Losing weight - Am I doing everything right? (1 Viewer)

[Josh Lowe]

i've lost 90lbs since feb 8 via diet and exercise. i do not subscribe to any diet "plan" ala Atkins, I simply watch what I eat. No regular sodas. No huge meals. I have days (or the past week ) where I let go and have fun as I'm on vacation or whatever. The nice part about this "plan" is that you don't set yourself back weeks by slacking off in small amounts like you do w/ Atkins.

I do 30 minutes of cardio per day, sometimes 60 min (30 in the AM, 30 in the evening). I have a heart monitor and use it to keep myself within a window of 130-150bpm for the entire 30 minutes. I'll sometimes run my heart rate up to 170-180 for short (30sec-1min) bursts.

I also lift weights 5 times per week. Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun is arms/chest/back (alternating push/pull muscles on different days) and Thurs or Sat is leg day.

 

[Chris PC]

Some more good advice. Here's my feedback:

Processed Cereal is best avoided unless you want to replace calories after exercising, and even then, you're better off with complex carbohydrates. If you want to eat "cereal" then eat a small bowl of oatmeal in the morning with a small amount of raisins, blueberries, apples and banana's. The idea is to eat raw un-processed foods with complex carbohydrates and the small amount of sugar that is a natural part of the raw fruit. You feel good, have lots of energy for longer periods and you'll be amazed at how good you feel without the blood sugar spike. Today for breakfast I ate a bowl of oatmeal with raisins, blueberries and banana and two poached eggs for my protein. Don't worry about the yolk being fat either. There is lots of nutrients in the yolk, and since your aren't eating bread or sugar, the fat won't add to your fat. Also look for organic eggs or omega-3 eggs.

Don't eat more fat than normal. Eat a balanced diet. Try to eat more protein in place of fat, and complex carbs only, no bread or sugar, or white rice. Brown rice, oatmeal, other whole grains like spelt, etc. No pasta, unless its brown rice pasts, but again, while burning fat, stay away from processed foods like pasta. I see no reason to eat more fat. If anything, eat a little less fat, and eat more protein in its place. The point is that the old thinking of avoiding fat was wrong because:

A) Fat is absolutely essential for your body. Without it, you would die.
B) Avoiding fat can make it easier for body to want to store fat, instead of burning it. Right now you want to burn fat.

..and the new idea of eating lots of fat is simply wrong because I don't see the benefit of eating lots of fat when you should simply eat a balanced diet. While you do want to burn fat, you also want to become fit. Its a heppy balance. Too much fat means less carbohydrates and you still need complex carbohydrates to use as energy while weight training, doing cardio and just plain living.

The balanced diet includes fruits and vegetables. You need your nutrients in order that your body functions properly.

Running will certainly make you burn fat, but you don't want to run and not weight train, unless you're training for running a marathon. Do weights and cardio. Weight training will make you strong and healthy, and burn more fat while you're at it. Yes you can walk for 45 minutes. Its good for you, but be sure to do the weight training to.

The advice about recovering is very important. I noticed that even though I'm actually not fully back into my weekly routine, I am still increasing my weight I'm using. Be sure to workout no more than 3 days a week. You can follow the schedule of:

1) Chest-triceps and shoulders
2) Back and biceps
3) Legs

But perhaps the advice of just doing the few compound exercises is right for you. It builds overall strength. I'm actually looking at starting one of those myself. I'm not ready yet, because I'm seeing some gains and progress so I'm just going to wait a few weeks.

There's nothing wrong with doing different exercises to break up the monotony, but its true that you should stick to the same plan for quite some time. Life isn't an all out competition in my view. When I try other exercises and then come back to exercises I haven't done in a while, I don't seem to lose strength, in fact, I seem to increase strength. I'm doing research, and I'll read the "download book" too.

Whatever you do, keep to a plan of weight training and cardio on a regular basis and eat a balanced diet without bread, sugar, junk food and/or other crap. The more natural foods you eat the better.

Enjoy your path to better fitness and health

 

[JoshF]

As far as cereals go, some are great. Kashi Golean, for instance, is wonderful stuff. Lots of fiber, complex carbs, and even protein.

I'm now down from 195lbs at around 23% body fat to 178lbs at 10% bodyfat. As you can see, I've added around 10lbs of muscle while losing around 28 lbs of fat. Here's what worked for me:

1) Keep track of body composition. Get some body fat calipers to tracks that. Scale weight is a good overall measure, but BF% composition is what you want to be watching.

2) It can be difficult to gain muscle while cutting fat. Focus on cutting if you're overweight and just starting.

3) Do high-intensity cardio for less time instead of moderate cardio for a long time.

4) Do resistance training. Weight lifting will help you keep your muscle mass. What's more, as you build muscle mass, you burn more calories while you're watching DVDs.

5) Don't forget your legs. Your glutes and quads are your biggest muscles, and if you skip them, you may as well not work out. They're hungry and will burn a lot of fat if you tell them it's time to grow.

6) Eat clean and have a macronutritional plan. As everyone here says, eat complex instead of simple carbs. However, keep an eye on your overall diet ratio of Protein, Carbs, and Fat. For me, a 40%/40%/20% split works great. Carbs aren't bad. Without carbs, you have very little energy and your workouts will suffer.

7) Keep a journal. Otherwise, you won't be able to track what works, what progress you've made, and when you've cheated.

8) Be patient. Don't expect a miracle. Lots of people like to tell you about their miracles, but they may be genetically predisposed for that. Don't compare yourself to others throughout or you will just get discouraged.

 

[Chris PC]

As far as keeping a journal and things like that, its a good idea in order to determine exactly how you're doing, why you're experiencing the results you are, good or bad, and what you should do to improve your results. I didn't keep a journal when I started because I wasn't busy and I was able to focus very specifically on my fitness and not let other things distract me, but frankly, I didn't need to lose an aweful lot of weight to begin with. I am now going to make my fitness more strict by following a plan more precisely and also keeping track of my exercise and diet a little more. I think I'm going to make a journal because I've stagnated. I'm actually at or below a fat % level that is reasonable, and yet I'm not where I want to be in terms of overall body composition. I'm a little more muscular than when I started, and I do have alot less body fat now, but I'm slimmer than I'd like to be.

In order to track your fat loss progress, you can do a few things. Look at yourself in the mirror and keep track of your muscle strength and you can also weigh yourself. You could have your bodyfat % tested, as I did, because it was something I could have done at my gym for free but its not really all that necessary. Your body weight and muscle strength, combined with the one of the ultimate goal tests, the visual look of your body, is all you need to track your progress. If you are lifting heavy weight for more reps as time goes on, and yet your body weight is dropping, no matter how little, even a few LBS, that means your muscle mass in increasing and your fat is dropping. Thats all you need to keep up over the long haul. Eventually, you'll reach the lower limits of fat loss and perhaps then out of curiosity, you can check your body fat % if you haven't already, but ultimately, your fitness and strength, combined with your appearance, are all you need to assess your progress, because ultimately, they are your final goal measurements.

Once you start to get active and begin losing weight, gaining strength and feeling fit, do some social activies. Play some sports or just go running or cycling with friends. Get out there and be active and enjoy your new improved level of fitness.

 

[Matt_Marlow]

Once you start to get active and begin losing weight, gaining strength and feeling fit, do some social activies. Play some sports or just go running or cycling with friends. Get out there and be active and enjoy your new improved level of fitness.

That's some of the best advice of all in my opinion. I know from just going hiking with friends of mine on a regular basis it really does make a difference in keeping me lean. I love running on my own, but also having something to look forward to where you're interacting with other people and burning calories at the same time can make a world of difference. And just being happy and at least somewhat active socially can really curb your appetite if that's something that's a problem for you. I think it's easy to overeat if you're sitting around bored with nothing to do. Weight loss is part of your overall lifestyle, so improving certain parts of your life will surely effect your overall appearance, especially in the long run.

 

[Bill Catherall]

I'm going to counter the "no supplements" point given above and say that there actually are some necessary supplements.

The first being a multivitamin. The foods we eat are deficient in the nutrients we need. If you aren't taking a multivitamin then you should. This is important for overall health and wellness regardless of your weight loss or muscle gain goals.

Second, I do believe at least a supplemental protein shake or two should be added to the diet. In order to get enough protein you'd have to consume a lot of meat. Drinking a protein shake cuts down on the amount of meat you'd need plus it's much easier for the body to process.

 

[JoshF]

I'm with Bill on the above supplements. Whey protein is absorbed very fast and it's perfect for the couple hours immediately following a workout. Add some dextrose and / or maltodextrin for the insulin spike and you're feeding your muscles right.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I'm jumping in here because I've been trying to shed a few pounds as well. I've been trying to exercize regurlarly.. mostly good cardio-pumping bike rides.

What about power-bars? Are they a reasonable meal supplement or are they designed more for building body-mass?

But, it's my love of beer that's killing me. I'll shed a few pounds and then go out for a night after softball with the guys and I'm right back where I started!

 

[Matt_Marlow]

Actually I agree with you guys wholeheartedly on the multivitamin, and there's definitely nothing wrong with protein powder if you want to spend the money on it. Beyond that, though, I firmly believe you're wasting your money. A cheaper way to get extra protein is to simply drink milk, but if you hate milk or it doesn't agree with you, then yeah protein powder is probably the way to go if you think you need the extra protein in your diet.

My point was really just that too many focus on whatever trivial supplement *might* make a difference like creatine, GABAs, and glutamine or whatever when they can barely deadlift their own bodyweight for 8 reps (for example).

Go to a site like discussfitness.com and you'll see almost no questions about how to do compound exercises properly. But what you will find are tons of questions about what supplements to use. And even for fat loss the first thing focused on is not how much cardio work they should be doing but how much Hydroxycut they should be taking. That's the kind of thing I find ridiculous.

 

[JoshF]

I avoid Powerbars, personally. Lots of weird oils and too many sugar carbs. There are much better quick meals you can have, like cottage cheese, apples, oatmeal, etc. If I have to eat 228 calories of something, it ain't gonna be this:

Amount Per 1 bar (2.25 oz)

Calories*228.8
Calories from Fat 15.79
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 1.75g 3%
Saturated Fat 0.331g 2%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.273g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.03g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 20.15mg 1%
Potassium 91.65mg 3%
Total Carbohydrate 37.63g 13%
Dietary Fiber 3.05g 2%
Protein 10.14g 20%

 

[Chris PC]

Power bars just don't seem like they contain much natural food. Its all processed and lots of chemicals. I used to eat them after a workout cause they were quick and simple and felt good, or so I thought. Now, after a workout, if I'm not eating a meal immediately afterwards, I eat things like almonds, banana's and apples. I even eat them if I'm about to eat supper.

One thing I've noticed that tends to work well for me is working out in the late afternoon. I know some people workout in the morning, and I guess I could too, but afternoon workouts just seem to work well for me. I usually workout and then eat supper.

As far as beer, you need to avoid it while you're losing fat. Once you've lost 90-95% of the fat you wanted to lose, you can have the odd beer. I drink beer once every couple of weeks. One or two beers. I would say one or two beers once or twice a week is ok AFTER you have reached your fat loss goals, but personally, I'd say the less the better. I do occasionally go out for beer and wings

As far as supplements, I really believe you can obtain all of your protein needs from real food, and it doesn't all have to be meat. Multi-vitamins aren't too bad, but ideally, you should try to eat a variety of foods like vegetables which give you your nutrients. I also take Omega fatty acids too. I might look into the multi-vitamin thing. The way I look at it, we never needed multi-vitamins previous to the modern age, so ideally, we should be working towards a diet which eliminates the need for supplementing with a multi-vitamin. If our food is so nutrient depleted that we require multi-vitamins to be healthy, then that says quite alot about our food nowadays. I'd want to look for healthier whole foods, perhaps organic foods. Just a thought.

I do think I am one of those who does not respond to intense multi-exercise weight training. I'm going to do fewer exercises and try to see how my gains are. I don't plan to weight train 100% of the year. I figure 66% is fine. I might look into running and self defence the other part of the year, although mountain biking takes alot of my energy as it is. One thing about running, is that my feet, legs, knees and back cope with running so much better when I'm weight training my legs. Something about the hard work that I'm doing building the muscles, the joints, the muscle insertion points and the bones that makes running feel like less of a chore.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> I'd want to look for healthier whole foods, perhaps organic foods.

Organic foods aren't any healthier than regular food. The soil is still mineral-depleted, so taking a vitamin supplement is a good idea regardless of what you eat. Has nothing to do with losing weight.

Protein power is not a supplement; it's a food. Stuff that consists mainly of protein, carbs, and/or fat is food. Supplements are non-food items.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

John Stone, I finally checked out your transformation page and it's definitely inspiring! Especially since I resemble your before picture at the moment. You've really acheived some amazing results in a short amount of time.

Anyone know any good comprehensive on-line nutritional value lists? I'm trying to put together a detailed spreadsheet that will calculate calories, fats, protiens, etc automatically simply by checking items I've eaten.

 

[Chris PC]

I don't know where you're looking, but organically grown foods ARE healthier than regularly grown foods because they are grown with more natural fertilizers, without pesticides and done so in a way that reduces soil erosion. Organically grown food is certainly a good idea. If I need more protein, I just eat an egg.

 

[Bill Catherall]

Dave, I've used 24 Hour Fitness's online system to track that in the past. They have a database already established for most common foods. You just enter in what you ate and how much of it and it automatically calculates the calories, fats, carbs, etc. If you eat some food that isn't in their database then you can make your own custom entries.

Just go to 24HourFitness.com, register in their eClub, sign in, click on the Fitness link, click on Fitness Tracking, click on Tracking, then click on the Nutrition tab. Registration is free, you can sign up for recipes they'll send to your email if you want. You'll get an email newsletter a few times per month, but that's it. They don't spam you and they keep your information private. You can also track other things like measurements, excercise, etc.

 

[John Stone]

Dave,

Thanks, I'm really glad you found my page inspiring. I found a great site for nutritional data if you are looking to create your own spreadsheet: http://www.nutritiondata.com/

I also have the spreadsheet that I created for my fitness program available for download on my site. It's really simple, creating meals involves a little cutting and pasting so it's not quite as sophisticated as simply checking off food items (version 2.0, heh).

For online packages, check out http://www.fitday.com and, as Bill suggested, http://www.24hourfitness.com

I'm always amazed at how many different opinions there are on the "right way" to get in shape and eat healthy. I think that's because we are all different and, as I've said many times before, we all respond in different ways. Honestly, though, this isn't rocket science -- but you'd never know it after reading the debates that spring up every time the word "fitness" is mentioned. People seem to want to make it much more difficult than it really is. The basic principals are the same for all of us. Just learn those, continue to educate yourself by reading as much as you can, don't be afraid to experiment and try new things to see what works best for you, listen to your body and stay dedicated. Do those things and you will see amazing results.

 

[Bill Catherall]

Chris PC, whole foods are great if you're just looking to maintain. If you're trying to lose fat or build muscle then your body needs more nutrients than you can get even from whole foods. You'd have to eat thousands more calories than what you want.

But I still say that even if you want to maintain with whole foods you should be taking a multi-vitamin and multi-mineral. In order to get what we need from food, even if the food has all the nutrients we need, you'd have to be a food science expert to get things balanced right. Better just to make it simple and get a few extra nutrients with a supplement.

Plus, for many people trying to find a good source of whole foods is not only inconvenient but very expensive. Even if you're spending $100/month on expensive multivitamins it can be cheaper and easier than organic whole foods.

How can you say we didn't need multi-vitamins before the modern age? How do you know what their food was like? Wasn't their life expectancy like half of ours?

Eggs are a fine source of protein, but they also contain fat. Of course, there's nothing wrong with it in the right amounts, but in order to get enough protein from just eggs you'll have to eat more fat then you probably want. As for soy products, many argue that soy lowers testosterone levels. That's not good for gaining muscle and losing fat.

Edited to clarify who I was addressing.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> I don't know where you're looking, but organically grown foods ARE healthier than regularly grown foods because they are grown with more natural fertilizers, without pesticides

Not true, unless they're grown hydroponically or the like. "No pesticides" is a myth, since some foods get labeled (whether intentionally or not) organic although pesticides were used. Even if it's not, there's still some in the soil, and it blows in from other fields. There's also more harmful bacteria in organic food due to the manure used.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

>But I still say that even if you want to maintain with whole foods you should be taking a multi-vitamin and multi-mineral.

Which is no different than what I said.


>How can you say we didn't need multi-vitamins before the modern age? How do you know what their food was like?

I didn't say that, & I don't see where anyone else did, either.


>Wasn't their life expectancy like half of ours?

Yeah, probably due to all that organic food they ate.

 

[Bill Catherall]

Sorry Chris Lockwood. I agree with you. My comments were directed to Chris PC.

I've edited my post above to make this clear.