Questions for my wifey (ladies..or guys) - JP Fitness Forums

raymond3 · 09-19-2006, 04:34 PM

My wife is 5' 3" and around 145-148lbs. To me she looks good and she holds her weight well (pretty evenly distributed- so nice legs/ass, etc). But she recently wants to get in better shape and lose some weight...so me being in shape and having a lifestyle of fitness of course will support her.

Right now, the only thing she has to workout in is the 'apartment gym'. It has your basic bow-flex multi machine setup (very limited) and a few cardio machines. Keep in mind, she never was and still isnt into working out and eating clean. Her diet is decent and Ive installed certain things for her to help her lose the few pounds (ie, eating something every 3 hours or so, trying to cut the carbs back at night, etc). She was lifting (at the apartment gym) for a little while but we have been trying to conceive so she has basically just been doing cardio (although I may tell her to add in resistance training again). Would this be recommended for a female just wanting to lose weight? (not looking for definition)

I am almost done with school (I workout on my lunch breaks and go to school at night)...once I am, she will join the gym with me. Until then, what do you recommend? Should she add in resistance training and if so, heavy, moderate or light (keep in mind, she isnt going to move to squats, deads and all of that now, that will come later with me). As far as her diet, she is only eating around 1000 calories a day (and she does 3-4 days of cardio)...so Im thinking she is stuck from not eating enough, but I could be off (not sure when it comes to females).

Her diet is breakfast bars for breakfast, 100 calories chip packs or almonds for snacks, lean cuisines for lunch and chicken salad or lean cuisines for dinner. I know this isnt the greatest and not 'clean' but Im trying to get her to add some fruit and eat more whole foods (any suggestions without going too deep into clean eating). Also, where should her calories be, ie over 1000 or closer to 1300-1400? Again remember, Im trying slowly to get her into the healthy lifestyle but cant drop everything on her at one time. Any advice is appreciated.

Lisa~ · 09-19-2006, 04:47 PM

Definitely encourage her to start lifting. She can do mostly bodyweight stuff, and then use the BowFlex for rows and pulldowns or other back work that's hard to get bodyweight. So she can do pushups (or inclined pushups), Bulgarian squats (start with bodyweight, add db's as needed), and King deads and other single-leg stuff. If she likes that idea, we can get more specific.

She's could probably eat more calories. I think you're on the right track with 1300 to even 1500, but that's a land mine. Just encourage the fruits, veggies and lean meat. If you really want to support her, cook dinner.

But the three critical elements for weight loss are 1) good nutrition, 2) lifting to maintain muscle, and 3) energy system work.

Remind her that she does not want to lose the muscle that helps her look firm. Lifting will prevent muscle loss. If she's already doing cardio, encourage her to mix it up with HIIT style sessions, which have been shown to produce the most fat loss.

gobbla · 09-19-2006, 04:51 PM

over on the right hand side of the main page you'll see berardi's new book "the metabolic advantage". it's pretty handy at breaking things down and giving reasons\easy to follow guidlines on what you should be doing. bottom line is "make a special effort to be active" and "eat better".

active. you want to improve health and energy? do something more than yesterday. whether it's walking, biking, swimming, who cares...the idea is to make a choice "I'm going to get off my ass and do something to physically better myself today." You can strength train easily enough w\ body weight if she wants to do that. Truth be told that'd probibly be a pretty decent place to start in the strength training world.

eat better - divide your calories between meals. lean protein every meal. vegis every meal. fuit, freaking eat it. IF the calories are coming from good sources, more will likely do less harm in the long term than less. Worse case she speeds up her metabolism and gains a lbs or two. If she doesn't eat enough, she slows her metabolism down, increases her chance of injury (and bitchyness), and will get fatter easier when she starts to eat normally again.

something that she might find helpful is to set a tangible goal. "I want to run in X 5k on Nov 16th" "I want to pull an airplane 100yds." whatever, it's her fantasy. That way when "why am I doing this" comes up, it's not a struggle to come up with an answer.

remove the ass from the seat...eat better.

*edit* lisa's a faster typer than me, and gives better advice!

Lisa~ · 09-19-2006, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gobbla

*edit* lisa's a faster typer than me, and gives better advice!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Fast typing is a skill, oh yeah. :p

raymond3 · 09-19-2006, 05:35 PM

Damn, you guys (and girls) are fast. Thanks for the replies. We started walking at night when I dont have school and she does her workout before that (when she gets home). Like I said, she isnt big into lifting but will do it. So Lisa, with this said, she would still benefit from doing bodyweight exercises and some back work on the machine say 2-3 times a week (even if she doesnt want to get bigger/musclar)? I know this is the case for men, but want to be sure for women. And for the bodyweight exercises, say 3-4 sets of 12-15 or until close to failure?

Also for diet, eating lean protein would be good for her as well (considering her goals)? Oh and cooking dinner is no problem...she actually cooks my weekly meals for me on Sundays...so basically she should probably start cooking for herself and ditch the bars and lean cuisines (Im guessing). Is it pretty much the same for women not lifting alot, ie higher protein, lower carbs at night and some healthy fats, etc?

Thanks for the quick replies.

Gobbla- thanks for the metabolism/eating advice.

Lisa~ · 09-19-2006, 05:46 PM

Yes, same for women as for men. You've got the diet down, lean protein with every meal, fruit, veggies. Giving up the bars will help a whole lot, but I know they are convenient.

She won't be able to gain a lot of muscle. Women do not have the levels of testosterone that men do, so muscle gain is very difficult for them. Does she know of ANY woman who started lifting weight and got huge? What lifting will do for her is maintain the firm muscle mass she already has. If you diet without lifting, then you lose muscle and fat, so you become thinner, but flabbier (they call that skinny-fat). As she loses fat, she will want to be firm underneath, right? That's the muscle. It's what gives a woman curves, firm curves. You need the muscle, for looks and to maintain metabolism.

So my answer is yes, she would benefit from lifting, absolutely. How often will depend on where her starting strength is. Begin with twice a week, if that is doable, up it to three times a week. Hopefully she'll think it's fun. The sets and reps might vary depending on the difficulty of the exercise. Put together a program you think she might be willing to do and we'll take a look at it.

Lisa~ · 09-19-2006, 05:51 PM

Read this. She might not be ready for this article yet, but you should read it so you know how to help her. Start her from where she is and take her toward the goal of lifting and eating clean, just like you do.

Lean, Sexy, and Hard - Part 1
Lean, Sexy, and Hard - Part 2

raymond3 · 09-19-2006, 06:56 PM

Lisa- thanks..youve been a big help. I am going to have my wife read this thread now.

Ironically, Ive left those same links by Joel to other females asking questions before...eventually I am going to get her to do the squats and deads, just not yet. Thanks again for all of your advice, much appreciated.

Lisa~ · 09-19-2006, 07:00 PM

How about bodyweight squats and single-leg bent-knee deads like the King dead. She can start there without complaint. Bulgarian split squats too. For upper body, pushups and rowing on the Bowflex, something overhead, either dumbbells or use the BowFlex again. That's a whole body workout.

She might feel more comfortable with some of Craig Ballantyne's programs, like Turbulence Training for Women. See his subforum for links to that program. But whatever she chooses, she needs to be lifting for sure.