Maybe Im just not meant to be happy.

[thefemalegreenday]

Re: Maybe Im just not ment to be happy.

I thought about it and theres really nothing im doing wrong..I don't eat any dairy cause I go out of control and eat more than allowed..
Maybe im eating too many calories? I know your not meant to worry about them
but I do average anywhere from 1300 to 1700. Is this a problem?

[neutronnorman]

Re: Maybe Im just not ment to be happy.

At your caloric value, want to really lose weight? The remedy is very intense strength training. Cardio is fine to burn a few calories here and there but the latest research indicates that cardio, sustained, does very little to change body composition. Intensity is the key. It's not easy, but the dividends payed are more than worth it.

For body composition changes, I'm beginning to seriously suspect cardio sks. Don't get me wrong, aerobics are great for general cardiovascular health but next to useless in producing major body composition changes. I walk into the gym and always check out the aerobic instructors that do very little weight training. My observations are brutal. Yes, they are small but look flabby. They are lacking a certain "thickness" that produces sexy curves, in my opinion. But, again, this is my opinion. I do not want to name media figures, but the ones considered "hot" tend to carry little body fat but, and to a certain point, quite a bit of muscle, naturally.

I mean, why lose weight if you are just going to turn into a smaller version of yourself? You'll still be resorting to using clothes to hide certain body "flaws." Body build! No, you will not end up looking like those steroid / testosterone genetically "gifted" freaks that win the Ms. Olympia contest. The bonus is you'll be able to eat more calories per day and lose body fat at an accelerated rate. I eat until I'm blue in the face! And I'm losing body fat at an extreme rate. I eat from 2400 calories upwards to 4000 calories per day, depending how I feel. My caloric intake rarely drop below 2200.

I've been doing the low carb bit since the latter half of April. I weighed close to 245 lb. I started proper Atkins induction May 25th. 2009 and about a 28% body fat. Today, July 8th. I weigh 220 lb and am at an estimated 13.88% (Jackson-Pollock method 3). I am still in a modified induction that I feel works best for me and my Lean Body Mass is 189.5 lb. In contrast, on June 16th. I weighed 226 lb was at an 18.24% body fat and my lean body mass was 184.9 lb. I've gained a little bit under 5 lb of muscle and lost quite a bit of fat.

So stick with it and workout beyond what your comfort zone is.

[thefemalegreenday]

Re: Maybe Im just not ment to be happy.

Wow, thats really cool.
Actually.. I kinda like muscles.. I've sorta being trying, I thought about going to boxing classes...buuuut.. My Mum wasn't thrilled with that idea
"You'll bust your nose and bruise."
sigh.. Mums..
I do weights, abb king pro, crunches and jogging plus some light bikey on the exercise bike.. Not alot but I get kinda lazy >_<
Though I do alittle more every day. is it better to use bigger weights? I always use the small ones.. Maybe I was going about it wrong.. someone told me I might strain muscles or something

[neutronnorman]

Re: Maybe Im just not meant to be happy.

Go here:

One of the biggest mistakes that many women make in the gym is not lifting a suitably heavy weight. There is an ongoing fear that if they start lifting more than ten pounds, they’ll sprout an enormous amount of muscle mass overnight - not something that most would desire. Because of this, some women avoid lifting heavy and unfortunately do not see the results they hope for.
If you want to make changes to your body, you need to pick up heavier weights. It’s really that simple. When you do, you are going to place an overloading stimulus on the body; one that the body will then respond to by growing back stronger.
This is how you not only improve your performance, but increase your metabolism through the building of lean muscle mass tissue.
That said, the one exception to this rule is with abdominal muscles. While you should definitely be using weights for your biceps, quads, hamstrings, triceps, chest, shoulders and back, you should avoid using weights for your core muscles.
The main reason is because when you lift a heavy weight, you are going to create some hypertrophy (muscle growth). In females this hypertrophy won’t be too large to begin with, so there is no need to worry about the aforementioned muscles looking abnormal. With most women, however, the last thing they want is an increase in the abdominal section - period. It doesn’t matter if it would be muscle or fat, they just want a thinner waist. By creating even a small amount of hypertrophy, you are essentially widening the waist instead.
What you want to do is strengthen the stomach muscles (since a strong core is important for injury prevention and overall strength) while keeping enlargement to a minimum.
You do this by performing exercises that have you working against your body weight, rather than working against a heavy resistance.
Examples include crunches on an exercise ball, the plank exercise, standing on a wobble board and so on. In all the standing weight lifting exercises you do (such as squats, lunges, etc), you will be using your abs as a helper muscle anyway.
For this reason, you really don’t need to spend too much additional time working your abs.
In order to get them showing, the major focus needs to be your diet. You could exercise your abs as much as you liked, but if your diet is not in line, it will be hard to see development. You must lose overall body fat to reveal the ‘6-pack’ and this will come from a sound diet approach coupled with heavy resistance training for the rest of the body (in order to maximize the metabolism). Cardio work will also contribute to body fat loss, although less than the former two factors.
So next time you see someone performing weighted abdominal sit-ups, take a pass. Perform some stability work on an exercise ball, or better yet, go pick up some really heavy weight with a full body strength training session instead