NEW YEARS RESOLUTION WEIGHT LOSS THREAD 2012

[CFD]

Here is an e-mail I just got. I've discussed this before but figured I'd post it again only because I personally feel good nutrition is very important. Although some disagree with my thoughts of always eating nutritious balanced meals, even for for weight loss, I figured I'd share it.

Over the weekend I hit the gym with my buddy Mikey for a morning cardio workout.

Now, I say “cardio”, but really it was a metabolic resistance training session.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, the simple definition for metabolic resistance training is “cardio with weights”. We’ll cover this more in detail in another update so as not to get too off topic.

So we’re about 10 minutes into the workout and Mikey looks like he’s in pretty bad shape (despite being in really GOOD shape). So I asked him what the deal was.

“I didn’t eat anything for breakfast.”

Me: Why the heck not?

“I thought that’s what you’re supposed to do if you want to burn the most fat from your morning workouts.”

Uh oh.

Perhaps you’re still believing this old myth just like good ol’ Mikey, so allow me to take a moment to dispel it.

The theory behind empty stomach is cardio is simple: supposedly, by doing cardio on a empty stomach, you tap directly into fat stores since glycogen (carbohydrate) stores are somewhat depleted after an overnight fast.

Seems to make sense, but research has proven this to be wrong.

Several studies have shown no difference in substrate utilization (glycogen vs. fat) for those working out on an empty stomach vs. those who eat a small meal prior to their morning workouts.

In fact, one study showed the exact opposite—those who had a small meal first burned more calories and more fat than the empty stomach group.

How can this be?

The reason is rather simple if you think about it. I was kicking butt and taking names with my workout, and Mikey was barely able to get through his. Even if not eating beforehand allowed you to burn more fat (which it doesn’t), the major trade off is performance.

And why does performance matter? Well, if you can’t perform at an optimal level and put forth maximal effort, then you are not going to be burning an optimal amount of calories–period.

The truth is, empty stomach cardio is an outdated philosophy whose theory was proven incorrect by research. Still, there are plenty of people who hold on to the theory despite the available research. Perhaps they’re not aware of it, perhaps they just go by what the fitness and bodybuilding magazines tell them (bad idea); I’m not sure.

Whatever the reason, popular philosophy doesn’t always mean correct philosophy, and this is one such instance.

So I’ll leave you with some practical recommendations:

At the very minimum, have a couple scoops of whey before any morning “cardio” workout.

That said, if it’s still negatively affecting your performance, you need to go a bit further. The meal doesn’t have to be large, but it should contain some complex carbs (oatmeal, etc) along with a small serving of protein.

Give it about a half hour to begin digesting and then hit your workout.

Better performance = more calories burned = more fat loss = improved cardiovascular functioning = even better performance = even more calories burned = even more fat loss.

Don’t be like my friend Mikey and have a crappy workout because you didn’t eat. As I shared with you, the research shows that’s not going to make a difference anyway. Instead, eat your Wheaties (figuratively speaking) and then dominate your workout!

[CFD]

Originally Posted by kalimus

Snapped a quick cell pic this morning. I don't have a camera other than my phone, and nobody to take a picture of me, so you don't get many poses.

6'2" tall and 178 pounds. I probably have another 5 pounds or so to go before I'm where I want to be.


Attachment 380582

I used to have a waist line like that, about 30 years ago LOL

[RubyCamaro]

Noting wrong with the waistline you have now CFD

Kalimus..................you might want to hang on to that 5 lbs. You are looking pretty good right now.

Edit :corrected mis-typed username

[kalimus]

Originally Posted by RubyCamaro

Noting wrong with the waistline you have now CFD

Calimus..................you might want to hang on to that 5 lbs. You are looking pretty good right now.

Haha thanks. It's not as cut as I would like to be yet. That's still about 11-12% bodyfat for me.

I completely agree with the balanced diet. And to put things in perspective with my picture...

I'm not where I want to be just yet, nor was it in my plans to be where I want by now. I was shooting for early July, so I'm pretty much on track. And this is how I got to where I am:

4 day lifting split (mon, tue, thurs, fri)
ZERO cardio (i.e. no running, biking, etc etc)
I eat carbs at least 4 out of my 6 meals a day (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, and dinner) and generally one REASONABLE cheat meal a week

And here is the list of things I eat most frequently:
Proteins - Tuna, 93/7 beef, chicken, egg whites, whey, casein
Carbs - Oats, whole grain pasta, sweet potato, whole wheat bread, broccoli, asparagus, brown rice
Fats - Almonds, 1% milk, whole eggs

Obviously some of those cross categories (i.e. the beef and tuna provides some of my fats)

Cardio is in play now, so results are just going to keep coming

[CFD]

Originally Posted by kalimus

Haha thanks. It's not as cut as I would like to be yet. That's still about 11-12% bodyfat for me.

I completely agree with the balanced diet. And to put things in perspective with my picture...

I'm not where I want to be just yet, nor was it in my plans to be where I want by now. I was shooting for early July, so I'm pretty much on track. And this is how I got to where I am:

4 day lifting split (mon, tue, thurs, fri)
ZERO cardio (i.e. no running, biking, etc etc)
I eat carbs at least 4 out of my 6 meals a day (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, and dinner) and generally one REASONABLE cheat meal a week

And here is the list of things I eat most frequently:
Proteins - Tuna, 93/7 beef, chicken, egg whites, whey, casein
Carbs - Oats, whole grain pasta, sweet potato, whole wheat bread, broccoli, asparagus, brown rice
Fats - Almonds, 1% milk, whole eggs

Obviously some of those cross categories (i.e. the beef and tuna provides some of my fats)

Cardio is in play now, so results are just going to keep coming

This is very similar as to how I eat and exercise. I do little cardio unless cutting and then that is the tool that easily reduces my bodt fat.

[CFD]

Ruby this is for you, I hope you read this and understand what I'm trying to get accross. I would not suggest you try a Keto diet, here is why.

As mentioned, there is no argument by anyone here that Keto diets shred fat, the thing is they are a specialty type diet that is very strict . I've got a couple of questions, Do you know your lean body mass weight and your daily caloric intake for maintanance. You need to know these to determine how many cals you eat for any diet plan AND especially for Keto diets. Here it is in a nut shell. A Keto diet is designed to get your fuel from body fat, to do so you must cut almost all carbs, some people can get away with 60-70grams daily, more people around 20-30 grams daily. Normally you would eat 1 gram of protein per lb of lean mass, the rest of your daily cals from fat. If you do this with only about 30 grams daily from carbs you will loose fat, have energy and retain SOME of your muscle mass, the problem is this, let's say that you eat only 30 grams (this is a variable that is different from person to person)of carbs daily and that is the max you can eat and stay in Ketosis (burnning fat for fuel) but you eat an extra 5 grams and now are not in Ketosis, that means you have eaten a good portion of your cals from fat and quite a bit from unhealthy fats. You now are on a very low carb high fat diet and will suffer all the ill effects of them. Well you say you can do it, maybe you can so let's put it in perspective, 30 grams carbs a day devided by 5 meals equals 6 grams of carbs per meal per day now go in your kitchen and look at the nutrition labels of everything you plan to eat and drink and look at the carb content, throw out everything that will put you at over 5 grams carbs for that meal, can you eat like this for 5-6 days before you can load up on carbs again, you can, well that's great only to find out that you've gained weight, why, it turns out you can only eat 20 grams carbs daily to stay in Ketosis. You should also avoid all fructose as it's a sure fire way to take you out of Ketosis. What I'm trying to get across is that you must first master the basics,know your body composition, know the nutrient content of everything you plan to eat and can be systematic in determining your caloric needs. I know the thought of burning fat for fuel and loosing 8lbs of pure fat in 8 weeks sounds great and is very tempting and possible IF you get it right, if you don't epic failure.

[RubyCamaro]

Why is everything so complicated??????????????????? I wish just once in life something would just be simple. So how do I do all the above without having to get a PhD in weight loss technology? Got a web site or some simple ways to calculate the info I need to know?

[CFD]

Originally Posted by RubyCamaro

Why is everything so complicated??????????????????? I wish just once in life something would just be simple. So how do I do all the above without having to get a PhD in weight loss technology? Got a web site or some simple ways to calculate the info I need to know?

There are many web sites but the problem is they are all written by "guru's" who have there own opinions and are often different than the next guys.

Weight loss is simple but requires some knowledge, commitment and most of all patience.

As I mention over and over again you must start with the basics, come up with a plan and FOLLOW it.

It's just like building a motor, you can throw a bunch of parts in it and hope you hit a majic combination that works or you can do what is known to work and tweak it from there.

I was at a point in time in a similar situation as you and many people. I had put on a "few" LOL extra pounds and could not loose them, so I started doing research and everywhere I turned I found conflicting opinions and info. After much reading I realized that with all the different opinions, they were for the most part, variations on the basics so I started there. After sticking with it for what seemed like ever I started noticing results, not one or two week results but graduall consistant results so then I became more commited and followed the basic strategies more stringently and realized I was onto something. All the FAD diets and magic pills are bullshit,many of them promise and deliver fast weight loss, things like loose 8lbs in two weeks etc. but they are not fat loss and draw you in to purchase the next suppliment or exercise and diet plan so the only thing you loose is your money. most of the websites and guru's are pushing supliments or ideas to fill their pockets with your money.

As I have suggested many times this is what I honestly think should be done by anyone trying to loose fat and transform their bodies. Get a simple, inexpensive body fat caliper such as an accumeasure. They are not the most accurate but are very consistant and ideal for our goals. From there you can determine your body composition (lean mass and fat) and figure out your caloric needs. From there you simple follow the basics and come up with a diet plan and stick with it and tweak it as needed. It will pay off and you will get the results you want but it will take patience and commitment.

If you're looking for overnight results then I am not the person who's advice you should follow because I don't have any magic pills or diet and exercise plans to suggest to you only practical, known to work strategies.

[bossbunny]

Originally Posted by Minus_Z28

Just stopping by to say don't ever run with ankle weights. Adding weight to aerobic training not only doesn't make you faster, it rips your knees up too.

If the time needs to come down just a few days from now there's literally nothing that will make it happen(okay... maybe emergency liposuction) fitness-wise. Your friend can stop by a running store and buy some racing shoes. Dropping 8 oz. off of each foot can account for more than 10 seconds per mile. (edit: I just remembered this is a weight loss thread and that might be considered cheating.)

8+ minute miles are well within the aerobic exercise spectrum. To continue bringing the time down in the future all it takes is running 6 days/week and a gradual but consistent increase in speed and distance. Also recommend to avoid heelstriking, if that's being done.

Yeah I don't personally like to suggest others to use ankle weights for that very reason. I did get him a weighted vest though.

Well he moved down to 12.56 a few days ago, so I'm hoping he can get it to 12.30 by then. He is very motivated and is trying sprinting to get his time down. So we will see.

[kalimus]

Originally Posted by RubyCamaro

Why is everything so complicated??????????????????? I wish just once in life something would just be simple. So how do I do all the above without having to get a PhD in weight loss technology? Got a web site or some simple ways to calculate the info I need to know?

When I first started, I just read every bodybuilding article I found. Eventually you start recognizing the things that are repeated by almost everyone, and I started going by that.

But if you want an easy way to really get started, there were a couple of things I started with that are easy rules. Then you can evolve from there.

First is setting your target calories. Pick the middle number between your target weight and your current weight. For example, 200 lbs currently, want to get to 170, so I pick 185. Next, eat 10 calories for every pound of that number. So I picked 1850 calories.

Then you want to eat about 50% of your calories from protein, 30% from carbs, and 20% from fats. Eat only lean meat (turkey, chicken, fish, and occasionally lean beef). For carbs, if it's white or NOT green, don't eat it. No white rice, white potato, white bread, white pasta, sugar (you get the idea). I eat only green veggies (spinnach, broccolii, romaine lettuce, asparagus). And then your fats you'll get from milk, nuts, whole eggs and etc.

There are a couple of free webistes to help you track calories and ratios. myfitnesspal is one and dailyburn is another. They will help you maintain a little bit of sanity.

Do that for about 2 weeks and see how much you lose. If it's more than 2 pounds per week, bring your calories up. If it's less than 1 pound per week, lower them. Make adjustments by around 300 calories (unless there is a drastic change in weight. Like if you lose 3-4 pounds a week, you might want to bring them up 500-600 calories instead.

[CFD]

Originally Posted by kalimus

When I first started, I just read every bodybuilding article I found. Eventually you start recognizing the things that are repeated by almost everyone, and I started going by that.

But if you want an easy way to really get started, there were a couple of things I started with that are easy rules. Then you can evolve from there.

First is setting your target calories. Pick the middle number between your target weight and your current weight. For example, 200 lbs currently, want to get to 170, so I pick 185. Next, eat 10 calories for every pound of that number. So I picked 1850 calories.

Then you want to eat about 50% of your calories from protein, 30% from carbs, and 20% from fats. Eat only lean meat (turkey, chicken, fish, and occasionally lean beef). For carbs, if it's white or NOT green, don't eat it. No white rice, white potato, white bread, white pasta, sugar (you get the idea). I eat only green veggies (spinnach, broccolii, romaine lettuce, asparagus). And then your fats you'll get from milk, nuts, whole eggs and etc.

There are a couple of free webistes to help you track calories and ratios. myfitnesspal is one and dailyburn is another. They will help you maintain a little bit of sanity.

Do that for about 2 weeks and see how much you lose. If it's more than 2 pounds per week, bring your calories up. If it's less than 1 pound per week, lower them. Make adjustments by around 300 calories (unless there is a drastic change in weight. Like if you lose 3-4 pounds a week, you might want to bring them up 500-600 calories instead.

This is the basic formula for weight loss, I preach this religiously because it is what is known to work. Everyone's body reacts differently that is wh you track what you eat and your results so you can make minor adjustments as needed. It's not difficult but you must be consistant and commited and it will work

[RubyCamaro]

Okay. A couple of questions. Aren't different important nutrients asociated with different colors of fruits & vegies? Short term like with Keto, I see no problem with this formula. But I also watch my diet for cancer prevention, heart health & now for no gluten. Do you just wait & add back in things like red or yellow bell peppers, carrots, sweet potatos, blueberries, nuts, etc after you have reached your target weight. And for me is is not really weight. That pretty much never changes with me at this point. It is more muscle mass versus fatty deposits all around my middle.

[kalimus]

You should be taking a multi-vitamin to make up for some of the nutrients you aren't getting. It's a little harder if you want to maintain a gluten free diet, so you might have to adjust your foods.

The different color veggies is kind of a generic rule to make sure you get your differnet vitamins. Fruits aren't bad either, as long as you aren't eating LOTS of them. But some berries or apple or osmething in the morning isn't bad.

Are you asking about adding in all that after keto? Because that answer would be yes. When you start to add carbs back in after keto, you add them slowly to see how your body will respond. You don't want to go back to just eating whatever again.

And I understand what you're trying to say about weight, but it is about weight. More importantly the type of weight. You want to get rid of the fat in the middle of your body, so you want to lose fat weight. Hopefully you're doing some sort of exercises to help, even if it's walking. Calorie deficit works because it means you're eating less than you're burning. And as long as that differnce isn't HUGE, most of your weight loss will be fat.

Just remember, it doesn't matter if it's keto or a diet with carbs, your body will still burn fat. Does that answer your question?

[CFD]

Originally Posted by RubyCamaro

Okay. A couple of questions. Aren't different important nutrients asociated with different colors of fruits & vegies? Short term like with Keto, I see no problem with this formula. But I also watch my diet for cancer prevention, heart health & now for no gluten. Do you just wait & add back in things like red or yellow bell peppers, carrots, sweet potatos, blueberries, nuts, etc after you have reached your target weight. And for me is is not really weight. That pretty much never changes with me at this point. It is more muscle mass versus fatty deposits all around my middle.

In a fat loss diet all the foods you mentioned are ok and actually desireable. In a Keto diet you can eat some of the things you mentioned such as various peppers and other vegetables but the amounts you can eat are quite restrictive. One thing many overlook is that you can get many antioxidans from spices, many spices are included in fat loss recipies for this reason as well as many are thermogenic which also aids in fat loss and as mentioned there are multi-vitamins for this purpose and are recomended in Keto diets.

You must also remember that although your trouble spot may be mid section but there is no exercise or diet that can choose where you will loose fat. The belly is the toughest area and is usually the last place the fat comes off and it usually comes down to exercise to burn it off and clean dieting to prevent it from accumilating.