Ask me anything! [FROM FAT to FIT]

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  • randyncandinicholson
    randyncandinicholson Posts: 11
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    patience is something I really need to work on :) but thanks!! I know I didn't gain all this over night so I wont lose it over night.. but just want to know im doing the right thing to lose weight... I will look at the link.. thanks again
  • ilarrotta
    ilarrotta Posts: 160 Member
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    Hi! First of all thank you for the help you are giving. It is hard to ask a question in this site and get multiple different answers that just confuse us more.
    I am 5'0.5 tall, 135lbs, 29 years old. I first started last year in June, 2012 at 152.4lbs and lost 16lbs in about 5 months. I then stopped completely losing. I have done Insanity twice, currently doing Asylum and I am not losing. My body is making some progress, but I know I am just not gaining muscle because I still dont fit in the clothes I used to wear when I was 117lbs.

    I set my diet by calculating the TDEE - 20% which sets me at 1370 calories more or less. I am a vegetarian but try to get my level of protein always in. I currently exercise 5 days a week for a total burn of around 450 calories. I use a Polar HRM to calculate my calories burnt. I am was told to up my caloric intake from 1200 so I went to 1500-1600 calories a day not eating back exercise calories and gained 5lbs and then have maintained that but not lost. Now I am going to try to lower again to 1300 to see what different it makes.
    I was thinking it could be a miscalculation of my macros. Gave my body time in case it needed to adjust, but I have been stuck for about 6-8 months in the same weight which definitely shows me I am doing something wrong. I even cut out my occasional icecream lol. My diary is open.

    I would greatly appreciate some help.

    Thank you so much!
  • ritchiedrama
    ritchiedrama Posts: 1,304 Member
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    Hi! First of all thank you for the help you are giving. It is hard to ask a question in this site and get multiple different answers that just confuse us more.
    I am 5'0.5 tall, 135lbs, 29 years old. I first started last year in June, 2012 at 152.4lbs and lost 16lbs in about 5 months. I then stopped completely losing. I have done Insanity twice, currently doing Asylum and I am not losing. My body is making some progress, but I know I am just not gaining muscle because I still dont fit in the clothes I used to wear when I was 117lbs.

    I set my diet by calculating the TDEE - 20% which sets me at 1370 calories more or less. I am a vegetarian but try to get my level of protein always in. I currently exercise 5 days a week for a total burn of around 450 calories. I use a Polar HRM to calculate my calories burnt. I am was told to up my caloric intake from 1200 so I went to 1500-1600 calories a day not eating back exercise calories and gained 5lbs and then have maintained that but not lost. Now I am going to try to lower again to 1300 to see what different it makes.
    I was thinking it could be a miscalculation of my macros. Gave my body time in case it needed to adjust, but I have been stuck for about 6-8 months in the same weight which definitely shows me I am doing something wrong. I even cut out my occasional icecream lol. My diary is open.

    I would greatly appreciate some help.

    Thank you so much!

    Hey, apologies for slow reply, had to go to the gym and spent sometime food shopping :D been longer than I thought I would!

    Ok, personally I wouldn't eat your exercise calories back, there is no need to do this. Exercise burns less calories than we think it does, and there isn't actually a 100% accurate way to calculate them, sure, we can get close with the device's like you said, but it is never going to be 100%.

    I personally have macros, which I already factor my exercise into them, which is what MFP should do, or have an option for, it's a bit silly, really..

    You could try re-calculating your macros here: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ - For myself and my clients, even though I train I select "Little/No Exercise" because calculations usually do over estimate.

    You can lower the protein if you go to "Custom" and enter "0.82" - You _can_ go lower, some men do use 0.6, and are fine, your choice, really, experimenting won't hurt.

    Fat make sure you get a minimum of "0.45".

    Rest can fall into carbs/fat/protein. Your choice, but I think carbs is the better choice - depends how you feel about it.

    I hope this helps you, if you come into any complications, feel free to post again or PM me :)

    ritch

    (If I missed anything too, let me know)
  • strick1982
    strick1982 Posts: 75
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    Bump for some good reading later.
  • ritchiedrama
    ritchiedrama Posts: 1,304 Member
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    Bump for some good reading later.

    :)
  • ritchiedrama
    ritchiedrama Posts: 1,304 Member
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    Bump for some good reading later.

    :)
  • bakingforlife
    bakingforlife Posts: 132 Member
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    Bump
  • Topsking2010
    Topsking2010 Posts: 2,245 Member
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    Trying to lose 15 pounds along with bodyfat. How many calories should I eat daily?
  • t1nk6
    t1nk6 Posts: 215
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    hmmmmmm im working on 240 - 135 and lots to read through.. i dont have time right now.. also bookmarking for later or maybe find fb link :)
  • ritchiedrama
    ritchiedrama Posts: 1,304 Member
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    Trying to lose 15 pounds along with bodyfat. How many calories should I eat daily?

    Calories & Macros here: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ - For myself and my clients, even though I train I select "Little/No Exercise" because calculations usually do over estimate.
  • ritchiedrama
    ritchiedrama Posts: 1,304 Member
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    hmmmmmm im working on 240 - 135 and lots to read through.. i dont have time right now.. also bookmarking for later or maybe find fb link :)

    A link to my Facebook page if thats what you meant is at the top of page 6.

    If you have any questions ask away!
  • t1nk6
    t1nk6 Posts: 215
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    im on a 1200 cal diet.. every time i lose 6lb + in a week people tell me to up my calories, i check with the diet im on and its set at 1200 still.. i check with mfp and its set to 1200.... im confused a little.. and not losing much now at all ive put 3lb on the past few weeks :/
  • ritchiedrama
    ritchiedrama Posts: 1,304 Member
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    im on a 1200 cal diet.. every time i lose 6lb + in a week people tell me to up my calories, i check with the diet im on and its set at 1200 still.. i check with mfp and its set to 1200.... im confused a little.. and not losing much now at all ive put 3lb on the past few weeks :/

    Hey, well, what is your current weight if you don't mind me asking?

    Losing 6 lbs in a week is not possible (of pure fat) - if you lose that much consistently it is fat, water and muscle. But it sounds like you're losing water weight from changing foods in your diet, or something like that.

    When you limit carbohydrates you are holding less water in your body, making you lighter.

    Also if you drink more water, the more you use the bathroom, the lighter you are..

    I can tell you more when you let me know your height, weight and age.
  • PicNic00
    PicNic00 Posts: 269 Member
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    Hey, I am new-ish to these forums but very experienced in weight loss after going through a "transformation" myself. I have noticed from just reading through hundreds of threads tonight the amount of information which people provide which is highly incorrect is quite worrying..

    I'm not going to sit here and pretend to be a know it all or act like I have an ego (i don't I love to help and I'm really easy to talk to), I'm still learning 'advanced' things. But I've transformed my life and coached several other people to transform their bodies. I just don't want people to waste their time.

    If you have _any_ questions about fat loss, foods you can eat, weight lifting etc.. feel free to post here, and I will respond to EVERY single one of you when I have available time (most days!) or you can PM me privately if you'd rather.

    You can find my transformation in the Success page on these forums. Titled "200 lbs --- 140 lbs"

    ritch

    Do you believe that the body goes through "pause" periods during weight loss? I keep losing the same 2 pounds. is my body just taking a break from all the loss?
  • ritchiedrama
    ritchiedrama Posts: 1,304 Member
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    Hey, I am new-ish to these forums but very experienced in weight loss after going through a "transformation" myself. I have noticed from just reading through hundreds of threads tonight the amount of information which people provide which is highly incorrect is quite worrying..

    I'm not going to sit here and pretend to be a know it all or act like I have an ego (i don't I love to help and I'm really easy to talk to), I'm still learning 'advanced' things. But I've transformed my life and coached several other people to transform their bodies. I just don't want people to waste their time.

    If you have _any_ questions about fat loss, foods you can eat, weight lifting etc.. feel free to post here, and I will respond to EVERY single one of you when I have available time (most days!) or you can PM me privately if you'd rather.

    You can find my transformation in the Success page on these forums. Titled "200 lbs --- 140 lbs"

    ritch

    Do you believe that the body goes through "pause" periods during weight loss? I keep losing the same 2 pounds. is my body just taking a break from all the loss?

    Hm, that's actually quite a tough question, because I didn't really experience and pauses in my weight loss, ONLY when I did something different. I lost 60 lbs, and it all came off as it should have, when I dieted correctly - but I suppose yes, a lot of people notice pauses/plateau's in their weight loss, but there is many, many factors...

    Sometimes people see a pause, so they get depressed, eat more
    Sometimes people see a pause, because they've increased sodium/carb intake and they've gained water weight (not a pause, just holding more water)

    Sometimes it just DOES take 3-4 weeks for weight to move, and only after 3-4 weeks should you consider changing something.

    So I guess, yes and no, depends on the circumstance - the length you have been in a caloric deficit can be a reason, too.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    What macro ratio or calorie goal would you recommend for someone recomping with dreams of competing?

    Stats-
    5'4
    118
    17% bf


    Don't want to lose anymore WEIGHT and don't want to lose any more mass.

    Edit to say: do you believe recomping is a good idea as opposed to bulk/cut cycles?
  • EDollah
    EDollah Posts: 464 Member
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    Cardio is useless (my opinion) for anything other than health. For fat loss it is a poor investment in time.

    I'm surprised no one has countered this yet, it's just abjectly wrong.

    Since starting my exercise/diet regimen in April, I've averaged 3.5 pounds lost per week, 1.5 pounds are due to cardio. Before you say "but you're losing muscle", no, I'm not, verified via multiple body fat measurements. I lift weights to maintain muscle, cardio to lose fat.

    I'm scheduled to hit my target in early January. If I were to cut out cardio, I would weight 20 pounds more (of fat) at that same date and not hit target until late April/early May.

    I hate to dump on your thread, but "don't do cardio" is bad advice as a blanket statement. If you want to say "don't do cardio if..." fine, I'm sure that may be relevant for some people, but that is not true for all cases. Certainly not true in my case.
  • T0FatToB3S1ck
    T0FatToB3S1ck Posts: 192 Member
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    Bump for later.
  • ritchiedrama
    ritchiedrama Posts: 1,304 Member
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    What macro ratio or calorie goal would you recommend for someone recomping with dreams of competing?

    Stats-
    5'4
    118
    17% bf


    Don't want to lose anymore WEIGHT and don't want to lose any more mass.

    Edit to say: do you believe recomping is a good idea as opposed to bulk/cut cycles?

    I believe re-comping is a bad idea for everyone because of the time it takes.

    If you get your surplus right, you can slow bulk for 3-4 months and do 3-4 week mini-cuts, saves you time and was advice given to me by a friend over at bodybuilding.com who has achieved a great physique.

    The kind of calorie goal you can work out here, at iifym.com: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

    I hope this helps, I can assist further if you need.
    .
    ritch
  • ritchiedrama
    ritchiedrama Posts: 1,304 Member
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    Cardio is useless (my opinion) for anything other than health. For fat loss it is a poor investment in time.

    I'm surprised no one has countered this yet, it's just abjectly wrong.

    Since starting my exercise/diet regimen in April, I've averaged 3.5 pounds lost per week, 1.5 pounds are due to cardio. Before you say "but you're losing muscle", no, I'm not, verified via multiple body fat measurements. I lift weights to maintain muscle, cardio to lose fat.

    I'm scheduled to hit my target in early January. If I were to cut out cardio, I would weight 20 pounds more (of fat) at that same date and not hit target until late April/early May.

    I hate to dump on your thread, but "don't do cardio" is bad advise as a blanket statement. If you want to say "don't do cardio if..." fine, I'm sure that may be relevant for some people, but that is not true for all cases. Certainly not true in my case.

    I am sorry but you are extremely wrong. I can link you to several articles and I will, at the end but I'll tell you why you're wrong, first.

    Ok, first things first, I say it is a poor investment in time, because an hour on a treadmill, is not many calories burned, when you could eat 200 calories less and achieve the same effect.

    Mathematics shows cardio is a poor investment in time for fat loss.

    Obviously you're going to lose fat, at your weight because you're heavy - but it isn't the cardio thats doing it, its the fact you're in a caloric deficit. Science.

    And here makes for some good reading: http://rippedbody.jp/so-you-really-think-running-will-get-you-those-abs/

    :)


    Edit: Not to mention, there is no one 100% accurate way to test bodyfat, the same as there is no way to prove you lost 1.5 lbs of weight due to cardio, sorry everything you've said is flawed and I'll take science over your post.

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