maybe i over exaggerated a bit, I'm not over weight just a bit chunky and flabby, I'm 5,4 or 5,5 and I weigh abuot 110-114 pounds, please help me I dont know what to do. My instructor says dance will make me loose the flab and tone up, is this true and how long will it take I have a competition in a month?!!?!?!

When you're 5'4"/5'5" and weigh around 110 lbs, you NOT heavy at all! I'm about the same and people always lift me in the air because: "You're so tiny anyway, we can just pick you up and carry....umm....DANCE with you!"

"Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero." - Horace

As the others have mentioned you are not overweight. While I suspect you are being hard on yourself, you perceive that your body is a bit "soft" and you would like to tone up.

I believe that it is important to understand what you are trying to accomplish. Toned bodies have lower percentage fat contents. Since you are not overweight, your goal should be to to lower the fat content without losing weight. This means that you replace any fat lost lost with muscle. This means you must increase your muscle size. and since muscle is denser than fat, you will trim and tone up without changing your weight.

While you may be able to accomplish this by dancing alone, I believe that you will get better and more predictable results by adding a weight training program to whatever exercise regime you have.

good luck,

Blair

You are diffinetly not over weight. But dancing is great excercise. As you continue dancing you will notice that your body is tightening up. That is a good by product of dancing. Also remmeber excercise is nothing without eating balanced healthy meals.
As far as weight is concerned I would not worry about it. I personnaly think about my health not my weight.k

To Live Life To It's Fullest Is To Dance

thank you so much championdancer your reply really helped me thank you for taking the time to write that for me it's people like you that give me hope that I will be a dancer. Thanks so much!
First I want to state again - you are not overweight! I am 5'4", 113, and constantly told how tiny I am, and being picked up, etc. To the point of it being annoying... although it's a good thing for liftwork!

I will say though, I am almost all muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat (lean tissue is about 22% more dense than fat tissue). So we could have quite different measurements although we are the same height and weight. My students would be surprised when we would do lifts and I wasn't a feather, since I'm very narrow!

Even so you've got to be a pretty small person. Don't just believe us though! The usual measure is BMI (body-mass index), which uses height & weight. I used your lower height and high weight measurements, and got a BMI of 19.8. If it were 18.5 or lower, you would be considered _underweight_ - and you're pretty close to that! Overweight is a BMI of over 25.

BMI isn't totally exact - a person may weigh more due to big bones or huge muscles, which isn't taken into account. But it's a good general indicator, and it shows that you are definitely _not_ overweight!

But - for dancing the ideal is to be leaner than normal. So, for you, rather than weight, I would recommend going by percentage of body fat. GNC I think has machines that can measure it - and so do healthclubs. Basically you enter in height, weight, gender, age, and grip handles for a couple of minutes... that's it. That's what you want to keep down. Don't worry about weight, because you should gain or stay the same as you develop your muscles. That's a positive, not something to be frustrated about. The indicators are measurements - waist for example will get smaller as you burn fat, and percentage of fat.

So, how do you burn fat to get longer lines and show those beautiful muscles you're developing? Simple. Burn more than you put in. Keep dancing. Look for ways to get exercise - climb stairs, walk the long way, swim, run, do jump rope, whatever. And eat foods with a low calorie value.

That'll make you even slimmer and show off your fitness level! This happens over time though... like dance technique... don't expect miracles in a month. Changes happen a little every day so that you don't notice at first, but keep it up and you'll be the dancer you want to be![/QUOTE]

First I want to state again - you are not overweight! I am 5'4", 113, and constantly told how tiny I am, and being picked up, etc. To the point of it being annoying... although it's a good thing for liftwork!

I will say though, I am almost all muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat (lean tissue is about 22% more dense than fat tissue). So we could have quite different measurements although we are the same height and weight. My students would be surprised when we would do lifts and I wasn't a feather, since I'm very narrow!

Even so you've got to be a pretty small person. Don't just believe us though! The usual measure is BMI (body-mass index), which uses height & weight. I used your lower height and high weight measurements, and got a BMI of 19.8. If it were 18.5 or lower, you would be considered _underweight_ - and you're pretty close to that! Overweight is a BMI of over 25.

BMI isn't totally exact - a person may weigh more due to big bones or huge muscles, which isn't taken into account. But it's a good general indicator, and it shows that you are definitely _not_ overweight!

But - for dancing the ideal is to be leaner than normal. So, for you, rather than weight, I would recommend going by percentage of body fat. GNC I think has machines that can measure it - and so do healthclubs. Basically you enter in height, weight, gender, age, and grip handles for a couple of minutes... that's it. That's what you want to keep down. Don't worry about weight, because you should gain or stay the same as you develop your muscles. That's a positive, not something to be frustrated about. The indicators are measurements - waist for example will get smaller as you burn fat, and percentage of fat.

So, how do you burn fat to get longer lines and show those beautiful muscles you're developing? Simple. Burn more than you put in. Keep dancing. Look for ways to get exercise - climb stairs, walk the long way, swim, run, do jump rope, whatever. And eat foods with a low calorie value.

That'll make you even slimmer and show off your fitness level! This happens over time though... like dance technique... don't expect miracles in a month. Changes happen a little every day so that you don't notice at first, but keep it up and you'll be the dancer you want to be!