NEW YEARS RESOLUTION WEIGHT LOSS THREAD 2013

[midnighter]

Happy new year all. Day one is here. Time to go workout and start the healthy eats. This year I only went up 13 lbs over the holidays. I will drop that in a breeze.

[Mouse6.2]

Happy New Year everyone! Well I wanted to start the year off right. Since my left knee surgery last spring I have not ran at all. It just seemed to take this long to get it back to shape. So I went out for my first run this morning on the treadmill and my Nike+ and just logged an easy 1.6 miles at at 12'10"/mi pace and total time of 20:02 min. I'm trying to make sure the Nike+ is calibrated as close as I can. The treadmill was showing the same times and distance. I will have to do more once I get on the road and run with Susan and her Garmin. I'm 6' and 213lbs as of today. Hopefully by summer I can be down to 198lbs.

It felt good. Like the poster in the gym I go to states "I always regret it when I don't workout, but never do regret it when I do."

Keep up the great work everyone.

[driyac]

Well I am setting a count down for myself, March 30th is a half marathon in Lexington ky that I will be running. I hope to be down to 220 at that time. so a total of 25 pounds in the next 4 months. I will also be running the flying pig full marathon in May. and hope to be around 200 at that point.

[bossbunny]

Well the 6lbs I lost when I started CF, I have gained back... On a whim I weighed myself today. Not worried about it because I am thinner, I've lost inches off my arms, thighs, and waist. Just goes to show the scale can lie.

[11BEE]

Originally Posted by bossbunny

Well the 6lbs I lost when I started CF, I have gained back... On a whim I weighed myself today. Not worried about it because I am thinner, I've lost inches off my arms, thighs, and waist. Just goes to show the scale can lie.

Remember muscle is more compact than fat. As you replace fat with muscle, you will loose inches.

[bossbunny]

Originally Posted by 11BEE

Remember muscle is more compact than fat. As you replace fat with muscle, you will loose inches.

Yup yup! Thats why I tell people to not look at the scale too often, especially if they are adding weights to their routine. It can be discouraging to see the number on the scale go up, when really you are in better shape.

[CFD]

Originally Posted by 11BEE

Remember muscle is more compact than fat. As you replace fat with muscle, you will loose inches.

Originally Posted by bossbunny

Yup yup! Thats why I tell people to not look at the scale too often, especially if they are adding weights to their routine. It can be discouraging to see the number on the scale go up, when really you are in better shape.

These statements are true but you must remember a few things. When building muscle you will gain inches especially if you are a man and train hard with heavy weights, the inches will be in muscle though not fat. This is why we are not concerned with weight loss but are concerned with fat loss. Muscle also requires more calories to sustain so in turn you burn more calories doing nothing when muscular. Although the scale is an important tool, readings can vary quite a bit from day to day or even hour to hour but scale readings, over a period of time should show a donward trend. On the other hand, measuring body fat is more important as it does not fluctuate drastically and is our primary goal. The other thing is muscle does indeed weigh more than fat but if you are training and see in a period of several months your weight going up substantialy, beware, as gaining muscle, for example 10lbs of it, does not come that fast or easy. Gaining 10lbs of muscle is much more difficult than loosing ten pounds of fat. There are exceptions, when someone first starts training, if training hard and with proper nutrition you MAY see rapid muscle gain but it is usually short lived as the body becomes used to your training.

[RubyCamaro]

Okay, I'm glad the holidays are behind me. I have resisted the urge to get on the scales but can see that a little bit of fat is back in the usual places. Time to get the diet back on track & find that exercize class.

[Speedy1975]

I was waiting for this thread to start

I'm down for more this year. However, I figure we may wanna change the title to be New Year's Resolution Fitness Thread 2013 instead of weight loss.

My goal is to remain under 9-10% body fat and put on as much muscle as possible. Some of you may remember I got down to 7.2% body fat last summer and weighed 152lbs. I'm at 167lbs now and 8.7% body fat if you believe the little biometric reader.

Bunny - glad to see you got in your Crossfit class. I liked it a lot but it is very hard on the body, mainly joints so keep an eye on those. I hurt my achilles tendon in my left heel back in July at Crossfit and it still hasn't healed.

On a positive note I hit a new personal best on flat bench over the weekend. I was able to rep 255 and decided I'd better stop there. I might could've gotten 275 but was afraid I'd hurt something. That's about 30lbs over my previous max so I was thrilled.

Good luck everyone in meeting your own personal goals this year. Let's see some starter pics.

[kalimus]

I've seen a couple of statements here and elsewhere and I thought I would just axe some bad information.

1) Muscle doesn't turn to fat. Ever. At all. Doesn't happen. Period. This is a myth because people who have lots of muscle who stop exercising, don't back down their eating habits. The unused muscle shrinks, but it doesn't go away (unless you're of the age that the body can't keep it all). But it NEVER turns into fat.

2) Fat doesn't turn into muscle. Same reasoning. I say this because you don't really "replace fat with muscle". I mean over time you do, but for 99% of people, you can either burn fat, or gain muscle. Not both. This myth is created because people who don't exercise have the same shrunken muscles like the previous statement. They are small because they have been unused and are not retaining water. When you first start exercising, especially weight training, those muscles will gain water weight quickly. This is why most people actually GAIN weight in the first couple of weeks after starting a new diet and exercise. The body needs excess calories to build new muscles. Already stored fat does not qualify, because the body will only process that if you have a calorie deficit. If you're eating excess, it has no need to use fat stores.

3) Women will not "look like a guy" if they lift weights. Women. Lift. You're not going to get big bulky arms, or whatever it is you're worried about. You don't have the amount of testosterone in your body to respond to weights like guys. However, you will tone up, which is sexy ;-)

4) Muscle does not weigh more than fat. Haha sorry I can't help it. A pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh... a pound. It is more dense than fat. It also contains less calories per pound. A pound of fat has 3500 calories. And why is that important? 500 calories a day less will lose a pound of fat per week. 500x7. I use a calculator for those big numbers

5) "Point fat burning" works. No. Yes. No. I say this because it's true and false. If you have fat around your waist, situps alone will not get rid of it. It's about calories in to calories out. HOWEVER, when you work out an area of your body, it will get hotter than the parts you are not working out. Fat "burns" better when it's heated up. That's actually why man-made trans fat is so bad. It needs to be heated to a temperature that your body just can't produce, which is why it's said that trans fat will basically stay in your body forever. This is also why stimulants sell so well for fat loss. "Thermogenics" (fat burners) don't work because they are "thermogenic". They work because they are stimulants, which especially when combined with exercise, cause your body to heat up more. This helps fat loss, and burns extra calories because your body has to expend even more to regulate body temp. And of course it does this by sweating, which is why thermogenics/stimulants are popular for competition too. It gets rid of extra water weight and makes you look more "cut".

There are lots of other things, but this turned into a longer post, and my fingers need a break

[Speedy1975]

Good post Kalimus. A lot of people interchange "muscle weighs more" because it's the size that's different. It takes a lot more fat to weigh a pound than it does muscle.



My girlfriend is a workout junkie like I am and her body is rocking. I love an athletic build on a woman and just roll my eyes when I hear some girl say she doesn't lift because she's afraid of being bulky.

[bossbunny]

Originally Posted by Speedy1975

I was waiting for this thread to start

I'm down for more this year. However, I figure we may wanna change the title to be New Year's Resolution Fitness Thread 2013 instead of weight loss.

I agree.

My goal is to remain under 9-10% body fat and put on as much muscle as possible. Some of you may remember I got down to 7.2% body fat last summer and weighed 152lbs. I'm at 167lbs now and 8.7% body fat if you believe the little biometric reader.

Bunny - glad to see you got in your Crossfit class. I liked it a lot but it is very hard on the body, mainly joints so keep an eye on those. I hurt my achilles tendon in my left heel back in July at Crossfit and it still hasn't healed.

On a positive note I hit a new personal best on flat bench over the weekend. I was able to rep 255 and decided I'd better stop there. I might could've gotten 275 but was afraid I'd hurt something. That's about 30lbs over my previous max so I was thrilled.

Good luck everyone in meeting your own personal goals this year. Let's see some starter pics.

Glad you showed up!

I am loving crossfit! Been at it 6 weeks now. I have noticed some soreness in my knees (it only bothers me when I sit down or get up), which I'm 100% sure is from squatting. I have been focusing on slowing down my squats and making sure I don't compromise form. Other than that no pain (other than normal muscle soreness)

Originally Posted by kalimus

I've seen a couple of statements here and elsewhere and I thought I would just axe some bad information.
3) Women will not "look like a guy" if they lift weights. Women. Lift. You're not going to get big bulky arms, or whatever it is you're worried about. You don't have the amount of testosterone in your body to respond to weights like guys. However, you will tone up, which is sexy ;-)

4) Muscle does not weigh more than fat. Haha sorry I can't help it. A pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh... a pound. It is more dense than fat. It also contains less calories per pound. A pound of fat has 3500 calories. And why is that important? 500 calories a day less will lose a pound of fat per week. 500x7. I use a calculator for those big numbers

When girls tell me that, I dont want to lift weights cause I'll get bulky... It takes ALL of my willpower not to facepalm.

[RubyCamaro]

Okay, So on point #5. My main problem is all around my middle, both tummy and back. It is the first place I gain & last place I lose. Soooooooooooo, How do I turn this info into finally making the fatty deposits around my middle GO AWAY! I know all the basics about calories in & out, eating clean, toning muscles, etc. But by the time I start to lose in that area, other parts of me start to look too skinny and I just get discoruaged.

[kalimus]

Originally Posted by RubyCamaro

Okay, So on point #5. My main problem is all around my middle, both tummy and back. It is the first place I gain & last place I lose. Soooooooooooo, How do I turn this info into finally making the fatty deposits around my middle GO AWAY! I know all the basics about calories in & out, eating clean, toning muscles, etc. But by the time I start to lose in that area, other parts of me start to look too skinny and I just get discoruaged.

Unfortunately for everyone, that's just about genetics. For a man, the first place he gains fat is around the midsection. It's also the last place he will lose it from.

For a woman, it's generally hips and butt. Gains there first, last to go away.

Everyone is genetically a little different, but there isn't anything you can do about it. If you genetically store in your midsection first, it will come off.. but the majority of it won't until your other fat stores have been depleted. For example arms, legs, etc.

For me, I store primarily around my belly button and "love handles". I store almost nothing on my arms and legs. After that it's my lower back, chest, and face. My belly is ALWAYS the last to slim down. The only thing you can do to help that is by helping that area warm up. For example, on the days you do cardio... do some situps first to warm that area up.

But try not to be discouraged. It WILL come. You just have to be patient and work hard at it. Short of surgery, there just isn't anything you can do about it.