A 1200 calorie diet + resistance training, will this work for me??? (details inside)?

Question

I am 72kgs (158lbs) & 171cm (5'7") and I am about to start a 1200 calorie diet.

The diet I'm going on is completely pre-cooked by chefs and designed by nutritionists. Everything is pre-packaged into three meals and two snacks a day and sent to me once a week so I don't have to count calories (Lite n' Easy).

I currently do resistance training 3-4 times a week at 85% heart rate for 30 minutes (Curves Gym). According to my gym who take my measurements and use some machine that puts an electric current through my body to find my BMI, it is 26. This is unhealthy.

I'm a size 10/12 AUS (6/8US 10/12UK) and I would like to be an 8/10AUS (2/6US 8/10UK).

I would like to lose 15 kgs (33lbs) to take me down to 57kgs (125lbs) up to 60kgs (132lbs).

I would like to lose this at a rate of 1kg (2.2lbs) per week.

When I reach my goal weight I will change the plan to a 1500 calorie plan.

Will I need to do more than this to loss weight at this rate?

Currently how much do you expect me to lose weekly? Monthly?

Answer 1

Your body fat percentage is 26% (not your BMI) and that is actually average for a female so it is healthy. 20%-24% body fat would be lean and anything under 20% body fat is athletic.

The fact that you are 26% body fat at your current weight is especially good and indicates you have a lot of lean muscle mass (also the reason you are only an AUS size 10/12).

But if you want to be leaner than you can continue with the resistance training as well as some cardio, but also be sure to eat plenty of lean protein or you can lose muscle. Don't worry about what you weigh, it's not important.

Answer 2

I'd kill the pre-packaged stuff and go with real, natural food. I'd also stop with the silly resistance trainining and lift weights and do high intensity cardio. Finally, 1200 is probably too little. You'll find that if you eat clean, take lots of protein, and up your caloric intake that, gasp, you will look a lot better than starving yourself and doing some silly diet.

Answer 3

From a (soon to be) health expert's point of view, your diet plan will most certainly lead to staleness or burnout due to lack of proper nutrition. This means, in the long term, not being able to fulfill your fitness and health goals. Once you burn out, you may lose the motivation to exercise, and (depending on circumstance and self-control) can even gain more weight than you originally had.

First off, you should compute how many calories your body is used to consuming. The best way to find out is to use a *BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) calculator with a lifestyle calculator. These can both be found on the internet.

*Basal Metabolic Rate is the number of calories you consume during a state of rest. Basically, it's how much energy you burn when you're sleeping. The younger, heavier, and taller you are, the more calories you will need. Caloric consumption also increases in males because of their larger muscle mass.

I did some computations for you and found out (assuming that you are 20 something years of age, and are a female) that you need around 1,500 calories to maintain basic daily functions. This does not include what we sports scientists call "Thermic Effect of Exercise," or how much calories you burn everyday through physical activity. Assuming you do light physical activity, this makes your caloric consumption rise to 1800 calories per day.

If you really want to maximize your fitness program, seek out a professional and trainer. Make sure your trainer is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (Certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association) . I am proud to say you already seem to be on the right track, getting professional nutritional help in preparing low-calorie, healthy, and balanced meals.

Did you know that 45 minutes of activity, whether it be walking, gardening or doing household chores can prevent the likelihood of a heart attack by as much as 50%? This proves that you don't necessarily need a membership in a gym to be healthier. If you insist on getting a more rigorous fitness program, all you need to do is take a brisk walk everyday around your neighborhood for 30 minutes (be nice and smile along the way, it's a great way to meet people), and couple it with a light weight training session thrice a week. When I say light, I mean lifting nothing above 15 pounds per exercise.

One last thing you should do is compute for your ideal weight and fitness activities (pick activities you enjoy!) using the internet BMR calculator. Let's say your ideal weight is 132lbs, with light-moderate exercise, your ideal caloric consumption would be a total of 1,650 calories (let's say you enjoy 1 hour of badminton everyday) to maintain that weight.

If you want to lose weight, then lower your caloric consumption by 10-20%, which is 100-300 calories daily from your current diet. If you are in a hurry, then subtract 500 calories everyday, but this does not work for most people.

It takes time, patience, and hard work. There are no shortcuts to a healthy body. I hope all of that helped. :)  

Answer 4

when doing cardio, try interval training becuase it burns more fat over a longer time than doing cardio at a steady pace. interval training involves doing a short burst of cardio followed by a twice as long steady pace, for example on a treadmill you could sprint or run fast for 30 - 60 seconds and then jog slowly or walk for 60 - 90 minutes, doing this for 20 minutes 3 times a week will definately have you seeing improvements, but keeping up the resisistance training aswell. just remember as long as your eating good healthy meals aswell you will definately see the difference. good luck