How does the weight come off?

eminenz2

eminenz2

Cathlete
Hello, everyone!

I need your wisdom.

I have finally managed to start taking off weight. In January I was at 178 and I am now at 158 and holding. My question is this - if I'm losing so much weight, shouldn't I be looking leaner yet? My husband says I do look fitter and more slender but I still don't see too much definition (specifically in my legs). There's definitely lots of muscle under there, but my thighs and calves are still covered with fat.

Could this just be the way my body is losing weight? From the top down?

I know I should be cheering myself on with my initial success, but that perfectionist part of me keeps nagging me that it's still not good enough, you know?

Thanks in advance for any insights/advice.

Susan G.

P.S. I am doing a 16 week rotation given to me by Jillybean, another one of our posters. I am in week 4, doing the following:

Sat: PH CST + CTX Step Intervals (cardio only)
Sun: PH BBA + CTX 10-10-10 (cardio only)
Mon: PH SLA
Tues: IMAX (or other cardio)
Wed: MIS
Thurs: Cardio Kicks (sometimes I do a different cardio if I'm
tired)
Fri: off

I believe this portion goes on for 4 more weeks, then I do S&H for 3 weeks, and then the CTX series for four weeks, if I remember correctly.

Thanks again!

SLG
 
My suggestion, and I'm one who does not firm up easily in the legs so I speak from experience:

Do the Leaner Legs tape, and on the day you would do MIS. You are already doing PS tapes for your upper body, so you really don't need another day of upper body work.

So, you would be doing leg work 2 days per week, and upper body work 2 days per week. Since LL is only 36 minutes without the ab work, you could fit in another 20 minutes or so of cardio, like a walk of something.

Try that and keep watching your eats. Do you keep a food journal? Have you lost the weight you wanted to lose or do you want to lose more?
 
Honeybunch,

Thanks for the tips - I think they make a lot of sense.

I have been keeping a WW points type of journal even though I'm not officially signed up for it.

I would like to get to 150. I think that is reasonable for me. I am 5'3" and I know the charts and books say I should weigh 135 or less, but to do that would be too stressful. I would be living my whole life for my weight, stessing out about everything that I put in my mouth, and I just don't want to do that.

What leaned out your legs? More of the weight lifting or more cardio?

Thanks again!

Susan G.
 
Just curious what chart says that 135 is an acceptable weight for 5'3. I am 5'2 and every chart I find tells me that I should weigh anywhere from 109-128. Quite distressing. I would love to see where a chart says 135 is a good weight for our height. Can you point me in the right direction?
Lisa
 
Lisa,

I apologize.

I don't have a specific chart, but my point is that charts, I think, are always unreasonable about what we should weigh, given our bodies are very individualized things!

If I find a specific chart, I will certainly post it.

Susan G.
 
For me, lifting made the difference. All the cardio that I tried did not make a dramatic difference with shaping my legs. I must say that kickboxing DID help my outer thighs.
 
RE: Another option...

On the MIS day, you could do as Honeybunch suggested. Another option is just do the MIS lower body portion and then a CTX cardio, or CTX's Power Circuit cardio segment, which would give you additional leg work and cardio. Sometimes, if I have LOTS of energy, I do the power circuit segment from Body Max and then the leg circuits from CTX's Power Circuit. Everyone is different, but for me, working each body part twice a week, revved up my metabolism. But look how far you've come already! Congrats!!!!
 
I read that the fat closest to your muscles are burned off first.

This seemed true for me, because when I was losing fat, I noticed that even though I didn't look TOO much different on the outside, I was able to stick my stomach in further and further.

And, I really didn't look like I was losing weight until AFTER about 3 months of working out.

"Pain is weakness leaving the body."
 
Thanks again, everyone, for the suggestions. I'm so glad to see I have lote of options. I think I'll try Honeybunch's suggestions first, but keep Jilly bean's suggestion on the back burner "just in case."

It always seems that last ten pounds is the worst. Why is that? Is that because our resolve starts to falter, or we get tired of counting this calorie (or point) and measuring that portion?

Anyway, it's great to have such encouragement!

Best,

Susan G.
 
Hey!!!! I have a chart. It says you can weight 135 at 5'3"!!!!!!!!! It happens to be MY OWN chart, but hey, if someone says it is OK, that makes it OK, right?? LOL!!


Yes, Annette's suggestion is good. Leaner Legs instead of MIS. However, Susan, sounds to me like you are kickin' a!@ and takin' names!!! You have done very well so far and everything seems on par. Remember, if you had quite a bit of fat to lose you are not going to see definition until you get past that certain percentage of BF. This is true for all of us. Say I start out at 40% fat...well, I am not going to see definition at 30% fat..even though I have worked my patooty off to get there. You will still have to drop to whatever percentage is right for you, most commonly 22% or less. Where the fat is coming off at this point doesn't much matter. It is clear that in order for you to see the definition you are looking for you must lose more fat or build more muscle. Yeah, I think LL will do you good.....Good Luck!!

Janice
 
And good for you that you are not going to stress out about everything you put into your mouth!! Just be careful when you get near that ideal weight and all of a sudden that perfectionist part of you rears its ugly head!!! Happens to all of us!!
 
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