Help for a pear shape

[bscole]

I am trying like heck to lose my pear shaped body. I eat a lot of chicken and salmon along with working out 5-6 times a week. My work out consist of 40 mins. cardio and then I work the entire circuit at the gym for both the upper and lower body. Any suggestions for me to get rid of this weight I carry in my butt and inner and outer thighs????

[bustasinclair]

Sounds like you have a good start--I would recommend a food journal and give it a few months

[namtrag]

Need to be anal and keep track of everything you eat for a while.

fitday.com works pretty well

You can't spot reduce, you just need to be patient and lose a lb or two a week.

[Tifflex]

I am trying like heck to lose my pear shaped body. I eat a lot of chicken and salmon along with working out 5-6 times a week. My work out consist of 40 mins. cardio and then I work the entire circuit at the gym for both the upper and lower body. Any suggestions for me to get rid of this weight I carry in my butt and inner and outer thighs????

What else are you eating with the chicken and salmon?

[bscole]

Thanks for the suggestions namtrag and bustasinclair. Tifflex, I eat brown rice and broccoli or brussell sprouts or some other veggie. I have been doing this for over 4 weeks now and I have not seen any change to my body!! It is soooo frusturating. I added whey protein as well.

[freebirdmac]

Until you know your cals and macros it'll be very hard to troubleshoot your diet.

You do need to make lifting the centerpiece of your workout plan. Cardio is secondary. Meaning lift first and lift heavy.

[LyingSac]

Thanks for the suggestions namtrag and bustasinclair. Tifflex, I eat brown rice and broccoli or brussell sprouts or some other veggie. I have been doing this for over 4 weeks now and I have not seen any change to my body!! It is soooo frusturating. I added whey protein as well.

switch to egg protein

[namtrag]

Give yourself time, and get scientific. It's hard work to lose fat, and you have to get a workmanlike attitude!

I don't know what your maintenance calories are, but search on here for a calculator, and plug your numbers in. Most of them have a calculation showing how much you need to eat to lose 1-2lbs a week.

Do that, then make a diet plan that you can stick to. Make a big list, go shopping, and log things in every day to fitday to make sure you come in on target.

Go 2-3 weeks at the calorie level the calculator gives you. If you lose 1-2lbs a week, keep everything the same. If you don't lose, cut 300-500 calories a day, repeat the 2-3 week cycle. At some point you will find the groove that lets you lose 1-2lbs a week.

I am thinking you should eat a diet of 125-150g of protein a day, then fill in the remaining calories with healthy carbs and fats. Try to limit fats to 20-25% of total calories unless you are going to try ketosis.

Post up what you are thinking and we will help. We love to get up in other people's business! lol

[bscole]

I looked my BMR up and it gave me 1470.4. Is that the amount of calories I should be taking in daily? I am so dense when it comes to all this stuff. I am trying very hard to learn as much as possible and love and appreciate all of the feedback. I just joined this site and think it is great how everyone seems to help each other out like a tight knit community. :-)

[namtrag]

no, BMR is if you did nothing all day. try this

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/vm11.htm

There are other ones to poke around on there too

[bebeklein]

I have the same shape. You will always have your hips but once you drop body fat, you will feel better about them

As far as exercise you have a good plan in place that's geared around fat loss and includes both cardio and strength training. (For your circuit training you should have a rest day in between since you're doing upper and lower)

The other piece is your diet and your cals should probably be in the range of 1500-1600 (to lose approx a lb a week) and a good starting point is 40% protein and carb and 20% fat.

The 5 - 6 meals are ideal, but I personally find it to be a bit much. Instead I do 3 square meals with 2 snacks. Based on your stats, you could do something like 300 cals for breakfast, 500 for lunch and dinner and 2 150 cal snacks.

Take measurements and pics....the number on the scale can be deceptive.

[bscole]

Thank you very much. That was a huge help. This will make me sound very stupid, but how do I figure carb gram and protein into calories?

[namtrag]

read the whole article, it explains it.

carb and protein grams = 4 calories each
fat grams = 9 calories each

[bscole]

GREAT!!! I really appreciate all the help that you have provided me. I was trying really hard not to take the pictures since I do not really want to see that mess of nastiness. The journal of food intake will be the toughest for me since that will be surreal, but I know these two things are necessary to acheive my goal. Thanks again for all the feedback. It is always welcome.

[bebeklein]

Yea the journal can be a pain in the a$$ initially, but when you write everything down, you're more likely to stick to your plan (aka see results). But after you get all your meals loaded, it's not that bad.

Sparkpeople is another food tracking website. I actually prefer it to fitday.

I like these two links from Marzia Prince's website. Just some basic nutrition information and a sample meal plan (not all I agree with...you want to make sure you get a bit of protein, carb & fat at each meal..except post workout no fat (slows digestion). PWO you want protein & a simple carb (same reason complex carbs slow digestion).

http://www.marziaprince.com/tips.htm
http://www.marziaprince.com/nutrition.htm

[namtrag]

GREAT!!! I really appreciate all the help that you have provided me. I was trying really hard not to take the pictures since I do not really want to see that mess of nastiness. The journal of food intake will be the toughest for me since that will be surreal, but I know these two things are necessary to acheive my goal. Thanks again for all the feedback. It is always welcome.

I feel like that too, but posting my pics kind of forces me to do something about it.

[bscole]

Those are great links. I can eat the same thing over and over again and not get tired of it so I will try the seven day diet posted and eat it for 4 weeks along with keeping my journals and working out. How do you guys find all these awesome sites?

[jellodirt]

Any suggestions for me to get rid of this weight I carry in my butt and inner and outer thighs????

Consistancy and time. It took 37 years to get where you are now, it's going to take a while to get to where you want to be. Stick with it.

[namtrag]

Those are great links. I can eat the same thing over and over again and not get tired of it so I will try the seven day diet posted and eat it for 4 weeks along with keeping my journals and working out. How do you guys find all these awesome sites?

We sit at the computer all day, avoid real work at all costs.

[bscole]

That is another problem all together. Sitting at a desk in front of a computer 9-10 hrs a day!! Makes it difficult to read these postings while sitting here. I believe this is a form of torture reading these while at work since I can not do anything about my body while working. Once I leave work then I have to get re-motivated to go and work out. UGH!!!!

[ironwill2008]

That is another problem all together. Sitting at a desk in front of a computer 9-10 hrs a day!! Makes it difficult to read these postings while sitting here. I believe this is a form of torture reading these while at work since I can not do anything about my body while working. Once I leave work then I have to get re-motivated to go and work out. UGH!!!!

Actually, you can do plenty--watch what and how often you eat, and drink plenty of plain water throughout the day. The one hour in the gym is the easy part; what you're doing the other 23 hours a day is what will tell the tale.

A month is not long enough to tell much difference; it takes time to change your body. Get the help you need, here, to form a training and nutrition plan, and then work the plan.

[bscole]

All so true. I am trying to find some exercises I can do at my desk without looking like a goofball. One I found, which is an obvious one is the glute squeeze.
Does Crystal Light count towards my water intake?

[ironwill2008]

All so true. I am trying to find some exercises I can do at my desk without looking like a goofball. One I found, which is an obvious one is the glute squeeze.
Does Crystal Light count towards my water intake?

Yes, if that's what it takes to get you to drink water.