New - question with muscle gain / body shape

Poochinator · Post by **Poochinator** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 2:11 pm

Hi,
I'm new here. I've been on diet for a while, I started at 165 lbs and I am at 134 lbs now (aiming for about 130 lbs). I'm a 5'7" (7.5" rather) female, 35 yo, I was always a very skinny person until I hit America. (I used to be at about 110 in teens, and went up to about 121 lbs in college). I was never fat, until some good years ago when I started eating like a pig and over the years I ended up to 165 lbs and looked really fat. (I'm a very small frame, I have very small bones, and I don't have a muscular built). But after I started this diet / exercise routine, I noticed I got some more shape in arms (which were previously like 2 sticks), I can see a lot of changes, however, I still have kind of lots of fat on tighs and (LOTS). I don't want to be too skiny either. I read on different websites about the ideal weight for a small frame, it starts at around 122 - 132 lbs (for height/weight). I would like to stop at about 130 (the most 128) but look fit. What should I do????? I want to reduce the fat I still have and built in its place a little muscle. But no matter what I do I cant' gain much muscle, it's built I guess... How heavy should the weights be in order for me to gain muscle and how many calories a day should I eat? (while dieting I did lift weights 8lbs dumbells for upper body, and about 25 lbs barbell), and did cardio ( I exercise most of the days 5-6 days). I started diet with 1400 cal a day and increased it to 1600 cal a day. So.... the question is....
should I first lose last few lbs of fat until I get to 130 or 128 and then increase the calories to maybe 2200 ( resting metabolic rate is around 1331 cal )and do less cardio and more weight lifting? I've been reading a lot about this... but I wouldn't like to gain muscle and too much fat along with it... Any help? I want legs and to look nice and fit and not distorted by the damn fat but I also don't want to be too skinny like a stick. Or maybe in time with exercise and healthy diet, body will little by little change and get a different shape?
Any suggestion is appreciated!
Thanks!

vamp · Post by **vamp** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 3:09 pm

Great job so far on the weight lost. I believe you are close to your ideal weight but like you said get some more muscle and lose a bit more fat. Your College weight would be closer to your ideal weight than your highschool weight but lets also remember that at your age you have gone through a metabolic change as well (its slowing down). Sorry hun, I'm going through it too.

Weights 3x a week is a definate go, 3x10reps of compound excercises like squats, bench press, chin ups, rows, dips, deadlifts, shoulder presses. Heavy weight so that on the 3rd set you can barely get the 10th rep out. Try a gym out that's close to you, ie local ymca, golds gym, etc.

Do Cardio on 2-3 other days. Perhaps some fitness classes at a gym.

Try not to have more than 1 day off in a row. Unless your schedual only permits 3 days a week for working out, then do weights first followed by cardio with a day in between workouts ie. mon, wed, sat.

With this in mind, you should be eating protein every meal so its your weight in grams (your 134 lbs so eat 134g protein a day over 5 to 8 meals). Your calorie intake sounds like a base amount for no exercise. I may be corrected on this but I believe you should be closer to 1800 calories a day if not 2000 if you incorporate weight training and cardio.

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:25 am

- there is no ideal wt for anybody of any shape or size
- everyone can build muscle but it can be harder for some
- the wts need to be as heavy as you can handle to build muscle or burn fat, no lighter...8pds is too light
- i don't care what you're weighing in at...what's your %?
- you can easily gain muscle without fat, eat more cal's but make them clean calories...easy
- consistency ansd dicipline

vamp · Post by **vamp** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:50 am

Cheers to that Swanso

Poochinator · Post by **Poochinator** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:44 am

Thanks a lot for your advices! I guess I have some hard work to do then

Poochinator · Post by **Poochinator** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:57 am

Last I measured myself and calculated BF% by the formula in the link below, body fat % was 26.93% by formula used by US Navy and 30.24% by formula developed by YMCA (it's all from the same calculator...dont' understand this one though... how so different results)(that was August 18). I also have a scale that measures BF% but that's beyond accuracy... I don't trust that one.
Ok, today I measured myself again....
- waist at narrowest point is: 27.5"
- wasit at naval is: 29.5"
- hips at widest point: 38"
- neck at narrowest point - 12"
- height 5'7.5"
- weight 134 lbs
And the results are....
- Navy formula - 25%
- YMCA formula 25.88%(wow, an improvement since last time)...

Poochinator · Post by **Poochinator** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 9:58 am

the link is http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/bfb

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:54 pm

from now on simply measure waist if it goes down good, if not bad

there's no real definative test except getting weighted inw ater a real good calipeer test which are both ahrd to come by

also check the mirror and how your clothes fit