Expert: Meg - 1/20/2006

Question
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Hi meg!
Thank you for your reply.  I just had a couple of questions.  First, I wanted to tell you that i have seen a nutritionist before, but it was a waste if a ton of money.  She made me eat too many carbs and I gained weight.  I will not spend money to gain weight.  Also, I have had a recommendation to cut weight lifting and do yoga and pilates before.  I don't feel like they will give me a good workout because I don't sweat but I am willing to try because you said it worked for you and I can't take these bulky short legs anymore.  DO you have any video suggestions? I would really welcome a change.  How much cardio do you recommend?  I just don't feel like I've worked out unless I am dripping with sweat.  I think my body looked better when I didn't work out because it wasn't this bulky.  But now I am terrified to cut back because I don't want to gain weight.  Also, do you have any nutrition suggestions for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks?  Thank you and God Bless. Amy

Answer
Hey Amy,

I'm so sorry that you had such a bad experience with the nutritionist.  In honestly, I think there are a lot of not so great ones out there who don't "get it" exactly and I can totally understand not wanting to pay not to get the results you are looking for.  That must have been incredibly frusterating.  

I honestly think a food plan is pretty personal and really needs to be tailormade to what works for you (person preferences and for your body).  It sounds like a higher carb plan was not helpful for you-so perhaps you need to focus on doing a lower carb plan so that you feel good about it (which plays a huge part in feeling successful, I think).  I'm kind of the opposite and am always quite miserable if I try to cut too many carbs, but like I said, I think everyone's bodys are unique and its good if you can figure out what works best for you.  I think that you mentioned that you were eating consistantly throughout the day-but if you are not, this can be a really great trick for getting your metabolism going strong again.  Some people recommend 5 mini meals rather than a few larger ones in that your body consistantly has fuel but never has a gigantic meal to digest so this might be something to try (if you're not already doing it-and I seem to remember that you were doing a good job at spreading your intake out).  Gosh, some good nutrition ideas that I think are well balanced include:
protein bars (seriously, they do all the balancing for you so you don't have to stress and are great and portable-and I think come in low carb variety as well if that's what you choose to do), a small omlette with eggs, a little bit of cheese and veggies (the veggies will add a bit of fiber and also up your veggie intake), an apple with peanut butter, cereal and milk (again, you can get this in low carb and I *think* they even have low carb milk now), fruit and a handful of nuts, yogurt, cottage cheese and fruit stirred in, a high protein cup of soup, etc.  Some other things to keep in mind are that the more you can increase your fiber intake, the more full you will feel so its helpful to try to keep this up (and its easy with a lower carb plan for one's fiber to be rather low).  And of course, drinking water is also quite important and good for your body-both in weight loss efforts and just in general for your health.  

I can totally relate to feeling as if I didn't really work out without working up a sweat.  Actually, at least for me, exercise is a great stress reliever as well so getting some cardio in is not a bad thing.  I think they key is to balance your cardio (30-45 mins is usually enough depending on the intensity) with other stuff.  I don't think that you need to totally cut out the weight training, but perhaps you can decrease it and swap some of those days with yoga and/or pilates and also maybe trade a few cardio workouts for these new options.  There are actually different types of yoga and some are more like cardio than others.  As with the diet, I think its highly individual as to which appeals to you, but I know that Bikram (done in a hot room-so you most definitely will sweat-although you probably can't do that with a video) or Power Yoga are good for getting your heart rate up.  I'm not that familiar with videos but a few good ones that I have heard a lot about include: Windsor Pilates (www.windsorpilates.com), For yoga: http://exercise.about.com/cs/yoga/tp/yoga.htm  and for pilates: http://exercise.about.com/cs/abs/tp/pilates.htm Here is a good link to the yoga/pilates store online.  They seem to have a big variety of stuff to choose from: http://www.yogapilatesstore.com/  I, personally, found it helpful to go to a class at the gym at first, as it was less confusing and you could ask questions.  However, I have friends who love working out alone and swear by their yoga videos, so I guess it depends on your preferences.  Another good tool is a stability/balance ball (those big balls that one can do crunches and a variety of exercises on).  They can be fairly cheap and are a good workout supplement.  

I realy think that doing some sort of flexibility/strengh training will be helpful as it will lengthen the muscles that you have so that you feel less bulky.  Let me know how it works!

Again, I hope this helps some.  Please feel free to write again if there is more that I can do.  I can so totally relate to what you are going through and although I know that this isn't the answer you probably want to hear, all I can say is that it just takes time and trial and error for you to figure out the right balance of what works for your body and keeps you healthy while also making you feel comfortable and at peace with your weight/body composition.  Keep doing what you are doing-and keep trying new things as well to see what works best for you.  It really sounds like you have a great head on your shoulders and are on the right path and I wish you success and happiness-both with your weight and in general.

Take care, okay?
Meg