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I’m 34 years old and desperately want to be able to wear a bikini again.  I am a novice when it comes to working out, haven’t been to a gym in years.  Right now, I have just tried to start walking everyday for 2-3 miles to get me motivated.  I’m looking to lose 30 lbs and do it the right way.  Just need some good advice about weights, which I plan to start using soon and diet, which I want to start eating cleaner.

In general…  if you are wanting to start weights, pick 3-4 “big” exercises, not a lot of isolation stuff.  Things like squats, deadlifts, presses.  These type of exercises work a lot of muscle groups per excercise, unlike the stuff most women do…  and, they will do you a lot more good.
Walking is great.  But you also should do some sort of whole body exercise that gets your heart racing, gets you sweating, etc, something a little more intense than walking.
My recomendation would be to look into Kettlebells, or, into some sled dragging or the death march.
What you do will depend somewhat on what equipment you have access to, and your level of committment.  Good luck!

I agree with Glenn that doing big exercises that work a lot of muscles is a great place to start, and you’ve done the perfect thing by starting to walk and get your body used to moving and getting your cardiovascular fitness back and metabolism going. If you aren’t in good enough shape to really start doing the big exercises well, there are a lot of things you can do as a beginner and you don’t have to use a lot of weight to get a lot of benefit from these exercises. How is your diet?

Thanks Glenn… I will look into the kettlebells today.  What exactly is a death march?  Guess I will have to research that also.

 
 
My diet has gotten better.  I have a problem with pasta and breads.  Within the last month, really have cut down on them.  My vice was drinking cokes everyday, but I stopped that 2 months ago.  Just looking for advice on eating cleaner and not feeling so deprived.

congragulations on cutting back or eliminating the cokes.  If you are trying to cut back on carbs, you have to up the protein and fat, and a lot of girls really have a hard time getting that through their head.  The biggest secret to cutting out the carb cravings is breakfast IMO…  get a decent breakfast and you wont get nearly the same amount of cravings the rest of the day.  Try stuffing down a good omelate…  throw some sausage, sirloin, bacon or whatever in their along with the onions if you like them, peppers if you like them, etc.  My personal favorite breakfast is an omelate with 4-5 eggs, about 6 ounces of sirloin or tri-tip, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach.  A bit of butter makes it even better.  Cut the portion size down to something that is more appropriate for your needs, and see if this doesnt actually reduce your total caloric intake for the day by cutting down your cravings all day long.
Oh by the way, be sure to have some good salsa and some louisianna hot sauce on hand to top it off. 

Wow, that is a HUGE omelette! There’s no way I could eat that much food in one sitting. 

It is a fantastic thing that you’ve cut out the cokes. A lot of people simply switch to diet and think that they are fixing the problem, but diet doesn’t help despite cutting out a lot of calories cause it still helps to maintain the sweet palette, and some studies have shown that diet makes you eat more calories cause your brain is tricked because it gets the sweet signals without the satiety effects from the food. Cutting out bread and pasta is another good place to start, although those aren’t nearly as bad as sodas.

Try looking up our Mistakes with Big Consequences series, in which we talk about a bunch of different things you can do to improve fat loss.

I would agree the death march and kettle bells is the way to go…You will be in grat shape as long as you follow a healthy diet.

 
 
I will look that up, thanks!  I’m sure there are some really good ideas.

 
 
I took your advice and had an omelette this morning, with salsa I might add, lol.  It has really helped my cravings the rest of the day.  Of course it wasn’t nearly as big as what you described, but nonetheless it was substantial enough.   

That is some tremendous advice so far. you really have to realize that it is a lifestyle, not just something you can do a couple hours a day in order to get the body you want. Glenn gave some tremendous advice!

Good call, it is a lifestyle for sure, getting your body into that routine every day. I’m sure the long term effects will be well worth it, and you will feel great in your new bikini…

I have two dumbells, 15 and 20???  What can I do with them for resistance training at home?

 
Two good whole body exercises you can do are
1) the death march.  Go to CaliforniaStrength.com and look at the instructional videos to find how to do this.  You can do these everyday, start with a short distance, then over time go further and further, or, repeat your distance more times.  For example,  if you go 10 steps, the next day you could go 20 steps, or you could do 10 steps 3 different times.  The important thing is to do more each time, there is no magic way to progress as long as you progress each day a little bit.  When you can go for about 40-50 yards without stoping, get bigger dumbells.
2) Simply pick the dumbells off the ground to shoulder height, and press them overhead.  Dont worry about form or cheating or any of that, just move them from the ground to overhead 20 times in a row however you want to.  Move from one set to 5 or 6 sets slowly over time.  when you can get 5 or 6 sets get bigger dumbells. 

So, I finally watched the death march!  I was wondering a while back what you meant by that… I will try that tomorrow morning.
Of course I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.  Thanks Glenn!

I see you are currently walking 2-3 miles per day. What you might want to start doing is to walk the first 2 miles, then, run the last mile. Then, after a month or so of that go ahead and walk 1 mile, and run the second 2 miles. It will definitely help you lose that weight you are looking to get rid of!

death marches are great for your posterior chain. I recommend doin a lot of core. Single leg v ups, sits ups, russian twists, planks, etc. Also maybe try doing sprint workouts. to switch it up from walking or running miles. It will get your fast twitch muscles working.

Diet is key, abs start with diet not with working out, If you want to be in that bikini you need to be very strict on your diet.