Ask me anything! [FROM FAT to FIT]

ritchiedrama

Hi Ritch !!
When you say "lift weights" are the weight machines at the gym good enuff OR should i spend more time in that "free weight" section of the gym ?? How much time should i spend on the weights ? do the weights i use during circuit training twice a week count ?? i've lost 40 lbs over the last year but i still have a way to go .....i've been working out (mostly cardio , i'm addicted to it so i have a real hard time when you say it isn't NEEDED lol) and tracking my food consistently , but i can't lie and say that i don't want to see some faster results

Free weight's is all you should be doing in a gym in my opinion.

Compound lifts

Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, working your way into doing chin-ups, and overhead press.

This website will be useful for you. The best way for you to train is as heavy as you can, and a lowish rep range.

http://rippedbody.jp/2011/09/22/training-the-guide/

ritch

nagniho

Bump to follow and read responses.....

sandiegocali1

Hi there,
I am 47 and lost about 170 pounds over 1 1/2 year period doing WW and have kept it off for over 3 years. During this time, I have tried to get down to my goal of 135 (am currently 145 - 150) and no matter what I do, it won't budge. i have tried cutting calories, calorie cycling, increasing, low carb, decreasing exercise, you name it. I work out 4-5 days a week either doing Insanity, elliptical, P90x, walking, anything to try and mix it up and for the past month have increased my calories to about 1750 based on TDEE. Any suggestions, ideas are greatly appreciated. My macros are set at 113 g C, 70 g F, and 180 g P. The last 2 weeks, I have gone over so it's not a good indication. I was trying AGAIN to give my body a break and RESET. Still nothing. Thanks much!

ritchiedrama

Hi there,
I am 47 and lost about 170 pounds over 1 1/2 year period doing WW and have kept it off for over 3 years. During this time, I have tried to get down to my goal of 135 (am currently 145 - 150) and no matter what I do, it won't budge. i have tried cutting calories, calorie cycling, increasing, low carb, decreasing exercise, you name it. I work out 4-5 days a week either doing Insanity, elliptical, P90x, walking, anything to try and mix it up and for the past month have increased my calories to about 1750 based on TDEE. Any suggestions, ideas are greatly appreciated. My macros are set at 113 g C, 70 g F, and 180 g P. The last 2 weeks, I have gone over so it's not a good indication. I was trying AGAIN to give my body a break and RESET. Still nothing. Thanks much!

Have you tried taking a complete two week diet break here: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

I'm not sure what I can suggest if you've FULLY tried all those things, although I can recommend you start doing strength weight training. Realistically, you should get your TDEE and minus 20% and things should start moving, but you need to remember you should give it some time 2-3 weeks for it to move once you've done that..

You also need to address the issue that you MAY be calculating your calories, forgetting to record something that you didn't know contained many calories, etc.


I need to take a small break, I'll be back in 1 hour maximum to answer questions again.

Lyerin

Here's my question:

I am 5'2" tall and currently weigh 173.4 pounds (down almost 41 pounds from my starting weight in February 2013). I have a relatively sedentary job (desk job). I participate in a boot camp class 4 x a week (with weights), run about 3 x a week and do Zumba 3 x a week. I'm active but not necessarily at my job.

How many calories should I be eating per day? MFP set me at 1200, which I followed for a bit, but now I've had them set at 1550. Am I eating the right amount now? Should it be less? I don't want to stall my progress by eating too much/not enough.

Thank you.

creech6317

Here is my question. I have started weight training. I workout at home and the heaviest weights I have are two 10 lb dumbbells. I will be upping my weight when I can afford more weights. Until I can get more weights do I just keep adding reps to make it still be a good workout? My other question is, working out with this low of weights do I still need to take a day off in between workouts or can I work out each day?

I get really bored with cardio really quickly, so I am mainly sticking to the weights.
I have about 10-15 pounds more I want to lose, but my main goal is to get definition, the pounds aren't as important as the look of my muscles.

Thanks for any ideas or help you can give me.

40rosebud

Do you know how many calories one hour of HIIT would burn?

sandiegocali1

Thank you for your quick response. Will give it a rest for a couple of weeks and then start strength training.

Valstar9

Couldn't agree more Ritch... Huffington post is a joke! Thanks for sharing your view on diet soda!

kimsue674

Bump to follow and read responses...

sixpacklady

What is the best way to lower body fat from 27% to 20%? I am particularly trying to lose a few inches from my belly.

How many training days, how long should I do per week? Should I include HIIT based workouts for faster results or just stick with weight training?

What is the ideal macro ratio for this? 40 -40 -20C?

How long will it take? Did you find the last 10-15 lbs hardest?

Thanks a lot in advance?

ritchiedrama

Here's my question:

I am 5'2" tall and currently weigh 173.4 pounds (down almost 41 pounds from my starting weight in February 2013). I have a relatively sedentary job (desk job). I participate in a boot camp class 4 x a week (with weights), run about 3 x a week and do Zumba 3 x a week. I'm active but not necessarily at my job.

How many calories should I be eating per day? MFP set me at 1200, which I followed for a bit, but now I've had them set at 1550. Am I eating the right amount now? Should it be less? I don't want to stall my progress by eating too much/not enough.

Thank you.

Hey! I am very sedentary too, just so you know - i sit here all day apart from 3x a week lifting - exercise does not burn as many calories as you may think.

1200 calories seems too low if you really are doing that much exercise though. If you are not losing weight at 1550 and you are tracking correctly, take away 50 or 100 calories per day,, down to 1500, that'd create another 350 calorie weekly deficit, every little bit can count, but you don't want to do it too drastically,, and keep tracking your weight for a few weeks, if it doesn't go down, minus another 50.

Marathon, not a sprint.

ritch

ritchiedrama

Here is my question. I have started weight training. I workout at home and the heaviest weights I have are two 10 lb dumbbells. I will be upping my weight when I can afford more weights. Until I can get more weights do I just keep adding reps to make it still be a good workout? My other question is, working out with this low of weights do I still need to take a day off in between workouts or can I work out each day?

I get really bored with cardio really quickly, so I am mainly sticking to the weights.
I have about 10-15 pounds more I want to lose, but my main goal is to get definition, the pounds aren't as important as the look of my muscles.

Thanks for any ideas or help you can give me.

Until you can get more weights yes, start doing a few more reps, maybe look up some good bodyweight exercises you can do, maybe invest in a chin-up bar for a doorway so you can start building some strength that way too.

Cardio is useless (my opinion) for anything other than health. For fat loss it is a poor investment in time.

With fat loss will come definition, and the more weight you can get to lift and bodyweight exercises the more your muscle strength will improve.

I guess you can work out more often if the weights are that low, but with added bodyweight exercises you can mix it up a bit more! Google should be able to provide you with a lot of bodyweight exercises.

ritch

ritchiedrama

What is the best way to lower body fat from 27% to 20%? I am particularly trying to lose a few inches from my belly.

How many training days, how long should I do per week? Should I include HIIT based workouts for faster results or just stick with weight training?

What is the ideal macro ratio for this? 40 -40 -20C?

How long will it take? Did you find the last 10-15 lbs hardest?

Thanks a lot in advance?

The simple answer: A calorie deficit will reduce your body fat.

I train for 3 days a week for 45 minutes, strength training lifting weights as heavy as I can. Cardio is definitely not needed, I went from 20%+ bodyfat down to around 9-10% with zero cardio, and I could choose to go lower, cardio has no effect.

There is no ideal ratio for p/c/f - just meet minimum requirements ~ 0.82g per bodyweight (lbs) protein, 0.4 or 0.45g fat per bodyweight (lbs) and rest can go to more protein and fat or all carbs, your choice as long as you make up the calories somewhere.

I found it easier, strangely as I got lower, but I got more motivated because you can see more things happening to your body when you are lower BF.

Hope this helps

ritch

Querian

Hi Ritch I think you missed my question so here it is again

I really like this thread so I will ask a question

I'm in maintenance mode right now due to lots of life changes. I recently moved and don't have access to my bike, a gym, or even my scale for the time being.

I have been doing the C25K program 3 times a week and also an at home body weight based strength program 3 times a week. The strength program is a 4 week program with workouts that change each time and include things like squats, pushups, burpees, etc. The strength program is a pretty short (10-20 minutes) workout but very intense (done in a circuit). In addition to that routine I do some core exercises on my strength days like crunches, front and side planks, supermans or opposite arm/leg extensions. My husband even started doing this with me since we moved and he likes it well enough even though he prefers to lift in a gym.

Is this strength routine adequate? I have been tracking my progress and I have definitely improved quite a bit over time, for example there is one workout that is 50 burpees and the first time I did it in February it took me over 20 minutes and when I did the same workout in July it took me less than 10.

What home-based workout would you recommend? I do have a few hand weights in a box that I don't use but I think the heaviest are only 8 pounds. There might be some resistance bands in there too Since we just moved our budget is pretty tight so we can't purchase any new equipment or a gym membership right now although down the road we would like to have our own home gym.

ritchiedrama

I really like this thread so I will ask a question

I'm in maintenance mode right now due to lots of life changes. I recently moved and don't have access to my bike, a gym, or even my scale for the time being.

I have been doing the C25K program 3 times a week and also an at home body weight based strength program 3 times a week. The strength program is a 4 week program with workouts that change each time and include things like squats, pushups, burpees, etc. The strength program is a pretty short (10-20 minutes) workout but very intense (done in a circuit). In addition to that routine I do some core exercises on my strength days like crunches, front and side planks, supermans or opposite arm/leg extensions. My husband even started doing this with me since we moved and he likes it well enough even though he prefers to lift in a gym.

Is this strength routine adequate? I have been tracking my progress and I have definitely improved quite a bit over time, for example there is one workout that is 50 burpees and the first time I did it in February it took me over 20 minutes and when I did the same workout in July it took me less than 10.

What home-based workout would you recommend? I do have a few hand weights in a box that I don't use but I think the heaviest are only 8 pounds. There might be some resistance bands in there too Since we just moved our budget is pretty tight so we can't purchase any new equipment or a gym membership right now although down the road we would like to have our own home gym.

Sorry about that, dunno how that happened, I checked through it all again haha! oops!

Hiya, Querian!

I think the strength routine you have, is as good as you can get without going into a gym, I don't have much experience with "programs" that aren't weight training programs as the general consensus is, get to a gym, lift heavy. But, that being said you can't and we have to deal with what you can do.

Ideally with things like resistance bands there is a lot of things on YouTube that can keep you busy if you just Youtube resistance band training etc.

At the end of the day, the important thing is, you're moving and making an effort. I do recommend lifting in a gym when the possibility arises though.

Diet is what will either maintain you, make you lose weight or gain weight - at the end of the day.

Hope this helps

ritch

bubblygoldfish

Bump.

Hey, why do you not run? Have you no desire to flee from wild boars? Zombies? A mob?

acheron03

First as many have said thank you for taking the time out of you day to answer questions.

I have a couple (maybe more of a rambling question)

I weigh 389.0 right now I use the MFP suggestion of 2,450 calories (after reading your other posts i'll go use one of the calculators you posted and see if it matches up with MFP closely. Never really knew what formula to use b4). At 2450 cals I lost 4lbs first week than had a 3 day "fat" weekend so gained 2 back but 2450 seemed to be working wasn't ever hungry even the occasional day that I was below 2450. I'm doing 30 min walks 3-3.5 mpg (calculated by the Endomondo pro app so not guessing there (unless the app is)) partly to walk the dog partly b/c blood pressure is a little high so I think I should keep that up (as you have stated cardio good for health reasons). I guess my rambling question here is should I start weigh lifting (sounds like I should from this thread and others that I have read) and do you know of a site (you have listed a couple here. Just use those?) that has lists of exercises and proper form (also I can youtube but you seem to know what your doing so if you have a great place to go then hey why not).

I know that the macros are important but for someone as overweight as I am would just losing the weigh matter more or still try to hit the macros while losing the weight?

also for the 389 to have context I'm a 28 year old male 5'10.

hope I didn't ramble so much that i didn't make any sense.

Thank you for your time

*edit also what weight should I start with (or will the sites tell me)

ritchiedrama

Bump.

Hey, why do you not run? Have you no desire to flee from wild boars? Zombies? A mob?

I like zombies.

ritchiedrama

First as many have said thank you for taking the time out of you day to answer questions.

I have a couple (maybe more of a rambling question)

I weigh 389.0 right now I use the MFP suggestion of 2,450 calories (after reading your other posts i'll go use one of the calculators you posted and see if it matches up with MFP closely. Never really knew what formula to use b4). At 2450 cals I lost 4lbs first week than had a 3 day "fat" weekend so gained 2 back but 2450 seemed to be working wasn't ever hungry even the occasional day that I was below 2450. I'm doing 30 min walks 3-3.5 mpg (calculated by the Endomondo pro app so not guessing there (unless the app is)) partly to walk the dog partly b/c blood pressure is a little high so I think I should keep that up (as you have stated cardio good for health reasons). I guess my rambling question here is should I start weigh lifting (sounds like I should from this thread and others that I have read) and do you know of a site (you have listed a couple here. Just use those?) that has lists of exercises and proper form (also I can youtube but you seem to know what your doing so if you have a great place to go then hey why not).

I know that the macros are important but for someone as overweight as I am would just losing the weigh matter more or still try to hit the macros while losing the weight?

also for the 389 to have context I'm a 28 year old male 5'10.

hope I didn't ramble so much that i didn't make any sense.

Thank you for your time

If I miss anything, make sure you let me know - it was hard to read everything in your post as it was a little jumbled and its so hot here its hard to concentrate

Okay, its good that you've decided to go work out your macros with a good calculator that i linked. That is a good choice.

I will recommend lifting weights to anyone UNLESS they have health conditions, but other than that, Strength Training is definitely the way to go. Read more here: http://rippedbody.jp/2011/09/22/training-the-guide/ ~ Cardio does not burn many calories but you want to do it for health reasons which I have no issues with, keep that up!

To answer your question simply: yes, start weight lifting, read the website I gave above thoroughly, you can learn SO much from there. There is a few training programs there, all of which will work for you, and lots of information about nutrition and so on.

There is also form videos on the pages.

Hitting macros is important, as that is what they are there for..

but the more overweight you are thee more you can get away with not hitting them, but hitting a sufficient amount of fat intake is important for your body. Usually around 0.4g per bodyweight (lbs).

I hope this helps, if you have anything elsee to ask or I missed anything let me know

ritch