Advice please:-)

S

seabeewife

Active Member
Ever since DH was deployed I have been upping my workouts..mostly to keep my mind occupied. Here is my problem..my thighs are bulking up and not trimming down. Now I know they say that it's hard for women to bulk up..but my pants are no longer fitting me. What is going on here? Could this be because I am doing step more than I have before? I have started adding my elliptical into the mix hoping this will help.
Here is what I have been doing...I don't really have a set rotation. This is what has been in my journal lately...
CTX Kickbox
SJ&P
Circuit Max
rest
Gauntlet
step & intervals
Body Max
imax2
rest
circuit max
cardio&weights
step and intervals
cardio kicks

I am 5*7 and I weigh 134. I really don't care much about my weight..but I would like my clothes to fit me again. When I was at 125 they were fitting better.
I don't know how many calories I should be eating..maybe I am not getting enough..I don't know.
Any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
 
Hi seabeewife,

It's great that you are trying to keep busy while your husband is away. It must be a difficult situation. I hope he returns home soon!

I don't know if stepping has increased the size of your thighs. Are you doing weight training as well? If so, maybe you could try an endurance rotation.

I don't know a ton about freestyle training, but many people here seem to love it and have success trimming down their legs. Rhonda-rcook- is especially knowledgeable about this. You might want to look at those threads and see if it's something that interests you.

Do you think you aren't eating enough? That certainly does strange things to your body. You can always experiment and increase your calories slowly to see if it makes a difference.

Hope you find the cause- and the solution!

Gina
 
Good to hear that you are being healthy & positive with your husband away. I will pray for his safe return. We just finished a year and a half deployment with BF gone and it wasn't always easy to focus on me. So, hooray to you!

How long have you been doing these workouts? What are you eating? What changes are you seeing in your body other than your thigh area?

Christine
 
I've been using L&G and PLB recently and have noticed the same thing. However, I'm sure it's because I try to use a heavier weight. My thighs are round like a ham, where they use to be much straighter. Looking at your workouts, it doesnt seem like a lot of weight workouts. I know I've got to incorporate more cardio. Sometimes it takes a few weeks for results to start showing. How long have you been using these particular workouts?
 
I've been using L&G and PLB too, but I honestly have been noticing that my leg size is going down. Strange how different people get different results. Here's approximately what I've been doing though, maybe it will help you.
Week one:
Upper body and usually a cardio maybe 10-10-10 or the first 5 intervals of IMAX 2
Lower Body, usually either Pyramid Lower or L&G
Upper Body and a cardio
1 hour cardio
Full body weight day, either MIS, PH or PP

Week Two:
Lower Body either PLB or L&G Usually a cardio something hi Low
Upper Body with cardio add on Only half an hour
Lower Body either L&G or PLB maybe a cardio Hi low
All cardio Usually on this week I'll do KPC
Full Body something different from last week

REpeat week one, and so on..

Does that make sence? Anyway, the pants that I normally felt were tight are not so much anymore, yet I weigh the same. So, this must be working.
For my Upper body days I alternate between PUB, SS Upper body premix or CTX Upper Body. There are certainly days that I dont' get a cario in on top of my Upper body work, I run out of time. So, some weeks things get switched up a bit. I obviously don't follow a strict rotation, but am trying to stick to something more than, "Gee what do I feel like doing today?" kind of thing, ya know.


Kathy
 
I think if your pants aren't fitting because of your thighs, but your waist is thinner, it is probably the effects of increased muscle. BUT if your WAIST is not fitting into your pants, you need to drop some fat. This is a general rule I have heard of that makes sense to me, but I suppose their could be exceptions to every rule.

Try tracking your eating and see where you are calorie wise. Until you journal your eating, it is really an unknown.

Jen
 
Hi,

I don't have any workout advice, but just wanted to drop you a note to say good for you for finding something to concentrate on while your husband's gone. I'm a military wife too, and the past couple of years haven't been easy but it makes all the difference in the world if you take care of yourself. My prayers are with you.

Staci
 
Thank you Ladies for responding..I really appreciate it:) I am not sure if I am getting enough calories..if you all wouldn't mind could you give me some advice on my diet.

Here is a typical day..

6:45 1/2 c plain oatmeal
2 tbs ground flaxseed
apple

9:45 1/2 c HI-LO cereal (90 calories with 12 grams protein 6 grams fiber)

12:00 Mandarin Chicken Salad from Wendys (without almonds,dressing and fried noodles)
apple

3:00 1/2 c HI-LO, baby carrots and 1/2c grapes

6:00 chicken breast
veggies
apple

Another peice of fruit and maybe another bowl of oatmeal or some sugar free hot chocolate.

Any suggestions? Am I doing okay calorie wise if I workout 5-6 days a week?

THANK YOU AGAIN LADIES..YOUR HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
 
Hi again,

First, let me commend you on your eating habits! Frequent meals, lots of fiber- very healthy. I'm estimating that you are getting about 1100 per day. I don't know the caloric amounts of oatmeal or flax, but I'm estimating veggies to be 30, 1/2 c grapes 30, apples, 80, chicken 100, and Wendy's salad 200. Is that about right? IMHO, you should probably up it a bit, maybe to about 1300-1500, possibly higher if you exercising intensely. Also, it's fabulous that you like apples, and they are very goof for you, but getting in other fruits would probably be beneficial.

Gina

Edited to point out that I meant to write "good" instead of "goof" but I'm gonna leave it there anyway lol!
 
I tend to overestimate when I add my daily calories..I didn't realize it was so low? My oatmeal has about 150 calories per 1/2 cup. I also forgot to mention that I usually have some lowfat cottage cheese with my veggies at dinner..another 80 calories or so:)

THANK YOU:)

I am an appleaholic:) My night snacks are where I usually add in different fruit...pears, oranges, berries, plums..whatever I am craving. But I MUST have my 3 apples a day LOL:)
 
You know, there was a thread in this forum that I started that I found helpful, you might too, its title was "You Lose the Fat First...Right?" or similar. Try a search. Some folks gave me some ideas on shaking up the calories per day, for an overall weekly loss though, to make sure your metabolism stays strong. That might work here. Your eating looks good to me, but it is possible you need to shake things up a bit, might be too low for you....I think it is good to overestimate calories a bit too, just to be safe.

Don't be afraid of eating the almonds. If you do up your calories, that is a good healthy way to get some more....

Jen
 
Seebeewife, I'm no expert, but I'll tell you my experience. I've been doing a lot of Cathe workouts (most of the ones you have) for about 3 months now. I also noticed my thighs feeling tighter in my pants legs. I really wasn't tracking what I was eating, only eyeballing everything and not writing it down. I discovered www.fitday.com and also the Body for Life and Eating for Life books. I've been using the menus from the Eating for Life cookbook (go to the website www.eatingforlife.com) and tracking my calories on fitday. After 3 weeks, I've dropped a couple of pounds but more importantly, my pants aren't as tight in the leg now. Basically, I'm eating 6 small meals a day consisting of carbo and protein and get one "free" day to eat as I like. Maybe this could help you too.
 
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