Newbie Questions (Women lifting weights, iifym, PTs) - long post.

Circles24

Right, here it goes
I'm a woman, 24, I'm 5ft6, 9 stone, so don't need to lose weight, just fat. I've lost a stone and a half in the last year by reducing my calorie intake.

My problem is that I'm skinny fat. I joined a gym recently but I'm just not seeing my "Belly fat" budge. I was counting my calories on my fitness pal for a few months but my weight wasn't going any lower than a couple of pounds and honestly for the sake of a couple of pounds it wasn't sustainable and I'd rather have the extra calories. I got frustrated and stopped going to the gym but obviously not having the body that I want is still going to bother and upset me.

I began doing some research and looking up some nutrition and fitness websites and I began to have more of an insight into maybe why I wasn't losing the “belly pouch".

Thing is, I lost weight counting my calories and yes I was eating 1200-1500 calories (as recommended by mfp) and yes as my body was burning more than I was eating hence I lost weight but I wasn't eating healthy foods. I logged back into my mfp account (after about 2 months of giving up on it) and realised that 70-80% of an average days food would consist of carbs and hardly any protein or healthy fats.

Then I realised the hours I spent in the gym trying and failing to get a "summer body" were never going to be beneficial as the "workouts" which would leave me sweating like a pig weren't going to "tone" me up as I had hoped and didn’t justify eating a large bar of chocolate because of “Calories earned”.

Upon my online research, I found that a lot of women whose bodies I would be envious of lifted weights and did minimal cardio. I gathered that these women whose blogs I had stumbled upon had previously been "cardio bunnies" (which I guess you could have called me) and had turned to weight lifting.
Also a lot of them follow the "iifym" way of eating and honestly it seems to be a lot healthier than my "eating cereal, toast and chocolate but in small quantities and not having proper dinners" way of eating.

But I just don't know where to start. I rejoined the gym and they have me on a plan using the weight machines. I'm so weak that I can only do like 25lbs on the chest press machines so it seems impossible for me to even think of doing these crazy lifts like "deadlifts" and that.


I just want some of you seemingly knowledgable folks to answer a few questions.

1. Would it be worthwhile getting a personal trainer? And for how long and often would I need to see them?

The staff in the gym I'm in are nice and they gave me the aforementioned plan above included with the membership but they only have 2 pt and their rates seem ridiculous (something like €80 an hour) now I don't know if that's average but would it be possible to go somewhere cheaper (maybe another gym or studio) once a week with a pt work on a plan and do the plan they give me in my own gym the other 4/5 days? Or is that ridiculous? How much would the average pt cost?
I feel I need one even just a one off session to show me how to do these “lifts” and the correct form.

2. What are people's thoughts on iifym?

I feel like I'm more inclined to stick to something that doesn't limit my food options and treat foods as "good and bad" but rather on their nutritional value while allowing me to have treats" and I don't mind weighing foods out or tracking them as I've done it religiously before with mfp (never bothering to look at the macros though)


3. Money, Money, Money or lack of.
Obviously I know that a lot of hard work and possibly a lot of money will have to be put in so any tips on where to buy healthy and cheap food or find a reasonably priced pt around the north Dublin area will be appreciated. But I know that I have the determination and commitment needed.


Thanks for reading that essay!
Any advice will be much appreciated
Hell, any response would be appreciated if you've read through all that non sense/

Cheers.

Mr. CooL ICE

Free weights are better than weight machines for the majority of what you need to do. The problem with free weights is that you could break yourself if you don't know what you are doing, whereas weight machines are like riding a bike with stabilisers.

That is where a PT comes in. It is 100% worth it to invest in the cost of a few PT sessions to get you started so you can learn to lift weights properly and avoid injury. Any PT worth their salt will ensure your technique and form is right. Once your form is right, the strength will come, so 'mad stuff' like deadlifts won't seem so intimidating.

€80 per session might seem like a lot to some, but €80 for someone who knows their stuff, is genuinely interested in making you stronger and healthier (and if all goes well, adding you to a 'portfolio') is gonna be more beneficial to you than someone who charges €25 and hands out the same program to everybody.

As for IIFYM, I don't have an opinion cos I've never been ocncerned about my weight, despite my current diet being vaguely like IIFYM. All I do is make sure I eat plenty of protein and veg every day while keeping the sugar levels down.

Alf Veedersane

Circles24 wrote: »

What are people's thoughts on iifym?

I feel like I'm more inclined to stick to something that doesn't limit my food options and treat foods as "good and bad" but rather on their nutritional value while allowing me to have treats" and I don't mind weighing foods out or tracking them as I've done it religiously before with mfp (never bothering to look at the macros though).

It will work if you're getting it right in terms of calories and macros and getting 80-90% good food into you. Do that and treats can still be had.

There is no problem with treats once the majority of what you eat is decent food.

cloudatlas

What about joining a crossfit? Although I had my doubts at the beginning I have found it really beneficial and have seen the results of people around me. Some boxes do good beginner programmes (mine didn't offer this hence the doubts at the start). Going to classes is a good way of staying motivated and getting fit fast.

cmyk

Circles24 wrote: »

I feel I need one even just a one off session to show me how to do these “lifts” and the correct form.

That sounds like it could be a good option. Learn the lifts, get your nutrition basics down and progress from there...a good trainer could possibly help you wasting a few more months of frustration.

Books and this forum are a good start though if money is an issue. I believe (I don't have it myself) Alwyn Cosgrove's new rules of lifting series is quite good, you could use something like that for your programming and a PT session to teach you proper technique.

As for nutrition you're probably on the right lines with iifym, as long as..

1. You set it up correctly (people can help here with that.)
2. You eat mostly whole foods and not use it to fill with crap food/drink
3. You don't get too neurotic about the whole thing

If it's all too complicated, I've simplified things here. : )

Zillah

I love your story about doing it all wrong and realising that the women with the bodies you wanted were doing weights. I've pulled my hair out with some women I know who want bodies like that but just will not believe me that they should be doing weights.

Getting one or two sessions with a personal trainer so that they can show you a free weights program is a good idea (the weights go all the way down to 1 or 2 KG so just start as light as you need to and scale up from there). Once you know what you're doing you can then go off and do it on your own for a few months, and then maybe have one more session to have them see how you're doing and give a new program moving forward. I'm also sure you can get a PT for less than 80 quid per hour.

However, you've already shown that you've got decent research skills, and 100% of what you need to know is available for free online. Youtube has a massive collection of demonstrations for exactly how to do different exercises, what the usual pitfalls are, etc. Don't be scared of the big lifts. You can do a deadlift with a 10KG bar if you want, and if you can chest press 12KG you can deadlift 20+ without much trouble I'm sure. You might see men twice your size lifting crazy weights but everyone starts somewhere, and doing whatever is difficult for you, even if it seems small, is far better than not doing it at all.

Regarding food: you were trying to be skinny before, so you were essentially boderline starving yourself. Now you want to be fit. Fit people eat lots of food. You would be a lot healthier if you ate a little too much with good macros than if you ate far too little with bad macros. There's nothing unhealthy about a bit of bodyfat as long as there is good fitness beneath it. You want to be strong so you need to feed that strength: lots of protein, lots of fats, lots of fibre, go easy on the sugar. Lift heavy things and your body composition will sort itself out.

Circles24

Thanks for the feedback everyone

I’m definitely interested in the iifym way of eating and I believe it is a sustainable way for me as it doesn’t seem too restrictive. I think for me, if I feel I can’t have something I want it even more so, which I imagine is the case for a lot of people.

In relation to crossfit; Thanks for the suggestion but I just don’t think it would be for me.
I have my gym membership reactivated for the next 3 months and I’d be willing to spend maybe 50 euro per session with a personal trainer which i’d be getting a one on one experience with. So, I really couldn’t justify spending 170 euro a month on a group session in crossfit plus having my gym membership to pay too.
I don’t really work well in groups when it comes to fitness classes. I get very intimated - ridiculous i know & maybe if cross fit was cheaper than a PT I’d woman up and overcome that intimidation.
I work weird hours too and don’t like being restricted to class times especially 3 times a week - maybe I’m just being difficult.



Thanks for the information about getting a PT - general consensus is to go with it.
Just a few questions to anyone who has one or previously had one:

Is it all on my terms in relation to how often I see them? I wouldn’t mind paying 80 euro a session if it was maybe a weekly or bi monthly thing that was spaced out over maybe 3/4 months.See, I had this idea of going to a PT, them giving me general advice and a gym plan and me go to my gym and do that plan 4/5 times a week and then go back to the PT the following week or week after and review my plan and switch up if necessary. Idk if they even operate like that or if you’d have to be seeing them 3 times a week (because 3x80 euro would not work for me)

Also, you know how ye are talking about using free weights... well i’m not joking when I say i’m weak. Would I definitely be able for it? I know Zillah has mentioned that the free weights go as low as 1kg but is that the same for the likes of the barbell or is that just dumbells.
How low would the barbell go in weights (This is probably a laughable question but please go easy on me this is all new & i’m clueless, lol )

Should I keep on using the machines or just go get myself a PT and move onto the free weights asap to see results?

Thanks for all the help everyone. Sorry for all the questions, just want to do all the research first so I can maximise the outcome. This is obviously a big monetary investment (for me, at least) and I'll have the money to start getting things in motion in the next 2 weeks so want to have all my bases covered first

coffee_cake

yeah you can see them like once a month if you want or less or more
Get them to give you a program then you go back periodically and see how it's working out

You'll see if you're able for it, if you're not I'm sure they'll give you dumbbell work to start off on (or whatever) with a view to progressing toward barbells later on
I'd to start off on the lower weight fixed weight barbells for benching and my poor attempts at squatting before I could go anywhere near a bar like

Zillah

You can go to a PT and say you want one or two classes now where they show you how to do various free weight exercises and that that is all you want for now, and that maybe you will have another one or two in a few months time to learn some more advanced things or to see how you are progressing.

If a trainer does a hard sell for more lessons then just tell them no thank you and find someone else. There are a lot of personal trainers out there.

As for the barbell, you said you did 25lbs on the chest press machine, which is about 12kg. Most gyms have 10kg barbells (different to the big ones with changeable plates, those bars usually start at 20kg). Like I said, if you can press 12kg you can deadlift quite a bit more.

Seriously there's no such thing as too little weight. Whatever is challenging to you is perfect for you.

Augme

I wouldn't bother going to a PT if you don't plan on seeing them more often. Lifts like the squat and deadlift can be quite complicated and chances are you'll forget most of the stuff the PT tells you in one session simply because you'll be bombard with huge amounts of new information.

I'd recommend either committing to regular PT for a few months or else just learn the basics yourself and then look into going to a PT to clean it up a bit.


There are lots of great resources online - you'll find lots of squatting videos on youtube and articles by just googling. I think you'd be far better off investing in A supple Leopard by Kelley Starret compared to just one PT session. It's a great resource and one you can always refer back to at any time.

If you have a camera then simply do some body squats and record them, this will be a huge help. Look back over them and try and see where you are going wrong. Obviously not everyone will be comfortable posting vidos of themselves online but it will provide you with a lot of help. There might be female orientated weightlifting forums you could join. I'm sure if you PM'd some video to some of the female members here they wouldn't mind taking a look for you.

3. Money, Money, Money or lack of.
Obviously I know that a lot of hard work and possibly a lot of money will have to be put in so any tips on where to buy healthy and cheap food or find a reasonably priced pt around the north Dublin area will be appreciated. But I know that I have the determination and commitment needed.

I don't mean to sound sarcastic but any shop/supermarket. Supermarkets like Aldi/Lidl will be the cheapest. Vegetables and fresh meat are all essential to have.

cloudatlas

Circles24 wrote: »

In relation to crossfit; Thanks for the suggestion but I just don’t think it would be for me.
I have my gym membership reactivated for the next 3 months and I’d be willing to spend maybe 50 euro per session with a personal trainer which i’d be getting a one on one experience with. So, I really couldn’t justify spending 170 euro a month on a group session in crossfit plus having my gym membership to pay too.
I don’t really work well in groups when it comes to fitness classes. I get very intimated - ridiculous i know & maybe if cross fit was cheaper than a PT I’d woman up and overcome that intimidation.
I work weird hours too and don’t like being restricted to class times especially 3 times a week - maybe I’m just being difficult.

Yes I was thinking more along the lines of replacing the gym membership with crossfit and getting the benefits of P.T. but in a class, setting a routine and getting more value in the long term. Nobody is more cynical than me I hated team sport in school. I know what you mean by feeling intimidated by groups. I felt like that but everyone was so encouraging and welcoming- plus the fact is nobody is watching anybody else too much as ye don't have the time and quite frankly we are all concentrating on getting through our own private hells during the work out! Another thing is that there are people of all different abilities ages, weights in the class. I find it encouraging to talk to people who were where I am now and hear how they progressed. Ego's are generally left at the door. Having said that if you feel strongly that it's not for you then it's not for you.

Daisies

So I came to the same revelation about 9 months ago after losing weight doing lots of running. Then I joined Rev Fit in Glasnevin and I LOVED it. Learnt so much about free weights, the small class sizes meant my form was always being corrected if needed and there was a progression each week with weights etc. I've now moved to the other side of the city but am still able to use what I learnt there.

I know you have renewed your gym membership for another 3 months but I would highly recommend them.