First, good that you're in the gym.
Two, you're going about weight loss the wrong way. For a start, RESISTANCE training will do MORE for you in losing fat than cardio ever will (and IMO cardio is completely UNnecessary in losing fat).
Three, don't be so concerned with WEIGHT loss; be more concerned with your BODY COMPOSITION (i.e % bodyfat, % lean body mass). If you're lifting and losing bodyfat, but the scale is not changing, then you are also gaining muscle mass (and that's a GOOD thing; more muscle = a faster metabolism = better/faster fat loss).
Fourth, you don't need to be on any specific "diet". Your nutrition (see below) should be a reflection of a LIFESTYLE, and probably should remain the same all year around, aside from the amount of calories you consume (since that will determine muscle gain, maintenance, or fat loss).
LOSING FAT INFORMATION ©Rosie Chee
Ok, I am going to assume that you know nothing. Please don’t take this personally; it’s just easier for me to explain everything from scratch, if you know what I mean. Hope this all helps you.
LOSING FAT Part 1 (Goals)
The first thing that you need to do, BEFORE you look at diet and exercise, is to set some goals. Look at what you are now, and what you want to be. Your end goal can be WHATEVER you want, because, as long as you give yourself a realistic timeframe to achieve it in, you can achieve ANYTHING that you want! Once you have set your long-term goal, then you need to set smaller goals – these are your short-term goals that will help you get there. Goals should be SMART goals.
LOSING FAT Part 2 (Diet)
Losing fat is really easy. The FIRST thing you should look at is your DIET (which I explained to you), since fat loss depends 90%+ on what you put in your mouth and when.
ROSIE’S DIET TIPS FOR FAT LOSS
1. First, you need to work out what your MAINTENANCE calories are (There are various methods and equations that you can use to calculate this; most take into account current body mass, height, and activity level). Then, to lose fat, you need to make sure that you’re having up to 500 calories LESS than maintenance. Depending on how fast or slow you lose the fat, you can adjust and tweak your calorie intake each week.2. Eat every 2-3 hours after waking. This helps keep the metabolism going throughout the day, as well as keeping insulin levels stable (so, you can see that 3 meals is simply NOT enough, even small portions).
3. EVERY meal should have complex carbohydrates [CHO] (i.e. kumara, rice, oats, etc.), QUALITY LEAN protein (chicken breast, fish, tuna, salmon, lean beef, egg whites, etc.), and FIBROUS CHO (i.e. vegetables, green ones in particular).
4. Drink 4.5 litres of water per day. This will help keep the system clean.
5. It has been proven that TWO servings of DAIRY per day helps lose MORE fat than if one avoids it altogether.
6. Do NOT avoid fat (The only fat she should be avoiding is Saturated fat and Trans fats). You NEED fat in your diet, as fat plays major roles in energy metabolism and other parts of your body (Wardlaw & Hampl, 2007). Make sure to have at least 30 grams of GOOD fats (i.e. flaxseeds or flaxseed oil, fish oils, peanut butter, nuts - especially almonds and walnuts, hempseed oil, olive oil, etc.) per day (i.e. this is ~2 tbsp of flaxseed oil or peanut butter).
7. Don’t drink tea or coffee. Try drinking GREEN tea instead; it helps with thermogenesis, and is especially good if you take it one hour before doing cardio first thing in the morning.
8. Don’t drink alcohol. Alcohol has NO nutritional value and is full of calories.
9. Minimize adding salt to food. Instead, flavour a meal with herbs and spices (i.e. ginger, cumin, cayenne pepper, curry powder, chilli powder, and garlic all help thermogenesis a bit).
10. The only sugar needed on a regular basis is the NATURAL sugars found in food; these are mostly found in fruit. Too much sugar plays havoc with insulin levels and these should be as stable as possible throughout the day. The best time to be having sugar is straight AFTER a RESISTANCE workout, when the body is trying to replenish muscle glycogen stores (Burke, 2006).
11. Do NOT avoid CHO. You NEED at least 50-100 grams of CHO per day for your body to burn fat effectively. A good guideline is to have at least 1 gram of CHO per kg of body mass per day as a MINIMUM (Burke, 2006).
12. Eat most food as 'natural' as possible. This means fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, grains, etc. Try not to eat too much packaged food, as it is full of extra calories and sugar.
13. Most importantly, remember that it IS OK TO CHEAT every now and then. Actually the body NEEDS cheat meals and day. By throwing all the guidelines I have just mentioned above out of the way and having a day where you eat what you want it helps, and will also help prevent your body from going into starvation mode (where the body battles you to hold onto the fat as much as it can). If you prefer NOT to ‘cheat’, then adding in 1-2 higher CALORIE days (i.e. go up to Maintenance, or even Bulking, or even slightly higher), with the extra calories coming from quality COMPLEX CHO, you should be ok.
Supplements should NOT be a big deal, as most fat loss can be done through simply eating the right food at the right time. And unless everything that you’re doing is already done to ensure the maximum results in the timeframe that you want to achieve it in, and then supplementation should not be the focus. However, there ARE a few supplements that I think are important to any regime:
1. A multivitamin. (Although you should be eating as much of a variety of food as possible, in order to meet the RDI/AI of most nutrients from actual food).
2. Creatine monohydrate. Creatine helps the body to recover faster, as well as aiding in increasing strength levels and lean body mass [LBM].
3. Flaxseed/Hempseed/Fish Oil. This is the GOOD fats. Flaxseed or Hempseed oil is great with breakfast or in protein shakes.
4. Protein Powder. This just helps for the in-between meals, or after the gym, and to make sure that you get enough protein in (You should be having 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body mass per day; this is so that muscle loss is prevented, and can even assist in small gains in LBM).
Apart from these 4 ‘base’ supplements, you don’t need a lot (supplements are just a way for companies to make money. You can do everything without them!). And forget about using fat-burners or thermogenics; they are a waste of time unless you are ALREADY lean and are looking for that ‘extra edge’ to lose the last 1-2% bodyfat (i.e. like a fitness competitor, etc.)
LOSING FAT Part 3 (Exercise)
You will lose fat by dieting alone, but not as effectively as you would using a calorie controlled diet AND exercise plan. If you just dieted, you would end up as a smaller version of yourself right now. Exercise helps you to build muscle (which helps you to burn more calories and lose more fat in the process), as well as helping you feel good about yourself, and providing a way to distress.
The best exercise programme for losing fat is one that includes weights, cardio (mostly in the form of high intensity stuff), and some flexibility (just to help your joints).
Resistance Training
Since you are a beginner, start off with 2 days per week (and graduate to 3-4 days after 4-6 weeks). I would recommend full-body sessions in a circuit style fashion, as these will not only increase your cardiovascular fitness, but your muscular endurance and strength, and help burn fat faster. Exercises that you should be doing are multijoint, compound exercises, as they use more than one muscle, and are the most effective for not only building muscle, but also in burning fat, because they are recruiting more of your body to perform the exercise than isolation exercises (these are a waste of time unless you are looking for a pump close to competition, really). The best compound exercises that you can do are the squat and the deadlift, as they use pretty much EVERY muscle in your body. Other compound exercises that are good to include are the power clean, bench press, shoulder press, pull-ups, dips, as well as calf raises (the only isolation exercise that’s really good). You should never spend longer than 45-50 minutes in total lifting (i.e. your session should take that long from the time you walk in to the time you walk out, excluding if you do a warm-up – and this is strictly your own preference); otherwise you become too catabolic and end up losing muscle. You also need to change your weights programme around slightly every 4-6 weeks, just so that your body does not get used to it and stop adapting. This can be as little as changing the order of exercises in a session or the number of sets and/or reps that you do for an exercise (and it only needs to be one exercise changed at a time, small adjustments over the weeks).
Here’s a sample circuit:
This is a very basic routine, designed to get you 'used' to resistance training again, whilst also targeting your goals, and is ok to start with. After 4-6 weeks you will need to change your programme.
Instructions: Do an easy 10 min warm-up. Select weights that you can do for said reps on each exercise (but not too much more), and use these for the entire session. Complete exercises in order from 1-8, with minimal recovery (ideally it should be moving from one exercise to another; but since you are a beginner 30-60 seconds will be ok). At the end of one set (i.e. 1-10) rest for 1-2 minutes, and then repeat. You can increase to 3 sets after 2-4 weeks (or as you see fit). Stretch full-body for 5 mins after session. This should take ~45 minutes in TOTAL. Every week your weights should increase (i.e. not on ALL sessions, but keep weights the same for a week, and increase as you can for the next week's sessions), so that you keep challenging your body.
1. Dumbbell/Barbell Squats 2 x 12 (changing stance can change which muscle are targeted more: narrow stance hits quadriceps more, wide stance hits gluteals and hamstrings more; sumo stance hits gluteal and adductors more, etc.)
2. Dumbbell/Barbell Romanian Deadlifts 2 x 10
3. Calf Raises (on a step) 2 x 15-25
4. Pull-Ups 2 x as many as possible (with a minimum of 6 reps; when you've done what you can then go to the Lat Pull-Down, and finish the set there)
5. Push-Ups 2 x as many as possible
6. Dummbell Shoulder Press - 2 x 12-15
7. Dips 2 x 12-15 (do as many as possible as you can with your bodyweight; when you've done what you can then go doing Bench Dips, and finish the set there)
8. Crunches 2 x 50
I highly recommend getting a personal trainer, so that you can be shown the correct technique (very important) for each exercise. Also so that they can be there with you for your first few sessions, to determine starting weights, as you get acquainted with resistance training. They're also good for motivation, support, and ACCOUNTANCE.
Be sure that you ALWAYS use good form for EVERY exercise; otherwise you are putting yourself at risk for injury. All reps should be CONTROLLED and with good form (don’t cheat). It’s not about how MUCH you can lift, but how WELL you lift. You WILL get stronger as you keep at it (although maybe not so much when trying to lose fat, but this depends on the individual).
Make sure that you have a protein shake with some simple sugar (i.e. fruit smoothie with ice and protein powder is great here) as soon as possible after your resistance training, and then a PROPER meal (i.e. including ~50 grams of complex CHO, ~30 grams of protein, fibrous CHO) about 30 minutes after your post-workout shake.
Cardio
Long, slow cardio burns calories, yes, but you are doing that for a long period of time. The most effective way to burn fat through cardio is to do a) Interval training (i.e. efforts), or b) do your cardio at a HIGHER intensity (i.e. just going out and running as fast as you can over a certain distance, instead of 45 minutes at a 60% HRmax). Forget about the ‘Fat Burning Zone’; the harder you work during cardio, the more fat you lose. When I first attempted to lose fat (and I still do this NOW) I did something called ‘Guerrilla Cardio’ (GC). It is tabata intervals done sprinting (instead of on a bike). All you do jog lightly for 4 minutes as a ‘warm-up’; then you do 8 x 20 seconds hard-out-as-fast-as-you-can sprints/efforts, and jog easy for 10 seconds after each one; finishing with a 4 minutes easy jog ‘cool-down’. I do GC (or variations of it; now I increase how many efforts I do, and sometimes do up to 32) 3 days a week, with a rest day between each one, as it is very hard and takes a lot out of you. If you do this, and you are doing weights and eating to lose fat, then you will most definitely see results. If you feel that you NEED to do MORE cardio, you can do brisk walks every other day, or perhaps a run (but no MORE than 30 minutes; after 30 minutes of running you are very catabolic and are likely to lose muscle, which you don’t want to happen). Skipping, stair sprinting/running, or rowing, are the next highest calorie burners after sprinting. Some people will tell you that you need to be doing 2 hours of cardio a day, or double cardio sessions, to lose fat, but as long as you are eating RIGHT, doing weights 2-4 times per week, doing cardio 3 or more times per week for 12-30 minutes per day (depending on the intensity; the higher the intensity the shorter you do it for!), and allowing your body to RECOVER (this is VERY important; if you do TOO much, then your body won’t be able to recover properly and you won’t get the results you want, since your body only adapts and gets results in the RECOVERY time!), then you will lose fat!
Flexibility
Just stretch for 10-20 minutes per day, preferably AFTER you have done either cardio or weights, while your muscles are still warm. This just makes sure that you can move freely and easily.
Remember that MORE is not always best! You want maximal results for minimal time. You also need to remember that some of this is experimental, and about finding what works best for YOU, since everyone is different and responds differently to diet and exercise.
I also suggest that you actually look around and do some personal research for yourself. Educate yourself on traiing and diet. And if you get a personal trainer, then get them to tell you WHY they give you what they do; you should ALWAYS know WHY you are doing what you are doing, and it should always have a purpose towards your end goal.
