Hi, I've been reading and lurking for a while now and thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Pam. I'm 45 years old and have been an avid exerciser most of my life. My weight got a little out of control a few years back and I just recently lost 40 pounds

I think I'm at a pretty good weight now. My problem is (and has been) that my body is just too *soft* and won't change no matter how much exercise I do. I'm learning now that I've been doing it all wrong. I've always been an aerobics junkie, and when I did add weights it was high rep, low weight. I also ate too many carbs and not enough protien. I'm just figuring all this out.

But I have been working hard to add a little muscle and get rid of some of this subcutaneous fat. I've taken out some aerobic and apped the weights. I do all my work at home, I'm rural and don't have a nearby gym. I've been using Cathe and Joyce Vedral pyramid videos. I'm using 7, 10, and 15 pound dumb bells and a 25 pound bar bell. Here is what a typical workout week looks like for me:

M 50 min aerobics and abs
T 20 min aerobics, 45-60 min lower body
W 50 min aerobics and abs
Th 20 min aerobics, 40-60 min upper body

and so on. I rest 2 to 3 days a week. Is this still too much aerobics? Somedays I am really sore from a weight workout.. .should I be doing aerobics on those days? I push myself in the aerobic exercise.. I like it, but I wonder if it is the best thing to do.

I'm still not seeing much for results.. what am I doing wrong??? My diet is pretty clean and I'm getting between 1300-1600 calories a day. I was on 1200 while loosing weight. My protien/carb/fat percent is around 25/50/25.

Thanks for reading this. Any advice on this program of mine? I really want to cchange my body but just can't seem to make it budge. Please help!!! Thnaks so much.

Welcome!

Hopefully others will chime in here, but you might want to up the weights a bit and change your split - especially if you've been doing the same thing workout-wise for awhile. (BTW what do you mean by "aerobics"? An aerobics class - working out on cardio machines...jogging...?)

Diet is generally the first thing I'd look at though. Have you tried tracking what you eat (and WHEN you eat) in Fitday.com? To me the protein ratio looks a bit low...especially if you're trying to build muscle. I myself generally go for somewhere in the 40/40/20 as far as protein/carb/fat ratios.

Hopefully Mel or one of the others will chime in...you might want to also check the sticky here of Basic Bodybuilding Info - especially the Krista Scott Dixon (Stumptous) website which is PACKED with great stuff geared towards us women...

Thanks Mrs Jim !!

I do about anything for my aerobic workouts. Right now it's rebounding (fun!). I jog in the fall. I also do step, low impact, and interval aerobics, I have about 50 videos. I run my workouts in about 6 or 8 week periods.

When I was loosing weight I journaled really well, but that habit is sort of gone. I do track my food every day with BalanceLog software, that's where I get my ratios. Maybe it is the food. Maybe if I get my carbs down and my protien up I can get somewhere. I was thinking I'm ready to up my weights soon, but up till now it was about all I could handle in the 5 set system of pyramids. I was also getting very sore so I figured I must be working. What do you think I should change my split too??

I have been reading on Kristas site, she is so funny. Ive also copied most of the recipies I found in this forum (those shanny cakes are awesome!). I've been to your sites Mrs. J and I have to say you are amazing!!!!! You look so good! I just want to make some of these changes in my stuborn body but I've concluded I have no idea what I'm doing.

I agree with Mrs Jim- you probably need to push yourself more on the weights and get your protein and carb ratios changed. 40/40/20 is a good place to start and see how your body reacts. If you have been doing this for a while, I think you probably need to get some heavier weights, too. Also, a big Swiss ball makes a great addition to all sorts of workouts and they are inexpensive and available almost everywhere. You will get more changes in your body with weights rather than the aerobics. If you are at your goal weight but still look squishy, you need to replace that squishiness (fat) with muscle. The only way to do that is to lift heavy. I would drop one of the cardio sessions and add another weight day. Maybe a 3 day split like:
Day 1: Back, shoulders
Day 2: Cardio and abs
Day 3: legs
Day 4: Cardio and abs
Day 5: Chest and arms
Day6: Cardio (optional since you are not trying to lose weight)

Doing a three day split allows you to spend more time on each body part and should build muscle quicker.
HTH,
Mel

Forgot to mention this, but I'm sure if you've been reading our board and the Krista site you've figured it out by now: make sure that the kind of carbs and protein that you eat are the highest in nutrient quality. Sausage and biscuits are not the same as chicken breast and old fashioned oatmeal, even if the calorie amounts are the same Try for the least processed form of everything, and load up on fibrous veggies!

Mel

Hi Guys! Glad I stuck my nose in here because I've been thinking I need a change too, other than just upping the weights.

Similar to geoducky, I've been doing upper and lower bod WO every other day, and spending too much time, 2 exercises per area/muscle. I think I'm getting to the point that I need to concentrate on building the muscle even more. My body is saying every day, "please lift" today, but I don't to give the muscles a chance to rest and rebuild because I am working so many at a time. KWIM? I'm going to stick with 6 days of cardio, while losing, but should I cut back on the time every other day, since my intensity has automatically increased from fast walking to jogging? Some days, I don't *want* to get off the treadmill when the endorphins kick in, and as a result may be doing too much?

As for food, my daily goal is 40-40-20, but since the holidays, and by my own choices based on my "taste for", I've been averaging 43-37-19. I know that doesn't sound too far off, but my weight loss has slowed down the past 2 weeks, and I know I need to eat more fibrous vegetables.

Mel, Mrs. J - any advice? Thanks!

dip

I'm with Dip - thinking it might be time for a change as well. Mel, can you give an idea of how many exercises and sets/reps you would do for a particular body part with that split you mentioned above? Because I am still doing the BFL 2 exercise per part thing as well.
Cindy

I'll try to expand on this later, but am off to the gym now. Just wanted to give yu some input.

On a 3 day split, I would do 3 exercises per body part with 4 sets of 10-15 reps. If you can do 15, UP your weights so that you can barely get 10.

The only exception IMO is shoulders: do 1 exercise for each head of the deltoid. That means 1 set of front raise type lift, 1 set of lateral raise, 1 set of overhead press, and one rear delt exercise. I usually super set them, mostly because I hate working shoulders and want to get it over with asap.

Later,
Mel

Wow thank you for the great advise. I will definately up my weights. I need to invest in a decent set of free weights since I pretty much use some miscellaneous weights I have. No gym

I have another diet question. I've been finding it hard to get my protien ratio high enough. I eat egg whites, cottage cheese, and chicken breast like crazy it seems but when I check the ratios at the end of the day carbs is too high and protien too low. I eat a TON of non-starchy vegetables every day which are all carb but the calories are so low I don't think my ratio would get out of wack from it. OK, a long way to my question : I never read anything about tofu. I eat a lot of tofu because of the high protien/low calorie thing... what do you think about it?

Hello Geoducky! WELCOME!!!

My .02 cents now... Yes, definitely up the weights, and not just a little quite a bit... "Go heavy or go home" is my motto, but that's just me.... I do ONE body part/day and I love this, it works for me... legs, back, chest, shoulders, arms....Depending on time and how many days I can make it to the gym in a week, I may sometimes do arms and shoulders the same day... I do abs every day at the end of each workout... Since december I've started to do the thread mill and cardio daily for 30 to 45 mins. depending how I feel, and I'm actually quite liking it...

To bring my protein up daily I supplement with a whey protein powder in between main meals... I try my darndest to get 50P,30C,20F, but unfortunately it doesn't always end up that way... ....

Hope this helps.... Come join us on the main thread... don't be shy...