Losing fat

[lexifaith]

Hi, this is my first time here, so I hope I don't sound stupid.
Anyway, I am starting the body-for-life today.

My questions are:
1. It says only to only exercise 3 times a week for 20 minutes. If I do more than that. Like say 6 or 7.. 20 minute sessions, is that ok. I am of course looking for a fast fat loss.
2. Also, for calories. If I follow the plan and eat healthy food..proportions sizes every 2 or 3 hours is that good, or do I need to count calories too.

I've been trying to exercise and diet, but I haven't achieved anything, and so I decided to start this cause it gives me a plan. We are having a big family get together in 6 weeks, so I would like to see how much fat I can knock off by then. I am just so excited about this program and actually someday looking and feeling great. And of course I am excited that my 2 daughters will see me do this and not go through years of yo-yoing like me and my sisters.

Ok, enough blabbering. I'm sorry

Any suggestions would be so great.
Thank you

[lexifaith]

Ok. I wonder if I said it all wrong. I get excited. I know I can't lose fat too fast. I just want to go as fast as my body will allow. And I don't want to spend the next how many ever weeks working hard and not getting anywhere, or going too slow when I could possibly go faster.

I am 5 ft 6in and 184 lbs. I don't care if I am 130 or 140 pounds, I just want to feel good and look good and toned. So, here is my menu plan for today.

8:30am
1 egg white
1 pc ff cheese
1 english muffin

11:00am
1/2 cup LF cottage cheese
1 banana

1:40pm
4 oz fish
1 can green beans
1/2 cup brown rice

3:30ish
power par

6:pm
chicken tenders
bunch of broccoli and cauliflower with ff cheese on top
1/2 cup brown rice

8pm
really not sure about this one

Gonna work chest, shoulders, back, triceps, and biceps tonight. I have 5, 10, and 15 pound dumbbells.

Does this all look good. I really want to do this right so after I get to where I want to be I can continue with a maintenance plan.

Do I need to add any supplements to all this. I'm currently not taking any vitamins or supplements of any kind.
Thank you

[lost1700]

Don't expect to lose alot of weight quickly, or any weight at all. A health rate of losing fat is about 1-2 pounds per week. First I suggest you calculate your BMR, just do a search on bb.com and use the bmr calculator. The bmr will give you the minimum amount of calories you should be intaking in a day.

You should definitely be counting calories, a good start would be:

40% of calories coming from protein
40% of calories coming from carbs
20% of calories coming from healthy fats.

Drink alot of water, take a multi-vitamin, and flax or fish oil pills for omega fats.

Space your meals 2-3 hours apart, and try to consume even amounts of calories in each meal.

You should also so resistance weight training and cardio. Do your cardio after weight training or on days you don't weight train. It is proven that weight training is more beneficial to fat loss than cardio, but cardio definitely has positives.

Don't be fooled by weight, with resistance training you might be losing fat but you might not lose weight because the fat is being replaced with lean muscle mass.

Hope this helps, there are many great resources on this board, just use the search function.

edit: just saw that you are doing weight training.

[terracotta]

Hi, this is my first time here, so I hope I don't sound stupid.
Anyway, I am starting the body-for-life today.

My questions are:
1. It says only to only exercise 3 times a week for 20 minutes. If I do more than that. Like say 6 or 7.. 20 minute sessions, is that ok. I am of course looking for a fast fat loss.
2. Also, for calories. If I follow the plan and eat healthy food..proportions sizes every 2 or 3 hours is that good, or do I need to count calories too.

I've been trying to exercise and diet, but I haven't achieved anything, and so I decided to start this cause it gives me a plan. We are having a big family get together in 6 weeks, so I would like to see how much fat I can knock off by then. I am just so excited about this program and actually someday looking and feeling great. And of course I am excited that my 2 daughters will see me do this and not go through years of yo-yoing like me and my sisters.

Ok, enough blabbering. I'm sorry

Any suggestions would be so great.
Thank you

20 min 3 times a week.. I'd assume that is for cardio in addition to weight training? Assuming you are doing only low to moderate intensity, you can do more cardio than that. I have some guidelines for cardio on my site http://www.hotnfit.com/fitness/fitness_cardio.htm#top

Bodyforlife is designed for portion sizes, and no counting is involved. I suggest trying the food guide the way it is.. it works for a lot of people. I usually only eat every 3-4 hours (5-6 meals per day) but it depends on the size of the meals.

[lexifaith]

Thanks for your help. I did 45 minutes of weights last night. I'm not as sore as i thought I'd be. I'll go get some vitamins and stuff tonight.

My BMR is 1600
So, is this right:

40% Carbohydrates- 640 calories
40% Protein- 640 calories
20% Fat- Calories

So then if 6 meals a day would be:
Carbohydrates per meal- 106 calories
Protein per meal- 106 Calories
Fat per meal- 53 Calori5s
=260 Calories per meal

Or if I have a bar for a meal just make sure it's about 260 calories

So pretty much I may even start gaining weight or nothing at all, but I need to not rely on scale, but how my clothes fit and my measurements.

Ok.. please just tell me if this is all correct.

[lost1700]

Thanks for your help. I did 45 minutes of weights last night. I'm not as sore as i thought I'd be. I'll go get some vitamins and stuff tonight.

My BMR is 1600
So, is this right:

40% Carbohydrates- 640 calories
40% Protein- 640 calories
20% Fat- Calories

So then if 6 meals a day would be:
Carbohydrates per meal- 106 calories
Protein per meal- 106 Calories
Fat per meal- 53 Calori5s
=260 Calories per meal

Or if I have a bar for a meal just make sure it's about 260 calories

So pretty much I may even start gaining weight or nothing at all, but I need to not rely on scale, but how my clothes fit and my measurements.

Ok.. please just tell me if this is all correct.

I missed in your first post that you were starting a diet and workout plan. If the body-for-life plan is legitimate then I would stick with it, just do whatever the plan tells you to do.

However, if you are not doing the body-for-life go to terracotta's site www.hotnfit.com and under her nutrition section there are tips on how to plan a diet and it will tell you how to break down your nutrients. By looking at your calorie break down, it looks a little off.

[Lauroo]

If you have specific questions in relation to Body For Life, your best bet is to go to the Tracker forum www.bodyforlife-tracker.com which is a highly active forum for people doing Body For Life, lots of experts around there.

Your meal plan looks okay but some of the meals aren't balanced.

For breakfast, ONE egg white is not enough protein. You need 5-6 egg whites, or maybe 3-4 egg whites and 1 whole egg.

11am meal is a little carb heavy, you could try 1/2 cup ff cottage cheese mixed with a low fat, low sugar yogurt. Or just eat half the banana, a whole banana is too much carb.

Other meals look okay. Buy some protein powder, it will become your best friend. Get a low carb kind, EAS Whey Vanilla is a good cheap one. 1 scoop will count as your protein portion and you can blend it with some water and berries or other fruit for a complete meal.

Most people doing BFL stick to the 3 HIIT cardio sessions a week for their first challenge. It should be effective for fat burning. If not, you can consider adding a couple moderate cardio sessions on non-HIIT days, but stick to the program by the book for your first challenge. It works for 80% of people!

Good luck
Lauren

[lexifaith]

Thanks so much for the help!!!