Selena Deleon – THE WORKOUT READERS' FEEDBACK
Hi there,
My question is, I'm short and very heavy up top (breast) and smaller in the legs. I am currently on a weight-loss programme which is very slow, I eat healthily sometimes but feel I should be doing more. To date I have lost 30 lbs but I find that I am very "saggy" and loose, especially my arms and legs also my bottom goes first making me look like an "apple on a candy stick". I would really like some help with my programme and the exercises I should do... I am 5 5'', 26 years old and about 190lbs...
TRAINER'S RESPONSE
In response to your letter, you mentioned that you often read my articles, so you may have caught the previous article about the Android body type (apple shape) and its recommendations. The advice mentioned in that and other articles about slimming and sculpting a particular area of your body included focusing on overall weight loss. Your body fat patterning is genetic, so you will find that the weight loss in the upper body portion will take time. You just need to remain focused.
What you need to do in essence is the following:
1. Be calorie conscious (every day) in what you eat.
2. Do some form of aerobic and/or resistance exercise five to six times a week is sufficient.
3. Drink lots of water (8-12 glasses daily).
You have indicated that you want to lose 40 to 45 pounds. In order for this to happen you must create a deficit between the calories that you are consuming and what you are using up for energy. Healthy weight comes off at approximately two pounds per week. One pound equals 3,500 calories, so your aim will be to eliminate 7,000 calories every seven days or 1,000 calories per day for a week. To achieve a deficit, you can limit your calorie intake by restricting what you eat and/or exercising to eliminate the rest.
You can start by calculating how many calories you will need to consume everyday. You need to meet your minimum energy requirements while staying below what your body can burn maximally. There are three components to caloric burn: resting metabolic rate RMR (calories used to perform basic metabolic functions); exercise (calories used up during exercise); the thermic effect calories used up to digest food.
Obviously, you have the most control over exercise. Use the below approximate calculations to figure your daily caloric needs. RMR = Your weight in kilograms x 24. This value is the amount of calories you would burn if you stayed in bed for 24 hours. If you get out of bed and exercise, you will need to figure in an activity factor. Activity factors light exercise = 0.2; modest exercise (three times/week) = 0.3; moderate exercise (3-5 times/week) =0.35; regular exercise (4-5 times/week) =0.45 heavy exercise (3-5 times/week) =0.5
Take whichever one best describes you and multiply that activity factor number by your RMR. Then add that value to your RMR, and you have your daily maximum caloric requirement.
Based on the information that you provided, your daily maximum caloric need is 2,770 with moderate exercise being your activity factor. To lose a healthy two pounds per week, you could eat about 1,770 calories per day at your current activity level.
Next, you need to plan what exercise activities you will do on what days. For android body types I really recommend push ups as an overall and effective exercise, but there are many other arm exercises that you could focus on doing in the gym, three out of the four days that you go. These include, tricep dips, bicep curls, reverse flies for your upper back, lateral raises for your shoulders and peck deck for your chest.
Keep me updated on your progress, there's nothing stopping you now!
Selena DeLeon is a certified professional trainer.
