I'm new here. I am 28 yrs old, almost 5'7", 130 lbs. I work out anywhere from 3 -4 days a week and it includes strength training and cardio. My problem is I have a great, well scuplted upper body and abs, but my lower body is fatty, even though I do strength training on it. I know I have to lose more fat but I feel like I am working like a dog already. I have cut certain things out of my diet but I must admit I do cheat. I cannot afford those packaged diet plans or weight watchers. I can feel the muscle underneath the extra layer of fat. My upper body is sculpted but this has always been the case. I am a pear! I look good in clothes but yucky without LOL. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

What kind of stuff are you doing for your lower body? Personally, I do a lot of lunges and the butt lifts (bridges?). I also hop on the stair machine to give my lower body a good work out, not the stairmaster but the one where the stairs actually come down like an escalator.

I'm with you though I think we just need to lose more fat so that the muscle will actually show. My problem areas are butt and thighs, I really have to work at it so they look firm...

Do you know your body fat %? Also, what is your exact routine and menu like? I'm sure you already know that we cannot spot reduce. So we have to lower overall body fat. But you seem slim as it is.

I would definitely take a closer look at your menu and lower body routine/intensity. I have a feeling the cardio could be sabotaging you a bit here.

Post more info and I might be able to help a bit more. Hopefully some others will jump in with thoughts.

This sounds just like me.

I am really curious, Trainer Lynn, about the comment on cardio sabotaging her efforts. Can you explain how this would work?

Often times women believe cardio is the answer to fat loss. And it can certainly help if used properly. Often it is not.

Too much cardio and not enough calories equals a slower metabolism and stored fat. The basic cycle goes something like this...

- We want to lose fat
- We eat less calories (1200 is a popular number)
- We start getting serious with cardio (an hour or so a day)
- We start to lose weight on the scale
- We get happy and pat ourselves on the back
- We ease up on the cardio and start to actually eat again
- We gain weight on the scale
- We freak out and start the process over

This is called yo-yo dieting and it always ends badly. What happens when we have too much cardio and not enough calories or fuel is that we go through a process called gluconeogenesis. That means taking protein (or muscle) and breaking it down into glucose for fuel.

In other words we eat our muscle and store the fat. Many people think that when we eat less and workout we burn fat. After all the scale went down... right?

The scale may have gone down, but in most cases you simply lost water and muscle. You actually stored fat. Then when you ease up on the cardio and eat normally again... you gain all that fat back. So now you weigh more and you sent your metabolism out of whack.

Whew Lesson here is to eat well and often. Also eat according to your goals and current situation. Many people find out how many calories they need per day and then never think to adjust it as they lose weight.

Hope that helps a bit. Side note- too much of anything and not enough cardio is bad. But more than likely women go too hard on cardio as opposed to strength training. They tend to go light on weights and hardcore on cardio. Not a good idea.

Thanks for the follow-up. I'm trying to figure out my weight loss/fitness goals and the best way to reach them, and this really helps.

What you describe is actually just what I've experienced. I started Weight Watchers to lose about 10 lbs, lost most of it and realized I really needed to start exercising. Started exercising (trying to get a good balance of cardio and strength training - I'm just doing exercise videos at home due to time/$ restraints keeping from going to a gym) and realized Weight Watchers was not going to be enough food if I was working out regularly. So I decided to let myself eat more but still healthy. So, that's been about a week and a half now and I've already seen a couple of pounds come back on. But I'm trying not too pay too much attention to the scale. I wasn't exercising at all a few months ago and now I'm working out about 5 days a week and watching what I eat, so I must be moving in the right direction even if the scale isn't reflecting it, right?!

Anyway, thanks for your feedback. Before I started reading about exercise, I figured all I had to do was start doing any kind of exercise and I'd be all set. But I'm quickly realizing that it's a lot more complicated than that! I try to remind myself that I'm a beginner and to just take it slow and I'll figure out the best system for me eventually!

Thanks!

I think in the beginning this is true, any kind of excercise is good and you will lose some weight, the more you work out though the more you'll see that it's an ever changing process. Good luck!

thanks for explaining that ive always wondered what it was that did it. not that ive done that myself, but ive always known that your body goes into some kind of "emergency state" where it will store anything you eat if you do to much cardio..

So, if I do cardio about 5 times a week and some kind of strength training so that I hit each area 3-4 times a week, is that a good balance? And the cardio is mainly aerobics but varies between longer low-impact, shorter high impact, and some where I switch back and forth between cardio and toning (is that called circuit?). The strength training includes lifting free weights at home, doing Pilates, and doing squats, lunges, sit-ups, all that kind of stuff.

It's all done with videos and I vary them a lot, so there's not a set routine.

Thanks!

Hitting one muscle 3-4 times a week is too much. I am not a fan of videos or classes because most of the time they focus on cardio more than weights. But they use weights... but not heavy or effective ones. This leaves a gray area because if you work the muscles one day... they should rest the next.

But with cardio classes (most anyway) or videos...you do not lift heavy enough weights to actually add some nice lean toned muscle (which helps reduce fat).

But if you prefer classes or videos then do it. It's better than nothing. Here are my 5 tips to fat loss. They may help you.

1) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Each meal should be 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should contain one protein and one carb. The first meal should be eaten within an hour after waking.


2) Drink a cup of water at each meal.


3) Rest properly. This means taking at least 48 hours between strength training the same muscles, and it also means getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Lastly, it means taking 1-2 days off from exercising per week.


4) Cardio. This should be done at different intensity levels and different session lengths. Consider doing a low intensity/long session, a high intensity/short session and a few medium intensity/medium length sessions.


5) Strength Training. Strength train each muscle 1-3 times per week. You should lift a proper weight and perform the proper amount of sets/reps for your strength training method. If you need more guidance or exercise ideas you can head over here.


All of the above things combined will result in fat loss.

sounds kind of like the program I've been using called PUSH...has both the strength training and cardio elements what is your video called?

I've just been rotating through a lot of different videos with different focuses. I get bored really quickly, so I tend to check them out of the library for a week or two and then switch after I can't renew them again.

I haven't heard of PUSH - I'll have to look into it.

It's an interesting type of workout...I actually posted about it in another thread...you can customize your own cardio and strength training sessions...here's the website if you're interested in finding out more - http://www.push.tv I like it.

I'd be interested to hear which videos you like the best...it's hard to tell which ones are good or bad by the packaging alone.