a year later and still not there yet

H

hkbecky

Active Member
Hi all!

Summertime is just around the corner and bikini season is also coming up! I started a serious health-kick fitness regime just over a year ago (which i plan on staying with for life) and I must say that although I workout regularly (4-5 days /week) for 1 hour cardio & strength, I've still not reached my ultimate bikini body and it's been over a year!!! the fat layer is STILL THERE!!!!!

I am willing to put in the effort to sweat, get exhausted, persevere and work so hard, but i've been getting such minimal results - what am i doing wrong?? Am i overly ambitious?

So many magazines claim to give you a beach-body in 4 weeks! is that possible?

I eat moderately clean about 1500-1800 calories per day (i think). I'm currently 5'4" tall @ 114lbs / 20.9% body fat. Over a year ago, i was 115lbs @ 22% body fat. Doesn't seem like much difference to me. Lost about 2 inches all over.

Would love to hear any experiences anyone can share where you've reached your ultimate goals by doing Cathe workouts? How long did it take? How did you do it?

thanks to all!
Becky
 
Hi Becky. The whole process does take time, and sometimes it is trial and error to find out what truly works for you. I know it can be frustrating but hang in there. First off, what is moderately clean eating? I hate to keep chiming in on this, but diet really is 80% of the equation. I'm not saying you have to be squeaky clean...I'm sure not, but it can make a big difference in pushing your body past a plateau. Second, if you are working out pretty intensely, you may need to up your calorie intake. Too low and your body is not going to be able to feed your muscles and will think it is in starvation mode (thus holding onto anything). My suggestion is to vary up your routine as much as possible, and start adding in things you haven't yet tried. My body tends to like adding heavy lifting, endurance, HIIT, steady state, and all that sort of thing into a week. I mix it up constantly. You do have to see what works for you. I hope this helps some.


Live with sincerity, love with passion, and dance like you mean it.

Debbie
 
Here's your key comment: "I eat moderately clean about 1500-1800 calories per day (i think)." You HAVE to analyze your food intake and revamp your diet if you want to see big changes. Exercise will NOT do it all, much as we'd like it to.

How are you getting your body fat measured? Are you using one of those hand-held gadgets? You may get a more accurate measurement if you have someone who knows what they're doing use calipers on you. 5'4" and 114 pounds is very thin. Do you have a very small frame?

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." Mark Twain ;-)
 
Hey Becky -

FYI - I'm also 5'4", but I weigh about 120-122. I'd say weight-wise, you shouldn't have any concerns.

When you work out, do you do cardio and strength on the same days? As in half hour cardio, half hour weights? That's what it sounds like in your post. Like Debbie said, try changing things up. Alternate 1 day of 1-hr cardio with 1 day of 1-hr weights. Try some circuit training and interval training, mixed in with steady-state cardio. Try to increase your weight lifting a bit for an extra challenge.

And keep track of how many calories you burn. You may not be eating enough to fuel your body. I think I'm having that problem myself right now and have asked for help on adjusting my menu (not many responses yet...) If this is the case, your body may be hanging on to that fat in "survival mode," as they call it. I don't know what to advise there, because like I said, I'm looking for answers myself. Good luck!
 
Sorry if I'm off-base here, but you sound just great to me. I think you should just put on a bikini, and enjoy the summer. I'm sure you'll look awesome.

-Nancy
 
I concur with Nancy. Go put on the bikini.
At my least weight as an adult, I was 5'3", 114lbs. Too little for me. I was also 21 years old and thought I looked good. I didn't. And my family told me so.

I am curious about your age. When I was 21, I did not feel comfortable in a 2 piece bathsuit. Now that I am 37 (Birthday Today, May 14th.) and overwieght, I feel very comfortable in a 2 piece. Go figure.
 
Hi everyone! Thanks for all the encouraging feedback.

My ultimate goal is to be very lean - athletic lean. My body is pear-shaped. So I look pretty good from the waist up with about a 2" blob of flab when I grab the part where my butt meets my leg. I would love love love to be able to wear shorts / bikini and have nice lean legs.

Yes, my diet is difficult to control. I usually eat very low-fat foods. Being in Hong Kong I eat a lot of soup, vegetables, lean meats and rice. I'm not really sure how many calories I'm really eating since I'm actually just guessing. I eat 3 mid-sized meals a day with 2 fruit snacks. Lots of water.

I'm not sure if I'm in starvation mode, but judging from how much I eat, I don't believe this is the case. I'm 31 and 5'4" and Chinese. Yes, I have a small frame, small bones, small feet and small hands. So any trace of flab shows.

Currently, I'm only doing Cathe workouts with a mix of Interval, cardio, circuit, kickboxing and strength training. I try to do more cardio than lifting and I alternate upper and lower body strength training every other day.

Do I just need more time and patience? Shouldn't a year be enough to see results?
 
I guess I didn't mean you were literally starving yourself, but rather just to make a point of your body holding on to what it has. I don't think you are exactly in that mode either, but a few hundred more calories of lean protein/complex carbs/healthy fats might give you that extra oomph ;) I would try to balance out your cardio/weight routine a little better. Lifting is really underestimated for how much it can lean you out. Try to hit the weights a little heavier & push yourself a little further when you do. Maybe also throw in some HIIT days as well. I guess my point is start adding some things you have yet to do & see if you can ask for a little more from your body. The extra healthy calories will definitely help you get there. Yes, a year is an adequate time to see results but maybe your body just needs a different jolt. HTH.

Live with sincerity, love with passion, and dance like you mean it.

Debbie
 
Hi, Becky,

Just wanted to let you know that I'm healthy at 36, 5'2" and 110 pounds, and am also trying to lose body fat (without losing weight). I got the health & exercise bug about a year ago, too.

I've just started something called BFFM (Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle) about a week ago. It's an ebook that teaches you how to adjust what you're eating (and what things are better to eat and not eat) and how you're exercising in order to become the healthiest fat loss/muscle gaining machine you can be }( . If you do a search for it here, you'll find a ton of info (let me warn you that the actual ad for it looks VERY sketchy, but rest assured, it's a great nutrition / motivation guide.) This book recommends you make assessments once a week to check your progress to see if you need to change something in your way of eating or exercise.

I know living in Asia means that there are a lot of food items that you won't be able to look up for nutrient value, and many if not most products you might buy at a store don't have the nutritional count on the back of the package. But if you cut out all processed foods that won't really affect you anymore :) ! Also, I realize that it's probably harder to find healthy alternatives/substitions at restaurants.

If you can live in China without eating white rice and white noodles (and white bread - replacing those with whole wheat noodles if you can find them, yams, sweet potato and oatmeal if you can find it), that's a good start.

Anyway, you might try out the exercise change as others have suggested, and if you're serious about losing some fat%, you'll need to start tracking your calories and macs (carbs/protein/fat intake) so that you can figure out what to do to get the results you're hoping for.

Good luck!
 
Thank you all so much for your helpful advice. I agree that my system probably needs a jolt.

Much as I hate to do it, tracking calories is probably my best bet at really controlling my food intake. I did it for a while, but thought it was a big pain since I wasn't able to accurately track all my calories due to the different foods I was eating. I will definitely pick up the BFFM book.

Yes, living in Asia for the last 12 years I've gotten used to all the starchy carbs ie: noodles, white rice, bread etc. It's difficult just to find some decent produce here. We're pretty restricted in terms of fresh produce since most of it does come from China, the quality is questionable.

With regards to calories, I'm a bit confused because I've read so many different theories about weight / fat loss.

From what I know, I should be taking in about 10x the calories of my current weight in lbs. Ie: if I'm 115 lbs, I should be eating roughly 1200 calories per day. After eating these 1200, I should be doing cardio to at least create a deficit of 250 calories and then reduce my food intake by at least 250 calores. Would that mean that essentially, my body would be working on 700 calories??

OR, should I factor in an extra 500 calories so i don't go into 'starvation / preserve the fat' mode? Should I be eating 1700 calories and then creating a deficit afterwards?

I'm a bit confused because I don't want to eat too much, but I also don't want to eat too little to reverse the effects of all my Cathe workouts!

thanks!!
Becky
 
Hi, again, Becky,

You'll want to do more research on calorie intake if you're wanting to get rid of the smoosh :) . It's all in BFFM, so if you do end up getting it, you'll definitely learn a lot.

By my calculations with your stats / exercise regimen, in order for you to lose fat, you'll need to keep your minimum calorie intake at around 1450 - 1560 calories (that already has the 500 calorie deficit in it and is calculated with your lean body mass in kg and also your exercise frequency/intensity). That calorie intake is your minimum. Anything lower than that and you're doing damage to your body. BFFM will also tell you how to balance your carbs, protein and fat. Of course, you can also find lots of information about that just searching around on the internet - it'll just take you a lot of time to weed through the cr*p.

Good luck!

August
 
Hi Becky,

I think you should follow a lot of the advice on here given. Definitely sounds like you should up your protein intake and do more weight training than cardio. You are at a great weight for your frame and building more muscle can really make you look more lean. I mean serious weight training like using all cathe's hardcore tapes and keep upping those weights as you get stronger. I am 5'3" and smaller framed but I weigh 127...but I'm muscular. If I was 120 I think I'd be completely lean so based on that it sounds like you may need to just build more muscle and eat more protein to really build it up.
 
Hi there,

I am 5’2” and 105lbs. I am an Asian and 42 years young. I have been doing Cathe for 8 years. My body fat percentage I believe started out around 20% and able to reduce to 14.3% one point. That was two years ago and not sure my current status. I have not checked myself since but I can tell it went up slightly.

Asian Woman tends to have higher body fat percentage due to difficulty in gaining muscle mass than other types. I am not sure if you heard the term, "Ecto". Most of our Asian women fall in to this type.

My weekly workouts are emphasize in strength training. I do typically two to three heavy weights, using, Slow and Heavy series or Pyramid Up/Down or Gym Styles and add one total body circuit style, such as Power Hour, ME. I also add two to three cardio, including at least one I-Max and Kickboxing.

I always drink protein shake after the workout regardless of what type of exercising I did followed by high fiber cereals, oatmeal or wheat toasted bread and egg whites.

Hope this helped.
:)
 
Becky,

Try fitday.com to make calorie tracking simple. It's free. You can also download the program for $19.99 (I wound up doing that so I could work on it offline). You can record your food intake & daily exercise, track weight progress, record measurements, etc. When you set it up, you can create a daily goal for calories eaten/burned depending upon your needs. Then the program will count the calories for you and show you a % breakdown of how many carbs, protein, and fats you're eating. It really saves time & makes the food/workout journaling simple.
 
Hi again everyone and thanks once again for all your valuable input.

I'm really not a fan of protein shakes and protein bars. Have tried them but maybe it's the selection in Hong Kong, but the bars taste like cardboard and the shakes have this weird aftertaste which makes me want to upchuck. Are there any other protein alternatives other than eating soy, eggs and chicken breast? (yawn)

I really enjoy doing weights. I weight train once every 2 days to get some muscle rest in between. To be honest, I would rather do more weights than cardio. But I'm told (please correct me if i'm wrong), that if I really want to lose the flab, i need to up my cardio intensity.

Yes, I'm definitely an 'Ecto' body type just like mom. the leg flab is this huge chunk of blob that i hate hate hate hate hate!!! probably due to 10 years of eating anything and everything i wanted disregarding the inevitable law of gravity and decreasing metabolism over time.

Have tried fitday.com but they don't have all the foods i eat available. have even bought a calorie counter book but nothing seems to really work for me.
 
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