I am new to this site so here is my story... I am a 27 year old female. I spent my whole life dancing and always had the "dancer" body. I stopped all of that about 4years ago and began gaining weight so I started training. Got addicted to the gym. I decided 2 1/2 years ago I wanted to fitness compete. It seemed to combine training and dancing together. I could get a nice body and have fun. Well, that didn't happen. I was doing well and fell off track and never got back on. Here i am 2 years later 55lbs heavier, I have lost all desire to diet. I am mentally ready to began again. I realized life is short and i want to do this however I don't know where to begin now. Should I follow the strict competition diet to begin with or wait... Basically here are my stats; (I am soo ashamed of this)... I am 5'2, 175lbs, approx 35-40% BF...I want the weight off now! I am miserable. Please what do you think...should I go strict or follow a simple diet until i am down more and then get strict.
I just dont know

Welcome to the boards.

Let me first say that I am no expert or nutritionist. I have been on a couple of these diets and have seen fantastic results. A couple years ago I did a diet and lost about 50lbs in about 5 months. I was working out and everything was going great. The people I worked out with lost touch and back to the present, gaining most of the weight back, I decided to start the same diet.

I started on New Years day. I have lost about 25 lbs. I took about 3 weeks off because my wife just gave birth to our first son. My goal weight is another 15-20lbs which would put me at 215 by June. I am well on track and know this is the final push.

I am not competing at the moment. I just wanted to get "more healthy" and look/feel better about myself. Just a little side note. I follow my diet to a "T" during the week. The weekend is a little more tricky. I usually follow it up until lunch and have a sensible dinner (salad or something reasonable). One night a week I will have pasta or something to throw my diet off its balances. However, sometimes Life happens.

Once I get down to my goal weight, I want to maintain and get stronger. Eventually I would like to compete. Like you said "life is short", do what makes you feel good about yourself.

Anyway...I'll stop rambling. My advice would be to search the boards and find a diet that you feel comfortable with and go for it. Also read the articles on bodybuildingworld.com, they are excellent.

Id ease in.

Start a bev type diet and then on the third day have a cheat, keep this cycle for a few weeks, where every few days you get a cheat meal. After 3-4 weeks Id switch to a cheat meal only on the weekends. Keep this for another 2-3, and then go full blast.

This is how I do it. Now if I was getting ready for a show I would follow the diet to a T, but you are simply trying to get better habits at this point and shed some weight.

Regards,

Ease in, yes. As for the cheat meals, that doesn't mean to run to Pizza Hut for the buffet. Simply means to throw some stuff that is not on your diet list.

Don't start off so restrictive, either. You just run right back to where you started...175, if not HIGHER.

You should take 6 months just to learn to diet and make it a LIFESTYLE by going to the gym, working out, use of cardio. If possible, go twice a day. 20 min mild cardio, then later the day, weights, or vise-versa.

Start for 2 to 3 weeks with foods only, then introduce a supplement or two. Perhaps one shake a day before going to two shakes a day.

I'll comment more on this later...

Hmmmm, pizza hut, maybe not the buffet but certainly a few slices wont kill you if you have been strict otherwise.

Regards,

when i started just cut back my portions. i knew nothing about 5-6 meals. so i stopped eating the ENTIRE pizza, i also started walking for 30 minutes. i didn't care about how far i got.
that was back in 2003 i was 300+. by Thanksgiveing 2004 when i moved back to my parents house in Syracuse, NY i was 207lbs. now i am at a solid 221 and run 5ks when ever i get the chance.
the point is you don't have to take BIG steps to make it to the finish line. you are 90% there. you have woken up and decided that enuff is ENUFF. now all you have to do is DO IT. YOU are in charge. use your anger constructivly.
if i can mention a book that has come out recently (i wish it was out when i started) The Eat-Clean Diet by Tosca Reno. its an easy read, it took me about a week to read. the book talks about changing your eating lifestyle. so the word "diet", to me, is a misnomer. its very practical and easy to understand. no charts, no specialized meal plans, nothing else to buy.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AirHarp,