Fitness & Health Questions
In an ongoing attempt to make this blog the best fitness blog for women, I wanted a place where you can ask your questions. I wanted to just use my email because it would be more intimate, but there are many many thousands of women who read this blog every month… and I could not possibly keep up.
So here’s what we are going to do…
This page is where you can ask your questions regarding fitness, diet, motivation… or anything like that. Heck we can even use it for some girl talk if you want to.
I also want it to be a place where you can put your suggestions for the blog.
Here’s How to Ask Your Questions:
You will see a comment section right underneath all these words I’ve typed. Just type your questions in there and they will go to use so we can moderate them. We don’t want to put spam out there… but that’s really it.
So ask your questions and we will respond!
Thanks and keep staying fit.
Taylor Ryan
{ 85 comments… read them below or add one }
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Hi,
I am 22 years old and weigh 135 lbs.I have a muscular shape(small stomach/waist, big thighs and butt) I have been attending the gym now for 3 years now and have recently started going 3-4 times a week. I start my routines either run/walk on the treadmill 2minutes run 1 minute walking or go on the stationary bike 5 mins moderate speed, 2 min fast. I than start with 5lbs weights. I alternate days doing Abs+Arms one day and legs the other day.
My nutrition is quite good, I eat no sugar unless it is sugar free products, protein with each meal and consume a lot of fruits and veggies. I do not calorie count however and do not weight my portions(figured I go to the gym this often and eat healthy it wouldn’t matter).
I would really help with any advice you could give me I would like to slim my bottom half tremendously. Nothing seems to be working, I have been at this weight since I started the gym and have tried different weight loss diets(Body by Vi) is what I am doing now, but it doesn’t seem to be working.
Thank you!
Hey Kayla, you’re working very hard. One part about your question that I wasn’t clear on is that you said you don’t weigh portions but yet you’ve tried fat burning diets and such in the past? One makes is sound like you don’t want to lose weight and then the final part of your question sounds as if you do.
No matter how healthy you eat it is still very easy to misjudge portion sizes and over do your calories. It sounds like you have a great understanding on clean eating which is awesome but if you are trying to slim down some my first piece of advice is to look at your diet and make sure they are proper sizes.
Also, since you find it easy to put on muscle have you considered not doing split workouts but doing total body workouts instead? This will actually help burn more calories and help. If you are trying to decrease your body half, I wouldn’t spend an entire workout working it, especially of muscle gain comes easy to you. Great going with the intervals though, that’s a great workout.
Hello,
I was wondering if you can give me advice on an issue I seem to be having.
I recently lost 50 pounds and have kept it off for almost a year now. I do about 45 minutes of cardio 5 times a week. I recently wanted to incorporate weight training into my schedule so I went to see a personal trainer who then gave me a program to follow. It is a 6 week/5 day fitness plan. I’ve been following it for about 2 weeks now and I have gained weight instead of loosing weight or maintaining my weight! I feel as if it has something to do with what i am eating before or after my meals, which might not be enough. I usually go to the gym in the morning after breakfast so my pre workout meal would be all natural oatmeal with fruit or shredded wheat cereal with fruit. I then go and do my exercise and I sometimes do weight over an hour to eat, and when I do get the chance I will have a boiled egg with a slice of whole wheat toast and some greek yogurt with fruit on the side, I then wait until my dinner to eat my next meal which can be all sorts of things but still very health conscious. Do you find that I am not eating enough and therefore my body is storing my food as fat? or should i give my body a few more weeks to adjust..
Thank you in advance,
Sabrina
Hi Sabrina, you definitely aren’t eating enough! For the intense workout plan you’re following it is really important to make sure you’re giving it fuel to recover and show off results. By not eating enough your body wants to hold on to all the fat it has because it’s worried. You should be eating every 2-4 hours during the day. Has your personal trainer not discussed this with you?
Make sure that you eat a lunch, then you eat a snack sometime in between your dinner and lunch. I don’t know what your dinner is but I am assuming it’s clean from your breakfast you described. I recommend writing down your meals for a few days to see what is going on. Make sure you’re getting over 1000 calories, preferably between 1200-1500.
And last, it can be common to see the scale go up at first when you first start adding in weights as you add muscle, But this will reverse itself as that muscle helps to boost up your metabolism.
Good luck!
Hi Taylor,
Just found your site today and I have to admit, I am hooked!
I have a question on what type of workouts I should be doing based on my body type. Mainly over the past year or so I have slowly lost some of the weight I gained when I graduated college and began working in an office. I probably maxed out around 135 – 138 (I am just about 5’5”) and I now average between 125 – 127. This happened due to a mix of eating better (I became a vegetarian around the same time I started working so I think I had to adjust to eating properly), and working out more, mostly strength training with weights, classes such as body pump, TRX, and yoga, with some running/walking or spin mixed in. At one point in 2009, my weight really got to me so I actually wrote down my measurements and weight to signify my starting point. In looking at those numbers I have lost inches everywhere, specifically, thighs 23 to 22, hips 37.5 to 35, waist 31 to 28, chest 38 to 36…except I haven’t had any change in my arms which stay at 11in. I have always had broad shoulders but I think with my increase in strength training and total body workouts, my body seems even more slim on the bottom which only emphasizes my broad shoulders and thicker arms. It seems I just hold weight in my arms and upper back. A part of me hopes my upper body is just a little slower in reacting and will catch up eventually ha. It seems silly but my self-image is a pretty shaken with how my upper body looks. I love muscles but I don’t exactly want a masculine V shaped figure! I know to lose fat in general (since you can’t spot reduce) I must increase cardio, which I readily admit I don’t do enough of.
I guess my question is, what should I be doing? I am afraid of lifting too heavy of a weight and swelling up but I also know if I don’t challenge my muscles I won’t see any results and I will never get stronger. Are there any exercises I should avoid?
It’s getting quite challenging finding clothes, specifically dresses, that fit my slightly unbalanced figure so any advice you may have will help my closet and my confidence immensely. Thank you!
Thanks for reading Sherri! I am glad you found me! I love my readers and love getting questions!
It seems like you’re on the path and really understand your body well! How’s the vegetarian diet coming? I just went vegan about 1 1/2 months ago, so right there with ya!
Having an unbalanced body is a problem for a lot of women. You’re not alone in this at all. To keep your body balanced, you have to train it as it is. That means for your lower body I would work on adding muscle to help balance your shoulders. This means lifting heavy with reps around 8-10, and a weight where you can’t get more reps in. Your upper body on the other side, should be trained for more of a toning, fat burning workout with reps being with less weight for around 12-15+ reps, and a faster tempo.
Keep up with the cardio, but I think for your body intervals would be best as it will help your lower body maintain muscle instead of burn it off like steady state cardio does.
If you’re looking for specific workouts, and more one on one, look over at my other site, theartofweightlifting.com.
Good luck! And keep the comments coming! xo
I’m 19 about 5’6 and I weigh 155 I started really trying to get in shape about 2weeks ago i workout 4days a week for 2-3hours I’m taking women one a day vitamins and also xenadrine once a day before my workouts I’ve been working on all areas but I’m really focusing on my butt I’ve added barbells to my squats I’m looking to build my gluteus maximus muscles and give my butt more of a pop I’m looking to add high protein boost drink to my diet because I read it will help with my butt is this information true and should I try this method and will barbell squats give me the pop im looking for please help i have no idea wat is true and false!!!
Hi Chelsey. Are you working out for 3 hours per workout or is that total for the week? If that’s the case PLEASE look into decreasing that time. Each workout should only last around 60 minutes max. You’re on the right track with total body workouts with an extra emphasis on the butt for extra toning. But the protein shake thing is false, no food will help a particular part of the body. But it is a great post workotu snack for recovery and I would keep it, just know it’s not going to directly have impact on your tush. And last, yes keep up with the squats, lunges, step-up exercises. make sure to continuously up the weight so your body keeps progressing. And change the reps up as well. Good luck!
Thankk youu!! I’m so glad I found you!(: I was also curious about the boost high protein drink. I read it helps build muscle, but my boyfriend said it will also make me gain weight. And I want to lose weight not gain! Will the drink make me gain weight? Or will my diet and workout plan cover this?
Thank you!!(:
Chelsey, check out this article I wrote to help with your protein questions:
http://www.theartofweightlifting.com/public/559print.cfm
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