Thanks for having FITREX.COM.

Some facts about myself.
I'm 23, 5'3 and 150 lbs (overweight, right?) and sedentary. Actually my goal now is to lose weight and get lean (I really hate what I see in my reflection- with this bulging, exaggerated belly and other flabs in my body). and I'm looking for a workout program to somehow get started.

FITREX is exceptional and impressive. I viewed some of the ASK DAN questions, and find it impressive that you give detailed analysis, recommendation and advice to every individual's concern regarding health and fitness. I believe and hope that you can also be of great assitance for me. I also viewed some of the sample workouts and I find it also exceptional. The concept of PERIODIZATION is great. Besides having a customized workout, one can really re-customize for his own desires and options.

Well, since I'm a beginner at this, can you suggest a beginner's workout and diet , if this is not much to ask from you.

Well, this is what I can say for now.
FITREX IS REALLY GREAT!!!

MORE POWER TO YOU.

A great program to start with, as a beginner, would be the 3-Day Get Lean EXPRESS! This workout will also help to maximize the amount of calories your body will burn simply by the larger number of repetitions that you will be asked to perform. I also recommend performing 30 minutes of cardio exercise at least 3 times per week. Go to this address to read more about cardio or aerobic exercise. http://www.fitrex.com/articles/article64.html

Developing a diet plan with specific foods to eat is almost impossible to do because there is so much variation on what people like or don't like to eat! Here is the address for our nutrition section to give you some ideas of what to eat based on your body size. http://www.fitrex.com/nutrition.shtml

Now, here are some responses that I have made to some of our other members that I feel will be interesting and beneficial to you. Read on.

Response 1:
Dropping weight fast is not very healthy. Furthermore, when you lose allot of weight very quickly you tend to end up gaining as much weight or more back again once you start to eat normally! What are reasonable weight loss expectations? When combining weightlifting, cardiovascular exercise, and sensible nutrition you should look for a weight loss in the neighborhood of 1% of your total body weight per week. So if you weigh 180, 1.5 to 2 pounds per week is what you should expect. For individual persons it might be more or less. It really depends on how "in shape" you are to begin with. If you have poor cardiovascular fitness initially it will be difficult to lose really significant amounts of weight until you increase your ability to burn calories by improving your cardiovascular fitness. Also, the more muscle you have the more calories you will burn even at rest. So, strength training is also very important in the whole weight loss picture!
The first rule of weight loss is if you expend more calories than you take in you will lose weight. For example, if you have a 500 calorie per day deficit (through exercise and nutrition) for 7 days in a row you will have a weekly total deficit of 3,500 calories. One pound of fat contains 3,500 calories, so you would have lost one pound of fat. I urge you to check out our nutrition section for more information.

Response:
If you have checked out our nutrition section you will be familiar with the specific amounts of carbohydrate, protein and fat you should take in (eat) based off your bodyweight. Remember, in my explanations I mention that you may have to adjust your overall caloric intake based off your activity level. So, if you're sitting at a desk all day, even though you are exercising, you may have to bring your calorie range down by up to 500 calories per day. However, don't go below 1,200 calories for more than a day or two at the most. I mention this because you say that you are petite and when you calculate your caloric intake by multiplying your bodyweight by 13 you may already be at a pretty low level!

Now, to give you my type of specific examples, let's first look at what some great carbohydrate, protein, and quality fatty acid foods are:

Carbohydrate Foods
Whole grain (not just wheat but, WHOLE wheat) breads pastas, and oatmeal
Fruits (apples, oranges, grapes, grapefruit)
Vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, potato's, lettuce, mushrooms, cucumbers)

Protein Foods
Fish (salmon, tuna, these foods are also great sources of quality fatty acids)
Chicken
Low Fat Dairy products (cottage cheese, milk, mozzarella cheese, yogurts)
Extra Firm Tufo
Pork Chops
Whey Protein Powders
Soy based Protein Powders
Meal Replacement Powders (Met-Rx, Myoplex, Met Max, Lean Body brands)
Egg Whites
Quality Fatty Acid Foods and Oils
Fresh Nuts, Seeds (almonds, walnuts, sunflower) Olive Oil, Flax Seed Oil, Udo's oil (check out the recommended reading list for info on Udo's oil)
Avocados

Now, you really need to "learn" more about these foods. By learning more, what I am recommending is that you find out the gram content of the macronutrient (carb, protein, fat) levels a serving of these foods provides. In our nutrition section you will see an area that says searchable food database. Click on this to search out what a serving of chicken offers from a protein standpoint, or what a tablespoon of Olive oil has from a fat standpoint or what a serving of oatmeal has from a carbohydrate standpoint etc. Once you become familiar with the foods that you like to eat from the above recommendations you will be well on your way to organizing your daily food intake. If you put a little effort into this you will be much better off than for me to recommend a certain eating plan that may have foods on it that you really don't care for.

Also, there will be times when you are eating out that you will have to make some decisions about certain foods. If you are knowledgeable about what some of the foods that you like have in them you will have the power in your hands. It's should not be in some regimented menu that I may recommend! I know it's more fun or interesting to think about eating foods like "Ginger Chicken Stir Fry" or "Salmon Mousse with Cucumber Salad". But, how frequently do we really eat foods like this or even have the time to prepare them! ? If I did put a menu together, which I have done many times before, invariably, for whatever reason (taste, time, etc) you wouldn't be able to eat the dinner that I recommend on Thursday evening or the breakfast recommendation on Monday morning. This is exactly why I don't put together meal plans for people. Meal plans are a recipe for failure because they are nearly impossible to follow and to make them more exciting or "readable" I would have to put in these wild variations of foods that are fun and taste great but don't work for the reasons that I mention above.

So, what a "real" menu or meal plan should look like is this:

Breakfast - 50 Grams Carbs
25 Grams Protein
10 Grams Fat
390 Calories

Snack - 2 20 Grams Carbs
15 Grams Protein
2.5 Grams Fat
162.5 Calories

Lunch - 60 Grams Carbs
25 Grams Protein
15 Grams Fat
475 Calories

Snack - 20 Grams Carbs
10 Grams Protein
2.5 Grams Fat
125 Calories

Dinner - 50 Grams Carbs
30 Grams Protein
10 Grams Fat
410 Calories

Menu Total - 200 Grams of Carbohydrate (800 Calories)
105 Grams of Protein (420 Calories)
40 Grams of Fat (360 Calories)
1,580 Total Calories
51% From Carbohydrate
26% From Protein
23% From Fat

With this information you know exactly what you should be eating. This is a good, basic diet for a 120 pound person. You just have to know how to meet these macronutrient totals with the foods that you specifically like. Now it's up to you to become a little more knowledgeable. Remember, knowledge is power!