some advise please - not much to lose

Hi, I'm looking for some advice on how to lose a small ish amount of weight. I've always been lucky in that I'm petite and was always a size 6-8 naturally eating whatever I liked and doing no exercise .. whenever people commented I used to always laugh it off and say oh it'll catch up on me someday .. and it did!! Now not that much but over a few months my shape kind of changed, I put on weight on the tops of my thights, hips and belly and I'm finding it really hard to shift!! I joined a gym and the guy gave me a programme that involved a lot of cardio, I did it for about 8 weeks 3 times a week and didn't notice any difference at all. I limit my calories to 1200 a day, don't eat a lot of carbs, never eat any white bread/pasta/rice, I don't drink much fizzy drinks. I try and drink at least 1l of water a day, sometimes more. I'm not sure what do do, I feel like I'm stuck at this weight now that I'm not happy with and nothing is working .. Any advice would be welcomed,

Can you post up an average day of what food you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks? What exercises did you do in the gym?

Hi Schmindy, I'd be similar to you - I ate what I wanted when I wanted for years and always stayed a size 8.... up till a year or two ago! Now I never got huge or anything but it started creeping up, gone was any tone in the tummy etc. In October of last year I said f*ck this I have to do something - had been threatening to do all kinds of exercise classes etc and never did. So I joined the gym and for the first while just did my own thing, mainly cardio. After about 2 mths not much was happening so I had a consult with the Personal Trainer guy. He put me on a totally different kind of plan. I warm up for 5 mins only on the cross trainer at level 8 - this kills me tbh, I was used to being at level 3/4! Then I do some of the weight machines.... a mix of leg ones and arm ones. I do some lunges and just one type of arm exercise with the free weights then I do my floor work - sit ups. Then I finish off with 20 mins on the treadmill interval running with walking. Since I started it I did lose a couple of pounds and I felt it took the boredom from my workouts too - I HATE too much cardio, I find it horrendously boring and it makes me not want to go the gym at all! I've also seen it said numerous times to do your weights first then your cardio - something about glycogen levels or something like that As well as that maybe try up your protein intake, more turkey, tuna, chicken - it's meant to be good for toning as well. Above all I think you need to change it up. I know that I've been doing this now for almost 3 mths and my body isn't responding as much as it used to - my muscles are completely used to the weights that I'm doing now etc so I need to have another consult and get it changed a bit. HTH

Hi, If I eat breakfast it's porridge make with half milk, half water but to be honest I ususally don't have anything and then at about 11 I might have a cereal bar/breakfast biscuit thing with tea, sometimes a scone but maybe only once a week if even. For lunch it's usually a wrap with chicken/turkey and salad, if I don't my lunch with me I will buy a sandwich/wrap or salad in m&s. I'd probably have two pieces of fruit during the day and then in the evening dinner is something homemade, last night I had chicken stir fry with brown rice. I would ususally have something sweet after my dinner, a biscuit/snack bar or sometimes crackers with tea. That's a usual day, during the week I probably have a glass or two of wine and would have a few drinks most weekends but not every week. I was following the Operation Transformation recipes for 3 weeks but have given up now, didn't seem to have any effect and it was so expensive!! I went to the doctor thinking there was something wrong with me, she took bloods for my thyroid and iron and they were ok and she sent me for an ultrasound to check for cysts etc., and all came back clear. I don't really have a big appetitie, if I don't eat breakfast at the weekend I could not eat anything until 2 or 3 o'clock, not because I do so on purpose but I just wouldn't be hungry. In the gym I was doing about 4k on the bike, jogging 3k, 15 mins on the ski machine and about 100 flights of stairs on the stepper, with sit ups in between. I have atually given this up now as I was so disheartened with not losing anything in 8 weeks. My OH keeps telling me I didn't give it enough time but I thought that should have been long enough..?

Thanks SunnyK, I probably need to go back and get a new programme alright. I started doing couch 2 5k a few weeks ago but haven't done it in the past week. I know I am by no means overweight but I just don't feel like myself at all, even on holidays last year I wouldn't get into a bikini at all. I have 5 pairs of Topshop skinny jeans in my wardrobe that won't go past my thighs!! My sister keeps asking for them and I keep saying no, they WILL fit me again

Schmindy it sounds like you are doing LOADS of cardio! If you've been doing that and it's not having much effect then I would try getting a weights plan also. Do a bit of both. Honestly weights still burn off calories when you are doing it but it's great for toning and definition too, and you don't bulk up which is what loads of women are scared of. Still obviously do your bit of cardio but I would think if you did a warm up then weights and your sit ups etc then finish off with either the treadmill OR the crosstrainer it should be enough.... for you to be doing all that cardio is a bit nuts if you haven't got much to lose! Is there a PT in your gym that you can book in with? I paid 40 euro for an hour with my guy but he went through my food diary etc too so it wasn't just the exercise side of it - definitely worth doing I think.

Thanks for the response SunnyK, yeah it seemed like loads but as a total newbie to the gym I thought it was normal enough. I haven't done that in a while now cos I felt it was getting me nowhere and it took so long too!! I'm kind of intimidated to go into the weights section in my gym as it's all boys I never see any girls going up there but I'll have to get past that!! I can pin point exactly when the weight went on, I had just come out of a long term relationship and was out a LOT, 2 or 3 nights a week plus the weekend. Then I met my boyfriend quite soon after and we had a lot of nights out, eating and drinking and over a Summer I put on about 10lb. I was always about 8 stone, never even weighed myself that much just went by how my clothes fit and then when they no longer fit I realised I was closer to 9st ..

Maybe look at varying your exercise plan, and find a couple of classes that make you push yourself as hard as you can go. What I find with loads of my friends is that they're slogging away in the gym for hours on end but not actually making a big effort so something like circuit training or Bootcamp might work well for you. A personal trainer once a week might be able to give you pointers as well. And do some weights, they're fun! Make sure you eat breakfast everyday, even if it just a banana and yoghurt. Also, make sure you check labels for hidden sugars and try to eat as clean as possible. Btw, I've a similar body type to you. Petite, size 8 with a tendency to put on weight on my belly, thighs and bum; and I know how frustrating it is to try to get it off again.

Tassajara, thanks a million for the response. Can I just ask and now .. this might sound very silly but is it actually possible to get back to the size I used to be or could it be the case that my body shape has changed to this? Waist up and knees down I'm ok, it's just what's in between that's a problem!! I did bootcamp for 4 weeks too, twice a week but I didn't find it that tough. I've just seen online that my gym is bringing in new classes very soon so I'll definitely try some of them!!

Tbh, I don't know. People's shapes do change over time, I know I'll never get back to being very skinny like I was when I was 18 and 19 but I can still be slim and healthy. The other thing that might be worth looking at is if you're on hormonal contraceptive, that can affect your weight as well. I put on half a stone and had huge boobs when I was on Yasminelle, and lost some of the weight when I went off it. It might also be a good idea to do exercise targeting your thighs and bum. I've found Pilates to be excellent for those areas.