Just joined a gym to lose weight... What should I do?

[PJ]

Take a huge dump before the assessment.

 

[David.Seth2]

Take a huge dump before the assessment.

this is by far the best advice! sadly, it wouldn't help. Even though they weigh you, thats not what really matters. Its the body fat. They measure your neck, waist, and height, then compare that to a chart to see where your body fat is. I'm 3% over the maximum amount allowed.


Anyway, today I tried out the elliptical machine... I was sweating like mad just after 10 minutes. Much better than the treadmill.

 

[TwwIX]

Hehe, the ellipticals will do that to ya.

If you are really that desperate to lose the fat than ask your trainer about the Ketogenic diet.
It's a strict diet but a very effective one from what i hear.
It requires you to eat high fat and protein rich foods but practically no carbohydrates. It basically forces the body to burn fats for energy instead of carbs.
I was thinking of doing it myself but this requires a lot of willpower. I enjoy my fruit and vegetables too much. Multivitamins are great and all but i would miss actually tasting the fruit and veggies.
As i said, it's a very hardcore diet and not for everybody. Especially diabetics. Consult your physician first if you decide to go through with it.

 

[Maestro]

Well VirusType, any source that isn't biased will tell you that Gatorade doesn't hydrate you because the sugar cancels it out. Doesn't matter if the water absorbs faster if the sugar renders it useless. The relevant fact to our body-mass-challenged friend is the sugar.

Gatorade also happens to be primarily fructose-sugars that don't process as quickly into the system as natural sugars do. Don't drink the damn stuff, all it does is make you fatter.

If you're looking to keep electrolyte balance, Dave, drink a tall glass of Cranberry juice or something else with high potassium content. Cranberry juice, when it's totally pure, has ridiculously high levels of potassium. Pure cranberry juice will also pucker your face inside out, so mix it with half water and a spoon of sugar. It's got lots of antioxidants and other healthy components, instead of being labeled a biohazard until it has been diluted.

As an aside, you can buy electrolyte tablets pretty cheap and they're effectively nothing but the electrolytes you need. I know several backpackers who swear by them.

 

[Hurricane]

Honestly, you shouldn't be that worried about your diet. Unless you eat fast food every day or you eat no fruits/ veggies at all, it's not going to have a huge effect on your weight loss.

What you need to do is run, run, run! Don't worry about weight lifting. While it's a great way to build muscle (which you're going to want to do if you're joining the military), it only helps you lose weight a little bit.

I know you said you're getting shin splints, but there can be a few different reasons for this:

A. What type of shoes are you wearing? If they are just regular tennis shoes, they won't work and will cause injuries after a while. I would suggest going to a running store and seeing what they have there. Don't be afraid to ask the people working. They are usually experienced runners themselves and will be glad to help someone get started.

B. Are you warming up before you go out? It may sound strange, but if there's any sport you should warm up for, it's running. A light jog for five minutes should be plenty. Make sure you're stretching before and after as well.

C. How long/ far are you running? It may be that you are just simply doing too much, too soon. Your body needs time to adjust to the exercise you are giving it.


If any of that sounds like it might be the problem and you'd like to give it another try, I'd be happy to create a workout plan that suits you. I've been running on my school's cross-country and track teams for three years now, and our xc team has won the state championships two years in a row.

PS: I have to agree with Maestro. water is much better for hydrating than gatorade. You really should only drink sports drinks after an intense workout, to help restore the salts your body has lost through sweat.

 

[the cow says moo]

I usually run about half a mile, do an ab workout, and then lift, followed by stretching, which is important to do afterwards because it helps squeeze the acids that are made while exercising out of your muscles. I do this every other day for lifting. Of course, I also row about 6 kilometers every day as well.

If your gym has one, using an erg(an exercise machine that simulates rowing) is a good full-body workout. Just do a 2 kilometer piece once or twice a week.

On another note, drinking caffeine and exercising can help to prevent cancer, according to the newest scientific tests.

 

[VirusType2]

Well VirusType, any source that isn't biased will tell you that Gatorade doesn't hydrate you because the sugar cancels it out. Doesn't matter if the water absorbs faster if the sugar renders it useless. The relevant fact to our body-mass-challenged friend is the sugar.

Gatorade also happens to be primarily fructose-sugars that don't process as quickly into the system as natural sugars do. Don't drink the damn stuff, all it does is make you fatter.

I wish you would provide proof of these things in bold. These are some pretty important statements you made.


I found this interesting:

Earlier this year, a study was released comparing colas sweetened with sucrose, HFCS [High Fructose Corn Syrup], and straight fructose on overall metabolic pathway expression. For those consuming 6 colas a day with sucrose [Sugar], 12.5% of their overall calories were turned to fat (lipogenesis). For the subjects consuming HFCS (50% fructose, 50% glucose), the lipogenesis rates were 25%. For those consuming straight fructose sweetened colas, the lipogenesis rate was 40%!!! All treatments were calorically equivalent. This means that fructose apparently changes our metabolism in a way that leads to the body storing more fat rather than burning via glycolysis or storing as glycogen.

UC Davis Nutrition Center is working on a much larger study on the effect of fructose on metabolism and fat deposition. So far, they have found a substantial increase in adipose tissue increase with the fructose fed group vs. sucrose, plus they have confirmed the increase in fat production with fructose. This data will shake the Fructose industry to its core, explaining why they are mounting a desparate last ditch marketing campaign to portray fructose as safe and suitable. It will also help to explain some of the increase in obesity in our country since HFCS was introduced into practically every cola, baked product, and dessert product in the late 1970's.

 

[Gorgon]

http://www.youtube.com/user/howtogainmusclenow



Edit: http://www.mensworkoutguide.com/home.html

Good luck
End Of Thread!

 

[No Limit]

I don't feel like reading 6 pages so I dont know if this was brought up but if your diet is shitty your gym membership or any kind of other work outs won't do anything for you. The most important thing is your diet when trying to lose weight, working out is secondary. You will have to spend an hour on the treadmill to burn off a double cheese burger from McDonald's; would have been much easier just not to eat that double cheese burger in the first place.

So when you say you rode your bike to work for 4 months and didnt loose a pound that means your diet was shitty. From what I recall 3,500 calories is a pound of fat. So if your body naturally consumes 2,000 calories a day by eating 1,800 calories (200 calories are in a 12 oz soda) you will lose about a pound of fat every 2 weeks. You actual weight loss will be even higher.

How many calories do you consume in a day? A great site: http://www.thedailyplate.com

I lost about 50 pounds with a diet of about 1,800 calories a day (depending on your weight your calorie limit will be different) and about 40 minutes of working out a day (5 days a week) in a matter of 6 months.

As for what you should do at the gym start with the elipticle (sp?) if you are having problems with your feet from running. If you want to beef up your muslce tone I would suggest you hit the weights too. While you got the extra fat on you right now muslces will be much easier to build than when you lose that fat and try to bulk up then.

 

[Hurricane]

^Disregard everything this man just said^

No disrespect, but that really is one of the worst ways to lose weight. Weight-loss diets are just as bad for you as stuffing your face with fast food, just in a different way. The key is moderation. Also, like I said earlier, weight lifting is a great way to bulk and tone muscles, but if you're going for weight-loss, running would be best. This is because it's a good combination of cardio and muscle building.

 

[theotherguy]

^Disregard everything this man just said^

No disrespect, but that really is one of the worst ways to lose weight. Weight-loss diets are just as bad for you as stuffing your face with fast food, just in a different way. The key is moderation. Also, like I said earlier, weight lifting is a great way to bulk and tone muscles, but if you're going for weight-loss, running would be best. This is because it's a good combination of cardio and muscle building.

^Disregard Everything this man just said ^

Weight loss is a function of calorie intake versus expenditure. You can reduce your intake, increase your expenditure, or both. Increasing your expenditure without decreasing your intake is less effective than both increasing your expenditure AND decreasing your intake. Do both.

"Weight-loss diets are just as bad for you as stuffing your face with fast food" is complete and utter unsubstantiated bullshit. If you want to lose weight, you ought to alter your diet and take in fewer calories. There is no way around this fact.

 

[Dan]

^Disregard all of the above posts^

Send me a PM with your credit card and bank numbers and I will help you lose weight fast, guaranteed.

 

[TwwIX]

Disregard everything that i have just said.

/fixed


Seriously, how clueless are you man?

 

[TwwIX]

^Disregard all of the above posts^

Send me a PM with your credit card and bank numbers and I will help you lose weight fast, guaranteed.

George Agdgdgwngo, is that you?

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

I think the danger in simply reducing the amount of food you eat, is that you end up having some sort of mono-diet, with very little variety. This is my observation anyway.

But then how many people really are conscious of what they're eating; even if they are aware, they probably don't do much about it. My diet this year has been atrocious, and I'm fully aware of this, but there's not much to be done about it until I leave this infernal place.

But that's another story.

 

[Hurricane]

If you want to lose weight, you ought to alter your diet and take in fewer calories. There is no way around this fact.

Yes, I know. I'm saying that most weight-loss diets basically starve your body, and this is just as bad as over-eating. If someone eats McDonald's everyday, then of course they're going to lose weight is they start doing Atkins or whatever the new craze is. However, they're also going to be doing damage to their body by starving it like that. A good, balanced diet along with exercise would be better.

Case in point: Last spring, a friend joined the track team. He weighed about 180 lbs and ate fast food at least once a week, if not more. After a few days of running he decided that he really liked it, and wanted to keep getting faster, so he stopped eating fast food... and pretty much all other foods. Our coach found out and told him to start eating right, then gave him some ideas of what "eating right" would be. By the end of the season he had lost 40 lbs (our season is 3 & 1/2 months long).

tl;dr: In my experience, exercise and a balanced diet are more effective. Show me believable evidence that says otherwise and I'll glady admit I'm wrong.

 

[theotherguy]

Yes, I know. I'm saying that most weight-loss diets basically starve your body, and this is just as bad as over-eating. If someone eats McDonald's everyday, then of course they're going to lose weight is they start doing Atkins or whatever the new craze is. However, they're also going to be doing damage to their body by starving it like that. A good, balanced diet along with exercise would be better.

Case in point: Last spring, a friend joined the track team. He weighed about 180 lbs and ate fast food at least once a week, if not more. After a few days of running he decided that he really liked it, and wanted to keep getting faster, so he stopped eating fast food... and pretty much all other foods. Our coach found out and told him to start eating right, then gave him some ideas of what "eating right" would be. By the end of the season he had lost 40 lbs (our season is 3 & 1/2 months long).

tl;dr: In my experience, exercise and a balanced diet are more effective. Show me believable evidence that says otherwise and I'll glady admit I'm wrong.

Here is a little thought experiment for you:

Suppose you eat a perfectly "balanced diet" of exactly 2,000 calories. Suppose you expend 2,000 calories per day simply by being alive and doing excercise.

Now, suppose you continue to eat a perfectly "balanced diet" of exactly 2,100 calories, and your expenditure remains 2,000 calories. What will happen, over time? After approximately 30 days, you will gain, on average, a pound of fat.

Now, suppose you continue to eat a perfectly "balanced diet" of exactly 1,900 calories, and your expenditure remains 2,000 calories. What will happen? You will lose some weight.

Suppose you eat 1,900 calories, "perfectly balanced," (whatever the **** that means), and also expend 2,100 calories by being alive and exercising. You will lose more weight than if you had simply dieted. You will also lose more weight than if you had decided to eat 2,000 calories and expend 2,100 calories.

"Balance" is almost completely irrelevant in weight loss and gain. Yes, lack of certain nutrients or an excess of others may cause weight gain or loss as a side effect, but it is not the main contributor to weight gain. You could eat 3,000 calories and expend 2,000 in pure sugar, or you could eat 3,000 calories in "perfect balance" and expend 2,000 -- and your weight change will be nearly identical in both cases.

Yes, it is better to eat a "balanced" diet than an "unbalanced diet," however, it is NOT impossible to eat LESS and still eat a "balanced" diet.

You must realize that most people who are overweight are overweight from a combination of factors, often including overeating. For these people, it is UNHEALTHY to continue eating too many calories, even if these calories are "balanced."

Want some evidence?

Here's a study in the New England Medical Journal which compared the effectiveness of diets:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/360/9/859

The findings of this study, in short were:

Reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize.

That is, my friend, weight loss is achieved by restriction of calories, and has absolutely nothing to do with nutrient intake. (That is, "balance").

EDIT: You should also realize that when you diet, you are not starving. Your body is using the energy of your fat cells to take care of excess energy expenditure. That is the entire point of dieting. If you expend more energy in exercise, your body will do exactly the same thing, and will burn the fat cells to make up for the increased expenditure.

 

[repiV]

You can't lose weight permanently by just restricting the amount you eat - it's physiologically impossible. And the more severely you restrict the amount you eat, the worse it gets.

When you cut back on the calories, it invokes the body's starvation response which slows the metabolism down. This is why you can survive for months without food. Also, when you do this, you have no control over whether you are losing fat, muscle or both. Usually half of the "weight loss" is muscle loss, which is disastrous again because muscle feeds your metabolism. You don't want to be getting rid of muscle.

Which explains the usual cycle 95% of people follow of "going on a diet", seeing big initial success and then all of a sudden they stop losing the weight because the body has adapted to their diet. They give up out of frustration and go back to their old eating habits - only they have done their metabolism irrepairable damage, so now what used to be their maintenance level calories causes them to put all the weight back on, often plus some more.

Now how difficult it is for you to lose fat (you don't want to lose "weight") depends to a large extent on your genetics. If you're like me - and if you have weight problems, you probably are - anything except three times a week weight training (to fuel the metabolism), cardio (to burn the fat) and strictly controlling what and when you eat (but without dropping more than 20% of your maintenance level) just won't solve the problem in the end.

If it was as simple as "calories in", "calories out", diets would work. But diets don't work. And I would be slimmer than some of my friends, who eat absolute garbage and far too much of it, drink ridiculous amounts and never, ever put on any weight, despite being almost completely inactive. And if you ate a maximum of 1000 calories a day, it stands to reason that in time you would simply...disappear.

You should also realize that when you diet, you are not starving. Your body is using the energy of your fat cells to take care of excess energy expenditure.

For a short period of time, that's exactly what it does. Then your brain tells your body that it's starving and it conserves the fat to keep you alive. You will never see permanent or ongoing results that way.

 

[jimbo118]

Dieting(without exercising too but if they did it was only light exercise - brisk walking f.e) worked for loads of people I know including me so the ''diets dont work'' thing I don't really buy. And by saying diet I mean they started eating properly, eating normal portions etc(not starving themselves either), eating in moderation blabla. It was the change in what they ate that saw them lose the weight.

 

[repiV]

Dieting(without exercising too) worked for loads of people I know including me so the ''diets dont work'' thing I don't really buy. And by saying diet I mean they started eating properly, eating normal portions etc(not starving themselves either). It was the change in what they ate that saw them lose the weight.

How much and what were they eating before, and how much weight did they have to lose? It's possible if they were on very high calorie diets previously then their metabolism was already sky high and this combined with the change of diet (but without starving themselves!) fuelled the weight loss.

Put it this way. If it were universally possible to reliably and permanently lose weight simply by dropping daily calorific intake, how come you can survive for months without food? And what do you think would happen to someone who went on a "diet" of one KFC variety meal per day? Obscenely fatty and unhealthy, but only 1500 calories for day.

 

[jimbo118]

How much and what were they eating before, and how much weight did they have to lose? It's possible if they were on very high calorie diets previously then their metabolism was already sky high and this combined with the change of diet (but without starving themselves!) fuelled the weight loss.

Well in my case I was 13 stone(i'm about 5.8-10ish) and dropped to 11 stone in about 2-2.5months. My diet was fine before(generally) but I would gorge on biscuits/cakes etc if someone at home bought them. That was the only thing I really ate that was 'bad'.

I cut that out and concentrated on fresh veg, fruit, high-fibre foods, lean meats( I didn't bother with anything like steak anymore or if I did eat it only rarely) etc. If I needed a snack I'd get a piece of fruit or a low-fat yoghurt instead of making a sandwich.

So I didn't 'restrict' the amount I ate, I just ate healthily.

 

[ktimekiller]

we need short recoil

 

[Dan]

Here is a little thought experiment for you:

Suppose you eat a perfectly "balanced diet" of exactly 2,000 calories. Suppose you expend 2,000 calories per day simply by being alive and doing excercise.

Now, suppose you continue to eat a perfectly "balanced diet" of exactly 2,100 calories, and your expenditure remains 2,000 calories. What will happen, over time? After approximately 30 days, you will gain, on average, a pound of fat.

Now, suppose you continue to eat a perfectly "balanced diet" of exactly 1,900 calories, and your expenditure remains 2,000 calories. What will happen? You will lose some weight.

Suppose you eat 1,900 calories, "perfectly balanced," (whatever the **** that means), and also expend 2,100 calories by being alive and exercising. You will lose more weight than if you had simply dieted. You will also lose more weight than if you had decided to eat 2,000 calories and expend 2,100 calories.

Actually, your body will just balance its metabolism to match whatever number of calories you eat.

 

[repiV]

Well in my case I was 13 stone(i'm about 5.8-10ish) and dropped to 11 stone in about 2-2.5months. My diet was fine before(generally) but I would gorge on biscuits/cakes etc if someone at home bought them. That was the only thing I really ate that was 'bad'.

I cut that out and concentrated on fresh veg, fruit, high-fibre foods, lean meats( I didn't bother with anything like steak anymore or if I did eat it only rarely) etc. If I needed a snack I'd get a piece of fruit or a low-fat yoghurt instead of making a sandwich.

So I didn't 'restrict' the amount I ate, I just ate healthily.

That's the thing. A couple of stone here or there isn't a massive hurdle, I've lost about that just by cutting out the crap and thinking about what I eat too. But then the body reaches a natural equilibrium, and you can't really get significantly below that just by eating differently. If you already eat a decent diet, then cutting the calories alone is going to harm your health, not help you slim down.

If you want to make significant, lasting changes to your body shape and size, that approach just will not work. Also, there are different body types which respond very differently to gaining and losing fat and muscle. Some genetically gifted people can eat pizza and McDonalds for every meal and they only have to look at a set of weights and they get ripped. Others (thin and lanky people generally) have great difficulty putting on any fat or muscle.

Whereas I noticeably put on weight just from eating one bad meal. Most people who have problems with their weight have the same body type as me, and in this case small adjustments just won't cut it.

I've decided to sort out my weight in the last few weeks, and it's a big commitment. No eating out/takeaways (I can get away with maybe once or twice a month), no alcohol (a bit of vodka excepted, but really I need to cut it out completely), eating meals based around protein rather than carbs (a lot harder to do than it sounds). Then there's the weight training three times a week, cardio (I stick to very brisk walking because my leg is ****ed and I can't do anything too strenuous, I hope this will still work for me), never, ever skipping a meal because it annihilates your metabolism, not eating after 7pm...etc...

Really I should be eating six smaller meals a day too, as your metabolism becomes about 50% faster by doing this. Very impractical though, I'm still working on that one.

Chances are, when I have lost the weight I'll still need to keep the exercise going or it will all go back on again. I feel great and I know for sure I will achieve my goals (I write them down every morning and focus on them every day), but it's a huge commitment and a permanent lifestyle change. If you are someone with a chronic weight problem, you're almost certainly going to have the endomorphic body type and this means you will have to make this lifelong effort or you will always be fat.

Just the way it is I'm afraid...there are no quick fixes. Unless you're naturally athletic anyway, in which case you probably wouldn't have an ongoing need to lose weight.

 

[No Limit]

^Disregard everything this man just said^

No disrespect, but that really is one of the worst ways to lose weight. Weight-loss diets are just as bad for you as stuffing your face with fast food, just in a different way. The key is moderation. Also, like I said earlier, weight lifting is a great way to bulk and tone muscles, but if you're going for weight-loss, running would be best. This is because it's a good combination of cardio and muscle building.

No disrepect but you have absolutely no idea as to what you are talking about and probably shouldn't be giving weight loss advice.

Diet seems to be a term a lot of people such as yourself don't understand. Diet is not a temporary thing, its something you have to always follow. And you can get really advanced with how you work out your diet but in the end it boils down to how much calories you take in vs how much calories you burn. As I said about 3,500 calories is equal to 1Lb of fat; eat 3,500 calories less than your body burns and you lose a lb of fat (this is generally speaking for most average people, obviously wont apply to 100% of the people).

You could excercise 4 hours a day but if you take in more calories than you burn you wont lose any fat. You can also not excercise at all but as long as you take in less calories than your body consumes you will lose fat. It's up to you to strike a good balance. And its not a matter of starving yourself. If you eat foods that are nutritious without a lot of pointless calories you will not be hungry but you will be taking in less calories than your body consumes.

Bottom line again is that if you want to lose weight and think you can do so without changing your diet you are wasting your time. The most important thing when losing weight is your diet, working out is great but it is secondary. An hour of fairly intense workout on a treadmill will burn around 400-600 calories; that's a small side order of fries at your average fast food chain (not eating those fries in the first place would have been much easier than spending an hour on a treadmill).

 

[No Limit]

repiV, do yourself a favor and calculate exactly how many calories you consume each day for a week if you aren't doing so already. I found this to be one of the best things you can do to help you lose weight.

Chances are, when I have lost the weight I'll still need to keep the exercise going or it will all go back on again. I feel great and I know for sure I will achieve my goals (I write them down every morning and focus on them every day), but it's a huge commitment and a permanent lifestyle change. If you are someone with a chronic weight problem, you're almost certainly going to have the endomorphic body type and this means you will have to make this lifelong effort or you will always be fat.

that's the main thing people don't understand. It doesn't have much to do with your body type in 99% of the cases (thats more of an excuse). It simply has to do with changing your mindset about food and doing so permenantly. Anyone that goes on a temporary diet to lose weight will always fail. But onces a good diet becomes habit (by no means simple thing to do) weight loss is easy and so is keeping that weight off.

 

[repiV]

repiV, do yourself a favor and calculate exactly how many calories you consume each day for a week if you aren't doing so already. I found this to be one of the best things you can do to help you lose weight.

Yeah, I haven't quite got to that stage yet but I try to keep it to a rough estimate. I've calculated that I have maintenance level calories of around 2500 so aim to keep it around the 2000 mark. Kinda half won the battle in the sense that I never eat snacks anyway...the hardest part is going out and not drinking. Especially as drinking coke is even worse than drinking alcohol so it's water or nothing.

that's the main thing people don't understand. It doesn't have much to do with your body type in 99% of the cases (thats more of an excuse). It simply has to do with changing your mindset about food and doing so permenantly. Anyone that goes on a temporary diet to lose weight will always fail. But onces a good diet becomes habit (by no means simple thing to do) weight loss is easy and so is keeping that weight off.

It can be an excuse, but there's definitely a lot of truth in it. Some people put on weight very very easily, and some people can't put it on at all no matter what they eat. Look up mesomorphs/ectomorphs/endomorphs.

That being said, it's still your fault if you're fat regardless of your genetics. No different to any other area of life where people are dealt an unequal hand. People who piss around and order a diet coke with their big mac meal in some pathetic attempt to pretend they're being healthy really piss me off. Anything worth doing is worth doing properly.

 

[Eejit]

Then there's the weight training three times a week, cardio (I stick to very brisk walking because my leg is ****ed and I can't do anything too strenuous, I hope this will still work for me)

Is swimming an option for you? That can be damn good exercise all round and is fairly easy on the joints.

 

[repiV]

Is swimming an option for you? That can be damn good exercise all round and is fairly easy on the joints.

So people keep telling me, but I don't like it and I've never been any good at it. There's no reason I couldn't do it though, in theory.

 

[jimbo118]

But then the body reaches a natural equilibrium, and you can't really get significantly below that just by eating differently.

I'm guessing your talking generally or about people who are heavy and struggling but in my case I didn't need to go below 11stone. I just needed to lose a stone or two when I was at the 13stone mark(was still fitting in size 32-34 jeans). I was never huge.

I mean once I started fitting into a normal size 30 and wearing size 'small' for most upper body garments I was set and haven't had a problem since

Like you said though small adjustments doesn't work for everyone. I know many people who are very heavy and diet and exercise their butts off but don't get as sudden results as others.

btw noob weight question: how do you work out what weight of dumbbell you need when starting weight training?

 

[No Limit]

btw noob weight question: how do you work out what weight of dumbbell you need when starting weight training?

First work out what rep/set combination you will be doing. I generally try to do 10 reps with 3 sets. So start of with a fairly light weight that you think you will be able to lift 10 times in 3 different sets. If it's too easy move the weight up, if its too hard move the weight down.

 

[theotherguy]

Actually, your body will just balance its metabolism to match whatever number of calories you eat.

Hence the assumed fixed 2,000 calories of expenditure. This expenditure would actually decrease to match the food intake, as you said -- which necessitates exercise to make up for the loss in metabolism.

 

[Saturos]

^Disregard all of the above posts^

Send me a PM with your credit card and bank numbers and I will help you lose weight fast, guaranteed.

By robbing him blind of every penny so he can't even afford to buy food? A brilliant diet plan!

 

[Hurricane]

Yes, it is better to eat a "balanced" diet than an "unbalanced diet," however, it is NOT impossible to eat LESS and still eat a "balanced" diet.

By balanced I meant healthy in sizes and nutrients. What you said does make sense though, so I'll admit I was wrong. I still believe that exercise is just as important however. Also, I think we scared off David.

 

[VirusType2]

He was crushed to death under the weight of a barbell.

 

[KagutsuchiZA]

Two words: Muscle Revolution

I was on 123Kg in march-april, I weighed myself last month and was on 108Kg. (Yes I am not from the US, thus I use the metric system) Thats a loss of about 35 pounds.

Just follow that book - it has everything you need. (training routines and so on) A few extra tips:

1. Lose the diet sodas - they prevent you from losing weight (This one is definitely true - as I have experienced this myself as well as friends of mine)

2. Calculate your daily intake (Lean body mass * 12 for weight loss) (LBM = weight - fat) People at the gym should be able to tell you what your LBM is. If you weigh 200 pounds and your body fat is 20%, then your LBM is 160 pounds.

3. Use vegetables to increase your food's volume

My daily intake is about 2000 cal / day and I live of stir fry. 1Kg of stir fry = about 2 slices of white bread and about 2.5 slices of wholegrain bread. Take 50 grams of pasta with 1 chicken breast and a crapload of stir fry... you get one big ass meal. I can eat about 5-6 of those plates and still be under my daily calorie intake. Fat free plain yogurt serves the same purpose.

As a man who has to eat a lot, I just had to find a way to lose weight and eat as much as I can. The main Idea here is to start looking on the side food packaging to see how much you're really consuming.

4. Don't use anything that has more than 3 ingredients you can't pronounce

5. Don't do diets, they don't work (also out of experience)

6. Invest in some protein powder - before and after each workout (also explained in the book I mentioned)

This is also very important. During a workout your body first uses the fat reserves to produce energy, but as the exercise progresses your body starts to burn protein, because it is easier for your body to break down protein and use that as energy. This is something we want to prevent as this means losing muscle(more muscle means more energy used just because they exist! - 1Kg of muscle = about 50 cal burned a day just because they are there)

7. Eat more often, about 5 - 6 times a day.

You will find all the answers in that book. This is by far the best way of losing weight I know of.

BTW. I only used the gym for the first two months, the rest of the weight I lost just by following my eating routine. (It is not as if I follow it to the letter - Pizzas and burgers are plentiful, but I take note of them)


Hope this helps!

 

[Maestro]

Two words: Muscle Revolution

I was on 123Kg in march-april, I weighed myself last month and was on 108Kg. (Yes I am not from the US, thus I use the metric system) Thats a loss of about 35 pounds.

Just follow that book - it has everything you need. (training routines and so on) A few extra tips:

1. Lose the diet sodas - they prevent you from losing weight (This one is definitely true - as I have experienced this myself as well as friends of mine)

2. Calculate your daily intake (Lean body mass * 12 for weight loss) (LBM = weight - fat) People at the gym should be able to tell you what your LBM is. If you weigh 200 pounds and your body fat is 20%, then your LBM is 160 pounds.

3. Use vegetables to increase your food's volume

My daily intake is about 2000 cal / day and I live of stir fry. 1Kg of stir fry = about 2 slices of white bread and about 2.5 slices of wholegrain bread. Take 50 grams of pasta with 1 chicken breast and a crapload of stir fry... you get one big ass meal. I can eat about 5-6 of those plates and still be under my daily calorie intake. Fat free plain yogurt serves the same purpose.

As a man who has to eat a lot, I just had to find a way to lose weight and eat as much as I can. The main Idea here is to start looking on the side food packaging to see how much you're really consuming.

4. Don't use anything that has more than 3 ingredients you can't pronounce

5. Don't do diets, they don't work (also out of experience)

6. Invest in some protein powder - before and after each workout (also explained in the book I mentioned)

This is also very important. During a workout your body first uses the fat reserves to produce energy, but as the exercise progresses your body starts to burn protein, because it is easier for your body to break down protein and use that as energy. This is something we want to prevent as this means losing muscle(more muscle means more energy used just because they exist! - 1Kg of muscle = about 50 cal burned a day just because they are there)

7. Eat more often, about 5 - 6 times a day.

You will find all the answers in that book. This is by far the best way of losing weight I know of.

BTW. I only used the gym for the first two months, the rest of the weight I lost just by following my eating routine. (It is not as if I follow it to the letter - Pizzas and burgers are plentiful, but I take note of them)


Hope this helps!

I've read several weight-lifting training manuals, and this pretty much is the core of what they all say.

 

[Dan]

I disagree about the protein part. Unless you are actively trying to bulk up, you do not need much more than the recommended 50 or so grams of protein per day, even if you were to exercise at the level of an elite athlete. Your body does not prefer to burn protein, it wants to use that to build cellular tissue. It wants to burn chains of sugars and fats which it assembled specifically as energy storage. Excessive protein is hard on your blood filtering system and can add up to all sorts of long term health problems.

 

[VirusType2]

Not to mention that powdered protein is processed soy and is widely believed to be detrimental to your health.

Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is examining health concerns related to levels of the toxin furan in soy protein isolate and other foods.[2]

Powdered Protein Mix:
Ingredients: Isolated Soy Protein...

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=o...edients&aq=f&aqi=g-m1&oq=&fp=b03f3b2a1b734003

 

[No Limit]

I disagree about the protein part. Unless you are actively trying to bulk up, you do not need much more than the recommended 50 or so grams of protein per day, even if you were to exercise at the level of an elite athlete. Your body does not prefer to burn protein, it wants to use that to build cellular tissue. It wants to burn chains of sugars and fats which it assembled specifically as energy storage. Excessive protein is hard on your blood filtering system and can add up to all sorts of long term health problems.

And today the average person already eats way more protein than they need.

Other than that I do agree with Kagutsuchi but I dont think people should always jump in to an extreme plan like that. A lot of times for many people its much better to start off slow and slowly build up a habit. If you jump in to a complicated diet/workout plan chances are you aren't going to stick to it for very long if you are the type of person that loses motivation fairly quickly (which is the case for a lot of people).