Hello I'm new here.

[MrsMuscles]

Hi.

I am 25 year old obese female and I am here to change my ways in 2014. I am 5 feet 4 inches and weigh almost 250 pounds. since jan 1 I've already lost 20 pounds so im doing good but I need to do better. my goal is to become an ifbb bikini pro but I know im a long way off.

to tell you the truth I really don't know where to start. I was 269 January 1 and am now 248.

I don't want to get big muscles that looks gross on women haha. but i'd like to be lean and toned.

I've started walkng regularly and that's how I've lost 20 pounds already, but i'd like to start a weight lifting routine.

can you give me something for a beginner that's not going to bulk me up but give me that leaned toned look?

any and all advice appreciated!

[Agnostic007]

Diet will be 70-80% of your success or failure. Focus on that. You can never outrun your dinner plate. Almost anything you do at this point excercise wise will be an improvement and you will see results. You will not "bulk up" unless you are trying to, and work very hard at it. No one bulks up by accident so don't even worry about that. There are a million diets out there that will get the weight off initially. What you want to avoid is the temporary diet. Some are healthier than others so do some research and find one that is reasonable and you can live with to some extent for the rest of your life. For me it is low carb. For you it might be low calorie. Educating yourself on what makes you gain weight will help you reach your goal and keep it. Just fasting and starving will teach you nothing except how to handle failure because you will gain it back when you go back to your old habits.

So you have already started, you've lost 20 lbs and that is great. Slow and steady wins the race. Keep moving, build up your endurance, eat the right foods, and look at it as a lifestyle change not a diet and this time next year you will be a different person 

[BAST]

Thank you Agnostic. I am slowly making changes to my diet but exercise is more important for me. I just bought crystal lite packages so I can drink more water and I have cut my pop by four cans per day. I am going to start slowly running tomorrow. Walking is not  helping me anymore although I can walk faster than I ever have.

I don't understand why you say diet is 70-80 percent of my success. That means that if I diet I can lose most of my weight and don't have to exercise. I read interviews with the bikini girls and they workout every day.

it takes 30 min of walking to burn the calories of 1 can of soda.  that's a rough estimate.   So it's much easier to eat less then to burn off the calories exercising.

[chaos]

it takes 30 min of walking to burn the calories of 1 can of soda.  that's a rough estimate.   So it's much easier to eat less then to burn off the calories exercising.

That is a good way to look at diet/exercise. We should have a thread about how long different types of cardio would take to burn off certain cheat foods.

[Wolfox]

That is a good way to look at diet/exercise. We should have a thread about how long different types of cardio would take to burn off certain cheat foods.

Yup. When you learn how much cardio/exercise it actually takes to burn a snack or soda it REALLY makes you think twice.

Its so not worth it to eat a bag of chips with your subway....or fries with your mcdoubles.

[Agnostic007]

Thank you Agnostic. I am slowly making changes to my diet but exercise is more important for me. I just bought crystal lite packages so I can drink more water and I have cut my pop by four cans per day. I am going to start slowly running tomorrow. Walking is not  helping me anymore although I can walk faster than I ever have.

I don't understand why you say diet is 70-80 percent of my success. That means that if I diet I can lose most of my weight and don't have to exercise. I read interviews with the bikini girls and they workout every day.

I can tell you that I have met quite a few people who were obese who wanted to excercise the weight off rather than educate themselves on nutrition and change their eating habits. I can tell you that those people are still obese today. But I wish you luck   

[Agnostic007]

Why are they still obese? Are you saying it is because of their nutrition? Or did they stop exercising. 

They had the illusion that if they just excercised they could lose the weight. After spinning their wheels for months they gave up. They couldn't comprehend diet was 70-80% of their weight loss success strategy. Sure, increased activity for an obese person will result in some weight loss initially, most can't compensate for the calories they ingest with the energy output over time.   

[chaos]

I was thinking I would exercise first and see how much I could lose doing that and then work on a better fodo plan. I have already started drinking better choices, eating more fruit and less sweet stuff though. I've also lost another 2 poudns!

You should start a thread to post progress pics in.