Can I get lean in 10-12 weeks? What should I do?

[MCMLXX]

I'm female...I currently weigh 135-140 lbs...I'm small boned...so it's actually a lot of fat...15-20 lbs of fat...I want to lose fat....but gain lean muscle mass..my goal is to look something like the girl from bodyrock.tv...lean...hard..muscles that pop...really defined...I lift weights and do cardio..my diet is clean...I just need to know exactly what to do to make this happen...i'm willing...and motivated...when I set a goal I'm super strict about it...I'll eat the same thing everyday for weeks...be consistent...and workout everyday...for cardio I jump rope...I do 30 min. (20 sec. on, 10 sec. off) twice a day..fasted...and post weight lifting....my problem is weight lifting....I've always created my own workout...but I'm never sure it's 100% right...I like to base it on the Reverse Pyramid....2-3 sets...is there anything you can suggest?...I like working out everyday....with 1 day of rest...any suggestions are greatly appreciated! all and any information is greatly appreciated! Any advice?

[allthehage]

Well I've found that p90x lean version works wonders if you're hardcore about it. The key to getting lean is diet and cardio. Working out and building muscle increases the metabolism. Make sure you find your maintenance calorie intake (do a google search for calorie maintenance calculator). This could take some trial and error at first. Go by what the calculator says, and count your calories. Keep a journal. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning everyday with same conditions. Eat the amount of calories recommended for one week. If you're exactly the same then you've found your maintenance calorie intake. It's best not to workout during this because you don't want to burn extra calories while finding your maintenance level. You want to find out the amount of calories your body requires to function properly. If at the
end of the week you've lost a pound then you were actually on a calorie deficit and that's the amount of calories you should be eating anyway. If you gain a pound then you were on a calorie surplus. There are 3500 calories in one pound of fat. If you eat over your bodies requirement, *say by 500 a day then you'll gain a pound of fat every 7 days. If your eat 500 less than your body's requirement, you'll burn a pound of fat a week. The ideal deficit you will want is 500 to 750. 750 will burn an extra half pound a week but I wouldn't go any more than that. A lot if people try to apply logic to this concept and think why only 500-750? Why not eat 1000 or 1500 under and lose more weight? Well you will definitely lose more "weight." however it won't be the weight you want to lose. If your body doesn't get sufficient amount of calories a day, it goes into what's called starvation mode. Basically, if the body isn't getting enough nutrients then it thinks it's starving. When you do feed it, it's more likely to store as fat then burn for energy. Also, alot of that weight loss is from muscle. You don't want to lose too much muscle. What happens when you lose muscle, your metabolism comes to a slow crawl. You will lose weight but will almost for sure gain it all back. And when you do it'll be even harder to lose it. You want to lose no more than 2 lbs a week to be healthy and be sure to keep it off, provided you maintain when you are satisfied. As far as your diet, it's not as complicated as most make it out to be. Keep your sugar intake to a minimum. Make lean protein the base of all your meals. You should eat 5-6 meals a day and never eat to get full. Feeling full and actually being full are totally different. Good examples of lean protein are chicken, turkey, salmon (which is great for your skin by the way), can tuna, and egg whites. You can eat red meat but I'd stick to 100% lean ground beef and flank steak only once in a while. For breakfast egg whites are popular. Carbs aren't the bad guy people like Atkins make them out to be. Just don't go crazy with them. Make them part of the first 3 meals. Try not to eat carbs after about late afternoon. Good carbs like brown rice, sweet potatoes, oatmeal (no sugar! Raisins are good here), beans, etc. Beans might give you gas, but they are great source of lean protein as well. Think about it, the native Indians lived off this stuff...look how lean and cut they work. I'm sure the lifestyle contributed a lot but they did eat a ton of beans. I'd hate to have had to sleep next to one. Haha. Anyway. The last 2-3 meals eat a source of protein and vegetables. I'm sure you know what are good vegetables for you. Don't forget fruit by the way. Fruit provide a ton of great nutrients. Rule of thumb not many people know about fruit. Try to eat fruit on an empty stomach. When fruit doesn't have to sit in your stomach waiting in line to get digested you get all the nutrients from it. When it sits in there too long it rots and the nutrients are wasted. This is a scientific hypothesis and I can't state it as fact, but it has proven to be true for me. I can tell the difference. Fruit is best in the morning. Gives you energy you need throughout the day along with the carbs. Especially bananas. Almost nobody can follow a diet like this for a long time. Its been touted as fact by numerous psychologists that the human will power has a limit. You don't want to reach that limit on a diet. When you do you binge. And when you binge you set yourself back. You must allow yourself a cheat meal. Eat whatever you please. Just in one meal. Never have a cheat DAY! I highly recommend keeping it to one meal. Stay AWAY from alcohol!!! Alcohol hinders fat loss like no other. I'm not saying never drink. Of course you're 19 so I don't know if that's even an issue for you. Let me tell you it was a huge issue for me. I love my beer. Unfortunately my lean body mass doesn't. A good rule of thumb here is organic. If it comes from the ground it's probably good for you. There are some obvious exceptions. If it comes processed, try to avoid. Protein shakes aren't bad but I wouldn't rely on them for protein intake. If you're eating properly you should get plenty of protein. I'd say around 90-100 grams a day. Just make sure, most importantly, eat LESS. A lot of people will say to eat 1-2 grams of protein per bodyweight but unless you're going for big muscles 90-100 is plenty. Eat 500-750 under your maintenance level. No more of a deficit than that. If you do that you'll lose a pound to a pound and a half a week. Try not to eat 3 hours before bedtime. If you have to eat then this is a good time for that protein shake. Cottage cheese is good here too.*

Since you want to workout daily you should burn an extra 400 or so a day. That's 2-2 1/2 lbs a week. If you're losing more than that with a workout program increase your calorie intake by about 500. If you decide to try p90x lean version, then you should be set. If you don't have access to workout equipment at home or don't want to take your laptop to the gym, or simply don't want to spend 120 dollars on it then there are other great options. I hear there are ways of getting p90x online for free but I don't recommend such a thing. Three days a week hit the weights, three days a week do cardio. Never hit the weights consecutively. Not on full body workouts which is what I recommend. For weights, hit the compound exercises for push, pull, lift, and squat. Do squats, pull ups or chin ups, deadlifts, push ups, barbell shoulder press, etc. Don't focus too much on isolation exercises IE:bicep curls, triceps. You can incorporate these later, for now focus on compound exercises. They will work your arms anyway. The only iso exercise I recommend is abs. Do 3 sets of your favorite ab workout with your cardio days. Don't do endless reps. This is where I disagree with p90x. They have you doing like 300 or so reps. Your abs are like any other muscle. Although able to work out more than larger muscles, 3 sets of 15 is plenty. And I'm not talking crunches. If you want to do crunches then do them. Hanging leg raises, cable pull downs, decline leg raises, those are my recommendations. Look them up on bb.com. *You get a lot of core work with squats, pull ups, deadlifts, anything that requires you to stabilize yourself. The plank is good too. Jumping rope for 30 mins is good. If you want to mix it up, high intensity interval training is a great fat burner. Choose your favorite cardiovascular exercise (treadmill, elliptical machine, stationary bike, etc with treadmill being the personal preference) and do something like this. Go at a moderate pace about 50-60% your maximum effort for 1 min. After 1 min increase the speed to at least 90% maximum effort (sprinting) for 30 seconds. Do this consecutively for 15-20 minutes. If you get tired you can do moderate for 1:30 and sprint for 30secs. If your in good enough shape alternate between both for 1 min total. This program is thought to be better for fat loss than low intensity cardio, IE:jogging for 30 plus minutes. Although that's not bad, HIIT, the program I just showed you, is thought to continue to burn the fat even after you stop, just like weight training. With low intensity, you burn calories but your body stops when you stop running. Martial arts is a great way to burn calories too. That will leave you in the gym 6 days a week which is what you want and will keep you from overtraining. Most people over do it and that's why they never see results. Well that, and bad diet. As far as sets, 2-3 should be plenty for you to start out. It depends where you are in your fitness level. Something like this:

Workout 1:
Squats- 3 sets of 6-8
Pull up/chin up- 2 sets to failure
Push ups - 2 sets to failure
Standing shoulder press- 3 sets of 6
Deadlifts- 3 sets of 6
Dips- 2 sets to failure

Workouts 2 and 3 are the same but only do deadlifts twice in one week. If you're doing them properly, three times a week is too much. If you can't do pull ups/chin ups or push ups then here are some good alternatives. For pull ups use the assisted pull up machine at your gym. You can substitute with lat pulldowns or cable rows or barbell/dumbbell rows too but I personally prefer any exercise that requires you to move your whole body as one. For push ups, I normally recommend bench press to anyone. Just because your a girl and your have breasts doesn't mean you neglect your chest. I cant figure out why so many girls think they can skip chest workouts. If you're up to bench press by all means do a bench press. It you're a total beginner to a chest press, don't do dumbbell press just yet. Barbell presses force you to use your stability muscles to keep the bar straight. I think push ups are sufficient enough though. When push ups get super easy, you can start pushing more than body weight on the bench press. Thats not saying if you can do endless reps of push ups at body weight of 130 that you should be able to bench 130. Please don't hurt yourself. Use a spotter when possible and start out with the bar and add weight until you can't do more than about 6-8 reps. *But you know your body best. Make sure you look up each exercise on bb.com and learn the correct form. You don't want to injure yourself. If you still have it in you after completing all these sets, you can do a day of arms on friday If you must. 3 sets of standing barbell curls, 3 sets of tricep kickbacks or whatever suits you best. By all means do your own research and find the workout programs that work for you. A lot of people approach fitness differently so not everyone will agree with me on here. But most if not all will agree to make compound exercises the base of any workout program. The only other advice I can give you is to get plenty of sleep. At least 8 hours. Sleep is very important to recovery and growth. If you follow all this or something like all this you should see the body you want in the mirror in 10-12 weeks. Good luck. And I hope you appreciate this because I typed this whole damn thing out on my iPhone. Not an easy thing to do :-P By the way, if this workout program is not enough for you, check out HST. I Highly recommend that program. Also, if you already knew all this...just pretend you didn't so I don't feel stupid for spending an hour on Thanksgiving typing this up, haha. Good luck.

[ironwill2008]

Any advice?

Don't put time limits on reaching goals, especially if you're a noob. Eat at a slight calorie deficit, and be consistent.

Working out every day will burn you out quickly; as far as a program goes, rather than trying to put something together on your own, look here:

*Routine: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843

[jgetbigj]

the important thing is not to starve yourself. find your maintenance calorie intake, and eat *slightly* under it, with some good cardio. you should still be able to eat 3 square meals a day

[jpbroschat]

Don't put time limits on reaching goals, especially if you're a noob. Eat at a slight calorie deficit, and be consistent.

Working out every day will burn you out quickly; as far as a program goes, rather than trying to put something together on your own, look here:

*Routine: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843

I have a friend that I used to workout every day, even twice a day in order to lose the weight she wanted in a specific time frame. She borderline starved herself, leading to some very serious health problems that she's having to deal with now. Make sure that you have an adequate amount of calories; these are the fuel that your body needs in order to recover and maintain your general health while trying to slim down. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, stay away from fried and processed foods, but most importantly, if you're hungry, eat!

As far as training goes, use the first few weeks to really find what works for you. I'm no expert, but the idea that one form of training works for everyone is just not the case. Be mindful of yourself, and don't overload, as it will only cause myriad problems later.

Best of luck!

[Soylent]

Check out this program here

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris...y-trainer.html

Good luck

[PeterGibbons316]

In 10-12 weeks you can lose 10-12 pounds without starving yourself or feeling just plain terrible all the time.

The routine you do doesn't really matter. Just track your calorie intake and your weight every day, and if your weight isn't dropping at 1lb/week, just eat less until it does.