I used to very active and danced/trained 5x a week. I quit dancing in 2021 and ever since then completely let myself go. I stopped staying active and stopped caring about taking care of my body and what I ate. I put on about 20 lbs and the past 6 months, it’s definitely had an effect on my mental health. The weight gain on my face as well as my clothes slowly not fitting is destroying my confidence. I finally am ready to build up my confidence and get active again but am not 100% sure where to start.
My goals are to lose 15-20 lbs but I’m not as focused on the number, more on feeling better and healthier. I started doing a ‘Chloe Ting 2 week shred program. It’s a 30 min-1 hour workout 3-5x a week which include cardio, HIIT, and light strength exercises. I’ve gotten into a bad habit of binge eating, so I’m planning on eating cleaner and doing a calorie deficit which I’m also a bit confused on how to do it properly.
I’m currently 21 y/o, 5’3 and 138 lbs. What should my calorie intake be if I’m wanting to a do a deficit? Also would the 3-5x 1 hour workouts a week be enough if I’m wanting to lose weight?
@evanea Calorie intake for yourself is hard to say bc it depends also how much muscle you have and in general your activity level. And it depends on your goals wether you just wanna get more toned and loosing weight is just a by product. Chloe Tings programms r usually more body recomposition focused. For that i would recommend eat around your maintenance calories and if you start noticing you tend to have hunger gravings after active days add a bit more calories. It is hard to give you a number for that bc:
I am 5'1 and did and started pretty much the same like you. When i had very low muscle tone and a mild activity level my maintenance calories where around 1.400/1.500 when i improved on those i went to 1800-2100 . When i did less workout but heavier weights it was somewhat between those numbers . But all those numbers do not really matter bc you will see the most effective and sustainable results if you focus on your health. So rather then ask: How much or how less look at the imbalances within your diet and improve on them. You will see better results and notice quicker when you r full. For me it was more protein and fiber and less salt and more water. Changing that automaticly caused me to eat within a reasonable caloric range without having to avoid certain foods or be restricted when eating out. But that is just my story yours could be completly different.
@harpazo417 Hey! That makes sense, my appetite has gotten way bigger because I recently quit smoking so I’m working towards eating healthier. Is there different workouts you recommend? I chose the Chloe Ting program because it seems doable but I’m open to doing other things. I currently don’t have a gym membership and can’t afford it so my only option is at home workouts.
@evanea It seems like you recently started out. I would stick to it till you found a routine that works for you and is sustainable not only in a sense of sticking to the routine but also in a sense of you don't overload yourself and you don't obsess abt working out or food. It should be fun and something you enjoy. Setting up a whole new routine whilst getting your nutrition and binge cicle in a healthier position might be tempting but can also bring you more stress. Slow and steady wins the race. You don't have to rush things. No matter how toned, thick , thin , hourglassed or what ever your own choosen beauty standart is that is just your body . If the way your body looks determins your happyness or concepts of selfworth or willingness to do certain activities then the best extra exercise is probably mental work.
If that is not the case and you r just bored by her workouts there r a lot of options you have:
1. Workout with other people that have more experience i am sure you can learn a lot of new things
2. Find local workout groups everybody started working out one time don't be shy people usually r interested in supporting you
3. Figure out muscular imbalances by asking your healthcare provider or doing streching tests and do training for your posture
4. Start dancing again
5. Go outside and discover places climb up hills
But allways mind before body not the other way around. Life is to short to spent it hating yourself whilste waiting to reach a goal.
@evanea Chloe tings workouts are horrible. She’s not a personal trainer, she makes up exercises that look cool but honestly ridiculous and ineffective, and what she’s doing is not beginner friendly at all so it has a really really high rate of injury. She has made millions off of praying on women’s insecurities and using Clickbait titles that contain ridiculous false promises. She sucks as a “trainer” and as a person.
Try finding somebody who’s actually certified and knows what they’re talking about because it’s really discouraging when you get hurt early on and can’t continue. Caroline Girvan is really popular. The wiki on r/xxfitness has lots of suggestions too!!
If you’re struggling with binge eating, don’t set any calorie or weight loss goals until you address the binge eating. Work with a doctor, dietitian, and or mental health provider to address what’s causing the binge eating. It’s never ever safe to attempt a weight loss journey without a lot of support we are actively struggling with disordered eating such as binging. While you work on that, just focus on being active in general. Find a good workout program, focus on getting movement in throughout your day, and just incorporating healthier life choices without the specific weight loss goals until it’s safe for you to try those.
@rodneys Wow I didn’t know this! Thank you for the info, do you know if the 12-3-30 on the treadmill would be beneficial for me? It’s basically just walking for 30 mins on a 12 incline on the treadmill everyday
@evanea It’s a TikTok trend. It’s not any more effective for weight loss or building cardiovascular endurance than any other type of cardio, but it’s still good for you and if you enjoy it, go for it
@syd I’m a little bit confused by your question. Are you asking if this treadmill workout combined with full body workouts are effective for weight loss? No, not if you’re also not in a calorie deficit. As a general rule, everything you see on TikTok about weight loss and fitness is complete garbage and you’ll probably have a much more successful journey with both if you stay away from it. Remember that weight loss and fitness exist independently of each other. All this is is a way to get cardio in. That’s it. It’s not magic, it’s not special, all it does is increase your cardiovascular endurance and the same we’re going for a walk outside riding your bike, or swimming eojld.
@syd Ultimately, weight loss comes 100% from calorie deficit. Eating “healthy“ is really subjective, but eating a well-rounded nutritious diet and exercise and very beneficial to weight loss, but exercising eating healthy won’t make you lose weight if you’re not also in a calorie deficit. If you want to lose weight, meet with your doctor they can go over the basics with you to make sure you are sitting yourself up for success. My point was more that you can’t just assume everybody is also talking about weight loss when they’re talking about fitness, so when you’re asking if something is effective for weight loss, you have to specifically say weight loss. Fitness has absolutely nothing to do with weight loss for me, and sometimes I get a little frustrated hearing them constantly being used interchangeably when that’s just not the case.
@syd If you are in a deficit, you'll lose weight. But you actually want to lose fat (and at least keep your muscle), this is what resistance training helps with. Cardio is very good for you if you want to live long and healthy. Ideally you eat healthy (on a deficit only when you want to lose weight), do cardio and do some resistance training. Here's the WHO recommendation for physical activity: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
@evanea Ok, maybe my advice is not what you expect but it's something I've learned with trial and error. Find an exercise you actually enjoy and go for it! If you like to dance then commit to it, because doing something you don't enjoy is just painful and won't take you anywhere. BUT if you didn't enjoy something before because you were at a bad place mentally maybe give it a try again, you may be surprised to enjoy new things. But find one routine that suits you.
About food/eating I'd recommend mindful eating. Actually mindfulness is a great tool in all aspects of life. It helped me a lot not only with my eating habits but with everything I have to do. So I combined it with a food diary and so far so good!
@11b153 Thank you I appreciate this! I danced for 12 years then stopped due to some mental health stuff, but am definitely looking into getting back into it! And I agree with the mindfulness, tryinf my best to be more patient with myself
@evanea Walking is amazing and free! I’ve done Chloe ting’s work outs but I feel once you are done and you stop, it goes away. Walking is something you can do consistently and will help you lose weight. As for diet, try increasing your veggie intake first. Make sure all of your meals are 50% veggies. I find that changing up too many things and restricting makes it more likely you will binge.
@evanea It’s hard to say without knowing what your current physical shape is. Working out is actually a very small part of losing weight. Diet is a huge part. Start slow because weight loss is not something that takes a few weeks. Losing 20 lbs in a healthy way can easily take 6 months. Don’t try to rush is my biggest advice for you.
@evanea It really helps me to get DEXA or BodPod body composition tests now and again to calculate lean body mass, because it takes the guess work out of calculating my maintenance calories. They calculate it for you based on your lean body mass. The other thing is that after I finally committed to lifting weights 3x a week, my body composition is steadily improving month to month. I redo the BodPod test every 2 months for tracking progress. Having hard data to base my decisions on is super helpful for me, maybe it would help you too.
️