New routine?

[moonshine23]

Hi, I'm 22, 5'1 and I weight 130 pounds...
My weight has always been (since the past 5 years) 120.. which I'm good with..
My problem is that last year I was enrolled in water aerobics class, my weight remain the same but my body was definitely more toned up..
After November I stopped going to the class (college pfw) and I also graduate.
Since I stopped working out and walking up and downhill all the time to my classes I started gaining some weight. 10 pounds may not sound like much, but my body looks completely different. I've become completely flaccid, have an ugly belly and my legs now have a bit of cellulite.
There's no way I can get back my excessively active physical activity (since now im sitting in an office all day) so I decided to start working out. I started drinking a lot of water (my 2 liters a day) trade junk food for vegetables for over 2 months now.. (all i got was a healthier feeling) 2 weeks ago y started working out,,my routine consist of 20 min of cardio and 20 min of weights... since i just started i know i wont be seeing any results in a near future.. but i was just wondering if this is a way to start or should I start focusing more on cardio? im scared my fat is going to turn hard and ill stay big and firm... i wish i could go back to my petite size.. most of my fat has gone to my back and arms, which is horrible for a girl.. the only thing ive notice has change are my breast, they seem way smaller.. is this a good thing? how come my breast are the only thing reducing sizes!!? lol.. its so horrible...

 

[no-face]

I think perhaps your breasts just seem smaller in comparison, since now your arms are larger than what you're used to seeing. Are your bras looser too? That would be a better indication if your breasts are actually decreasing in size.

Also, I could be wrong (someone who really knows, please correct me), but fat does not harden. I think that the longer it is there, the harder it is to work it off, but that is possibly because of being out of shape and not taking care of yourself for a longer duration of time, not because the fat "hardened." But good to check with someone who knows.

Along with your exercise, watch what you eat, because a good diet is going to be the real key in helping you lose those 10lbs. Since you're not active all day, you can't eat like you could when you were active. You're just not burning off those calories at your desk job.

I went from a very active lifestyle (athletic in school) to a desk job afterwards - I kept eating the same way but didn't do any activity, and I gained 70lbs that way!

 

[allcdnboy1]

20m cardio is a good start, but that's pretty much when you start seeing results ... slowly increase your cardio to closer to 40m and you'll see results 10x faster.

 

[Avocado]

Also, I could be wrong (someone who really knows, please correct me), but fat does not harden. I think that the longer it is there, the harder it is to work it off, but that is possibly because of being out of shape and not taking care of yourself for a longer duration of time, not because the fat "hardened." But good to check with someone who knows.

No, body fat does not harden or change consistency the longer it's been there. Fat deposits may feel different in different parts of the body (and on different people) because of the proportion of muscle present and whether the fat is intramuscular or extramuscular (i.e. under/within or over the muscle.) This is why some fat bellies are squishy and some are hard -- it's the way the fat is distributed with respect to muscle, not how long it's been there. This is determined largely by genetics.

 

[MAR1984]

If the choice is between 20min cardio + 20min weights vs. 40min cardio, then keep doing the first. Cardio doesn't really burn fat. It can help you get into a calorie defecit, which can help your body utilize fat for energy, but you could just as easily not see any progress if you eat too many calories, or burn les calories the rest of your day after your workout if you're tired and just lounge around, rather than do things around the house, or go for a walk or whatever you would have normally done were you not tired and worn out.

On the other hand, weights are important for holding onto muscle while you lose fat. If you hold onto your muscle, you won't have to lose as much weight to look toned. Don't worry, you won't get all big and beefy. You won't really gain any more muscle than you currently have while you're eating to lose weight. Even if your goal was to gain muscle, women just aren't programmed to put muscle on like men.

If you can do more cardio in addition to your current workout, its not going to hurt. But, there is a point where adding more cardio isn't going to be productive either. Doubling your cardio won't increase your results 10x though. You might burn a couple hundred more calories a day, so maybe a half a pound of week of extra fat loss if you're not already maxed out. But if you've already set up an appropriate defecit through diet reduction and exercise and you're losing weight at a rate of no more than 1% of your weight per week, adding more cardio means you have to eat more to support it and not lose too quickly.

 

[allcdnboy1]

i agree ... if you only want to spend 40m in the gym, then don't drop the weights. The only problem with doing 20m of cardio, is that your body doesn't really get fully warmed up till about the 20m mark, where you will see the most benefit. On the other side, muscle is the greatest burner of fat .. more muscle = more fat burning power.