, once the b'fat is gone, the underlying muscle will be toned (and that's the win right there :grin: )

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I'm a student, and I know what you mean about hectic lifestyle. Uni all week and I have part time job on the weekends too. With assignments and exams and stuff the pressure mounts up and good diet/exercise habits tend to get put on the backburner.

I am just getting the hang of sticking to an absolute schedule, and I almost never miss a workout now. Although you said you workout religiously so its not an issue for you.

Eating side of things is much trickier. I never have time/energy to make a cut lunch so find myself eating pies, mcdonalds, candy, energy drinks, basically whatever during uni days. They are cheaper than good food like sushi or curry.

As a result I have a visible gut for the first time in my life, which I'm actually kind of thrilled about being a skinny bastard. :lol:

So in terms of fat loss I think diet has a huge role to play, as well as cardio.

Whats your nutrtition like? How well do you eat when you are at school/studying/up until the wee hours finishing assignments?

All the best with your goals

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Thanks for the replies! Yeah, weight training is pretty good and does work up a bit of a sweat(not as much as cardio tho and I don’t mind cardio, on good days I can go for 45 min +, i kno tho, cliché with women and cardio) and speaking of weight training, I’ve been working out to failure on the last rep out of 12 (I try make that my max rep so I lift heavy) is that about right with the number of reps since I’m only a month in to the training programme? (will change after another month of course).

Yeah! Most of my cousins are thin as but I was quite chunky as a kid (being an only child sucks). Its kind of going the other way now, Im slowly heading downwards on the scales and theyre going up (not that I'm happy about it, hope they don't balloon too much!) and furthermore it sucks coz I’m the only one in my household who’s trying to eat clean (I’m an islander and there is an endless amount of “snacks” around the place but I resist almost 90% of the time when I’m at home) haha, so any tips on coping with that would be great. Yeah I totally agree on the nutrition comments, I've been eating alright around uni and stuff for the last month so it'll obviously take a good amount of time for my body to reflect that... but in saying that does anyone have any tips for when your needing an energy boost when your caloric intake is low (in reply to the studying into the wee hours comment)? I've been resorting to sugarfree drinks and caffine but only sporadically though coz I don't know whether it screws up with metabolism or not... I’ve been doing the three hour thing to keep metabolism in check but from time to time I eat more non starchy veg (so insulin doesn’t shoot up and less likely to store fat) to try and increase satiety (I’m scared if I eat more protein and go over my set amount of cal for protein it’ll get stored as fat – or am I safer in eating protein anyway?)

Oh! and another question...whats an adequate or realistic drop in bodyfat percentage over 6 months? (I hate admitting my bodyfat but I last checked 2 wks ago and am at 27%, hoping to get at least down to 16% by the end of this year. Realistic?)

Sorry for all the questions dotted throughout my post! (goes to show what a noob i am)

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Thanks for the replies! Yeah, weight training is pretty good and does work up a bit of a sweat(not as much as cardio tho and I don’t mind cardio, on good days I can go for 45 min +, i kno tho, cliché with women and cardio) and speaking of weight training, I’ve been working out to failure on the last rep out of 12 (I try make that my max rep so I lift heavy) is that about right with the number of reps since I’m only a month in to the training programme? (will change after another month of course).

Yeah! Most of my cousins are thin as but I was quite chunky as a kid (being an only child sucks). Its kind of going the other way now, Im slowly heading downwards on the scales and theyre going up (not that I'm happy about it, hope they don't balloon too much!) and furthermore it sucks coz I’m the only one in my household who’s trying to eat clean (I’m an islander and there is an endless amount of “snacks” around the place but I resist almost 90% of the time when I’m at home) haha, so any tips on coping with that would be great. Yeah I totally agree on the nutrition comments, I've been eating alright around uni and stuff for the last month so it'll obviously take a good amount of time for my body to reflect that... but in saying that does anyone have any tips for when your needing an energy boost when your caloric intake is low (in reply to the studying into the wee hours comment)? I've been resorting to sugarfree drinks and caffine but only sporadically though coz I don't know whether it screws up with metabolism or not... I’ve been doing the three hour thing to keep metabolism in check but from time to time I eat more non starchy veg (so insulin doesn’t shoot up and less likely to store fat) to try and increase satiety (I’m scared if I eat more protein and go over my set amount of cal for protein it’ll get stored as fat – or am I safer in eating protein anyway?)

Oh! and another question...whats an adequate or realistic drop in bodyfat percentage over 6 months? (I hate admitting my bodyfat but I last checked 2 wks ago and am at 27%, hoping to get at least down to 16% by the end of this year. Realistic?)

Sorry for all the questions dotted throughout my post! (goes to show what a noob i am)

We have alot in common!

Apart from been a Uni student (and a female), I am half Rarotongan, so I can relate to the "culture" of what most islanders consume in their diets.

I'm not sure I can help you out with any diet tips at the moment (as I'm seeking advice myself) but bascially my fitness regime is based on 45 minutes of cardio and walking my pup for an hour, 5 days a week. I have reduced the amount I eat and have cut out alcohol, junk food and fast foods which has helped alot plus I find I don't get as tired as I used to. In saying that, it's early days, so I can't really say if too much at this point. I'm hoping once my nutritionist suggest a food plan for me, It will be better to what I'm eating now :pray:

Anyway good luck with your diet and fitness regime, hope it goes well for you :D

M.J

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Shucks, more than you think!

I'm half raro, samoan and yeah, unfortunately I let the taro get to me when I was younger - not that it hardout shows now but I empathise with trying to adjust the lifestyle to suit the goal. Hmm, my cardio's been a bit flip flop atm but I make up for it on week ends if I don't get at least 30 min across mon-fri (I'm going to see a specialist too about nutrition after exams myself coz of the wack uni schedule).

Wow, good on you! Nice to know another female islander getting into bodybuilding (I had a friend who said her mum was Miss Cook Island in the Pacific Bodybuilding Champs or something but thats about as close as I got to knowing anyone).

Good luck with your goals as well and all the best for your exams coming up (I'm guessing).

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Shucks, more than you think!

I'm half raro, samoan and yeah, unfortunately I let the taro get to me when I was younger - not that it hardout shows now but I empathise with trying to adjust the lifestyle to suit the goal. Hmm, my cardio's been a bit flip flop atm but I make up for it on week ends if I don't get at least 30 min across mon-fri (I'm going to see a specialist too about nutrition after exams myself coz of the wack uni schedule).

Wow, good on you! Nice to know another female islander getting into bodybuilding (I had a friend who said her mum was Miss Cook Island in the Pacific Bodybuilding Champs or something but thats about as close as I got to knowing anyone).

Good luck with your goals as well and all the best for your exams coming up (I'm guessing).

OMG don't remind me! lol... my first one is in less than two weeks :cry:

Wow! Half Raro and Samoan? MEAN!!! :D lol I wasn't brought up the Island way as I lived around my mums side (she's European) so I'm kinda (if not all) plastic! haha. However my dad always emphasized his culture on to us and loves Island food (my sister and I didn't really take to it).

Sad to say I'm not actually on here for body building reasons, just to lose weight, but that's cool if you are! I'm really surprised how you find the time with study and all :shock:

Take care,

M.J

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Hey chick.. Another islander here. Damn our genetics and good foodz :grin:

Get ready for the "YOU'REGETTINGTOOSKINNYEATSOMETHING" comments at all the family gatherings and the aunties/uncles/mum/dad trying to force you to eat :pfft:

...does anyone have any tips for when your needing an energy boost when your caloric intake is low (in reply to the studying into the wee hours comment)? I've been resorting to sugarfree drinks and caffine but only sporadically though coz I don't know whether it screws up with metabolism or not... I’ve been doing the three hour thing to keep metabolism in check but from time to time I eat more non starchy veg (so insulin doesn’t shoot up and less likely to store fat) to try and increase satiety (I’m scared if I eat more protein and go over my set amount of cal for protein it’ll get stored as fat – or am I safer in eating protein anyway?)

Lol I lived on black coffee, sugarfree drinks and gum during uni when I was dieting.. Kept me sane!! I wouldn't worry too much about drinking the stuff now. Once you hit a plateau in weight loss.. Maybe then you can start fine tuning with the diet :)

One thing that worked for me was this awesomely awesome recipe called Jelly Fluff. It comes out huge and was pretty low in calories, but was filling and lasted for ages. I used to snack on it between meals and it worked a treat.

Otherwise.. Have a flick through the Recipes section, you'll be amazed at how creative people can get with veges and protein :grin:

Oh! and another question...whats an adequate or realistic drop in bodyfat percentage over 6 months? (I hate admitting my bodyfat but I last checked 2 wks ago and am at 27%, hoping to get at least down to 16% by the end of this year. Realistic?)

Why 16%?

I'm gonna say yes. But don't get too hung up on numbers. Take into account cms lost too \:D/

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Wow, good on you! Nice to know another female islander getting into bodybuilding (I had a friend who said her mum was Miss Cook Island in the Pacific Bodybuilding Champs or something but thats about as close as I got to knowing anyone).

Hey Vongi - check out the current Australian version of Oxygen mag (you can find it in Whitcoulls or Borders) for a profile of a gorgeous Samoan woman (half Samoan - not sure, but stunning anyway) and her road to a beautiful fit body after feeling like the big chunky one growing up.

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Hey chick.. Another islander here. Damn our genetics and good foodz :grin:

Get ready for the "YOU'REGETTINGTOOSKINNYEATSOMETHING" comments at all the family gatherings and the aunties/uncles/mum/dad trying to force you to eat :pfft:

I've been getting it and I'm not even near my weight - lmbo, hardout, :lol: if your not chunky or eating as much as everyone else then theres aparantly something wrong or your depressed. Thanks for the reasurance with the caffine thing, I plan on fine tuning once exams are over, lol, and will check out the recipes.

I'm taking public health at uni and well, the self discipline that bodybuilding entails would be of HUGE benefit for nutrition studies etc (was planing on working in Pacific/Maori communities for possible postgrad anyways) :pfft: make everyone do bodybuilding, lol, jokes jokes. :D

Oh and 16% was just a random number, anything well below what I am at the mo.

I'm gonna say yes. But don't get too hung up on numbers. Take into account cms lost too \:D/

8) will do

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  • 1 month later...

hi v, so youre a student too... it sux that healthy food aint cheap as well!! Im new to the site but thought id offer 2c worth of advice... Since youre doing public health, take a nutrition paper - mine offered a pretty cool website for monitoring macronutrient intake, ect. Gives a different perspective to your food intake. And another, you should find out if any other students are as interested in BB/dieting as you are and then maybe buddy up or suggest meeting each other ... This helped me out when I thought I was the only soul on campus suffering from hunger pangs lol :pfft:

Good luck though... \:D/

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yeah! I've been meaning to look for a buddy that's intrested in reaching bodybuilding goals too. It would make things seem a whole lot easier having someone to relate too. If theres anyone in the Auckland central area who's around early 20's and starting out bodybuilding, flick me an email and we can help each other out :D

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Hey girls

Im brand new to all of this but thought i haf to make my first post sometime lolz : ) reading your posts id have to agree it is so hard to find other chix keen on serious weight training, i have to be onest i am more aiming towards doing body sculpting as appose to body building but am still building alot of muscle and think a muscular build more appealing then just an undefined thin one.

I am also religous with my training and my diet, i am a vegetarian so its a bit harder to get all the protein and iron that i need - therefore muscle growth is slightly slower, anyway you guys were after high energy healthy foods, i suggest popping into ure local organic shop they are really knowlesgable. For breakfast i have organic porridge and i put something called chia seeds in it which is good for energy and i also have cacao which is 100percent coco - it is good for you and its good alternative to cofee - cafine is a diuretic so dehydrates you - water is obviously important for weight loss and as caffine sucks all this up it is not a good thing. Cacao comes in a powder form so i just add hot water and a bit of soy milk or trim milk, if its too bitter you could add a little honey though.

Hope this was helpful : )

Gd luck

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i am a vegetarian so its a bit harder to get all the protein and iron that i need

Hi and welcome, you'd be okay with whey protein powder though, adding a couple of shakes into your daily regime certainly would make up the deficit. Also, eggs are a really cheap source of protein, so assuming your okay on dairy/eggs, you should be A OKAY

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Hey thanx, yeah i i do have a couple of shakes a day and i am big on eggs and beans/lentils/chickpeas etc, am finding results very slow though i am slowly getting stronger and i definatly have the muscle the i find the body fat percentage hard to get down and often fluctuate - although i am told this is because i dont have an athletic backround- didnt really get into sports when i was at high school etc and i stuffed round with my metoblism alot with drugs/bad diet and dieting therfore huge fluctuations throughout high school and now 21 and have been seriously training probably for about 6months and am trying to build a scultped body. Long road ae but so good to have the motivation of you girls : ) good to see others in the same boat

cheers

Amie

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Good on you gymBunni, there is no right or wrong time to start a regime, and to be honest unless you are a string bean, there is always a chance to chisel a fine physique with hard training and balanced eating. I wouldn't get to hung up about the body fat percentage, just train hard and try to avoid getting bored with your weights program by changing it. There is always plenty of ideas if you are stuck on this site.

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Hey thanx, yeah i i do have a couple of shakes a day and i am big on eggs and beans/lentils/chickpeas etc, am finding results very slow though i am slowly getting stronger and i definatly have the muscle the i find the body fat percentage hard to get down and often fluctuate - although i am told this is because i dont have an athletic backround- didnt really get into sports when i was at high school etc and i stuffed round with my metoblism alot with drugs/bad diet and dieting therfore huge fluctuations throughout high school and now 21 and have been seriously training probably for about 6months and am trying to build a scultped body. Long road ae but so good to have the motivation of you girls : ) good to see others in the same boat

cheers

Amie

hi there,

you wont get your body fat down eating lentils and chickpeas. too much usable carb energy for your body. your carbs are fueling any fat burning youre doing. drop the chickpeas and lentils and other vego sources of protein that are álso high carb.

increase the frequency of protein shakes to 3 or 4 per day if necessary- made in water with 100ml milk or 1/4 banana

have eggs once every day- 4-5 boiled eggs are pretty quick and easy

do you eat cottage cheese?

also use low carb protein bars

becasue being vego you ar every limited in low carb sources of protein so you're going to be eating a lot of the same food

do 30 minutes low intensity cardio after every weights session at 120bpm. you should start losing weight within 5 days. if not let me know

when you get your diet and cardio mix right you will build muscle and drop fat at the same time- awesome!

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Hey, wow thanx for the useful info. Just wondering how this will fit in with my normal meals - the eggs a and shakes i mean? Yeah variety isnt too shitt hott unfortunalty and living with partners mum so she does all the shopping koz im tryna save i just pay bord - will b easier to prepare meals and eat organically next yr wen haf got own place etc. Umm and with the cardio do i continue to do my higher intensity cardio and then just add some lighter cardio after my weight sessions? My results are coming - u can see some muscle definition in all my upper body but less fat would insure better definition and well my lower body( legs/ass) thats a few steps behind by upper lolz.

Thank u so much for takeing time to help me out - i really appreciate the feed back.

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One thing I've seen a lot of bb'ers doing, esp when they're on a cut, is jump on a treadmill, and go slowly but at max incline. Hi intensity after weights wouldn't work as well as the 120bpm heartrate work that ImHungry recommended (65% of max hr equals 'fatburning zone'). and yep, some of that after weights would help you with those goals of bringing in the definition.

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The usual rule is Max Heart Rate is 220 minus your age gives you the 100% figure.

So for a 20year old, 220 minus 20 equals 200 - that's your max heart rate, which you should never reach. 65% of 200 would be 130 beats per minute.

It's approximate, not exact, but good enough for most cardio machinery in gyms.

65% is the usual goal figure for "fat burning" and around 80-85% for "cardio fitness" goals - the reason for the lower figure for fat burning is, essentially, to keep the body using fat stores as a fuel source.

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lol, woops, haven't posted on this in a bit.

Good advice and questions though (all relevant as I'm still getting the hang of listening to what my body responds to)

Hmm, training is going a bit topsy turvy tho coz i swapped gyms, (women only gyms aren't really catered for bodybuilding. . .

Got back into training on monday and had the whole 'delayed onset muscle soreness' thing. really stinks.

in regards to the cardio from gymbunni, if I were focussing on trying to lower body fat but also trying to increase strength, how much high intensity cardio do you reccomend I do p/w? If I do weight training 4x wk and high intensity on 2 off days plus a weight day is that enough? I dont want to fall into the same cardio happy chick i was at the last gym as it did nothing for me and I don't want to overtrain and waste all the effort.

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Got back into training on monday and had the whole 'delayed onset muscle soreness' thing. really stinks.
DOMS is just a sign you're making the effort :grin:
in regards to the cardio from gymbunni, if I were focussing on trying to lower body fat but also trying to increase strength, how much high intensity cardio do you reccomend I do p/w? If I do weight training 4x wk and high intensity on 2 off days plus a weight day is that enough?
4 weights plus 2 HIIT is about the max I'd recommend personally, you have to give the body at least one rest day. The trick really is:

a. get the intensity up - go hard enough on the weights that you're really feeling stuffed at the end, maybe sweating and puffing, (and yes that probably means DOMS);

b. keep rests between sets short... 60s-90s; and

c. adopt a plan - check out what folks like Chillicat and RunVeeRun are doing, for example - that helps motivate you to keep achieving strength or reps goals.

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4 weights plus 2 HIIT is about the max I'd recommend personally, you have to give the body at least one rest day. The trick really is:

a. get the intensity up - go hard enough on the weights that you're really feeling stuffed at the end, maybe sweating and puffing, (and yes that probably means DOMS);

b. keep rests between sets short... 60s-90s; and

c. adopt a plan - check out what folks like Chillicat and RunVeeRun are doing, for example - that helps motivate you to keep achieving strength or reps goals.

sweet, thanks heaps for that. and yea, I'm at the environment gym up in auckland, haha, ultimately i want to get into a figure comp (next year) coz my bf pretty high (26% :shock: ) but it'll be fun seeing how I can challange myself.

So with regards to DOMS, does that mean it should be expected at least once or twice a week? (varrying depending on how intense the workout was).

Also, I've never been to a bodybuilding comp before but I'm heading to the counties manukau one this weekend (haha, im excited to see them doing their stuff in the flesh! \:D/ ), should be good!

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