Anyone willing to help with a personal advice/plan on a healthy and nice weight loss and body improvement :D?

[Laura2410]

I need someone to help me through it , and if not , maybe some advice you could give me? :) Thank you all in advance
So specifics:
-I am 5'4
-I weigh 174 lbs at the moment
- pretty busy schedule with med school (I'll explain more in a private message)
-I tend to obsess with the scale and my motivation becomes low when the results are small or not at all in a day (I know, bad thing)
Ideally I want to drop 40 pounds, but I would like to make more acheivable goals in time , like "get to 170" then 165 and so on.

[KaidenKass00]

Diet tops the list. Eliminate things like soda, salty snacks and desserts during your weight loss regiment. For some people, ditching soda is huge because they drink a ton of it and don't realize just how much sugar and how many calories they're ingesting on a daily basis. I would also recommend avoiding fried foods and most red meat during the process; stick to smaller portions of healthier food and yes, you do have to start reading labels.

Exercise is a close second. If you can't find time to move around and burn calories, losing weight becomes a slow and tedious process. The more you can move, the faster this will happen. It doesn't have to be anything ridiculous, either; just 20 minutes a day of cardio will do it and feel free to pick your routine; all that matters is you get your heart rate up.

Ironically, I had the same goal as you: Drop 40 pounds. And I did. Well, 45, actually, and it only took about four and a half months. On days I didn't work out, I stuck to 1200 calories; on days I did cardio, I was between 1500 and 1700. And all soda, fried foods, dessert items, and most red meat and salty snacks were gone. Oh, and no more snacking just before bed; it's the WORST thing you can do.

Hope this helps! :)

[Laura2410]

Thank you very much :)
4 months would actually be great!
I am not a big fan of soda at all, only drink it on occasions, so the water part is secured haha
My schedule is weird and 3 days out of 5 I come home at 8 pm. Should I pack a "meal" and eat while at classes and when I gget home to maybe grab a fruit, so that I would be avoiding snacking before bed?

I would say for the exercising part, I walk quite enough, but I will try to fit in at least half and hour of cardio each day :)
My biggest problem is my motivation. And if I hit a plateau on the scale , I become sad. I know people sometimes drop a lot of inches from their body and less on the scale, it's just I got used to low number meaning a good thing, which isn't necessarily true.

[KaidenKass00]

Bear in mind I'm not saying it'll happen in 4 months; it's different for everyone and women, unfortunately for you, naturally have more fat on their bodies. But if you stick to it, I don't imagine it'd be much longer than 6 months.

One of the most effective things I did was to replace a meal with a bar. A meal replacement bar, in fact; I love the Pro Bars. They're like four bucks apiece but there's a reason... they give you a lot of what your body needs and come in at under 400 calories, and they'll stop you from feeling hungry for a while. Just make sure to keep the breakfast light (fruit, nuts, absolutely no pastries) and have a sensible dinner and you'll be fine.

As for the motivation part, avoid the scale. Just leave it alone for the first few weeks, maybe even the first month. Your imagination will try telling you you haven't lost enough (because it won't be immediately visible), so you'll try even harder. That's how it worked for me, at any rate. :)

[Laura2410]

Thank you :)
I'm not worried about the months part, I've done it before (Not as much, more like 25 lbs). Even if it takes a bit more than 4 months, I don't care. I just wanna get in shape and be more healthy :)

Luckily I don't have a scale in my room in the city I'm studying in, so I will be able to weigh myself once every week or two or more, depending when I go back home haha

Also, do you recommend any exercises to help burn the fat from lower abs and thighs? Those are mostly my trouble areas, because I am a bit pear-shaped, my waist is thinner.. I know it's harder to drop from the legs

[KaidenKass00]

That's a common trouble spot for women. I honestly don't know which particular exercises would be better for those areas, but I can tell you that if you're losing weight, it will all get smaller. It's pretty much impossible to drop fat and have a few parts of your body remain unchanged. ;)

I favor full-body workouts, anyway. I row, for instance, which is extremely low-impact so it saves your joints, and works the hell out of both your lower and upper body. And if you use it for both marathon-type workouts (endurance) and sprints, your heart will be awfully happy. It's a tougher workout for women due to the upper body requirement, but you might like it. But really, any machine that makes you sweat will work.

[Laura2410]

thank you :) Should I also switch it up often? So that my body doesn't get used to certain workouts?

[KaidenKass00]

That doesn't really matter with full-body workouts but yes, if you're doing exercises that target specific parts of your body, you should mix them up.

And don't forget that it'll get easier as you go. Severely overweight people can't move much, which makes losing the weight doubly difficult. While on the flip side, people who are in shape can lose weight much more easily because they can burn a lot of calories at once. Plus, the more you do, the more you can eat. ;) Just avoid the stuff that really isn't food..."fast food" tops the list.

[aficionado]

I reduced my weight from 79kgs to 61 kgs in a year, and also lost 4 inches around my waist (34 to 30). I can certainly help you out! :)

[Laura2410]

thank you, I managed to create a plan
Any advice on eating habits and also motivation?

[Anonymous]

10 seconds of planking a day (add 10 seconds each day)
10 sit ups (add 10 sits up each day)
Try going to the store and splurging on a very cute shirt/pant, that you can't fit in to now but you want to be able to fit in to. Hopefully it'll give you the motivation to be able to wear it some day.

[RJGraveyTrain]

www.girlsaskguys.com/.../a11578-the-real-no-gimmick-secret-to-losing-weight-getting-fit-being

I wrote a whole take on it and write many on the subject. It's more informative than a 2,500 word answer that I could give you.

[maria96]

Check the fitness part 😊
www.girlsaskguys.com/.../a24421-how-to-be-gorgeous-like-maria
Hmu if you need more details!!

[apple24]

I too need to lose 40! If you need a motivater than make a fitnesspal app and sign me in with you!

[ShepherdOfFire99]

I can help you!!! 40+ lbs is cake ;)
Message me!