Question:
I am a 27-year-old woman, 174cm tall and weigh 68-70 kilos. I am at a healthy weight range for my height and am not overweight. However, I have always carried excess fat around my stomach, hips and thighs and want to lose about five kilos and tone up. I have been going to a gym for about five months and do three to four sessions of weights and cardio each week, as well as, trying to walk on days that I don't go to the gym. I have limited my calorie intake to 12-1400 per day — but still, I have seen little results and am getting a little frustrated (to put it politely). My weights include upper arms/chest ranging between 10-20kg with three reps of 15, lower legs — presses (55kg) curls (15kg) squats (20kg) — and cardio of 20 minutes on the cross trainer on interval, bike for 10 minutes on fat burn and treadmill of interval jog/run for 15 minutes. This fitness program for weight loss has been set by my personal trainer and we are both at a loss as to why I am not getting the desired results — so I am now seeking a second opinion. What am I doing wrong? Please help.

Answer:
The basic principles of any fitness program for weight loss can be summed up in the acronym FITT. So lets apply this to your training outline:

• F — Frequency: how often you train.
  In terms of volume you are training four times a week at the gym and on the other three days you are walking so this is certainly enough exercise to enable you to achieve good results.

   

• I — Intensity: how hard you train.
  From what you have described it's difficult for me to assess the intensity of your sessions, but with your cardio training you should include interval training to really get that heart rate pumping. Combine this with easier sessions with your heart rate at approximately 55-65 percent of your maximum rate.

   

• T — Time: how long you train for.
  As you are training every day, your gym sessions should be a maximum of 45-60 minutes. On the weekend, aim to include some ''fat burner'' sessions such as an 80-90 minute long walk, that includes hills.

   

• T — Type: the type of training you do (cardio, weights etc.)
  You have hit a plateau in terms of results so you need to change the ratio of weights to cardio training. Reduce your weights training to two sessions per week and don't do single set exercises — instead, set up a circuit style routine which may include eight to 12 exercises working all the different muscle groups. Aim to do 15-20 repetitions on each exercise and have a one minute rest at the end of each circuit. You can complete this circuit for approximately 30 minutes and then do an easy cardio cool down. At the other two gym sessions, spend 45-60 minutes in a cardio session mixing it up with treadmill, cross trainer, bikes, rower and stepper.

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