i've recently gotten really serious about going to the ymca, @ least 5 days/week. my reason for going was that i wanted to get toned and work on muscle definition, which has been coming along nicely, but i've also been dropping weight, which i DON'T want to do. anyone have any advice/knowledge?

SAVE THE BOOTY!!

don't listen to that idiot

if you don't want to lose weight while working out, figure out how many calories you need to eat regularly, then increase it based on the amount of exercise you do. say if you're supposed to eat 1400 cal based on your weight and age, add 3/400 to it. also if you do a lot of cardio buy some whey protein from any store and supplement with it.

whey protein you say? what's that do?

Whey protein helps you keep muscle so your body doesn't catobolise you existing muscle mass, also helps gain more muscle if you lift weights, which you should def be doing. For girls light weights for high reps helps tone you.

i use weight machines, but i don't free lift. i'm not worried about toning my arms. riding horses all my life has kept my arms looking right. i don't want to get all creepy she-buff and shit.

i'll check out the whey protein when i get back in pa.

You. Why would you recommend eating junk food to someone working out

She should be eating a good amount of calories, but good calories. Eating shit food gives you know energy and high fat shit will mess with your cardio

i don't eat junk food anyway, never have. i'm very good with what i eat, generally. beers & wings aside.

Beer is my one weakness

That doesn't even make any sense.

everyone loses weight in the beginning. do more squats/donkey kicks and it will tone your butt so it wont disappear. running is also a great thing to do to tone your entire body. i have a really good work out routine if you want me to send it to you.

Originally posted by: cbrickhouse

Beer is my one weakness

mine too (when i'm not pregnant)

if you know your going to work out during the day make sure you eat the right stuff. bananas are great for your body as well as oranges. eating fish is actually really good for you also. make sure you just balance your intake. i definetly recommend getting one of the nutrition(sp?) books to help out.

do drugs.

i eat pizza, smoke pot, and run every day. lost 6 pounds this month. seems to work.

more weights, less cardio

As brickhouse already said, you need to figure out how many calories you burn a day, and then eat that amount. If you're eating less than you burn, you're going to keep losing.

FitDay.com lets you log your daily routine and takes everything you do into account--from time spent sleeping to time spent riding or working out, or even grocery shopping. You just plug in your acitivity, and it'll calculate everything for you.

Make sure you get an adequate amount of protein. The typical recommendation is 1 g per pound of body weight. So if you're 130 lbs, then at least 130g protein/day. Whey is your friend.

And seriously, don't even worry about getting "buff" or huge. That won't happen accidentally. You'd have to be eating and training specifically for that purpose. Lifing heavy will give you the definition you want and add strength, but won't give you some crazy masculine/bodybuilder appearance. Also, do weighted squats... they'll help "save the booty." lulz.

It's basically been covered but consume more. The whole "eat 5 small meals a day" diet won't work for someone trying to keep the weight on. You'll probably want to eat like a bodybuilder almost. I'm not saying eat 12 eggs for breakfast or anything like that but keep the protein up and don't cut out carbs. But when i say carbs i don't mean drinking a ton of beer and eating candy or something like that. Eat browns (breads, pasta, rice).

Lift heavy with mid to low reps. Keep cardio to 20-30 minutes. Anything after that you are going to start burning muscle. It's the reason sprinters have huge defined legs, while marathon runners are as thin as rails.



and yes Squats are your best bet to "keep the booty", that and fire hydrants (look them up, it's hard to describe in words)