Q&A session - live right now!

mmapags

Awesome Steve! Just want to say I appreciate what you are doing here and the great advice you are giving!

jynxxxed

Would I benefit more buying my vitamins at a place like GNC rather than walmart One a Day viatmins? I have heard a lot of conflicting information.

General multis? I buy mine at Target. And I'd buy them at Walmart if it were more strategically located for me than Target. There's nothing fancy about GNC. Well, there's a lot more hype there... that's for sure.

Thank you! I appreciate it!

stroutman81

I know I'm out of the 2 hour time limit now, but I figured I throw this out there anyway... The resident trainer at the gym I belong to has a Q&A board for members to get advice from him. A few weeks ago, he wrote "To lose weight fast, cut out all dairy, grains, and fruit from your diet" with a little blurb about sugars. Now, that sounded a little vague to me, so I wrote "For how long? Permanently? Should you work out on this diet, if so where do you get your energy?". When I came back a couple days later, all he had written was "To lose weight fast, CUT OUT ALL DAIRY, GRAINS, AND FRUIT!".

Now, I always thought this guy was kind of a quack to begin with, but this really was the tipping point for me. Can you confirm or deny my suspicions? Thanks for your time )

Sounds like he just likes to spout off what he hears in the mainstream media.

But for the quickest rate of fat loss, I'd suggest something like a protein sparing modified fast. I would not recommend this to most people though. But if I were going about a blitz diet, that's how I'd structure things.

It essentially cuts out anything that's not essential to give you the biggest calorie deficit possible without sacrificing health. Lots of protein (1.5-2 grams per pound of goal weight), some fish oil pills, lots of fibrous veggies, some vitamins and minerals, and that's about it.

Depending on your level of fatness, I might include structured refeeds throughout the week or month, but that's sort of beyond the scope of my answer.

Lyle McDonald's book titled Rapid Fat Loss is his interpretation of a PSMF and it's the approach I've used a number of times with myself and various clients.

stroutman81

Alright guys... that was actually a lot more successful than I had thought it'd turn out. Thanks a lot for participating. I plan on doing these throughout the week each week. If I could, I'd close this thread now. If you can't wait for the next Q&A, feel free to hit me up on my wall or in my inbox.

Thanks again and stay strong!

Steve

aj_31

What would you tell a woman who wants to lose a lot of fat in her belly area? Is it better to do more cardio now and then focus on lifting later or a mix of both?

I'd tell her to read my post above about "flexing fat" and not being able to spot reduce. I'd also tell her to stop focusing on where the fat is stored, chalk that up to genetics. Rather I'd have her focus on a balanced approach to exercise that likely included SOME conditioning work and SOME resistance training.

I'd educate her to understand that resistance training, in most cases, should be prioritized over conditioning.

Yup, that's right.

I'd also help her understand that when it comes to fat loss, nutrition is the primary driver to success.

Thanks Steve. I guess I've just hit a point of total frustration with myself and my progress. I'm having such a hard time getting back on track 100%. All I can focus on is the fat I have to lose and how I'm not losing it. I think my mind is working against me to a point. I need to get back into it mentally.

That fat on your belly is here and now. It's staring at you every time you look in the mirror. Obviously it can easily overwhelm your reasoning and focus. Here's the deal though. The only thing that's going to get rid of it is a lot of consistent and deliberate effort over long periods of time. When you're only dealing with a little bit of fat, relatively speaking, it becomes a matter of will and consistency than anything else.

You can go for what seems forever without seeing any changes. But eventually, and I mean this, things just happen. The further along the spectrum of fat/lean you go, the less linear results tend to be.

So screw the problem areas you're seeing in the mirror. Direct your attention to the process. Prioritize consistency and patience above all else.

And if make sure you have your nutrition dialed in as well as your training.

Thanks Steve. I really appreciate your feedback. I do need to work on my patience and consistency that's for sure. Starting last week I started to add in some fun cardio like zumba/spin just because I felt like I needed it to help with the stress. I'm also keeping up with my lifting about 4x a week. It's a split routine and it takes me about 30-45 min. I'm hoping this will help.

I am also making changes in my diet. I was drinking at least 2 energy drinks a week and I've cut down to 1. I plan on giving them up altogether next week. No more soda as well as I was kind of drinking a lot in the recent months. Usually I've only been a water drinker. I'm also going back to my daily salads for lunch. Upping my protein and eating my fruits/veggies. I'm hoping this will all help me get my head back in the game.

I can say that although I've gained 10 lbs since the beginning of the year I have gotten a lot more definition in my arms/shoulders and I even see a few back muscles starting to show. I need to focus on the positive and not the negatives.

Thanks again!

LilEmm

Thanks for all the great info! I've learned so much.

As Steve has suggested ignoring any nutritional advice you hear in the media, can I add this one - ignore the cultural pressure that cellulite is the devil. Ladies - We're supposed to have 18.5-25% body fat.

thedreamhazer

Darn, I missed the window of opportunity. Some good stuff here, though!

AnotherJenn

Thanks for the info, very much appreciated!!

stroutman81

Thanks for all the great info! I've learned so much.

As Steve has suggested ignoring any nutritional advice you hear in the media, can I add this one - ignore the cultural pressure that cellulite is the devil. Ladies - We're supposed to have 18.5-25% body fat.

As I always say... I like me some feminine fat. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course... but it does sadden me how 'against the grain' the concept of ideal has become. It's against the grain to such a degree that many women will never reach it and many others, due to societal pressures, will venture into ED territory to chase it.

Frustrating to say the least.

At my gym, that's why I really push the focus of performance based goals. I know I'm a broken record.... but I've found that when I get my clients their strongest and pair it with a diet that makes sense for their given set up circumstances, things just fall into place.

stroutman81

I have another 2 hours or so where I'll be working on programs on the computer... so let's open this back up!

rjsehm5

Wondering if it is okay to eat calories burned off from working out and adjustments from fitbit each day. Example...I get 1320 cals a day. In addition I will get adjustment from fitbit for 160 and 200-300 for working out. Could I eat 1680-1780 calories a day and still have a loss? This is so confusing to me. Please advise..

stroutman81

Wondering if it is okay to eat calories burned off from working out and adjustments from fitbit each day. Example...I get 1320 cals a day. In addition I will get adjustment from fitbit for 160 and 200-300 for working out. Could I eat 1680-1780 calories a day and still have a loss? This is so confusing to me. Please advise..

Check this out:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/173853-an-objective-look-at-eating-exercise-calories

And as far as I know, MFP, which I've never toyed around with, wants you to eat your exercise calories back. They factor your deficit into the mix before exercise. So if you exercise, and don't eat those calories back, you're going into a deeper deficit than they'd like.

That's not how I personally go about things, but if you're using MFP for this, you might want to keep that in mind. We discussed this in my blog post here and the comments below:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/stroutman81/view/the-math-of-mfp-calorie-mathimatica-141021

PamelaKuz

I am often over on my daily sugar allowance just from fruit and veggies. I'm working out and staying under my total daily calories, and pleased with my weight loss so far. Is having a little too much sugar from fruit and veggies really a bad thing?

Thanks so much for doing this!

stroutman81

I am often over on my daily sugar allowance just from fruit and veggies. I'm working out and staying under my total daily calories, and pleased with my weight loss so far. Is having a little too much sugar from fruit and veggies really a bad thing?

Thanks so much for doing this!

Heck no! Sugar is not the devil that many people make it out to be. A good discussion I had about carbs/sugar can be found here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/502217-trying-to-shake-the-idea-of-eating-carbs?error_user_id=752632&error_username=stroutman81&page=2

How many grams of protein, carbs, and fats are you consuming per day and what is your weight?

mmapags

I am often over on my daily sugar allowance just from fruit and veggies. I'm working out and staying under my total daily calories, and pleased with my weight loss so far. Is having a little too much sugar from fruit and veggies really a bad thing?

Thanks so much for doing this!

Heck no! Sugar is not the devil that many people make it out to be. A good discussion I had about carbs/sugar can be found here:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/502217-trying-to-shake-the-idea-of-eating-carbs?error_user_id=752632&error_username=stroutman81&page=2

How many grams of protein, carbs, and fats are you consuming per day and what is your weight?

Steve's question here is the more important concern. If you are tracking carbs and not eating all processed, sugar laden junk as your carbs, then your marco mix and setting it right and meeting is is far more important than tracking sugar as a seperate category. I don't track it personally and would suggest that you don't.

PamelaKuz

I started at 190 and I'm 182 now. I'm 5'3. My protein averages about 55 grams, carbs about 160, fat about 30. I've never actually looked at those numbers that closely, I just had to look back through my diary. (I just try to keep the little pie chart happy, lol. I'm new at this!)

PamelaKuz

Great, thanks! That's exactly what I've been doing. Almost all of my carbs are from fruit and veggies. I've never been a big bread eater. I have oatmeal some mornings, and brown rice maybe once a week. It's just disheartening seeing that red number at the end of the day. I love fruit and veggies and hate feeling like I can't have a carrot because I'll blow my sugar for the day.

stroutman81

I started at 190 and I'm 182 now. I'm 5'3. My protein averages about 55 grams, carbs about 160, fat about 30. I've never actually looked at those numbers that closely, I just had to look back through my diary. (I just try to keep the little pie chart happy, lol. I'm new at this!)

55 grams of protein x 4 = 220 cals

160 grams of carb x 4 = 640 cals

30 grams of fat x 9 = 270 cals

This means your average daily calorie intake is roughly 1130.

That seems pretty darn low give your weight. Put it this way. If you were exercising regularly, I'd have you closer to 1600-1800 cals per day.

Your protein is very low. I'd recommend at least .75 and better yet 1 gram per pound of goal weight.

PamelaKuz

Ooh, maybe I averaged wrong in my head just now. My cals are set to 1430 and I typically gain about 250 from my little bit of cardio that I eat too. So about 1700 cals. In the two weeks I've been here I've been over twice, and I think under twice. I'll try to eat more protein, thanks.

PamelaKuz

I did my math wrong, sorry! I just averaged my last 7 days with a calculator and my average protein is 67 grams.

Edit- wow, I just calculated and for my goal weight of 130, your formula gives me 97.5 to 130 grams of protein. MFP gives me 63!

pocketmel

How can I increase my calories without going over my carbs protein etc?

stroutman81

How can I increase my calories without going over my carbs protein etc?

Hmmm, not sure I understand.

Macronutrients provide our bodies energy, which we measure using calories.

1 gram of protein = 4 calories

1 gram of carb = 4 calories

1 gram of fat = 9 calories

1 gram of alcohol = 7 calories

You can't increase calories without also increasing nutrients. They go hand in hand.

Now if there are preset targets for the various macronutrients on MFP, then I wouldn't worry much about sticking with them. They're likely based on some flawed logic.

Here's how I look at things for most cases:

Shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound of goals weight, 30% of calories from fat, 2-3 servings of fruit per day, 3-6 servings of fibrous veggies per day. If there are still calories to "fill," you can eat whatever you want really to meet your calorie goal.

Graelwyn75

Is there any benefit to having a single day each week where you eat the less nutrient dense, healthy foods (Ie - cheat day) as opposed to having small quantities each day ? I have noticed many trainers seem to subscribe to the planned cheat meal/day and keep their diets very 'clean' the rest of the time and am wondering if that is just a personal choice or if there is any science behind only having the refined sugars etc on a single day ?

And I am speaking in terms of maintenance as opposed to weight loss in my case, since I am 5'10 and 126.

mearlie

I'd like to start weight training but I've done it before and I always injure something and quit. Do you have a recommendation of how to START getting into shape for weight training?

cateyjo

I am limited as the the exercises I can do. I routinely ride a stationary bike, but keep hearing that doing the same exercises everyday is not good. Should I be taking off days in between? Or is it alright to ride everyday? I typically ride for about an hour a day.

OspreyVista

Can you sucessfully lose weight doing only the elliptical machine?

O.o

stroutman81

Is there any benefit to having a single day each week where you eat the less nutrient dense, healthy foods (Ie - cheat day) as opposed to having small quantities each day ? I have noticed many trainers seem to subscribe to the planned cheat meal/day and keep their diets very 'clean' the rest of the time and am wondering if that is just a personal choice or if there is any science behind only having the refined sugars etc on a single day ?

And I am speaking in terms of maintenance as opposed to weight loss in my case, since I am 5'10 and 126.

Nope. Research definitely isn't there yet. There are indicators, but nothing significant enough to say one way or the other. Here's my take. Structure your weekly meal plan how you see fit. And what's "fit" will vary from person to person. As long as you're hitting your calorie and macro targets each day and not making terrible food choices, things should be good.

That said, my personal strategy with my own nutrition and with many of my clients is to time most of my carb intake around strength training. I've found that there's a better partitioning effect (where calories are being stored) when you do this due to an increase in muscle tissue insulin sensitivity post strength training.

During this time, I'm much more liberal with food choices. I might plow down a few ice cream sandwiches, a bowl of cereal, and a protein shake post strength training and keep the carb intake high for the remainder of the evening after the workout.

On non training days, I'll back off the carb intake a big keeping it mostly to fruits and veggies... but I'm not rigid there.

That's what works for me and the majority of my clients psychologically and it makes a lot of sense in from a physiological perspective too.

That said, I have some clients who thrive on more or less rigidity.

So again, experiment and tailor to your own needs and mindset.

NewMeAT33

Steve,
I am 33 and 229 lbs. I lost 8 lbs in 2 weeks when I started MFP and then hired a trainer. Since then, we have been lifting weights twice a week and I am doing cardio 3-4 times a week.
Since adding the lifting, I have not lost any weight and sometimes see a small gain which I know is from recovery. When does this even out and I start to lose weight again?

Am I doing too much? Up the lifting? Reduce the cardio?
I am at 1300 calories and barley eating back the work out calories mainly bc Im not hungry.

stroutman81

I'd like to start weight training but I've done it before and I always injure something and quit. Do you have a recommendation of how to START getting into shape for weight training?

Hmmm, an intro to weight training would take a lot of explaining. I've started and stopped a big article about the subject more times than I care to admit. I'm a terrible procrastinator when it comes to writing!

That said, the best I can say is be very conservative with loading. People tend to get overzealous and throw more weight onto their bodies than they're ready for. This tends to distort movement causing bad form, which, in itself, can instigate injury. It can also overload tissues (muscles, connective tissues, etc) beyond what they're ready for, which can also cause injury.

So start very light until you're sure that your movement competency is through the roof.

In fact, if it's in the budget and assuming you can find one who isn't a total boob, hiring a trainer to teach you exercise form in the beginning isn't a bad idea.

I'll also throw it out there that I'm always up for assessing form if you have the courage to film yourself and send me the link. Many people have done so in the past.

Having a good trainer or better yet a good PT assess your posture would also be a good idea. With even my online training clients I do what I refer to as a static posture assessment where they'll take and send me pictures of themselves in various positions so I can better guide their exercise prescriptions, loading parameters, and pre/rehab stuff.

Without knowing more about how you've gone about things in the past, it's hard to trouble shoot you.

stroutman81

I am limited as the the exercises I can do. I routinely ride a stationary bike, but keep hearing that doing the same exercises everyday is not good. Should I be taking off days in between? Or is it alright to ride everyday? I typically ride for about an hour a day.

What limits you to only stationary bike riding?