Swimsuit 911! I have 46 days to look good in paradise
On January 23rd, I'm going on my pretend honeymoon. For two weeks, my boyfriend and I will go to Boracay in the Philippines and Phuket in Thailand.
Boracay
Phuket
I know how could you not call this a honeymoon?
Anyways, I'm losing like, a lb here, half an inch there and yet the calendar is speedily moving towards our departure. I tried on my swimsuit last weekend and it was TIGHT. That's not good-TIGHT, that's ohgodmyairsupply-TIGHT. I took pictures and almost cried. If I don't do something drastic, I'll have to buy a new swimsuit or wear this too-tight one. I really think I can make it fit better, but I don't know what to do.
Right now I eat on average 1450 calories a day. I usually exercise 30-60 minutes a day and exercise is any of these things: C25K, stairstepper, stationary bike, like 3-4 weight machines, Dance Dance Revolution, JM 30 Day Shred, Biggest Loser Cardio Max, walking to/from work (almost 2 miles), or taking the stairs to my apartment (23 flights, usually takes about 6 minutes). I exercise usually 6 days a week. I tend to be high on sodium (Korean food is crazy!), that will be hard to cut down but I certainly can try. I tend to eat 300ish calories at breakfast, 200-300 at lunch and the rest at dinner. I can't really eat a bigger lunch and dinner is HARD for me to be lighter on. But I could try!
Unfortunately with my body, every part is a problem area but I'm a huge pear. I'd say it fits worse at my hips more than anything though my whole body needs to shave about 2 inches off of it.
Can someone recommend what they've done to tone up quickly? I could care less about the scale, I need inches off me! There's always those programs in magazines "4 weeks to a bikini body" but there's like a million of them and who knows what works and I just need something that will work! My school is going on break in two weeks so I will have a less stressful schedule to get workouts in and good eating. I just want to do something that I know will work and give results. I'm willing to put my head down and push hard for 6 weeks... I've just felt like I've been trying hard for a couple weeks already with only the smallest results. I've even considered following those Bride Bootcamps but those are made more to tone your upper half for sleeveless dresses.
I just want to do what I can. This is seriously a once in a lifetime trip and I want to take pictures of us there and be happy with what I see. I won't be at my goal weight but I want to say "Wow, I really stepped it up during my weight loss journey and it shows."
Ok I don't have a lot of great helpful information but I did want to comment on how I'm super jealous!!! I recently went to Hawaii and wanted to lose a bunch of weight before I went...I didn't. BUT I was super happy to be there and in my pictures you can tell that. I know you want to be a certain weight and look a certain way but don't let your weight issues ruin your trip to paradise. Just be happy that you are there with the love of your life....and have fun!!!
I'm off to Jamaica in 2.5 weeks for 17 glorious days I hear you on the WANTING TO LOOK GOOD IN A SWIMSUIT thing... I'm about 50 lbs lighter then I was last time I was there. Moral of the story, WHO CARES - JUST HAVE FUN!!! and 46 days is enough time to lose some more weight.
I think the most important thing to do is strength training/toning to give you definition. It's still a good amount of time to lose weight through cardio too. In magazines here and there I read what celebrities do the week before a red carpet event (like avoid salty foods, drink plenty of water). I know you said your diet has a lot of sodium, but at least in that last week, try to avoid it.
Like above, I agree that no matter what you look like you'll enjoy yourself no matter what. I went to Mexico recently and was so stressed cause I gained weight instead of losing it. But once I was there I didn't care. Nobody's judging you and even if they are, who cares.
Good luck! You should post pictures after you're back.
HI! The trip looks awesome.
First of all, don't do anything drastic. What you are doing now sounds awesome, but I would recommend adding a 50 minute tone session after the workouts you listed above. Yes I know they do toning in TBL.
Here is what I would suggest, it is a class I used to teach called hard body.
(I would do this 3x a week after c25k)
Legs
Biceps
Chest
Butt
Back
Shoulders
Do each section for 5 minutes until. Best to do 3 different exercises per each muscle group.
Another tip is to switch up the count.
So do your single counts, (ie lunges) up down up down,
then double (trick is don't get out of position) down down up up down down up up,
then go into triple, down down down up, down down down up
then opposite tripple, down up up up, down up up up
then go into 4 counts down 4 counts up
then go down and hold it
then stay down and pulse it for 8 counts
then do your 8 singles to ease up that leg
then the next leg
try it with weights for biceps and chest presses as well, it is an easy way to get in a lot of reps but not so boring as up down up down
oh and use small weights as well
and the biggest thing, use ease with your weights, do not ever 'drop' them or let them bring your arms down, you always stay in control of the weights, you telll the weights where to go, not the other way around
hope that helps....
good luck and have fun!
Thanks so much for the advice so far. I've been researching a lot and it does seem like the key is toning like lunges, squats, etc. Right now I am doing more cardio and that's helping more with the scale, less with the inches.
I know I will have fun no matter what, I'm not the type of person to pout about how I look in my swimsuit (until later when I see the pictures!)... but I have over 6 weeks left and I know I can do a lot to improve myself in that time.. I was just looking for specific things that have helped others that I could try. I've spent the last 6 weeks working out with this trip in mind and I've lost about 4 inches and 2 lbs. ... so clearly I'm not doing everything right.
I think I'm going to try to cut my calories from 1500 to 1400 and add more weight training and toning into the mix. Also really do what I can to limit my sodium. I have the time, I have the desire, I just need the right resources to make some changes!
If anyone else has suggestions, please post them! I need all the help I can get.
Wow. It sounds like you're going pretty h-core with the exercise, and your calorie numbers look really reasonable... which leads me to believe that it's something within your diet (ignoring calories) that your body isn't metabolizing well.
It may not be the same issue as mine, but my body doesn't do wheat well. That could be a totally helpful factor in dropping weight that your body just wants to hold on to.
I know we talked before about the fact that you don't have a wheat intolerance of any kind before, but... if you're totally desperate, I highly suggest you try out the wheat-free thing JUST for a week to see if the scale moves.
This isn't some crazy atkins scheme where you cut out all carbs, and can't eat apples because they're carbalicious... (crazy diet..) I'm currently stuffing (butter-free) mashed potatoes in my face, muwaha. I also eat rice like crazy. But it honestly just turned out that my body doesn't metabolize wheat well; it stores it instead of getting rid of it. So.. I cut out wheat.. I've dropped 13 lbs since October 14th, and pants that I used to have to do up extra-loose with a pin because I couldn't do up the button are now huge on me, lol.
Again, I know a lot of people are anti-cutting-stuff-out, but.. now that I've been doing it for a while, I genuinely believe it IS something that I can keep up for the rest of my life, because there's a wheat-free alternative to everything. I want cake? I can make myself a cake with like one of 10 different kinds of non-wheat flour. Tastes the same to me. I want a sandwich? Gluten-free bread. Rice pasta is a totally fine alternative to regular stuff.
My cravings have gone down, I don't binge HALF as often as I used to... I'm still free to eat junk food like chips and french fries, but I don't have the obsessive craving and NEED to eat them the way I used to. It's craziness.
Jelbb, I have also thought that I was having some sort of allergic food reaction that was maybe causing a stall in my weight loss and that's why I went to the allergist. I eat very little wheat right now, as it's not a staple grain of Korea... pretty much I have the random slice of bread maybe three times a week and... that's it. Also, the two other things I tested mildly sensitive too, which were two of my favorites, soy & tomatoes, are also basically left out of my life now. I went from many servings a day of those foods to maybe 3 a week combined between the two. Also, I gave up wheat previously when my friend found out she was allergic to it and it has no affect on me at all.
I wish it was as simple as a certain food messing up my body but whatever it is, it is not clear on me.
Anyways, I've upped my exercise in time and intensity and consequently my calories seem harder to control. ... when I exercise less it's easier for me to keep my calories in check.
I lost an inch from last week, but gained a lb. I'm not too worried about lbs though, just inches!
Swimsuit 911! I have 46 days to look good in paradise
!!!
