Slimming Down & Toning Up - advice needed for a newbie

Hi Girls
I'd really love some advice please...
Have been going to the gym for about 7 years now. Started about 2 years after the birth of my 3rd child and lost about 9kg and got incredibly fit (and loved my extremely toned body). Had baby #4, almost 4 years ago and I'm still not quite back to where I'd like to be figure wise, but on my way and happy with the way I look (but need to do more work).
I am 167cm, weigh 56kg, 34% muscle, waist 69cm, hips 86cm and chest 83cm. I cant remember my fat % though. I will check tomororw.
Up until now it has been quite hard for me to go to the gym very much because my husband works long hours, 6 days pw and I have no one to look after the children, but as of about 2 weeks ago I am now going to the gym 4 x per week (3 x weekdays in my lunch breaks & once on the weekend) and on these days I do essentially weight training only, working out entire body per session. On my alternate days I go for a 4km run (I LOVE running). I've seen a definate difference in the last week that my muscles are getting bigger yay!!!
My legs are really toned, my arms and butt are on their way and I have firm abs (but under my little post baby belly which my husband tells me is skin).
I have been told that I shouldnt be doing so much cardio though? Is this correct?

Diet:
Breakfast - Gluten free porridge for breakfast with flaxseed oil and a small dollop of low fat yoghurt
Lunch - Protein Shake (taken 1/2 hr after exercise) and generally with a boiled egg or a small tin of tuna or chickpeas. I've tried eating green salads but they just dont fill me up.
Dinner - almost always something healthy like atlantic salmon + veg and I try not to eat carbs every night and only have them every second night (as per the advice of an incredible sports nutritionist I use to see). I dont have bread or dairy, sweets etc.

Is it ok to have a Protein Shake every day and are they ok to have as snacks if you get hungry but have already had one for lunch?

I drink the Protein Shake 1/2 hr after exercise.

Is it ok to work out your entire body with weights in the one session? Or should I do lower body one day and upper body another day? If I do that way it means I only work out lower body twice a week and upper body the same, rather than four times per week that I do now.

Also, I've love to use more machines that help your glutes. Any suggestions as to which machines are best for this? I try to steer away from free weights as I've always had such bad form and no matter how much they correct me, I go back to my bad ways again.

I try to snack on Goji Berries or Almonds if I need to.
I drink 2-3 ltrs of water per day.

I essentially want to lose about 3 kg and get really toned all over, but especially legs, butt and arms.

Does anyone take creatine??

Hi lucy,

On dieting - have as many protein shakes as you like, but you have to count those as calories. If you are trying to lose weight, you want to have less calories, so perhaps less shakes is what you want. I avoid all foods that don't fill me up but contain a lot of calories when I try to lose weight (e.g. protein shakes, biscuits, soft drinks, etc.). The big key to weight loss is counting calories and staying consistent with your diet (and eating slightly less than the total calories your body needs each day)

On weight training - a lot of people here are borderline religious towards free weights over machines... I have certainly found more success myself using free weights and bigger movements. I'm not aware of any machine exercises that are great for what you're after.

On a split routine vs full body, I think do whatever you prefer. I think most people do split routines once they reach a more advanced strength level (beyond beginner) and fitting all their exercises into one day is too difficult (cause it means 3hr workouts).

Ooops - just realised your OP was directed at the women and this is the womens section.... I still think my advice holds.

Advice shouldn't really differ between men and women

How many calories are you eating per day?

What's the breakdown of protein/carbs/fats?

Sounds to me like you are doing great after 4 kids. A quick look at your diet makes me think it's a bit low in protein - but you need to track it. Try My Fitnesspal app, its free.

Do full body workouts to cut fat. Squats, dead lifts, bench presses, rows, overhead presses. Gradually add weights.

Start a log on here.

Thanks guys for the replies
I'm 17.5% fat
I have absolutely no idea how many calories I consume per day as I've never before counted them and I couldn't even begin to guess! Ill take your advice and start counting.
Absolutely minimal carb intake - I only have carbs with dinner every second night (eg one potato) and very little aside from that. I occasionally drink creatine (Concret) before a run if I'm feeling low on energy.
I try to eat an egg or chick peas with lunch plus protein shake to increase my protein
I don't have sugar at all nor dairy or bread. I have meat (either chicken or palm size red meat) perhaps every third night.
Appreciate comments re weights too I think I might need to back off using machines so much

Re: your weights program, read this thread http://ausbb.com/strength-training-power-lifting/9460-beginners-program.html

Check out page 2 as it discusses female benchmarks. Squats, bench, dead lifts, presses should become your best friends.

Your diet sounds pretty good, but it's impossible to know if you don't track your calories. You don't need to do it forever, but by tracking them you will get better advice as you can adjust your calorie intake to hit your goals. Start logging here. No one bites.

Oilucy, for the amount of exercise you stated in your OP, it seems that you are eating far too few calories?

Was that a typical daily diet?

Hi guys
Yea that's pretty much my standard diet - I downloaded the My Fitness Pal app and today consumed 713 calories
Thanks so much for your advice too I'm off to have a read of your link Harry. Really appreciate the help

Wow. Only 700 Cal's? You might think about doubling that to start with and see how you go.

Neddysmith said:

Wow. Only 700 Cal's? You might think about doubling that to start with and see how you go.

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+1 .... Oilucy, you should be working out your maintenance kcals for a day and then base your daily intake on that, or a 10-20% increase or decrease, according to your goals.

What exactly are your goals? 17.5% bf is quite lean.

I have no idea but if I double my calories won't I put on weight? I'm trying to lose just a little so that when my muscles get bigger you'll be able to see them
Could someone please explain the calorie thing?

I weigh 56kg and losing weight on 1400 kcals a day.....

Oilucy said:

I have no idea but if I double my calories won't I put on weight? I'm trying to lose just a little so that when my muscles get bigger you'll be able to see them
Could someone please explain the calorie thing?

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at 700 kcals per day, all you are doing is getting your body thinking it's starving and that won't do your metabolism any good at all.

you will not put on weight at 1400kcals per day.

I weigh 45.5kg and I'm struggling to put on weight at 1800kcals per day.

and I don't do your cardio

Basically if you dont consume enough Cal's over an extended period of time your metabolism starts slowing down which makes it harder and harder to lose weight, this will have to be rectified by increasing your cals over a period of time to what it should be and then you will be able to eat more and lose weight at the same time.

Trust me the same thing happened to me and it can fuck you up as you can continue dropping calls when your only consuming 700 Cal's a day.

Oh right I see now ..... So how do I increase calories healthily?

713 cals is a scary low number... I would be real worried if that is your average daily intake for longer then a month...

Perhaps have a closer look at some of the values you have used in my fitness pal to see if you have under estimated...

My goals are to trim down my hips and stomach and increase muscle tone all over - not to the extent of say an actual body builder, more like a fitness model

Yes 700 calories is about right. 900 a day max.

Oilucy said:

My goals are to trim down my hips and stomach and increase muscle tone all over - not to the extent of say an actual body builder, more like a fitness model

Click to expand...

Unless your on the juice..... You will struggle to add muscle as a female so don't worry about getting too muscular... Therefore you will need to take advantage of every bit of lean mass you can get!

I reckon you didn't add up correctly... 700 cals is like 1 foot long sub per day. I don't see how it's possible to not lose weight on 700 cals with all your activity.

I actually did 1500 cals going from 110kg to 85kg.. Boy was it hard... People couldn't believe how fast I lost the weight but I wouldn't recommend it, it took an iron will. Insane cravings.