A plan for getting back in shape?

June 13, 2009 12:53 AM

Help me get back in shape! Specific recommendations for diet/exercise books or plans.

I'm naturally skinny, but I am by no means in shape. I want to lose fat and build muscle but I'm not trying to get thinner. If it matters, I'm female and 29.

I used to know how to exercise and eat healthy, but I have slacked off so much that I can't even remember how to do it anymore. I joined 24 Hour Fitness and I work out sporadically, but don't really feel like I know what I'm doing and my workouts feel ineffective. I don't have the money for a personal trainer.

What I'm looking for is mostly suggestions of specific books/diets/exercise regimens/websites that have worked for people and can help me get back to being healthy and fit. I don't need help with the motivation aspect so much as practical advice and a good game plan.

posted by Dilemma to health & fitness (14 answers total)

Oh girl, I hear you: I have the same body type, the same struggle to stay in shape (i.e., keeping muscle on, not just getting that weird kind of skinny-flabby), and the same state of having slacked off in the past year or two. My own exercise regimen, when I was being diligent about it, was yoga class 2 times a week and the gym 2-3 times a week; at the gym I would do about 30-40 mins. of cardio and then about 45 mins. of weight training. Swimming is supposed to be a great all-over cardio/toner as well; I've never made it a regular part of my own regimen, but (especially as my knees and hips have gotten wonky in my cursed middle age) I'm thinking of going in that direction. I'll be watching this thread for more advice for (re)developing a specific game plan, as I need some help on that score, too.

As for eating well, I think it's a matter of a kind of two-pronged approach: minimize processed foods as much as possible (junk food, frozen dinners, pastries, chips, etc.) while regularly keeping on hand a sort of "rotating cast" of fresh proteins, produce, and whole grains (as well as good pantry staples, like oils, vinegars, herbs, legumes, etc.) that can form the basis of a variety of meals without excessive time or preparation. For example, I usually have a bag of frozen sea scallops from Trader Joe's, as well as some brown rice, spinach, and shallots. So I can come home from work, sear the scallops and deglaze the pan with a little white wine; in the meantime, I'll make the rice, and in another pan saute the sliced shallots and then add in the spinach till it wilts ... and voila, healthy dinner for two in about 15 minutes.

My favorite cook book is Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, which is just brilliant and indispensable. You might want to start, though, with his most recent book, Food Matters, which is a broader look at food production today, and how to approach cooking/eating in a healthier, more conscious manner. (It comes with some recipes, too.)
posted by scody at 1:42 AM on June 13, 2009

Oh, and I also think Everyday Food is a useful little monthly digest of very simple recipes. They're nothing fancy but they will definitely get you in the habit of thinking about multiple ways to use seasonal ingredients and staples.
posted by scody at 1:57 AM on June 13, 2009

You may want to look at what you eat and how much you move.

Eating:
White sugar, white flower, corn, saturated fat, overprocessed food, anything containing corn syrup contribute towards storing calories (becoming heavier). Start reading the labels and explore restaurants, fast food chains that cater to more natural diets. By natural I mean things you would eat 80-100 years ago.

Movement:

Find a pleasant way to bring activity into your life. One possibility is dancing -- check your city for 5 rhytms / wave dance communities. A wave takes about an hour and dances usually include two waves which results in two+ hours of joyful exercise.

Is there any sport you actually enjoy? Movement and play are natural to our bodies and are the natural way to stay in shape.

Look for ways to move with joy and focus on the movement. Doing reps on a machine while absently listening to music or running in front of a tv does not bring your mind and body together.

Community:
Start gravitating towards people who look the way you want to look and join them in their activities. I suggest you choose the more lively, joyful of them and it's likely you'll end up in nature or on a court or a pool and not on a threadmill.

I am coming from my own experience. I dance about 6 hours a week, do different kinds of martial arts for another 2-3 hours. No gym, no reps, no miles. Just pure joy, often to full exhaustion. I stop eating when full, exlude anything containing white flower and corn syrup and avoid white sugar and genetically modified foods.

I am 6' and 163 lbs. Slim, feeling light and alive.

I still indulge in sweets from time to time but prefer honey and am not as addicted to sugar as I was.

Good luck
posted by andreinla at 2:07 AM on June 13, 2009 [1 favorite]

I had great results from The Abs Diet. The name is gimmicky but the underlying idea is sound: just changing what you eat isn't a great way lose weight, you need to exercise as well.

Without getting into the detail, the diet section focuses on encouraging you to eat lean protein and wholemeal/wholegrain foods, cutting down on refined carbohydrates and very fatty meats. It basically gives you a list of twelve broadly-defined food groups - "beans and other pulses" is one group, "Turkey and other lean meats" another - that make it easy to remember which foods you're aiming for. t you shouldn't need to count calories provided that you're sticking to a healthy mix of foods and getting plenty of exercise. There's at least one abs diet recipe book if you want it. I was given a copy and found it occasionally useful, but the principles are simple and there are plenty of recipe suggestions freely available online (e.g.).

The exercise section focuses on resistance training (mostly with weights) to build muscle. The underlying idea is that building and maintaining muscle is an energy-intensive process, so you'll keep burning calories at a high rate for hours after a weights session, unlike the fairly rapid return to normal after putting the same time and effort into a pure cardio session. If you like cardio it does encourage interval training, which I found hard work but worthwhile.

The book I linked to above is about 20% talking about the diet, about 80% clear descriptions and photos of the suggested exercises - some using weights, some you can do at home without equipment. I was a complete gym novice, so I found it really useful. It's aimed equally at both sexes, but it looks like there is an edition specifically aimed at women if you prefer.

Following this plan over a few months I got much fitter, noticeably stronger and lost quite a lot of body fat. I'm a fan.
posted by metaBugs at 2:18 AM on June 13, 2009 [2 favorites]

I am 28 and female, and about six months ago I was in the exact same position as you are now. What helped for me was making exercise part of my everyday routine. Biking to and from school and work helps a lot, and it's an easy - and fun - way to add exercise without making it feel like exercise. The video game aspect of being an urban bike commuter - avoid the buses that are aiming for the bus/bike lane! watch out for the pedestrians who stumble around onto the bike lane! dodge that taxi that is about to cut you off! - makes biking so much more entertaining than exercising at the gym.

What I do at the gym instead of treadmills and stationary bikes are the Pilates and yoga classes, which help build core muscles and flexibility.

Eating:
In addition to what has been said before, actively incorporate more leafy green vegetables on a regular basis, and if you eat what is in season, it will taste absolutely amazing. Mark Bittman is a great place to start.

Good luck! It feels great to be both skinny AND fit. :)
posted by so much modern time at 3:46 AM on June 13, 2009 [1 favorite]

I find yoga works wonders for your body type. A bit of weight training at the beginning might speed up your results too. Pilates is worth trying as well.
posted by backwards guitar at 3:51 AM on June 13, 2009

The Hundred Pushups program is great. It's a six-week program (at least six weeks, it can take longer to build up to 100) that tells you exactly how many pushups to do, broken up into 5 sets per day, every other day. The program is great because it's so highly structured, and you don't even need to go to the gym for it. Tthe same website also has two companion workouts—200 situps and 200 squats.
posted by hooray at 4:11 AM on June 13, 2009

crossfit.com and the Zone Diet (well, Paleo Diet in Zone proportions) have been some of the best things ever to have happened to me.

simplefit.org and the Paleo Diet will get you pretty damn close with a lot less complexity.
posted by eek at 5:48 AM on June 13, 2009

Starting Strength (available as book and wiki) is stellar. New Rules of Lifting for Women is also OK, but I would do SS first.

Hundred Pushups is a great program for working up to build a hundred pushups, but what the hell is the point? It's not a proof of overall fitness. Find yourself a good strength-training program like the one above and get cracking.
posted by schroedinger at 6:04 PM on June 13, 2009

I've had a lot of luck with bodyrock.tv. It's given me a lot of good variety in my workouts since there are so many good videos on the site outlining different regimens with minimal equipment. Plus, as a guy, Zuzana is absolutely gorgeous.
posted by Arch_Stanton at 8:02 PM on June 13, 2009

Schroedinger's fitness advice is always spot-on, but I'm going to disagree and recommend New Rules of LIfting for Women. Starting Strength rocks, but use in in conjunction with the program in New Rules to nail down your form on your squat, deadlift, bench and overhead press. It also includes a nice section on nutrition.

My wife read both, and preferred New Rules.
posted by Barry B. Palindromer at 1:01 PM on June 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

Thanks for all your thoughts, and the book suggestions! I'm eager to get started and think I'll focus on basic healthy eating (way more fruits and veggies, way less refined/processed/sugary junk) along with a good strength training program. I was at the gym today trying to do some weights, and really had no idea where to begin or what to do. The books should help a lot with that.
posted by Dilemma at 11:06 PM on June 15, 2009

I've been using New Rules of Lifting for Women for almost a month now, and not only do I feel great about having a definite, regular gym routine, but I am seeing visible results. I'm getting more muscles and less fat, and the workouts take very little time.
posted by Dilemma at 10:05 PM on July 16, 2009

Cool! Congratulations on the success and new muscle!
posted by Barry B. Palindromer at 10:01 PM on July 20, 2009