Quote:
Originally Posted by Peanut
Ok, so given it's 80% diet, 20% exercise (or thereabouts)... what are your opinions about weight watchers, or a similiar structured diet "plan", for weight loss? Has anyone had success with it personally? I want to get rid of some baby weight.
My activity level is:
running 2-3 times/week (30 min)
yoga 1-2 times/week (90 min)
bootcamp style class 2-3 times/week (60 min)
Any advice from the experts in here is appreciated!!  |
First - Congrats on the baby!
I don't know anything about weight watchers so I can't comment on it.
The first thing I would do is get a ball park number on how many calories you burn using the formulas below. I personally think the running on top of the other stuff is not necessary, but I don't like running and maybe you do!
If you are running because you enjoy it then have at 'er - but keep in mind your body needs rest and recovery too and it seems like you are doing quite a bit in a week there. If you do not give your body enough time to recover you will under recover/over train and that will make losing fat harder/slower (elevated cortisol levels due to too much stress). I would personally recommend lifting heavy 1 day a week instead of the running. The bootcamp would take care of the metabolic conditioning part of your fitness.
Once you know the calories you burn you know how much to eat 'cause you are breast feeding which I have heard/read uses ~500 cals/day. This would put you at about a ~500 cal a day deficit which should be 1-2 lbs per week fat loss which is a good rate. Keep track of weight and measurements 'cause 1 lb of muscle takes up much less volume than 1 lb of fat and your weight might stay the same, but your waist may be shrinking as you gain muscle/loss fat. If you notice no progress after a week, adjust your intake by a few hundred calories. You can track your intake in something like Fitday.
As far as diet goes, I would recommend something like a paleo/primal approach (the guy on this site - Mark - is in his mid 50s):
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/defin...mal-blueprint/
I also found these links you may be interested in:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/pregnant-diet/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-d...primal-babies/
Make small changes one at a time until you are comfortable with it and then make another change etc. Allow yourself to 'cheat' ~3 meals a week. You need to pick something you can stick with. Like Azure mentioned it is a lifestyle change to eat healthy.
I've posted this before, but I think this is a good link to explain how your body works:
http://www.fitnessspotlight.com/univ...et-secrets.htm
As far as the heavy weights go - its great for bone density as well as stimulating muscle growth and fat loss. A good program/book is Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. This would help you learn the lifts correctly as well. This is not just for men! My wife is 5'1" (actually a little under) and weighs less than 100 lbs and she deadlifts and squats regularly (weekly) and she wears 00 size pants or whatever the smallest size you can get is and that is sometimes too big (and she's had 2 kids!). She has been doing this for a couple years now. As a woman, you won't get big that easily. Most women just don't have the hormones to get big.
Anyway, I guess I've rambled enough!
I hope some of this helps.
Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)
Note: 1 inch = 2.54 cm.
1 kilogram = 2.2 lbs.
Example:
You are female
You are 30 yrs old
You are 5' 6 " tall (167.6 cm)
You weigh 120 lbs. (54.5 kilos)
Your BMR = 655 + 523 + 302 - 141 = 1339 calories/day
Now that you know your BMR, you can calculate TDEE by multiplying your BMR by your activity multiplier from the chart below:
Activity Multiplier
Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)
Example:
Your BMR is 1339 calories per day
Your activity level is moderately active (work out 3-4 times per week)
Your activity factor is 1.55
Your TDEE = 1.55 X 1339 = 2075 calories/day