I am hoping there are some personal trainers, fitness experts out there, as i need some expert advice:

I need a sustainable diet exercise plan to get in really good/ athlete calibre shape.

i am a 23 year olf female, 5'7" and my weight fluctuates between 110-115 lbs. My body fat is about 19%. i have a small frame.

I dont really want to lose weight, just increase my lean muscle mass and tone up.
I would like to reduce my body fat percentage and i am wondering what i would have to do 1) cardio-wise 2) weight-lifting wise and 3) diet-wise to get in optimum shape.

i have tried setting up my own plans but they are either 1) too rigid to follow (unsustainable)or 2) too lenient (i get lazy).

i am in pretty ok shape right now, but this is about 'tweaking.'
if anyone could suggest a diet/ exercise plan i would really appreciate it!

ps. i would really like to know if i have to avoid carbs altogether? ( i have a weakness for apples), but i have noticed i am very sensitive to sugar.

anyone?.......anyone?

Patience! Sheesh. :)

You're asking for a lot here. this is what trainers are *paid* for.
First, do you have any kind of diet that you follow right now? What does a typical day of eating look like for you? Do you currently exercise at all? Are you working toward actual athletics or just the appearance?

About diet, the last post in this thread has good basic info:
http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=256302
But for a really athletic look you will have to get strict with diet. There's no easy way to do it.
Just a side note, even with restricting carbs, you need carbohydrates before weight training and personally, I have an apple 30 minutes before every time. If you have to have fruit, thats the best place for it.

About training, 3x a week is a good place to start. You need to condition yourself some before going full force. If you want to go to the gym, a little resistance training hitting each muscle group will help get some muscle tone. If you decide to do it at home, a small set of dumbells or resistance bands will be okay. Cardio for 20-30 minutes 3x a week will help build cardiovascular endurance and burn calories. But for your size, just adding a little muscle mass wil help to shift your body compisition more toward lean muscle and away from high teen bodyfat %.

thanks! sorry for being impatient!

haha not enough people use the word sheesh! i love it. :wave:

a few more questions, if you dont mind? if you do, please ignore and thanks for answering the ones before....

-approx. how many calories should i be eating/ day?
-what is a good body fat percentage for a female seeking a somewhat cut look?
-should i limit my carb/ fat grams to a certain amount or just watch overall calories?

its hard to find advice on 'tweaking,' it seems like there is alot of unhealthy ideas out there that i dont want to resort to.

thanks again...

do you think hiring a personal trainer for a consultation would be helpful?

Patience! Sheesh. :)

opps i forgot this:

First, do you have any kind of diet that you follow right now?

i try and stay away from sugar...not crazy low-carb but definately leaning towards that.

What does a typical day of eating look like for you?

breakfast: 2 eggs (or egg substitute). with soy butter (low-cal)
snack: low-fat yogurt, apple
lunch: broccoli, maybe some chicken or turkey. or tuna with cucumbers.
snack: apple, low-fat yorgurt.
dinner: more eggs or egg substitute or fish (light), steamed vegetables or salad.
snack: apple.

throughout the day i drink alot of water and flavored water, green tea, etc.. i also occasionally have some sugar free, lowfat ice cream.

Do you currently exercise at all?

in the summer i ran about 10k 4x/ week, and did very light weights.
now i do pilates (30 mins) and skip rope (pretty fast) for about 20 minutes/day.

Are you working toward actual athletics or just the appearance?

just the appearance. sadly i am not very coordinated or team-oriented.

About diet, the last post in this thread has good basic info:
http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=256302
But for a really athletic look you will have to get strict with diet. There's no easy way to do it.

as long as i can eat apples.

Just a side note, even with restricting carbs, you need carbohydrates before weight training and personally, I have an apple 30 minutes before every time. If you have to have fruit, thats the best place for it.

do i eat too much fruit as it is? like 2-3 apples/ day?

About training, 3x a week is a good place to start. You need to condition yourself some before going full force. If you want to go to the gym, a little resistance training hitting each muscle group will help get some muscle tone. If you decide to do it at home, a small set of dumbells or resistance bands will be okay. Cardio for 20-30 minutes 3x a week will help build cardiovascular endurance and burn calories. But for your size, just adding a little muscle mass wil help to shift your body compisition more toward lean muscle and away from high teen bodyfat %.

what is a good goal for body fat?

thanks thanks thanks.

19% bodyfat is actually pretty lean for a woman as it is. 12% and below is getting close to competition type leanness. Finding a bodyfat level that you can maintain is a very individual thing. Some women simply hold more fat than others and some look leaner at 16% bodyfat than others. Genetics likes to be flakey like that. Set small goals and see how well you can maintain on a long term basis. If you can't *stay* at a certain leanness, then trying to push yourself there (unless it's for an event) is going to do more harm than good. In general, I wouldnt be too concerned with the bodyfat % number - except to help gauge progress and make sure you're losing fat and not muscle - and stick to how you look and feel.


-approx. how many calories should i be eating/ day?

Well, your BMR is right around 1100 calories. So on non training days trying to stick to around that will keep you in a caloric deficit for the day. On days that you train you'll be burning and needing higher caloric intake, so aim for somewhere around 1500 (adding a post workout shake can be the only change you need to make to kicj up the calories).

-should i limit my carb/ fat grams to a certain amount or just watch overall calories?

Keep carbs pretty much where they are; veggie carbs are okay since they are low GI and you need the nutrition. I would cut down on the apples. That's a lot of sugar and you would have more succes replacing the fruit snacks with protein. Whey/protein powder shakes make good, easy snacks, but real food is okay too. And you need to get some healthy fats in your diet. Nuts, avocadoes, salmon, flax, anything. Believe it or not, some fats help your body to burn its own fat stores, not to mention it's good for overall health.
But really, I think starting a good weight program will make a big difference and you'll be very pleased. Just don't be too concerned with what the scale says and keep track of how you look and your bf%.

thanks so much!
that was really helpful.

i will be limiting my apples to 'one a day' :rolleyes:

too bad they couldnt gm apples to be sugar-free...

hey, any thoughts on sugar free treats, or sweetners (splenda, aspartame) as a whole? i know they are not that great for you and sometimes i think they make me retain water. however, when you are watching your carbs and need a treat they are hard to avoid... i tried using stevia but its kind of weird..

thanks! sorry for being impatient!

haha not enough people use the word sheesh! i love it. :wave:

a few more questions, if you dont mind? if you do, please ignore and thanks for answering the ones before....

-approx. how many calories should i be eating/ day?
-what is a good body fat percentage for a female seeking a somewhat cut look?
-should i limit my carb/ fat grams to a certain amount or just watch overall calories?

its hard to find advice on 'tweaking,' it seems like there is alot of unhealthy ideas out there that i dont want to resort to.

thanks again...

do you think hiring a personal trainer for a consultation would be helpful?


I pretty much just read fitness magazines an stole a few tips here an there, read up on all the diet info ect.
If you only want to change your body fat % then really running is all you need or some form of cardio, weight lifting can be done at a minimum.
But when I was having trouble getting my body fat % below 8-10% I had to start taking extreme measures in my diet. Your diet can account for nearly 70% of your results so eating is actually the most important thing to get down if you are shooting for a low body fat %.
Drink a lot of water, stay away from refined sugar that you find in Soda, candy,ect(eat like a diabetic). Your body produces insulin, insulin is used by the body to A) control blood sugar levels B) burn fat naturally in your body. The sugar you find in fruit is good because it gets digested easily since its naturally occuring sugar, but refined sugar causes high blood sugar levels which causes the body to divert that insulin you normally use for fat burning to controlling your blood sugar levels when you eat a lot of sugar.
Carbs are good but not all carbs are created equal, whole wheat/whole grains breads, Oats, Pretzels, or fresh bakery bread is good, watch out for bread, crackers,ect. with enriched flour(TONS of stuff have enriched flour in it) this sorta acts like the refined sugar an slows your body's natural fat burning down. I dont think there is a bad Veggie . . .
You want to eat mostly complex carbs like rice, veggies, pasta an stay away from junk like chips, crackers, cookies, candy,ect.
Carbs, try to keep them around 40 % of your total calories.
Rice, Fish, Chicken, all good.
I like to make a giant bowl of Tuna Salad with fat free miracle whip an snack on it with toasted wheat bread or crackers(so I cheat, sue me lol).
Protien, you want to eat just about 1g of protien per 1 pound of weight for your body roughly per day. Try to keep your protien at about 30-40% of your total calories.
Fat, I try to avoid unless its from peanuts(1 oz. serving) which contains good fat that will actually help you build muscle an relieve some soreness as well. Just try to keep fat intake at a minimum of 10-20% % of your total calories, but as your body fat % gets lower you might have to drop this even further to keep seeing results. Just dont keep your intake that low for long periods(6 months) of time you gotta take breaks from these kinds of diets they can be hard on some of your vital organs, like your kidneys for example. Its always a good practice to schedule in a few cheat meals a coulpe times a week as well.
As for your daily calorie intake, that will depend on your activity for the day. If its a workout day, then you want to eat more than if it wasnt a workout day. You should tailor your eating to your days activity level. The number 1 misconception a lot of dieters make is to starve yourself to lose weight faster. If you starve yourself your body will lose weight faster at 1st an you will lose not only fat but muscle at the same time. An the amount of muscle you have on your body determines how many calories you burn, so you starve yourself you sabatoge your body's ability to burn calories an fat. So while limiting yourself on calories be sure to spread those calories out thoroughout the day so you dont go hungry at any point. A lot of people like to eat 5-6 smaller meals rather than 3 bigger ones a day. Eating more often like that actually helps boost your metabolism even more, you dont necessarily eat more food you eat the same amount, just smaller portions an more often.
Ive seen many variations on formula's for estimating calorie per day intake, but all are just general guide lines, its up to you to refine the amount an watch your body's reaction to the amount you eat an adjust accordingly.
Based on your height an weight(using the formula I used) you need around 1200 calories for non-workout days, an depending upon how hard you work out you need about 1700-1800 calories on workout days.

Some of those fitness magazines you see people with impossibly ripped abs, which is just unrealistic an actually UN-Healthy! Most of those freaks in those health magazines are on the brink healthwise even though they look so good.
A good/healthy body fat % is proly between 8-12%. But that can be tough to maintain, that cut look it comes as goes with the tide let me tell you, LOL. Sometimes before I go to the gym an my abs arent really showing, but after I work out, POW, there the six pack abs show! Its actually pretty funny. When your body fat % gets low enough, simply getting pumped up at the gym can make them appear through that last % of fat.
Currently I can be pretty lazy an maintain about 9-10%, lazy being working out 2-3 times a week an eating almost anything I want.
But gettin to were I am now I was working out 6-7 days a week running 40 min a day, but once your there its a hell of a lot easier staying there than getting there.

For a female, 8-12% is usually way too low to maintain.

thanks so much for all the advice. i definately believe that diet is 70% of the battle- the slightest slip totally stalls my progress..... i find sometimes the sugar free stuff acts more like carbs....even though it is supposed to be ok occasionally or at least not as bad.