HGH Forum: ALL About Anti aging!

I'm 5'4" and 149 lbs. I want to lose 10-15 lbs in the next 3 months. My diet is good (no fast food, lots of water, etc.) But just for a guideline, about how many calories should I be getting per day to reach this goal?

Exercise is the main part I need help with. I can't get a gym membership right now, or buy any expensive equipment, so that's not an option. So basically I have running, basketball, biking, jump roping, and other stuff like that available. How much of each of those specific activates should I do to burn a good amount of fat each day?

The belly is unfortunately the last to go. You must get your heart going for 1 hour through running for example and then work your abs out. you should probably run at least 4 times a week. If you think that this is too much workout then you might work on your diet as well. Stay away from potatoes breads and pastas and eat more vegies and lean meats. Also don't drink too much fruit juices they are full of sugars but you may eat whole fruits just avoid all sweet juices even Orange juice. The hardest part about getting the six pack abs is realizing that not everyone can get them sometimes because the skin in the stomach is stretched from fat it becomes saggy when you lose it and only plastic surgery can fix that problem.

If you are getting about one hour a day of the activities you described, you should be able to lose weight at a good pace by cutting 500 calories a day. So that would be around 1600-1700 calories a day you should be eating. Fill up on fiber and vegetables and sneak in physical activity wherever possible.

I wish I could eat as much as a guy...I'm so short I need to keep it under 1400 calories a day...and that only keeps me at about 20lbs overweight! If I eat any more i gain and gain and gain until it's just disgusting!

If you wanted to maintain your weight, depending on your level of activity, you would need 1,850 to 2,050 calories per day. If you wanted to lose a pound in a week, you would need to cut back 500 calories per day. I don’t recommend this; you need calories for energy, and you’re eating good food. I suggest staying around 1,850 to 1,900 calories and increasing your cardiovascular each day: jog, run, bike, swim, whatever you prefer. It’ll take the full three months, but the results will be spectacular.

If you want to take it off and keep it off, you’ll need to train yourself to eat differently. You may already be eating good food, but something is causing those extra pounds. Try to cut back to about 1,800 calories per day, and make sure that the food you eat is high in fiber and low in fat. Remember that not all calories are created equal, and fiber and protein will actually help you lose weight!

You should also remember that BMI charts and the weight you "should be" for your height don't really work for everyone. People have different amounts of muscle, and even different bone densities (I don't think there are any commercial scales right now that measure bone density.)

Prime example:

I know a woman who was diagnosed with very porous bones at an early age and is at risk for certain medical conditions because of it. Anyway, this means that her skeleton weighs less than the skeleton of an average woman of her height. All of the weight charts that tell you how much you "should" weigh are based on average weights of organs, skeletons, muscles, etc for someone of your gender and height. Since her skeleton weighs less, this woman could be a "healthy" weight for her height, but actually be carrying around an unhealthy amount of fat (the fat would just be making up the difference in weight that you'd expect from a "normal" skeleton.)

This could work the other way, too. Someone with dense bones might weight more than another person of his/her height, even without carrying any unhealthy extra fat. If there aren't any obvious deposits of fat on a person's body, and that person exercises and eats well, he might not need to drop any weight, no matter what the scale says!

Moral of the story is: don't rely on numbers and averages.

Who needs a gym membership? There are lots of ways to move your body without spending money on a membership, and most of them are a lot more fun! It would be great if we could all dedicated an hour a day to fitness related activities, but it’s really hard. You could try to break it up, like a 30-minute job before breakfast and a pick-up basketball game in the evening. A half hour a day will burn off 400-500 calories, but I remember that exercising regularly also changes the way you burn calories at rest. The residual effects of exercising regularly add up to burning more calories all day long.

The exercises you named are all great cardio exercises. They burn calories and help strengthen your body. The key to knowing you are exercising effectively is this: if your chosen activity is makes you breathe heavily, and it becomes difficult to hold a conversation, you are burning calories. Generally, 30 to 45 minutes of any of these exercises will burn from 350 to 500 calories. The nice thing about playing basketball or biking, or other activities like these, is that they are fun, and you will probably find yourself doing them for longer periods of time. This is a huge plus over joining a gym.

Jumping rope burns a ton of calories. The only drawback is that is can be hard on the knees, and the heavier you are, the harder it will be on those joints. Try jumping rope on grass instead of a hard surface (check to make sure the ground is level first and free of rocks so you don't turn an ankle.)