Boyfriend has the engagement ring! - trying to get in shape

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Miriam_Adelaide

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I just found out (kind of on accident) that my boyfriend bought the engagement ring - how am I going to be able to wait for him to pop the question!!!??? I would love and appreciate any and all prayers for us as we prepare for our lives together. 😃

But here is my question. 🙂 I recently joined a gym and have been run/walking on the treadmill 4 times a week for 40 minutes at a time. I am 5"5 and 135lbs. My goal is to lose about 10-15 lbs and tone up. In the past I have been in better shape (about 125lbs) but I carry most of my weight around my mid section and I can’t seem to lose my belly - grrrr…

Any fitness gurus out there that have any tips? Or anyone who has been sucessfull with wittling down their waists?

Thanks and God Bless!
 
*Oh great news–CONGRATS!!! shhh, we won’t tell him you know. 😃

One word for you–Pilates. If you want a solid core and back, this will do it…and quickly, too. I was skeptical…I am more into cardio than strength training, but I bought a pilates reformer machine…and wow!!! Just a few weeks, you feel stronger…and your clothes fit better. 😉 If your gym offers these classes…take them!! Three times per week, is all you need and do whatever else you’ve been doing.

Good luck!! *
 
You should be able to find an employee at the gym who can help you taylor a program and chart your progress. Congrats! :dancing:
 
whatevergirl said:
*Oh great news–CONGRATS!!! shhh, we won’t tell him you know. 😃

One word for you–Pilates. If you want a solid core and back, this will do it…and quickly, too. I was skeptical…I am more into cardio than strength training, but I bought a pilates reformer machine…and wow!!! Just a few weeks, you feel stronger…and your clothes fit better. 😉 If your gym offers these classes…take them!! Three times per week, is all you need and do whatever else you’ve been doing.

Good luck!! *
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Thanks! I think my gym offers pilates classes - hopefully they will have classes nights and weekends. I am glad to hear that you got results even though you were skeptical at first because that how I feel!
 
Catholic1954 said:
You should be able to find an employee at the gym who can help you taylor a program and chart your progress. Congrats! :dancing:
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That would be wonderful because I stay motivated so much better when I am accountable and working with someone. But at my gym you have to hire a personal trainer for that and they are soooooooo expensive!
 
First of all, Congrats!

Secondly, your question-- You’re definitely on the right track so to speak. Cardio is the most efficient way to lose fat. Its good that even though you recognize the spots where you want to lose fat, you are not trying to spot-treat them.
The only thing that I can personally suggest is adding a little bit more intensity into your workout. Here’s some more info: exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/a/cardio101.htm
 
Miriam_Adelaide said:
Thanks! I think my gym offers pilates classes - hopefully they will have classes nights and weekends. I am glad to hear that you got results even though you were skeptical at first because that how I feel!
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Yes, very skeptical, but a girlfriend of mine told me about it, and I decided to try it myself.

As another poster indicated, you can’t spot treat areas…but what pilates does, on the machine, is it helps you to gain muscle (you will use muscles you didn’t know you had):o and that burns fat. So your cardio will do that, but women also need to build strength, and our core is often problematic, I have been weak in my core, and this really has helped. You’ll see if you give it a try! 🙂
 
musicality said:
First of all, Congrats!

Secondly, your question-- You’re definitely on the right track so to speak. Cardio is the most efficient way to lose fat. Its good that even though you recognize the spots where you want to lose fat, you are not trying to spot-treat them.
The only thing that I can personally suggest is adding a little bit more intensity into your workout. Here’s some more info: exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/a/cardio101.htm
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Thanks so much! In the past when I did lots of cardio my arms and legs got skinny and my stomach did a little but mostly stayed the same. With Pilates hopefully my stomach will get more toned? Also, I feel like I lose a lot of muscle mass when I do lots of cardio - does this happen to you?
 
I would recommend crossfit and yoga. I’ve lost about 60 pounds so far doing crossfit, and I like the way the program is set up. You can find the exercises on crossfit.com and crossfitendurance.com.

I’ve found the most important thing is diet. You have to eat enough for fuel to train but not enough to put on weight, and that can be kinda tricky. So figure out your BMR and measure your food so you know how much you are eating.
 
First, an early congratulations to you! 🙂

I second the Pilates suggestion. You also may want to try a beginning adult ballet class. Ballet is excellent because it promotes grace, strength, and flexibility. The movements are controlled in part by one’s core (stomache) muscles. Overall, ballet creates long muscles with no bulk. It really tones everything. And, it’s great exercise!
 
Congratulations! 🙂

In addition to all the great advice about staying active and exercising, making sure you’re eating enough fiber helps a lot too! I’ve lost 40 lbs in the last ten months and each time I stopped taking fiber supplements I stopped losing weight. Fiber One bars taste good too.
 
Congrats!

Losing weight is tough, especially when you’re down to that last 10-15lbs! I recently joined a gym as well and my worst nightmare came true. My trainer wants me to take as many SPIN classes as possible. UGH! But he has a good point, there’s a reason why bicyclists have great bodies!!

Also, before you walk on the treadmill, be sure to do weight training. The warm up of the weight training gets your hear rate ups so you can maximize your calorie burn on the treadmill in a shorter amount of time.

GOOD LUCK!
 
My MIL is on a MUFA (monounsaturated fat) diet. MUFAs are supposed to help target weight loss from the stomach area specifically, I guess. You can find MUFAs in plant fats, such as olives, avocados, and nuts. If you google it you can find more info.
 
Congrats on the ring!

I just wanted to point out that at 5’5" and 135# your BMI is only 22, with the normal range for adults 20-25. In other words, you don’t need to lose weight and it may be unhealthy (and perhaps an exercise in futility) to try. (Check out nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ )

On the other hand, there’s no harm in exercise to tone up your midsection.

Perhaps you were a lot younger when you weighed 125#?
 
Congrats, first of all! How exciting!

I would also suggest the Spin classes, much better to do cardio than Pilates, which is a lot, like yoga. If you want to lose weight, cardio is the best way to go, the warm up and cool downs provided with any cardio is good, if not, better than the stretching and limber exercises of just Pilates and yoga. Star Jones tried to fool people that she lost all her weight by saying that she was doing Pilates, but I knew full well that you cannot lose weight doing that, you can lie or slander by saying you did it once, and that was the cause of the weight loss. Whatever! Lawyers will dupe you into any thought sometimes.

If you have the talent of multitasking, I suggest Spin while doing arm weights or strapping heavier arm weights during spinning, (this could prove to be impossible). 95% of wedding dresses are strapless, I am sure it would be nice to have Michelle O. arms as well. Toning actually increases weight, but in the arms it would not be by much, and the kind of weight you actually want on your body at the right time. Spin, Stairmaster’s, run the treadmill, elliptical, whatever is available to you, it is important to do intense cardio for about twenty minutes to the point you sweat hard for 5-10 minutes per day.

In short: (see next posts for helpful hints/guides)
 
Exercise:

Cardio workout 30min/day, about 5-10 of these minutes should lead to intensive sweat. Add 5 minutes before and/or after for warm up/stretching/cool downs (this will prevent leg cramps and help with the limberness that Pilates, ballet, and yoga provide).

Toning…, if you are going to separate your toning, do as much sets of any interest toning machine or weights in 3 sets of 15-20 repetitions. (The more resistance, the better), you will gradually make it up to higher weights as time progresses. Must be done several times a week.
 
Diet:

High Protein/low carbs up until mid afternoon, in reasonable portions.

Big salads for dinner are a great option; you can throw a little bit of everything in it.

Hard part is to cut off at last meal and avoid desserts, especially desserts with high sugar, fat, bad dairy content…, this a great way to ruin your day’s workout.

In general, stay away from any food after the dinner and allow the last meal to process a few hours through before going to bed.

If hungry, keep fresh crisp celery sticks on hand, to ward off the hunger pains because the very first thing you should do in the morning is eat! Get the digestive system rocking!

Lay off sugars as best as possible.

Try to avoid bad fats, be a friend to flaxseed oil and olive oils for cooking/baking.

Try to be a friend to skim milk products in this time.

Clean filtered ice water, IMO, is the best earthly beverage anyone can get their hands on, (remember, even many first world countries cannot have the luxury of ice, let alone clean filtered water).
 
Motivation help:

Obviously you are getting married, sometimes you do not even need to do any of this, because the stress with the wedding plans usually make you lose your appetite (sorry if this negative, just based on true observations), I also agree with the above poster, at your size already, you are just right. Even if you complete the goal of losing, the key is to maintain until the wedding. If the 5-10 pounds are important to you, though, then think about these couple of ideas incase you get stuck.

Watch any/all seasons of the biggest loser, what an inspiration! It goes along the process of correctly giving you information as you work along.

Join weight watchers at about the third month prior to the wedding if you have not gotten your results by then. There is usually 5% population of engaged women at these meetings. You really need to follow strictly, usually if people do not get the result in the first weigh in, they do not come back. It is nothing more of what I have just offered. Just important to keep on track. I hope I did not overwhelm you, I always go off in tangents.

Use an online guide like fitday.com or weightwatchers, to keep on track of exercise/diet diaries, this will help keep your histories uniform and better clue you in to what works well for you and what worked well for you in the past.

Congrats once again, and God Bless your marriage! (Sorry for any grammar errors)
 
Tosk said:
I would recommend crossfit and yoga. I’ve lost about 60 pounds so far doing crossfit, and I like the way the program is set up. You can find the exercises on crossfit.com and crossfitendurance.com.

I’ve found the most important thing is diet. You have to eat enough for fuel to train but not enough to put on weight, and that can be kinda tricky. So figure out your BMR and measure your food so you know how much you are eating.
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WOW!! Congratulations on your weight loss - you must be so proud of yourself!

Diet - yes that is a biggie for me. I have issues with blood sugar so I try to eat small meals througout the day with no/low sugar, low dairy and lots of complex carbs and protein and fruits. I am really bad at getting my veggies in. (Another goal is to add in more every day)

I will definitely look into the website you suggested. I have a sister who had her fifth child 6 months ago and has about 60 lbs to lose so I will share your sucess with her.
 
RedSoxWife said:
Congratulations! 🙂

In addition to all the great advice about staying active and exercising, making sure you’re eating enough fiber helps a lot too! I’ve lost 40 lbs in the last ten months and each time I stopped taking fiber supplements I stopped losing weight. Fiber One bars taste good too.
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Great tip - I learned this too awhile back and I think alot of people don’t realize how important good natural fiber is for you. At least for me, it keeps me full longer and keeps my blood sugar more balanced.
 
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