weight loss advise?

Question

I am 9st (126 lb) and 5ft 2
I have a 25inch waist but disproportionately large hips, thighs and calves
I know I am not fat but I would like to loose about half a stone (mainly to look a little more balanced!) Clothes shopping is a nightmare as I have to get a size bigger so it fits over my legs n hips but then it's always huge on the waist.
I have tried everything I can think of but the weight just doesnt seem to budge. I excecise regularly (a combination of running, aerobics and yoga 5 times a week) I try to eat a balanced diet a typical day would be
breakfast: A cereal bar and an apple
lunch: small portion of meat or fish, vegetables and small portion of potatoes (ususally mashed)
Dinner: slightly larger portion of meat or fish, lots of steamed veg, small portion of potatoes

Drinks: water (at least 2ltrs) 2 cups of coffee with semi skimmed milk 1 sweetner. 2 fruit teas Glass of wine

Other than starvation any ideas on how I can loose those few pounds?

The starvation thing was intended as sarcasm!
I have no intention of actually starving myself!

Thanks for the sound advice Tia_Maria19 very useful:)
You sound like you really know your stuff! except for your comment about yoga not helping me with weight loss when infact in a 90min yoga class I would probaby burn between 500-600 cals while running for the same duration would be around 648cals for my height/weight and in yoga there is much less impact on my joints etc.

Answer 1

To lose weight you need to change your excercise routine and diet.

Diet (Most important when it comes to weight loss)

- As a rule of thumb to lose weight you need to eat 10-12 times your weight in pounds, i.e 1260-1512 kcal per day. (You can vary between these numbers depending on activity.

-Log your food consumption into a web diary such as www.calorie-count.com. You can be surprised how wrong you can be with the amount of calories you eat.

- You need to eat 5-6 equal sized small meal per day. Split your calories equally between your meals.

- You need to eat every 2-3 hours to keep your metabolism going.

- You need to eat a source of complete protein and low/medium GI carb at every meal. Lean protein: chicken breast, tuna, turkey, egg whites. Good carbs: pulses, whole grains, vegetables, sweet potatoes. As far as fats go have seeds (flax and hemp are best) in your salad and little olive oil.

- Use Omega 3 supplement.

- If you really want to go technical, experiment with your micronutrient ratios. Try splitting your daily calorific consumption into 40% carbs/40% protein/20% fat. (1g fat -- 9kcal, 1g of protein/carb -- 4 kcal). See if this medium carb breakdown works for you, you may want to lower your carbs if you plateau on your weight loss in the future.

- Educate yourself. http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/complete.htm There are many other brilliant nutrition articles on this website

As far as your current diet is concerned it's not good. Few points:

- Cereal bars -- I would drop these. They have too much sugar. Have oatmeal + egg white omlet instead.

- No poatoes. They cause an insulin spike and will hinder your weight loss. Eat sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa, green vegetables, beans.

- Make sure that your meat is lean.

- No alcohol!!!! - If you're trying to lose weight you can't have a glass of wine per day. Alcohol slows your metabolism for 36 hours after consumption. All your cardio work is going to waste!

- I'd change semi-skimmed milk to skimmed.

Use the internet! There are so many great and free recipes. Check out your local health store for the ingredients I mentioned above.

I need to add, you should never go below recommended calories and starve as it will only damage your metabolism and make long term weight loss impossible.

Right, let's move to your workout....

You need to do a combination of cardio and weights 5-6 times a week. Check out HIIT (high intensity intterval training), it's great for weight loss. You need to do 2-3 workout with weights and I don't mean machines, I mean picking up free weights. Again, use the internet to do your research.

Yoga is a great way to relax and stretch your muscles but it will not aid your weight loss.

I hope this will help but you can also check out the weight loss forum at www.fitness.com. I learned at lot from there.

Good luck.

Answer 2

It might be the way you exercise. If you go to the gym 5 times a week, it doesn't mean you are doing much according to the requirements of your body. You might need higher intensity workouts because your body won't burn its fat if the exercise is not intense enough. It's better to do shorter exercises with higher intensity than longer exercises with low intensity. For some people that might work, but perhaps not for you. I could walk all day for miles and miles and won't burn much, but put me on a running machine for 20 minutes doing really high intensity workout and I can feel that I'm burning. What's the sign that you are burning fat? Well, if suddenly, in the middle of your exercise you feel like you've just had a full dinner or just after your exercise, no matter how lovely your food smells you don't want to touch it. It is possible that you don't get this feeling. If not, then you need to crank up the intensity of your workout. Do lots of cardio!

Answer 3

Hi there, well you know i am a very similar shape to you.. and i like it!!! i think it's womanly. I don't really have much fat on my legs but my hips are wide and my legs at the top seem to jutt out ( quite a lot actually) but i look fine and just curvy. It isn't fat at all, i have accepted that it is my bones... my pelvis is wide and my leg bones are wide but I am slim if you know what i mean. It could be simply your build... you don't say wether you are storing excess fat on your hips/ thighs, it may just be your shape... if you really do need to burn up some fat from there then i'd suggest running... now do this 20 minuet fat burning run and you will really see a diff ( warm up and stretch before you start!)
start off the first minute walking then do 2 mins at what you would consider to be your speed / level 5 ( your're eventually going to go up to level 10 so don't start level 5 too fast)
you set the pace yourself ( unless you are using a treadmill)
so 1 min walk
2 mins level 5
1 min level 6
1 min level 7
" " " 8
" "" "" 9
then back down to level 6 for 1min
7
8
9
bakc to level 6 for 1 min
7
8
9

back to level 6
7
8
9
and then flat out at level 10 for the last minute... run as fast as you can.

Then you can slow down... but don't suddenly just stop you need to cool down gently..

This is a great run and you know you only have to go out of the house and do it for 20 mins and it is very very effective
I wish you good health and happiness x

Answer 4

I've tried many diets and couldn't make anything work. Since having my first child, I've been carrying around an extra 30 pounds. This diet just made sense and showed me that everything I was doing before was wrong and a waste of my time.

The plan was so refreshing and so simple to follow. I did everything plan said and lost 23 pounds in the first three weeks. I'm now starting the diet again to lose 7 more pounds. This plan has changed my life.

Get started today!

Answer 5

As long as you lose the weight slowly (about 1-2lbs per week) and you are exercising to tone up, I don't think you should have a problem with excess skin. This is more likely to occur where you lose a lot of weight in a very short period of time, but losing between 1-2lbs per week is a healthy rate @ which to lose weight, and as well as helping to keep excess skin to a minimum, the weight will be more likely to stay off. Good luck!!!!

Answer 6

Add about a gallon of water and loose the potatoes until you are down to your goal weight. When you have potatoes, they have a very poor glycemic index so the starch in them is broken down into sugar which gets stored as fat. Although they themselves are fat free and sooooooooooo delicious. I have the same struggle and when I increase water intake and limit starches, I get more fit. Also, are you exercising your MIND as well. Your thoughts and feelings have to match your action. Try visualizing your success, maybe hang up the outfit you'll wear when you're smaller and fitter. Also, I use inspirational pics of fit celebs to motivate me as well. Hey, let's share a glass of wine to toast to your success!! Cheers! Don't give up, we all need so much encouragement!

Answer 7

You don’t need to exercise for hours on end. Short, sharp sets of exercise will produce better results when you work hard. Get a passing up rope, skip for two min's, do push ups for a minute or so, skip for two minutes, rest for example minute. Then change the push around something else like sit ups in addition to do the set again. Repeat it five times and it’s a simple, effective workout that will progress results than a long operate or swim.

Answer 8

a lot of times regularity is the probem with losing weight. when you do a certain routine over and over again your body becomes accustomed to it and you won't lose weight anymore. i suggest changing up your workout routine a little bit and maybe even lifting weights because muscle burns more calories than fat so that could help you also

Answer 9

I enthusiastically recommend the Rice Diet for anyone who's had trouble losing weight in the past or has gotten desperate on the yo-yo diet cycle. There is such joy in breaking through all of the diet "nonsense" out there and finding something real that WORKS!

Answer 10

If you're eating and exercising the way you say you are, it means you're at your ideal weight for your body size and type. I'm betting your figure is not disproportionate, it's just not the same as you see on all the anorexic fashion models. 5'2" and 125 lbs sounds pretty darn good to me!