Get Your Fitness and Nutrition Question Answered

Yes, I have had cardiac dysrhythmia (irregular heartbeats.)  And yes, I have had patients and clients with it as well.  It is not uncommon, in fact it is very common... BUT that does not mean that it is not a problem.

I can't tell you why you are having them, or what to do about them specifically without more data.  What I am certain about is that you must go to your doctor and have test done.  This is the same advice I've given myself and others.  Go to your doctor and get the necessary tests done to get clarity on the issue.  Tests will most likely include blood labs, imaging, and other lab tests (i.e. stress tests, etc.)  Do NOT mess around with your heart!

It may be something easy and simple like you are dehydrated, or low in magnesium.  Or you may be low in testosterone.  Or it may be something far more serious... We just don't know, until we know.  So go get more intel.

Call and make an appoint now. Don't hesitate or assume it will resolve on its own.

Thanks for your questions.

Yes, most workouts are targeted for adults, and while you are not legally an adult... your body is ready to be one. I began training (ie. lifting weights) at 12 years old. I've done martial arts since I was about 8 years old... almost 40 years later I'm still doing the same things. Train properly (technique, frequency, intensity, duration, etc.) and all will be fine. If you have a knowledgable coach in your area he may help you. Or even better... find a martial arts academy. The best martial art is the one you enjoy and will stick with for years to come. I recommend Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Sambo, Judo, Muay Thai, or MMA. BJJ is definitely number one if that is an option.

At 14 you probably have little to say with what food is being bought at the grocery store, but you can moderate the amounts you eat. For now, begin training in one of the ways stated above, and if fat is not coming off then begin reducing what you are currently eating. Obviously no candy, no sugary sodas or drink (i.e. juice), and in general as little sugar as possible. From there, you can begin reducing grains or other carbohydrates. Keep it simple and you'll be okay.

On a bigger note, I can not stress enough how import and life changing it can be for you to get involved in a challenging and/or competitive athletic endeavor like martial arts. You will likely find that your confidence will grow, and your unhappiness with your appearance will subside. Your body is simply a vehicle that moves the real you about in this world. There are plenty of people who walk around with ripped abs, but disgusting character. Focus on developing character, discipline, and kindness and it will all workout.

All the best.

Your calories are likely too high. I'd have you around 1400/day. Also for many people as we age we become less insulin sensitive, so your carb intake is likely too high as well.

Eliminating all sugar, and trying to keep your carbs low - around 100g or less/day... (calories coming primarily from fats and proteins) should help you get to your goals.

Not knowing your medical history, lifestyle, and preferences you may want to look into something like ketogenic diets or paleo diets as a source of food plans.

Give it a few weeks and see if you're moving in the right direction. If you are, great. Keep going. If not, you may want to get some blood work done to check your hormone levels (Thyroid panel, estrogen, testosterone,etc) and inflammatory markers (i.e. c-reactive protein).

All that said, rethink your plan of "drastically reducing body fat." Unless you like the idea of putting it all back on and then some. Rather, think more along the lines of "healthfully and methodically reducing body fat." The mind your most powerful tool employed in sculpting your body.

Good luck!

Not knowing your current progress and assuming you are moving in the right direction with your physique, your idea at the end of your question is a good one. Begin slowly incorporating burst training (HIIT) into your schedule. If your body (i.e. joints and muscles) do well with HIIT then I'd recommend doing more HIIT and back off the steady state running all together. IF... you really enjoy time on the track or treadmill and/or really enjoy steady state cardio you can walk (instead of run) and get about the same benefit while lessoning the impact on your joints.

Keep it up and remember that most people lose fat in the kitchen, not in the gym. Release your stress in the gym and not on food, and you should be able to achieve your goals.
Good luck!

Thanks for the question and info. Your diet looks good and you lost a healthy amount of weight for in a year. Stubborn belly fat is just that... stubborn. Give yourself time and make more demands on your body and you'll find the rewards you are looking for. Some suggestions: fasted cardio, intermittent fasting, ketogenic dieting, occasional cheat meals, and varied training (i.e. martial arts, cross fit, boot camp, etc.)

Don't do all these at once. Try one for 6-8 weeks and see how you do. Then another technique and compare results. Then trying combining a couple of these tricks for a few months. Have fun with the process and focus on steadily attaining a healthy weight for you.

Do NOT do Testosterone boosters. You are too young (by about 8 years) and it will likely cause problems for you down the road. That said, get your blood work done. Maybe your thyroid is too active or there is some other hormone imbalance. You can't know unless you get your blood lab tested.

You also want to make sure you are digesting your food properly. Probiotics and enzymes would be a good start to help your body get all the nutrients it needs.

Beyond that weight gain is typically done through over consumption of calories. If you are not a big eater, then you may have to drink your calories. Growing up I regularly drank 2-3 dozen eggs a day. Vince Gironda taught me this method. Start with 6-12 eggs and slowly work your way up, adding 2-4 eggs at a time until you reach your limit (you'll know your limit.) Yes, these are whole, raw eggs (preferably free range... it does make a difference.) Mix them with either heavy whipping cream, or half and half. And you can use a protein powder to flavor (good whey protein often works well... I prefer MTS brand.) Only use a blender if it can stir very slowly. Do NOT use a high speed blender. OR you can simply shake them up in shaker bottles. Drink this shake though out the day in between meals.

Good luck, enjoying eating, and get cracking :)

First keep going and keep working hard and smart. Second give your body time to recover and adapt to the demands. And third, feed yourself nutritious, muscle building foods (good fats and proteins... and tons of fluids.)

Many people cannot do proper body weight exercises, that is why many of the machines and weights were made. Rather than doing a 128lb pull up for 0 reps, do a 60lb pull down for 4 sets of 8 reps on the pull down machine.

Leave your ego and emotions at the door when you enter the gym and just do good work to make your body better and stronger each and every time you go in. Get a trainer or a knowledgable buddy to help you with machines and weights. And when you are strong enough to properly do you body weight on the pull down machine... then go do pull ups.

Great job on losing 55 pounds! If you enjoy doing cardio, please continue... but it is not a great way to lose body fat unless it's done first thing upon waking after fasting all night.
Your metabolism has probably slowed down to compensate for the caloric deficit you've put it in. The good news is you have discipline and can control what you put in your body.

While I'd prefer to know your metabolic and hormonal levels from some good blood work, I'm going to give you some basics to work off of.

1. Start lifting weights. Hard, intense resistance exercise will do wonders for your metabolism. Adding more muscle to your frame will convert your body into a fat burning machine. And seeing constant strength improvements should encourage you to keep going and never give up.

2. Use your discipline to vary your diet and allow your body to realize you are not dying. Basically, if our metabolism thinks we are not going to get any food - it slows down... Otherwise we would have died off very quickly as a species due to various famines. Remember the human body is an incredible adaptive mechanism. SO... you have to vary your diet when your body is not responding in a desirable way. This means adding "cheat" meals on occasion. These are meals that are calorically dense and completely foreign to your daily routine. This is a meal. ONE! Not a cheat day. The most common method is to diet until you no longer see progress and then add ONE cheat meal and the get back on your regular routine. For some this is every 5 days, while for others 3-4 weeks. It varies for each individual.

3. The other option is to vary your dieting techniques (ie. Intermittent fasting, paleo, ketogenic, vegan, etc.) There are a variety of ways to change the diet and caloric intake to trick the body into not realizing you are trying to take off fat (a tool for survival in times of famine.) You will still likely require cheat meals on occasion, for caloric reasons mentioned above.

Beyond these 3 basics, you may want to get some blood panel tests to see what going on metabolically (T4, T3, TSH, Total testosterone, free testosterone, E2, A1C, etc.) So for instance, if you're T3 comes back low (a common issue), your doctor can prescribe you the appropriate medicine and your mission will be that much more attainable.

Keep up the good work and good luck.

It's likely you are having a diaphragmatic issue. The diaphragm is a large muscle that enables us to breath appropriately. Sometimes with exhaustive cardio pulmonary exercise the diaphragm causes pain (common in running, swimming, and cycling.) It's good that you are already avoiding big meals or drinks before running as this is know to impede the diaphragm. Additionally you can try:
A: Drink FLUID throughout the day. Fluid is not just water. Fluids contain electrolytes (Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Phosphorus, Chloride, Bicarbonate). You can by electrolyte water (aka fluid) or simply make your own (as I do) and drink it through out the day. Do NOT buy stuff with a bunch of sweeteners or sugars!
B. Diaphragmatic breathing exercises and vacuums. Bodybuilders and yogis are great at these and there are plenty of examples on the internet.
C. You may want to go to a good massage therapist, chiropractor, or someone like that to help if your spine or ribs are slightly out of alignment.

Oh and keep running. The diaphragmatic pain is usually worse for beginners and goes away with experience and development.

Hope that makes sense and helps.

First get blood work done. It will inform you about your endocrine health which may be an issue. Sometimes when people diet/ exercise and lose a lot of weight the endocrine system can "slow down" to protect us from starving or dying (it doesn't know you're trying to lose weight.) Most common is the thyroid reducing t4 or t3 conversion.
This can be corrected with supplements or drugs. Often simply adding "cheat meals" once a week is all one needs. A cheat meal is ONE meal that is way off your normal diet and is supposed to trick you body to think you're no longer starving and prime the endocrine system.
Also, if your on a low fat diet then your testosterone may be low. Again this will stall fat loss.

My second suggestion is to begin weightlifting. High intensity resistance training builds muscle, and more muscle means more caloric demand on your body. So as long as you don't start regularly eating more calories (again occasional cheat meal is good), then you should begin losing more fat again.

Finally, start getting more focused on how your clothes fit instead of the scale. If you're putting on a pound of muscle and losing a pound of fat - the scale will be misleading.

Since I don't have many specifics (i.e. timeline of goals, experience, availability to train, or current diet) I'm offering my general advice.

1. Begin by monitoring the food you eat (i.e. food diary).  You need to know what you're doing wrong first.


2. Then start eliminating excess/junk calories by planning your meals the day before you eat (i.e. food budget)


3. Begin weightlifting 2-3 days a week (45 minutes), with one to two days off between workouts (i.e. M W F)


4. Train the whole body each time until you stop seeing results, then switch to a split routine.

Great question with a relatively easy answer.  Just move.  Squats, chair squats, lunges, stairs, assisted push ups (like off a counter top), pick heavy things up and put them down.  Do it repeatedly and consistently, and you'll be burning more calories versus just sitting.  In fact, stand when you would otherwise sit. Bottom line... MOVE!

Now to the more important part... Get out of your home and walk.  Put on headphones and listen to uplifting music (I love Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, etc., but you may like jazz, rock, or rap...  what ever it is- it must be positive and uplifting to you!) and go outside and walk.  Hold your head up high, smile, feel the music, be grateful for the ability to walk, and walk like there is nothing that can stop you.  Develop an uplifting incantation that you can repeat to your self over and over again as you walk.  It can be a prayer, mantra, phrase, quote, etc.  But it must be something that you can say and FEEL as you walk.  For example, one that I used to motivate me when I was having a hard time was simply "Every day, in every way I'm getting stronger and stronger" and I just keep adding more things... "Every day, in every way I'm feeling more and more happy" "Every day, in every way I'm getting better and better" On and on I would recite out loud these kinds of incantations (and many more)... and still do decades later.  And yes, you must do them out loud!  If I could do it before cell phones, then you have no excuse why you can't do it now. Everyone will simply assume your are on the phone.  You are going to become your own best friend to yourself who motivates rather than critiques, who inspires rather than shames, and feels immense gratitude rather than depression.

Finally, the most important part... After working with hundreds of women I've learned that in general (you may be an exception) when there is a woman who is very obese, there is often trauma in her past.   If you have trauma in your past (psychological, emotional, sexual, and/or physical) I highly recommend you work with a great person to get you out of the self defeating trance you are in.  This person may be a priest, minister, rabbi, psychologist, hypnotist, or simply a wise friend.  But the deeper issue that brought you to where you are today, the issue that causes you to make bad decisions when you know better - must be dealt with. Then you can free yourself from your self imposed limitations, and allow the fit, joyful, and grateful girl inside shine and help others.

Good luck and God bless

Amino acids are simply building blocks of protein.  They shouldn't be a big problem with fat burners if you really want to try them.  One specific amino acid is thought to be beneficial for fat loss, L-Carnitine.

Without seeing pictures to compare, nor having actual measurements to quantify if there was actual loss, it's hard to say. Most likely, your body responded well to your initial training and now you've plateaued. While you may not have lost actual size - the tight, full, pumped feeling you felt when you began is no longer happening because your body has become more tuned to your new size. Another issue could simply be dehydration. Muscle volume is largely based on water, so drink fluid and see if that helps. And by fluid I mean not just water, add electrolytes.

Remember any form of bodybuilding is basically like building a sand castle. It takes constant effort to maintain, and even more resilience to improve. Your body will want to reduce itself to be a more efficient organism. Just as waves keep trying to take down the sand castle, age and the vicissitudes of life will try to take down your body building efforts. Just enjoy the process and don't give up.