Ready to be ripped

[BrownGirl]

Hey, seems you have plenty of determination and you do already look fantastic. Just as a cautionary, decreasing your body fat much lower than 17% can be harmful to a healthy female hormonal profile. Your body needs a certain amount of fat, this triggers your ovaries to make estrogen and keep your hormones cycling. Too low body fat can pull back estrogen to negligible levels, that can have harmful effects on mood, memory, sex drive, skin...hosts of other issues. Your delicate hormone balance is best not taken for granted, that can sometimes lead to a set up where your ovaries have trouble bouncing back, even if you return to a more normal female fat percentage. I know you are young and a go getter but your boobs are there for a reason. I would encourage you to keep some respect for those too.

Staying slim, toned and healthy will be a better set up for your future than whittling down fat to next to nothing. But hey, I probably sound old and boring saying all this. I've just spoken to too many people (women included) who messed themselves up through severe dieting and over training. Having said all that... welcome.

Wow...I'm glad you wrote this...I hadn't really thought of that either. Thank you PPC!

[Iamdetermined]

Check out Dana Linn Bailey, she's in beast mode 24/7, great workouts, check her delt, back and leg workouts.

she is an animal ! I love her, one day ... I will be more beastly than her lol look out world.

[Iamdetermined]

Here's an example of a push/pull workout, I've just edited my last post

Day one pull

Lat pull down or assisted pull ups 8-12 reps,
I would even go for 2-3 behind the head and 2-3 infront (go all the way to your upper chest)

Rear delt row (cable/machine/smitch machine/DBs/barbell) doesn't matter how you do it, (I like cable rows).
Then do 2 sets of bent over DB rows

Dead lifts!

And 1-2 exercises for your bis, depending on how you feel! BB curl, reverse grip hammer curl, rope curl etc


Day 2 push day, you can have a rest day inbetween if you like

dB press or barbell press (do flat, or incline)

Flys

DB shoulder press or clean and press or even seated smith machine shoulder press (there are many ways to do an exercise)

DB side lateral raises

Tricep dips
Tricep rope pulldowns

Abs

Hope this gets you started!

Try both workouts and see what you like best depending on your time etc

thanks I will try this out next week

[Iamdetermined]

Heidi Vuorela .. Scandinavian genetics ftw

I'm mirin those arms !!

[Iamdetermined]

Hey, seems you have plenty of determination and you do already look fantastic. Just as a cautionary, decreasing your body fat much lower than 17% can be harmful to a healthy female hormonal profile. Your body needs a certain amount of fat, this triggers your ovaries to make estrogen and keep your hormones cycling. Too low body fat can pull back estrogen to negligible levels, that can have harmful effects on mood, memory, sex drive, skin...hosts of other issues. Your delicate hormone balance is best not taken for granted, that can sometimes lead to a set up where your ovaries have trouble bouncing back, even if you return to a more normal female fat percentage. I know you are young and a go getter but your boobs are there for a reason. I would encourage you to keep some respect for those too.

Staying slim, toned and healthy will be a better set up for your future than whittling down fat to next to nothing. But hey, I probably sound old and boring saying all this. I've just spoken to too many people (women included) who messed themselves up through severe dieting and over training. Having said all that... welcome.

Big respect from me to you, taking your time to inform me about this .. I really had no idea ! I google things like 'how to get ripped' 'how to gain muscle' but never the implications of it... yeah I have goals and dreams in regards to fitness but I also have dreams of having a family .......................... one day and thats way more important ! perhaps my goals will have to be put off until after I have children.. but once again THANK YOU !

[vBRAH]

I'm mirin those arms !!

me too

[SlimmerMe]

Wow...I'm glad you wrote this...I hadn't really thought of that either. Thank you PPC!

Glad you saw what PPC wrote. She is the female expert here on hormones. Has taught me a lot!

Big respect from me to you, taking your time to inform me about this .. I really had no idea ! I google things like 'how to get ripped' 'how to gain muscle' but never the implications of it... yeah I have goals and dreams in regards to fitness but I also have dreams of having a family .......................... one day and thats way more important ! perhaps my goals will have to be put off until after I have children.. but once again THANK YOU !

Glad your reaction is positive and open to seeing what is really important here. Dreams and priorities can get confusing.
PPC knows her stuff and rarely chimes in this section so in a way it could be meant to be that she just happened to stop by.

[oatmeal69]

I don't think you should be losing much more body fat. I think you are over-training with too much cardio. Stick to a solid weight training routine, and be sure to get plenty of high grade protein in a spot-on diet. Muscles and good tone will give you the shape you want, not excessive dieting.

[Iamdetermined]

Glad you saw what PPC wrote. She is the female expert here on hormones. Has taught me a lot!



Glad your reaction is positive and open to seeing what is really important here. Dreams and priorities can get confusing.
PPC knows her stuff and rarely chimes in this section so in a way it could be meant to be that she just happened to stop by.

Yes offcourse, I am a very naive person (I have just realised this after 20 years) so it means alot when people go out their way to give it to me RAW. I really do take advice from older, more experienced people mostly my mum but she has no idea about working out. So I am very appreciative of what she PCC said. Yes, it's definitely a sign I live my life by the sign's God sends down to me..I get them all the time.

[Iamdetermined]

I don't think you should be losing much more body fat. I think you are over-training with too much cardio. Stick to a solid weight training routine, and be sure to get plenty of high grade protein in a spot-on diet. Muscles and good tone will give you the shape you want, not excessive dieting.

Yeah, I mostly want to tone up my stomach area and I find the more b/f I loose the more it comes off my chest and shoulder and makes me look skinny ! I will look into this, thanks.

[BrownGirl]

Yeah, I mostly want to tone up my stomach area and I find the more b/f I loose the more it comes off my chest and shoulder and makes me look skinny ! I will look into this, thanks.

Aaah that's my problem! I'm trying to build some muscle so hopefully it'll look better soon. Right now I think I look like a skinny little boy! lol

[PPC]

Big respect from me to you, taking your time to inform me about this .. I really had no idea ! I google things like 'how to get ripped' 'how to gain muscle' but never the implications of it... yeah I have goals and dreams in regards to fitness but I also have dreams of having a family .......................... one day and thats way more important ! perhaps my goals will have to be put off until after I have children.. but once again THANK YOU !

Well, thanks for being open enough to listen. At the risk of wearing out my welcome to your thread, I'll give a little more motherly advice then I promise not to clutter up your thread any further.
I'm glad you want to be wise about preparing your body for future pregnancies and the possibility of raising a family.

The female body starts releasing eggs once a girl reaches around 20% body fat. That is the signal to begin the monthly cycle that involves the intricate rise and fall each month of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone . Interestingly, that 20% figure is the main reason why girls are starting to get their periods earlier than they used to in history. Due to modern, overly carb rich diets, higher body fat is being reached at much earlier ages and this is when female fat cells tell the ovaries, "I am now padded like a woman so do your thing!"

We are all so unique so there is no magic body fat number where your hormonal balance will suddenly be disrupted. Women in their early twenties have average body fat percentages starting at 21% and going up from there. You are already at 17% body fat. Your body has been cycling hormones for many years so it has been trained well and will not suddenly stop once you drop below 20%. Your body will fight hard to keep you as a reproductive adult, it wants you to be able to make and give life, so it will struggle to keep you this way but when pushed too hard against the wall, it will eventually have to give up. While you may still be able to cycle at 17 percent and some women can continue to do so even dropping down to 15%, it is more common for women to stop their periods when they dip below 18%.

Female athletes often look at the absence of their period as the bar that tells them they have finally passed a healthy body percentage. Actually, a lot of damage can be done before the period stops. It is one of the final warning signals of the body, not the first. Over training, especially when it is combined with under eating raises the hormone cortisol which has a significant depleting effect on estrogen and progesterone. When that stress hormone goes up, the sea saw is thrown off kilter and your much needed sex hormones come down.

Estrogen and progesterone are both needed for bone health. A too early decline is a set up for diseases like osteo arthritis later in life. Estrogen is also our natural anti depressant. When it is depleted, serotonin levels drop and depression can result along with more aches and pains since serotonin is our natural pain reliever. A lack of estrogen can result in anxiety, panic attacks and an increase in OCD tendencies. So sometimes obsessions with body image are exasperated, the more body fat and estrogen are lowered, the more the desire for them to be even lower so it becomes a viscious cycle. Similar to anorexia, body image and goals become distorted and not naturally attainable. In this state any body fat can be viewed as repugnant when in fact a certain amount of female fat layers are necessary and beautiful. Perception just gets thrown off.

Estrogen is important for our sexuality, our sociability, the health and PH of the vagina and is crucial for healthy lubrication in that area. I could go on and on but just one more... skin. It hydrates, increases collagen and allows a better balance with testosterone so that hormone cannot dominate and cause problems like acne. Kay...enough with the estrogen preaching.

You already know exercising too little can be harmful to the body. Exercising too much can be just as harmful. According to Dr Uzzi Reiss in his great book, 'The Natural Superwoman', over exercising leads to an increase in the formation of free radicals and inflammation which leads to premature aging. I see some people abuse and punish their body by overeating junk, allowing excess weight and not bothering to exercise. Then sometimes these same people do a 360, lose the weight but then go on to punish themselves by going to extremes through pushing too hard. They are still punishing themselves, just in a different way.

I think your goals to be fit and healthy are admirable. I would urge you though to be kind to yourself in the process. Respect your body and what is was designed for. You are female so if you have breasts, that's wonderful. Your babies will be nurtured and soothed by them. Your husband will love them and hopefully you can learn to love them too. Love what you have and tend to it with kindness. One day you hope to be a parent. I'm sure you will try not to overindulge your children and enable them to be lazy and spoiled. On the other side, I'm sure you will include moderate discipline with love. You won't want your children to think they are never good enough and push and punish them in cruel and unusual ways. It's just as important not to do that to yourself.

I hope you can learn to look in the mirror and love and accept what you have achieved. There will always be flaws. The man you want to settle down with and have children with will be unlikely to notice or dwell on your flaws, neither should you. It's obvious from your photos that you are an attractive young woman. Purging and whipping yourself to get shredded (which actually means dropping to unhealthy amounts of body fat) can do much harm to your future life. I'm not saying you shouldn't be slim. That's great, but nurture yourself with a balanced amount of self discipline. If you thrive on goal setting, make goals for your body that won't threaten to disrupt your incredible reproductive design or hormonal make up.

I encourage you to have a life long respect for your body. Even after child rearing it will be important to protect your hormones and keep the flight or fight hormone, cortisol from dominating your life. I am 40 now. I had five children in my twenties and thirties. Each decade brings us different challenges. It probably won't be a great idea to drop your body fat down to near single digits even after having children. I guess I could look in the mirror and want more tone in my arms, harder abs..whatever. But I think obsessing over such things robs joy from life. I have learned to be slim and healthy through studying nutrition and applying that to real ife but learning to be okay with less than perfection is the greatest challenge for us all.

That's my long two cents. I'm done lecturing.

[BrownGirl]

Well, thanks for being open enough to listen. At the risk of wearing out my welcome to your thread, I'll give a little more motherly advice then I promise not to clutter up your thread any further.
I'm glad you want to be wise about preparing your body for future pregnancies and the possibility of raising a family.

The female body starts releasing eggs once a girl reaches around 20% body fat. That is the signal to begin the monthly cycle that involves the intricate rise and fall each month of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone . Interestingly, that 20% figure is the main reason why girls are starting to get their periods earlier than they used to in history. Due to modern, overly carb rich diets, higher body fat is being reached at much earlier ages and this is when female fat cells tell the ovaries, "I am now padded like a woman so do your thing!"

We are all so unique so there is no magic body fat number where your hormonal balance will suddenly be disrupted. Women in their early twenties have average body fat percentages starting at 21% and going up from there. You are already at 17% body fat. Your body has been cycling hormones for many years so it has been trained well and will not suddenly stop once you drop below 20%. Your body will fight hard to keep you as a reproductive adult, it wants you to be able to make and give life, so it will struggle to keep you this way but when pushed too hard against the wall, it will eventually have to give up. While you may still be able to cycle at 17 percent and some women can continue to do so even dropping down to 15%, it is more common for women to stop their periods when they dip below 18%.

Female athletes often look at the absence of their period as the bar that tells them they have finally passed a healthy body percentage. Actually, a lot of damage can be done before the period stops. It is one of the final warning signals of the body, not the first. Over training, especially when it is combined with under eating raises the hormone cortisol which has a significant depleting effect on estrogen and progesterone. When that stress hormone goes up, the sea saw is thrown off kilter and your much needed sex hormones come down.

Estrogen and progesterone are both needed for bone health. A too early decline is a set up for diseases like osteo arthritis later in life. Estrogen is also our natural anti depressant. When it is depleted, serotonin levels drop and depression can result along with more aches and pains since serotonin is our natural pain reliever. A lack of estrogen can result in anxiety, panic attacks and an increase in OCD tendencies. So sometimes obsessions with body image are exasperated, the more body fat and estrogen are lowered, the more the desire for them to be even lower so it becomes a viscious cycle. Similar to anorexia, body image and goals become distorted and not naturally attainable. In this state any body fat can be viewed as repugnant when in fact a certain amount of female fat layers are necessary and beautiful. Perception just gets thrown off.

Estrogen is important for our sexuality, our sociability, the health and PH of the vagina and is crucial for healthy lubrication in that area. I could go on and on but just one more... skin. It hydrates, increases collagen and allows a better balance with testosterone so that hormone cannot dominate and cause problems like acne. Kay...enough with the estrogen preaching.

You already know exercising too little can be harmful to the body. Exercising too much can be just as harmful. According to Dr Uzzi Reiss in his great book, 'The Natural Superwoman', over exercising leads to an increase in the formation of free radicals and inflammation which leads to premature aging. I see some people abuse and punish their body by overeating junk, allowing excess weight and not bothering to exercise. Then sometimes these same people do a 360, lose the weight but then go on to punish themselves by going to extremes through pushing too hard. They are still punishing themselves, just in a different way.

I think your goals to be fit and healthy are admirable. I would urge you though to be kind to yourself in the process. Respect your body and what is was designed for. You are female so if you have breasts, that's wonderful. Your babies will be nurtured and soothed by them. Your husband will love them and hopefully you can learn to love them too. Love what you have and tend to it with kindness. One day you hope to be a parent. I'm sure you will try not to overindulge your children and enable them to be lazy and spoiled. On the other side, I'm sure you will include moderate discipline with love. You won't want your children to think they are never good enough and push and punish them in cruel and unusual ways. It's just as important not to do that to yourself.

I hope you can learn to look in the mirror and love and accept what you have achieved. There will always be flaws. The man you want to settle down with and have children with will be unlikely to notice or dwell on your flaws, neither should you. It's obvious from your photos that you are an attractive young woman. Purging and whipping yourself to get shredded (which actually means dropping to unhealthy amounts of body fat) can do much harm to your future life. I'm not saying you shouldn't be slim. That's great, but nurture yourself with a balanced amount of self discipline. If you thrive on goal setting, make goals for your body that won't threaten to disrupt your incredible reproductive design or hormonal make up.

I encourage you to have a life long respect for your body. Even after child rearing it will be important to protect your hormones and keep the flight or fight hormone, cortisol from dominating your life. I am 40 now. I had five children in my twenties and thirties. Each decade brings us different challenges. It probably won't be a great idea to drop your body fat down to near single digits even after having children. I guess I could look in the mirror and want more tone in my arms, harder abs..whatever. But I think obsessing over such things robs joy from life. I have learned to be slim and healthy through studying nutrition and applying that to real ife but learning to be okay with less than perfection is the greatest challenge for us all.

That's my long two cents. I'm done lecturing.

Wow PPC, that was an amazing read...Thank you!!!

[Iamdetermined]

Well, thanks for being open enough to listen. At the risk of wearing out my welcome to your thread, I'll give a little more motherly advice then I promise not to clutter up your thread any further.
I'm glad you want to be wise about preparing your body for future pregnancies and the possibility of raising a family.

The female body starts releasing eggs once a girl reaches around 20% body fat. That is the signal to begin the monthly cycle that involves the intricate rise and fall each month of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone . Interestingly, that 20% figure is the main reason why girls are starting to get their periods earlier than they used to in history. Due to modern, overly carb rich diets, higher body fat is being reached at much earlier ages and this is when female fat cells tell the ovaries, "I am now padded like a woman so do your thing!"

We are all so unique so there is no magic body fat number where your hormonal balance will suddenly be disrupted. Women in their early twenties have average body fat percentages starting at 21% and going up from there. You are already at 17% body fat. Your body has been cycling hormones for many years so it has been trained well and will not suddenly stop once you drop below 20%. Your body will fight hard to keep you as a reproductive adult, it wants you to be able to make and give life, so it will struggle to keep you this way but when pushed too hard against the wall, it will eventually have to give up. While you may still be able to cycle at 17 percent and some women can continue to do so even dropping down to 15%, it is more common for women to stop their periods when they dip below 18%.

Female athletes often look at the absence of their period as the bar that tells them they have finally passed a healthy body percentage. Actually, a lot of damage can be done before the period stops. It is one of the final warning signals of the body, not the first. Over training, especially when it is combined with under eating raises the hormone cortisol which has a significant depleting effect on estrogen and progesterone. When that stress hormone goes up, the sea saw is thrown off kilter and your much needed sex hormones come down.

Estrogen and progesterone are both needed for bone health. A too early decline is a set up for diseases like osteo arthritis later in life. Estrogen is also our natural anti depressant. When it is depleted, serotonin levels drop and depression can result along with more aches and pains since serotonin is our natural pain reliever. A lack of estrogen can result in anxiety, panic attacks and an increase in OCD tendencies. So sometimes obsessions with body image are exasperated, the more body fat and estrogen are lowered, the more the desire for them to be even lower so it becomes a viscious cycle. Similar to anorexia, body image and goals become distorted and not naturally attainable. In this state any body fat can be viewed as repugnant when in fact a certain amount of female fat layers are necessary and beautiful. Perception just gets thrown off.

Estrogen is important for our sexuality, our sociability, the health and PH of the vagina and is crucial for healthy lubrication in that area. I could go on and on but just one more... skin. It hydrates, increases collagen and allows a better balance with testosterone so that hormone cannot dominate and cause problems like acne. Kay...enough with the estrogen preaching.

You already know exercising too little can be harmful to the body. Exercising too much can be just as harmful. According to Dr Uzzi Reiss in his great book, 'The Natural Superwoman', over exercising leads to an increase in the formation of free radicals and inflammation which leads to premature aging. I see some people abuse and punish their body by overeating junk, allowing excess weight and not bothering to exercise. Then sometimes these same people do a 360, lose the weight but then go on to punish themselves by going to extremes through pushing too hard. They are still punishing themselves, just in a different way.

I think your goals to be fit and healthy are admirable. I would urge you though to be kind to yourself in the process. Respect your body and what is was designed for. You are female so if you have breasts, that's wonderful. Your babies will be nurtured and soothed by them. Your husband will love them and hopefully you can learn to love them too. Love what you have and tend to it with kindness. One day you hope to be a parent. I'm sure you will try not to overindulge your children and enable them to be lazy and spoiled. On the other side, I'm sure you will include moderate discipline with love. You won't want your children to think they are never good enough and push and punish them in cruel and unusual ways. It's just as important not to do that to yourself.

I hope you can learn to look in the mirror and love and accept what you have achieved. There will always be flaws. The man you want to settle down with and have children with will be unlikely to notice or dwell on your flaws, neither should you. It's obvious from your photos that you are an attractive young woman. Purging and whipping yourself to get shredded (which actually means dropping to unhealthy amounts of body fat) can do much harm to your future life. I'm not saying you shouldn't be slim. That's great, but nurture yourself with a balanced amount of self discipline. If you thrive on goal setting, make goals for your body that won't threaten to disrupt your incredible reproductive design or hormonal make up.

I encourage you to have a life long respect for your body. Even after child rearing it will be important to protect your hormones and keep the flight or fight hormone, cortisol from dominating your life. I am 40 now. I had five children in my twenties and thirties. Each decade brings us different challenges. It probably won't be a great idea to drop your body fat down to near single digits even after having children. I guess I could look in the mirror and want more tone in my arms, harder abs..whatever. But I think obsessing over such things robs joy from life. I have learned to be slim and healthy through studying nutrition and applying that to real ife but learning to be okay with less than perfection is the greatest challenge for us all.

That's my long two cents. I'm done lecturing.

Wow.. everything makes sense now ....

When I was 15 I had anorexia and I did stop ovalating for about a year, everything you mentioned was prominent from my bones aching and having pain to OCD and panic attacks. Thankfully enough with time and support I got back to a healthy weight range and started ovalating, maybe a bit to healthy to say the least but that was probably because I damaged my metabolism so badly.

I have noticed in the last 3 months I have become very focused. My whole life is about going to the gym, I am happy but in a different way I guess I am not a social butterfly anymore. I also don't struggle with 'binge eating' probably due to my OCD and if I eat anything bad (a piece of bread in catergrozed as bad in my books) I will have a panic attack. Yesterday I was walking around the shopping centre eating a tin of tuna who does that haha.

I have really thought twice about my goals because of you, when I want something I do absoutley anything to get it and in the end I always find I hurt myself, once again because I am not knowledagable. so I might just suck it up and remember what is best for me not what I want I don't want to have osteo arthritis when I am older.


But once again thank you, you are an angel. Keep doing what your doing. God bless x

[tall76]

Advice was good so far from other members. Bring up the intensity of ur resistance workouts and bring down the volume!! To put some lean mass on that upper body you want to be working in the 8-12 rep range. That doesn't mean you do an exercise for 8-12 reps- it means u pick a weight that you reach failure between 8 and 12 reps. It's not training like a guy or a girl, it's training a human body the right way to gain strength and mass

[SlimmerMe]

Another Magical post by PPC. She has taught me so much and I am still learning from her all the time. Her arrival here was a true gift.

Now.....if we can just get her to come around more often!

[Iamdetermined]

Ill hold you to that...

Just for you ....

[Times Roman]

Just for you ....

Wow You are really ripped
I noticed you wisely took the dirty sock off the bed

U can thank me later =)

[Iamdetermined]

Wow You are really ripped
I noticed you wisely took the dirty sock off the bed

U can thank me later =)

hahaha OCD cleaning, OCD training & diet ? is that how it works... it feels good having a clean room though

[Times Roman]

See, I thought it was because LB and I were giving you the business about your dirty room. See how nice and clean it is now? =)

[Iamdetermined]

Advice was good so far from other members. Bring up the intensity of ur resistance workouts and bring down the volume!! To put some lean mass on that upper body you want to be working in the 8-12 rep range. That doesn't mean you do an exercise for 8-12 reps- it means u pick a weight that you reach failure between 8 and 12 reps. It's not training like a guy or a girl, it's training a human body the right way to gain strength and mass

had a rest day today ate alot of carbs... tomorrow I will crank that INTENSITY TO THE FULLEST WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOO.

[ghettoboyd]

i just wanted to say welcome to the forum

[dooie]

had a rest day today ate alot of carbs... tomorrow I will crank that INTENSITY TO THE FULLEST WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOO.

Work out your TDEE! And we can work out your cardio and diet from there, I think your doing too much cardio IMO, you may be burning too many cals and not eating enough for your body to grow (muscle)

I wanna hear about your workout I suggested!

[lovbyts]

Just for you ....

Good girl and your shoes are even nicely lined up instead of scattered all over the hallway.

[Iamdetermined]

i just wanted to say welcome to the forum

Thank you and hello

[Iamdetermined]

Good girl and your shoes are even nicely lined up instead of scattered all over the hallway.

If only you saw my wardrobe haha.. my thongs, my runners & my cycle boots are they only shoes that deserve to be placed nicely underneath my bed.

[auslifta]

Yesterday I was walking around the shopping centre eating a tin of tuna who does that haha.

I do lol

[Iamdetermined]

Work out your TDEE! And we can work out your cardio and diet from there, I think your doing too much cardio IMO, you may be burning too many cals and not eating enough for your body to grow (muscle)

I wanna hear about your workout I suggested!

Well.. I didn't go gym today I really needed a rest .. but tomorrow I will try the workout u suggested followed by HIIT on the treadmill for 20 mins ..

wakeup - might go on the treadmill for 20 mins in fasted state supplemented with BCCA's

breakfast
1/2 cup multigrain oats
1 scoop myofusion protein powder

snack

100 g rocket
70 g tomato
70 g cucumber
50 g yellow pepper
60 g of very lean beef
w/ 10 g flaxseed oil, 10 g lemon juice & salt & pepper

lunch

100 g ocotopus marinated with 1 garlic clove 5 g of olive oil, lemon juice & salt n pepper
100 g broccoli

snack
1 egg
2 egg whites
40 spinach
1/2 cup of diced canned tomatos

workout

pwo - 1 scoop of myo fusion with 5 g gulatamine

dinner
steamed fish
steamed broccoli & caulifower


2moro I will be eating the following .. (I have already preared as it is my first day back at work tomorrow and I will be training in the evening)

[Iamdetermined]

I do lol

Haha woo, I am not the only one. I got some strange looks but ohwell, you gotta do what u gotta do.

[Times Roman]

Well, thanks for being open enough to listen. At the risk of wearing out my welcome to your thread, I'll give a little more motherly advice then I promise not to clutter up your thread any further.
I'm glad you want to be wise about preparing your body for future pregnancies and the possibility of raising a family.

The female body starts releasing eggs once a girl reaches around 20% body fat. That is the signal to begin the monthly cycle that involves the intricate rise and fall each month of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone . Interestingly, that 20% figure is the main reason why girls are starting to get their periods earlier than they used to in history. Due to modern, overly carb rich diets, higher body fat is being reached at much earlier ages and this is when female fat cells tell the ovaries, "I am now padded like a woman so do your thing!"

We are all so unique so there is no magic body fat number where your hormonal balance will suddenly be disrupted. Women in their early twenties have average body fat percentages starting at 21% and going up from there. You are already at 17% body fat. Your body has been cycling hormones for many years so it has been trained well and will not suddenly stop once you drop below 20%. Your body will fight hard to keep you as a reproductive adult, it wants you to be able to make and give life, so it will struggle to keep you this way but when pushed too hard against the wall, it will eventually have to give up. While you may still be able to cycle at 17 percent and some women can continue to do so even dropping down to 15%, it is more common for women to stop their periods when they dip below 18%.

Female athletes often look at the absence of their period as the bar that tells them they have finally passed a healthy body percentage. Actually, a lot of damage can be done before the period stops. It is one of the final warning signals of the body, not the first. Over training, especially when it is combined with under eating raises the hormone cortisol which has a significant depleting effect on estrogen and progesterone. When that stress hormone goes up, the sea saw is thrown off kilter and your much needed sex hormones come down.

Estrogen and progesterone are both needed for bone health. A too early decline is a set up for diseases like osteo arthritis later in life. Estrogen is also our natural anti depressant. When it is depleted, serotonin levels drop and depression can result along with more aches and pains since serotonin is our natural pain reliever. A lack of estrogen can result in anxiety, panic attacks and an increase in OCD tendencies. So sometimes obsessions with body image are exasperated, the more body fat and estrogen are lowered, the more the desire for them to be even lower so it becomes a viscious cycle. Similar to anorexia, body image and goals become distorted and not naturally attainable. In this state any body fat can be viewed as repugnant when in fact a certain amount of female fat layers are necessary and beautiful. Perception just gets thrown off.

Estrogen is important for our sexuality, our sociability, the health and PH of the vagina and is crucial for healthy lubrication in that area. I could go on and on but just one more... skin. It hydrates, increases collagen and allows a better balance with testosterone so that hormone cannot dominate and cause problems like acne. Kay...enough with the estrogen preaching.

You already know exercising too little can be harmful to the body. Exercising too much can be just as harmful. According to Dr Uzzi Reiss in his great book, 'The Natural Superwoman', over exercising leads to an increase in the formation of free radicals and inflammation which leads to premature aging. I see some people abuse and punish their body by overeating junk, allowing excess weight and not bothering to exercise. Then sometimes these same people do a 360, lose the weight but then go on to punish themselves by going to extremes through pushing too hard. They are still punishing themselves, just in a different way.

I think your goals to be fit and healthy are admirable. I would urge you though to be kind to yourself in the process. Respect your body and what is was designed for. You are female so if you have breasts, that's wonderful. Your babies will be nurtured and soothed by them. Your husband will love them and hopefully you can learn to love them too. Love what you have and tend to it with kindness. One day you hope to be a parent. I'm sure you will try not to overindulge your children and enable them to be lazy and spoiled. On the other side, I'm sure you will include moderate discipline with love. You won't want your children to think they are never good enough and push and punish them in cruel and unusual ways. It's just as important not to do that to yourself.

I hope you can learn to look in the mirror and love and accept what you have achieved. There will always be flaws. The man you want to settle down with and have children with will be unlikely to notice or dwell on your flaws, neither should you. It's obvious from your photos that you are an attractive young woman. Purging and whipping yourself to get shredded (which actually means dropping to unhealthy amounts of body fat) can do much harm to your future life. I'm not saying you shouldn't be slim. That's great, but nurture yourself with a balanced amount of self discipline. If you thrive on goal setting, make goals for your body that won't threaten to disrupt your incredible reproductive design or hormonal make up.

I encourage you to have a life long respect for your body. Even after child rearing it will be important to protect your hormones and keep the flight or fight hormone, cortisol from dominating your life. I am 40 now. I had five children in my twenties and thirties. Each decade brings us different challenges. It probably won't be a great idea to drop your body fat down to near single digits even after having children. I guess I could look in the mirror and want more tone in my arms, harder abs..whatever. But I think obsessing over such things robs joy from life. I have learned to be slim and healthy through studying nutrition and applying that to real ife but learning to be okay with less than perfection is the greatest challenge for us all.

That's my long two cents. I'm done lecturing.

This is probably one of the best reads/posts i've seen in along time. Life is about balance, and your narrative here does a great job in that department.

Very touching!
Thank you =)
---Roman

[Iamdetermined]

This is probably one of the best reads/posts i've seen in along time. Life is about balance, and your narrative here does a great job in that department.

Very touching!
Thank you =)
---Roman

I know, I shed a tear .. I was unaware of all this.. thank god I joined this forum I don't think I could ever re-pay PPC

[SlimmerMe]

Sometime when you have a moment try to read some her other posts. They are ALL brilliant. She is the pro here. And again, has taught me so much. And more than that? She loves imparting info which is very admirable. Yes you had perfect timing Iamdetermined. You were at the right place at the right time. Lucky girl.

And as far as the Lounge? Another arena.

[PPC]

Sometime when you have a moment try to read some her other posts. They are ALL brilliant. She is the pro here. And again, has taught me so much. And more than that? She loves imparting info which is very admirable. Yes you had perfect timing Iamdetermined. You were at the right place at the right time. Lucky girl.

And as far as the Lounge? Another arena.

Slima, you have the gift of encouragement and that means a lot to people. I have learned from others here too, including you and continue to do so. I am far from a pro though. I realize, the more I know...the more I don't know.

Since you have encouraged me so much I want to say publicly that any forum here that you visit is uplifted by your kind words and gentle life coaching. This site is blessed by you and the inclusive and welcoming tone you set. It has become a class act, with much less of the nastiness that goes on in other health forums so I hope you know that. Said I would no longer clutter Iamdetermined's thread but felt compelled to respond.

[Iamdetermined]

Slima, you have the gift of encouragement and that means a lot to people. I have learned from others here too, including you and continue to do so. I am far from a pro though. I realize, the more I know...the more I don't know.

Since you have encouraged me so much I want to say publicly that any forum here that you visit is uplifted by your kind words and gentle life coaching. This site is blessed by you and the inclusive and welcoming tone you set. It has become a class act, with much less of the nastiness that goes on in other health forums so I hope you know that. Said I would no longer clutter Iamdetermined's thread but felt compelled to respond.

I agree I have only been on here a week and every thread I have seen you post in you are very welcoming and encouraging .. I am half way through your *SlimmerMe's Progress Log* and you seem like an amazing person, very inspiring I cannot wait to finish reading it

[SlimmerMe]

Slima, you have the gift of encouragement and that means a lot to people. I have learned from others here too, including you and continue to do so. I am far from a pro though. I realize, the more I know...the more I don't know.

Since you have encouraged me so much I want to say publicly that any forum here that you visit is uplifted by your kind words and gentle life coaching. This site is blessed by you and the inclusive and welcoming tone you set. It has become a class act, with much less of the nastiness that goes on in other health forums so I hope you know that. Said I would no longer clutter Iamdetermined's thread but felt compelled to respond.

You are very kind PPC and this warmed my heart. Really really did. Touched me. Thank you so much.

I agree I have only been on here a week and every thread I have seen you post in you are very welcoming and encouraging .. I am half way through your *SlimmerMe's Progress Log* and you seem like an amazing person, very inspiring I cannot wait to finish reading it

You too Iamdetermined. I truly appreciate this. Really do. Thanks.

[-KJ-]

Just dropping in to say good luck with your goal Iam....
I am subscribed to see where this one goes...

KJ

[Iamdetermined]

Hey everyoneeeeeee !

So I got a bit bored at work and decided to give myself another challenge...
can you give me some feedback on the diet I have just created .. my training detail is not in depth although this weekend I am going to create a detailed planned and share with you, for now I would just mainly like some feedback on my diet

Thanks

The link is below

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...WJsRWY4ZDN1Znc

[auslifta]

Are you still aiming to do a cut? lean bulk?

If a cut, make Tuesday a low carb day. If lean bulk, up your cals(ramp up to 200 over 2 weeks) keeping macros the same and do moderate carb day5 days and see if you need to adjust carbs or not. Good spreadsheet setup

[Iamdetermined]

Are you still aiming to do a cut? lean bulk?

If a cut, make Tuesday a low carb day. If lean bulk, up your cals(ramp up to 200 over 2 weeks) keeping macros the same and do moderate carb day5 days and see if you need to adjust carbs or not. Good spreadsheet setup

so do not refer to 'high carb day' at all ? I was looking forward to weetbix, whey & Banana ohwell lol.

[Standby]

i see you have it set as your working out everyday? i personally think and like to have a no carb day the day before your cheat day. i also dont work out on this day as you need to rest and recover

** i see friday is your high carb and saturday is just cardio. i personally would have the high carb friday and no carb saturday plus rest saturday and then my cheat meal on sunday. also helps because saturday seems to be the hardest to stay on diet so if your doing no carbs you dont even get to taste or feel them so you have less temptation in my experience anyways. but find out what works for you. just a thought if things are going as good as you want

**another damn edit** you also didnt answer austa if you were cutting or lean bulk so i assumed cutting

your spreadsheet makes me love you its awesome. slfmade would be impressed he is a spreadsheet freak