Some advice for me if you don't mind...

[TM08]

Your Age: 27
Your Fitness Goal: To shed a few pounds, get fit, build muscle, see defintion, change overall shape
Your Current Routine/training experience: cardio and some dumbbell/stability ball training for right now till I can get some good advice on lifting
Your Current Diet: 5-6 meals per day..
Breakfast: egg whites, wheat toast, 1 cup of fruit, 1 cup skim milk(this varies day to day)
snack: fruit or veggies
lunch: (varies) today Im having a turkey breast sandwich on rye bread with spinach and light mustard, some type of veggie
snack:fruit or yogurt
dinner: 3 oz fish, 1 cup brown rice, and 1 cup veggies (varies)
sometimes a light snack..
I also will be adding a protein shake in there once or twice a day depending on what type I decide to go with

Measurements: waist: 30in Hips: 40.5in 154 pounds

Ok little background on me.. I was heavy most of my life.. Id say from the age of 18 I was always well over 175-180 pounds(5'6).. By the time I was 21 years old I weighed 250 pounds(had a child).. I would always yo yo going up and down between that and 200 pounds. Jan of 06 I had my second child and weighed in around 235 pounds. I finally saw myself.. Saw that I was too heavy and had finally had enough.. I needed to do something for myself.. Needed to get that weight off and feel better.. Jan 07-Jan 08 I went from 235 to 147 was doing a lot of cardio and some strength training.. The workout I was doing for the first 6 months was curves circuit training the last 6 months I was using a stability ball and dumbbells. I was toning up slightly but, not enough to my liking I was still jiggly.. Not sure if that was the fact that I wasn't eating right(eating enough I mean) or the fact that maybe I had some excess skin or maybe I was doing too much cardio and not enough with weights.. Anyways, stuff at home happened, starting working a lot, gained back 13 pounds and stopped working out for a while.. Now Im back.. I was discussing this with my husband.. He said weight lifting would help me out dramatically(he said that would also give me faster results than what I was doing) he also suggested that I take protein supplements to help out my results with the rest of the weight I want to get back off and help with my muscle building. He suggested Pro-NoS.. I will admit I am one of the females who was always paranoid thinking that if I lifted weights I would get big like a man which isnt what I wanted which is why I never have until now. Ive decided to help me get the results I want weight lifting would help me out so much. I want to massively tone up and be able to see definition. Now I dont want to look ripped(which apparently wont happen without taking testosterone).. Just look fit and be able to see that without all of the jiggly fat on top of it.. When I was working out previously my body fat percentage was around 25% not sure what it is now but, I plan on finding out before I start lifting weights to see how much it drops down.. I would like to get down to 145 pounds and have a lower body fat percentage than what I did at 25%
So if anyone could give me any advice as in what type of exercises to do, how much weight I should be using, how many reps, and whether or not the Pro-NoS will help me at all.. Feel free to give as much advice as you can.

*edited to add* I work a full time job, have two kids, and only have 3 days a week to really go to the gym and lift and do some cardio, I can do more cardio at home I have some dvd's etc..

[bbaker352]

Welcome to the forum. You CAN get ripped without the aid of hormone or test boosters... but with strict diet and routine. Congrats on the great job done so far (from where you were to where you are). Your diet doesnt look that bad. Ensure you get some carbs and fats in prior to workout (about 1 1/2 hours before). I always suggest ON Whey protein (due to low carb and good aminos). Take post workout with water (the sooner post workout, the better).
Take a look at this workout from this site. See if it catches your eye.
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/art...g-routine.html

[TM08]

what types of carbs and fats? lol typical female mentality we see fats and carbs and automatically think bad bad bad.. Thats probably another one of my problems.. I wasnt eating enough of either previously.. Ill take a look at that link right now

Oh and one more question how many grams of protein should I be getting a day thats partly another reason why i want to start doing protein shakes.. I know that Im probably not reaching my # of grams per day. What should my calorie intake be per day since I want to drop about 9 pounds and a lot of body fat?

[Possum]

Originally Posted by TM08

what types of carbs and fats? lol typical female mentality we see fats and carbs and automatically think bad bad bad.. Thats probably another one of my problems.. I wasnt eating enough of either previously.. Ill take a look at that link right now

Oh and one more question how many grams of protein should I be getting a day thats partly another reason why i want to start doing protein shakes.. I know that Im probably not reaching my # of grams per day.

Carbs come in ranges of how quickly they are digested, the quicker they are digested the more likely they will be turned into fat.

Generall speaking Oats, brown bread, brown rice, brown pasta, are complex and take a long time to digest and so provide a slow stream of energy for your body.

sugars are bad simple carbs.

On the fat side everyone needs fat to live healthily, Avoid trans fats, these will be called "hydrogenated" in the nutrition information on the food packet. Also try to get in as much EFA's (Essential fatty acids) as you can. these are found in oily fish, many vegetables etc.

Alternatively you can supplement with fish oil, cod liver oil (Very high in vitamin A so dont take if you want to get pregnant again) or Udo's oil.

A high complex carb and protien breakfast will help you stave off hunger and those sweet tooth cravings. Protien is also great for this and id reccomend you get a protien shake. Aim for just under 1 gram of protien per lb of bodyweight. Itll seem alot but its a great hunger buster.