differentsky
New member
Hello. This may seem long winded but I thought some background would help.
I'm an almost 30 year old woman who is looking to finally and permanently lose about 20 pounds off my medium to large 5'3" frame. I currently weigh 143. I was a normal weight child and then became 20-25 pounds overweight during my high school years because from middle school on, I had a very big appetite for my size and had no issues with that. I have the body that doesn't look fat because my build is naturally muscular and I was athletic as well. Around 20 years old, I had reached about 158. I started to work out regularily. I would work out regularily for periods and then take some time off. By my mid 20s, I was around 135-140 pounds. I still looked athletic but I always had a lot of fat on my stomach and back of my arms. I would diet and I got around 125 around three years ago. At that weight I still had a stomach fat pocket so I'm thinking that my ultimate goal is 120 pounds.
In the past two years I haven't belonged to a gym so I was only running about once a week and riding my bike almost every day during the warm months only. It wasn't enough and in january, I weighed 151.
Anyway, right now I am working out about 5-6 days per week since the last week of january. I usually do cardio (treadmill, running outside, stair climber, elliptical or a mixture) for 20-50 minutes at a medium to medium high intensity where my heart rate is mostly at 160 and above. once or twice a week I do interval cardio. I also do strength training with 3 sets of 10-12 reps of weights that are difficult by the 10-12th repetition.
My workouts look like this:
day 1:20-30 min cardio and upper body strength
day 2: 30-50 min cardio
day 3: 20-30 min cardio and lower body strength
day 4: 30-50 min cardio
day 5: repeat day 1
day 6: repeat day 2
day 7: rest (some days I rest two days in a week if my schedule is tight but I try to be moving around a lot that day.)
My diet consists of mostly home cooked foods and a vary large variety of diffent foods. My meals are mostly indian, middle eastern and asian foods that I grew up eating as I am of mixed ethnicity
Breakfast: whole wheat flax seed cereal and 1% milk or 1 hard cooked egg with 1 TB of olive oil and a slice of whole grain or sprouted grain toast with a 1 tp of butter or 1/2 cup of vanilla granola and 1/2 cup of lowfat vanilla yogurt. a serving of fruit every day, usually blueberries
Lunch: about 2 cups salad with a variety of vegetables and lentils, some tofu, tuna and/ or chicken, dressing is sesame oil, olive oil, lemon juice, vingear (varies)
Dinner: home cooked dishes that are usually stir fries or stews with vegetables and meats (chicken, beef, lamb, fish or shrimp) and are always served with either noodles (pasta or asian), basmati or brown rice. I cook with olive and canola oil mostly and I never eat fried foods. Snacks: various fruit, nuts, 1-2 servings of cheese, a piece of olive ciabatta bread with olive oil, yogurt or lowfat vanilla and fruit, a piece of toast with peanut butter or a few bites of pastries or dessert.
Drinks: water, green tea, 1-4 alcoholic beverages per week
I think my faults lie with my eating. While I don't eat processed foods, I must be eating too much. I really want to lose this extra weight for once and for all. I have researced various diets but I don't know what would be the best for my body. I'm also very afraid of eating bland foods since I'm a bit of a gastronomique. Do you recommend any diets? How do I find out what my maintenance calories should be for body and activity level. Research comes up with conflicting information. I also am asking what I could do with my workouts to make them better. Do I need to work out longer? I know that losing 1-2 pounds a week is the safest way but I can't even seem to do that. It's very frustrating!
Thanks for your help.
I'm an almost 30 year old woman who is looking to finally and permanently lose about 20 pounds off my medium to large 5'3" frame. I currently weigh 143. I was a normal weight child and then became 20-25 pounds overweight during my high school years because from middle school on, I had a very big appetite for my size and had no issues with that. I have the body that doesn't look fat because my build is naturally muscular and I was athletic as well. Around 20 years old, I had reached about 158. I started to work out regularily. I would work out regularily for periods and then take some time off. By my mid 20s, I was around 135-140 pounds. I still looked athletic but I always had a lot of fat on my stomach and back of my arms. I would diet and I got around 125 around three years ago. At that weight I still had a stomach fat pocket so I'm thinking that my ultimate goal is 120 pounds.
In the past two years I haven't belonged to a gym so I was only running about once a week and riding my bike almost every day during the warm months only. It wasn't enough and in january, I weighed 151.
Anyway, right now I am working out about 5-6 days per week since the last week of january. I usually do cardio (treadmill, running outside, stair climber, elliptical or a mixture) for 20-50 minutes at a medium to medium high intensity where my heart rate is mostly at 160 and above. once or twice a week I do interval cardio. I also do strength training with 3 sets of 10-12 reps of weights that are difficult by the 10-12th repetition.
My workouts look like this:
day 1:20-30 min cardio and upper body strength
day 2: 30-50 min cardio
day 3: 20-30 min cardio and lower body strength
day 4: 30-50 min cardio
day 5: repeat day 1
day 6: repeat day 2
day 7: rest (some days I rest two days in a week if my schedule is tight but I try to be moving around a lot that day.)
My diet consists of mostly home cooked foods and a vary large variety of diffent foods. My meals are mostly indian, middle eastern and asian foods that I grew up eating as I am of mixed ethnicity
Breakfast: whole wheat flax seed cereal and 1% milk or 1 hard cooked egg with 1 TB of olive oil and a slice of whole grain or sprouted grain toast with a 1 tp of butter or 1/2 cup of vanilla granola and 1/2 cup of lowfat vanilla yogurt. a serving of fruit every day, usually blueberries
Lunch: about 2 cups salad with a variety of vegetables and lentils, some tofu, tuna and/ or chicken, dressing is sesame oil, olive oil, lemon juice, vingear (varies)
Dinner: home cooked dishes that are usually stir fries or stews with vegetables and meats (chicken, beef, lamb, fish or shrimp) and are always served with either noodles (pasta or asian), basmati or brown rice. I cook with olive and canola oil mostly and I never eat fried foods. Snacks: various fruit, nuts, 1-2 servings of cheese, a piece of olive ciabatta bread with olive oil, yogurt or lowfat vanilla and fruit, a piece of toast with peanut butter or a few bites of pastries or dessert.
Drinks: water, green tea, 1-4 alcoholic beverages per week
I think my faults lie with my eating. While I don't eat processed foods, I must be eating too much. I really want to lose this extra weight for once and for all. I have researced various diets but I don't know what would be the best for my body. I'm also very afraid of eating bland foods since I'm a bit of a gastronomique. Do you recommend any diets? How do I find out what my maintenance calories should be for body and activity level. Research comes up with conflicting information. I also am asking what I could do with my workouts to make them better. Do I need to work out longer? I know that losing 1-2 pounds a week is the safest way but I can't even seem to do that. It's very frustrating!
Thanks for your help.
Last edited:
