Newbie looking for advice

[fatty]

My husband told me about this site just the other day so I thought check it out and I love it so I registered today.

I am a 23 year old female who has in the last 5 years put on 75 lbs. I became lazy and non-ambicious. I use to play sports and loved playing them, but since I graduated high school I gave up on the way I look and how healthy I am.
I have just recently taken on a new look to my life. Lose weight and get in shape. I have come up with a motivational saying, that I say to myself every morning in the mirror it is,
"No one is going to do it for you!"
With that in mind I go to the gym 5 days a week for a 45 minute workout and everyday is a different part of the body. I also go walking with my dog (5 days a week) for about an hour.
What I am looking to do is lose the 75 lbs I put on and be in shape, I'm not looking to be in shows about body building, just look and feel healthy.
My question is, with what I am doing is it going to be enough? How long do you think it will take to lose the lbs? What kind of diet should I be on? Do I need to take protiens, shakes, multi's? If so, what do you recommend??
Any help on this subject would be great.
Thank you in advance.
PS-
I will, at a later date, be posting a picture of what I used to look like and one of me now.
Thank you again.

[taco_brains]

try to do cardio right in the morning before breakfast and eat alot of protein i duno what ur stats are so i cant help u much but keep those 2 in mind..thats what i'm doing now and i feel great about myself everyday, even tho i dont see results everyday i feel GREAT working out in the morning. try it.

[Roxie]

First off...congratulations for getting started..I think what you are doing now looks great. You diet should be clean foods and stop with the over processed and fast foods. By eating clean...your results will show much faster. I good start would be something in the lines of:

Breakfast...eggwhites and oatmeal

Snack..apple and peanut butter

Lunch...grilled chicken breast, small sweet pototoe and veggies

Snack..tuna salad with olive oil/vinegar dressing

Dinner...grilled fish, brown rice. and veggie

snack...cottage cheese

Just an example of a good clean diet...You want to make sure to drink a lot of water as well.

Cardio first think in the morning is great like taco-brains suggested...it gets your day going, you feel great and it's a really good way to burn off the fat. Hope that helps you some...any further questions...please don't hesitate to ask.

Roxie :)

[TrishB]

Diet is a big part of it, and Roxie gave you a great example of how to eat clean. You want to eat 6xday....no skipping meals.
You can do all the cardio and weight training in the world, but nothing will help if your diet is bad.

When you say every day you workout for 45 mins a different part of your body,what do you mean. I am assuming you mean you do weights. What is your routine like. 5 days a week seems like alot for just weight training, but I don't know what you are training on what days.

You are getting alot of cardio in and that is great.

A word of advice. You are just starting and very motivated right now. This "high" will die down bigtime.
Just stick with it and push yourself to keep up your routine. In a few months time , you will have developed new habits and it becomes so much easier to stick with the program. And eventually you become hooked. :)
And then you better change that name you picked!!

[Fanatikk]

fatty... roxy and trish are totally right when they talk about concentrating on your diet.
Believe me, if you want to lose the weight, you need to be just as intense about your diet as you are your weight training. I neglected my diet in the beginning and it really showed. Example, I would play basketball one day for a couple of hours and then later that night, i was like...well, i really burnt a lot of calories today and i'm hungry...so i'd order a pizza, eat it and go to bed. I probably burnt 1500 cals playing basketball and the pizza had over 2000 calories plus carbs galore...and then I went to bed right after(thinking I was going to lose weight). Now, i'm more educated about the things I eat. Here's some of the things I've learned and please, educated peeps, correct me if i'm wrong or off.

-to lose weight you have to burn more calories then you take in(go to fitday.com..sign up for a totally free membership. It tells you all the nutritional facts on basically any food and you can keep a log of your diet, along with calories you've burned during daily activities and workouts)

-you should eat about 6 times a day...the reason-when you eat more frequently your metabolism is always busy processing the food you just ate instead of storing fat.

-eat some protein-why?-protein balances your blood-sugar levels..and the reason you get really hungry is because of drastic changes in your sugar levels...oh and it's the building blocks for MUSCLE!!!yeah!!!

-be careful when weighing yourself- when you lift weights, you gain muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat so u might have lost some fat but when you get on the scale it doesn't look like it. That's because you gained muscle weight(yay).

-stay consistent...there are so many people I know who look basically the same after all these years because of inconsistency. They'd be gunho for a couple months and then take a month off...then start over again. I know, cause that was me...until I decided it had to be a way of life...not just a reason to look better.

-educate yourself. Learn, learn, learn. I found that the more I learned, the more I wanted to keep at it.

just my 200 cents
good luck

[TrishB]

Good post. You have done your homework well. :)

I think all of us had the mindset at one time that if we worked out enough, then we could pretty much eat what we wanted.

Sometimes even now, I will be doing the elyptical, and see that I used up 300 calories.....and I will be trying to figure in my head how many calories a donut would be.
Fortunately, now I know better than to stop and get a donut after working out.

[Fanatikk]

thx trish... but did you have to mention donuts?!
I love donuts...especially krispy kremes! mmmmm...
must hold back the temptation.

btw fatty..that's what you have to control..is your temptation for the bad stuff...but like I said..with education comes power..because once you know how many cals and carbs and sugar(simple carbs) are in the donut it becomes very less appetizing.

[fatty]

Thank you everyone that has replied to my post. The info I read is awsome.
Thank you Roxie for the sample day of eating. The only problem I have is that I find it really hard to eat three meals a day. I know they are 6 small meals so I will try.
TrishB - My routine is light weights and working for example... monday would be legs, tuseday would be shoulders, wednesday would be back, thursday would be arms, and friday would be chest. that sort of thing.
I also have one more question, actually two.
What are good carbs and good calories?
also
What would be a good lower back workout. I have had problems as long as I can remember with my lower back and so far I haven't found a machine that can help me strengthen that part of my body. I don't think I am ready for the roman chair yet.
Thank you again for all the help.

[TrishB]

1. Good carbs are complex carbs. Veggies, whole grains, wheat pastas, sweet potatoes...
I stay away from anything white such as potaotes, white rice, white bread, white pasta...
Always watch sugar content when you check labels. Something could have 20 gm of carbs....and be 2gm sugar , or 15 gm carbs and be 8 gm sugar. The lower sugar would be the best pick even though the carbs (and calories) would be higher.

2. Calories are from proteins, carbs, fats.
1 gm Protein = 4 calories
1 gm Carb = 4 calories
1gm Fat = 9 calories
You can see that you are getting more by loading up on proteins and carbs. Keeping the carbs complex will fill you even more.
But that is not to say fats are not good. You need them too. Around 20% of your daily calories should be fat ....and again avoid the bad ones...such as animal fats.

3. Dead lifts are a good one for the lower back.
My gym also has a machine for back hyperextension. If you prefer machines that would be a good one. Keep weights low on those. You just want to feel a good stretch. :)

[Viola]

The girls have given you the basic building blocks to get started.
I hope you don't mind if I borrow some for myself. Very good motivational tools.

Good Luck
Viola