Question

Hi, I'm 18 years old. I used to cheer when I was a freshmen in high school and when I was younger. I stop cheering after I started gaining weight. I am now starting to lose weight but I want to become a cheerleader for the college I am going to attend in September, do u have any weight losing tips that I can used. In regards of flipping do u have to be a certain weight to get height. I plan to tryout for the team in September do u think that is enough time to learn the weight tips and also learn how to do the different stunts such as flips. I can do a toe touch and splits but I do not know how to do any stunts. I weight 220 i have lost 15 pounds what is the average weight for being a cheerleader do u have any diet and fitness tips?

THANK YOU!

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Answer

I'm not much help with diet & weight loss. Sorry. Ask your physician or nurse for specific guidelines.

Different colleges have different criteria for selecting squad members. Weight is only one criteria. Usually only the 'flyers' on the squad have to be petite.

One thing I suggest is to NOT use actual weight ... pounds... as your unit of measure for progress. This is because you must build up MORE muscle mass and muscle is MUCH heavier than fat-tissue... so you'll think you're doing poorly even if you're doing well. Instead... use % of body fat. Any dietician or health-training facility can help you measure your body-fat percentage. A survey of 'skin-pinch' points are selected and measured with a caliper. As your skin grows thinner you'll be making the progress you want.

In the meantime... get on some weight-machines and start building up your MUSCLES. Muscles BURN fat as a fuel, so the stronger your muscles are, the easier it will be to thin your skin. Bicycling EVERY DAY is GREAT, but don't do leisure riding... ride for SPEED and DISTANCE...to make those muscles BURN and BUILD. Adding MASS and STRENGTH POTENTIAL to ALL and ANY muscles is a GREAT move.

Work to create small changes in your life-habits (eating and exercise) that you can SUSTAIN, (and KEEP THEM UP!)... which lead you in the direction you want to go, rather than HUGE changes that you may not be able to keep-up. It's better to add in 2 minutes of AGGRESSIVE bicycling to EACH and EVERY day rather than to go for a 25 mile exhaustion-ride 2x a year.

Too... the US Surgeon General recommends a specific "pyramid" of food choices. It's VERY good. Ask your doctor for specifics. FOLLOW those guidelines for the TYPES of food to eat.

Lastly, most friends I know who have excess fat, BELIEVE they eat like everyone else... but the truth is... they eat as if they are needing to "STORE FOOD"... in other words... they eat MUCH MORE food than a person of their HEIGHT needs to. If you'll CAREFULLY MEASURE and OBSERVE the quantity of food they eat over a MONTH...people who have lots of fat-stores will tend to eat enough food to feed a person who is MUCH taller than they are. SO...
find a person of your same HEIGHT... ignore "bone-size'... and pay attention to that person's eating habits. Look at the TOTAL VOLUME of food she consumes at each MEAL... but observe it over a period of MONTHS (ignore daily/hourly fluctuations). Then use that as your role-model. Role-models work!

~CW