4 Months to Bikini!!

Girrrrseach

Hey all,

4 months until I hit an African Beach... Can anybody suggest any kind of gradual weight loss plan? Im currently 10.5 stone, and 5'10 and a bit in height. Not overweight, but do have some places I am unhappy with....

Have a good bit of time to get my body toned up, and I have gym membership.

Thanks for any tips!!!

FunkZ

Lift weights, good diet and maybe cardio such as High Interval Intensity Training?

Girrrrseach

Mmm.... Yeah. Areas I want to target are my arms and thighs... Getting started early!

rubadub

Heavy weights will get you toned, do not bother with the pink dumb-bells. Squats, deadlifts, pushups, standing military press, and if you can manage any try chinups, pullups, dips. Lifting weights speeds up your metabolism as you build new muscle and maintain it, it is great for losing fat. Any women you see who are "toned" are nearly all that way from lifting heavy wieghts, "toned" is a combination of muscle and low bodyfat.

Check out www.exrx.net

And dont worry -you will not end up like a female bodybuilder! takes more than 4months, and enough steroids to kill a herd of hippos.

FunkZ

rubadub wrote: »

enough steroids to kill a herd of hippos.

Ha ha quality man!

Girrrrseach wrote: »

Mmm.... Yeah. Areas I want to target are my arms and thighs... Getting started early!

There's no such thing as spot reduction when it comes to fat loss, you'll have to lose it all over to lose it in the places you want to! Best of luck.

:cool:

aye

rubadub wrote: »

Heavy weights will get you toned, do not bother with the pink dumb-bells. Squats, deadlifts, pushups, standing military press, and if you can manage any try chinups, pullups, dips. Lifting weights speeds up your metabolism as you build new muscle and maintain it, it is great for losing fat. Any women you see who are "toned" are nearly all that way from lifting heavy wieghts, "toned" is a combination of muscle and low bodyfat.

true but you are looking to hit 12 to 15 reps here, not 6.
and 3 sets, so while the weights should be difficult you arent doing strength building, its a body composition change you want.
i completely agree you should be doing wieghts and ones that challenge you within the correct rep range.
also make sure they arent too heavy that you compromise form when lifting.

interval training is a great aerobic/anaerobic way to speed up metabolism and burn fat.

as regards to diet, doing weights and interval training will build muscle. muscle requires more calories than fat.
i would never advise someone to go on a calorie deficient diet, just try to replace calorie high foods with fruit, chicken, tuna, etc.

rubadub

aye wrote: »

true but you are looking to hit 12 to 15 reps here, not 6.

Yep, more than 6. 8-12 is usually recommended for hypertrophy (muscle growth) I dunno where you got 6 from? I never actually mentioned reps, nobody did

www.exrx.net is a good place to start reading up on reps & sets etc.

aye

rubadub wrote: »

Yep, more than 6. 8-12 is usually recommended for hypertrophy (muscle growth) I dunno where you got 6 from? I never actually mentioned reps, nobody did

www.exrx.net is a good place to start reading up on reps & sets etc.

6 is a number that people usually associate with heavy weights, i just didnt want the OP getting the idea that she should lift too heavy that was all.

BossArky

Girrrrseach wrote: »

4 months until I hit an African Beach

Thanks for any tips!!!

Off topic...and only applicable for Kenya.

Whereabouts are you going? I was in Mombasa, Kenya last year and would not recommend the beaches. Too much hassle from locals looking for spare pairs of underwear and socks from tourists. I'd recommend you rethink your itinerary and spend more time on safari.

qwertz

How about some lunchtime lipo?

g'em

qwertz wrote: »

How about some lunchtime lipo?

How about you stop trolling?

qwertz

My comment was meant seriously.

g'em

It was neither constructive nor helpful and probably more apt for the Fashion & Appearance forum.

Unless you have something genuinely Fitness related for the OP, don't post again.

Girrrrseach

BossArky wrote: »

Off topic...and only applicable for Kenya.

Whereabouts are you going? I was in Mombasa, Kenya last year and would not recommend the beaches. Too much hassle from locals looking for spare pairs of underwear and socks from tourists. I'd recommend you rethink your itinerary and spend more time on safari.

Lol. I know what you mean. Morocco or Egypt...

Thanks for the comments. Lipo, eh no!! As I said, its more an upping of my fitness, and an all over weight loss that I am looking for. Comments have been helpful so far, thanks!!

rubadub

aye wrote: »

6 is a number that people usually associate with heavy weights, i just didnt want the OP getting the idea that she should lift too heavy that was all.

Right, I similarly didn't want the OP getting the idea she should lift too light! was just warning that the pink dumbbells are not going to do any "toning" whatsoever. 6 reps will tone more than 20-30reps which I reckon most women will tend to go for, and even after 20-30 the weights are so light they could probably go on all day. 8-12 is usually the recommended amount for max muscle growth.

Caychadh

How much should dumbbells weigh for an average pretty unfit girl to build up arm muscle? (I know there's probably no set weight of course, but a general guide would help as I'm pretty dense about weights!) Not that I'll get any; they'd all be too heavy to carry out of the shop.

rubadub

Caychadh wrote: »

How much should dumbbells weigh for an average pretty unfit girl to build up arm muscle? (I know there's probably no set weight of course, but a general guide would help as I'm pretty dense about weights!) Not that I'll get any; they'd all be too heavy to carry out of the shop.

This is crossfits "standards", weights are in lbs and are all very high IMO. Their idea of "untrained" is definitely not the average person off the street, I would be interested in a similar guide of what average people can lift.


http://www.crossfit.com/cf-journal/WLSTANDARDS.pdf

As for buying weights, you can get this irish place to deliver cheaply.

http://irish-lifting.com/product_info_equipment.php?cPath=1_15&products_id=260

You can just start with bodyweight exercises though, pushups and squats etc.

http://www.simplefit.org/