Ask me anything! [FROM FAT to FIT]

I am new to this site and learning a lot of things that I never heard of before. There are some threads with links posted at the top of this category, for example, that present a theory about metabolism and eating enough. For example, see http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing. I am just beginning to understand what they are saying and about to try this. So, do you, as an experienced fitness person, agree with this theory?

Thanks for being available for questions.

There does become a point where you can eat too little and your metabolism suffers, but from studies lately it shows that people take this too far, as in.. they blame everything on metabolic damage/slowdown and when it does slow down its only by 5%. There is a useful video for you to watch, by a very credible source. The chances are for most of us, we do not have metabolic damage. But, that being said it CAN happen.

The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHzie6XRGk - definitely worth watching.

I also believe that a human should only be dieting on "severe" caloric restrictions for a short time. Hope this helps, if there is anything I missed, or you want to ask again, feel free.

Edit: Oh, and there is usually a fix for people who have stopped losing weight, it is called a diet break, more info here: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

I have a question - I am over 300 lbs, lost approximately 55 lbs since I started clean eating (lifestyle change for me not a diet).

I work out at the gym 3 to 5 days a week. So far I have only been doing cardio work outs - from March to June I was just swimming. Then three weeks ago I started walking on the treadmill.

Is the cardio enough or do I need to start doing some kind of weight lifting?

I've started doing resistance type exercises in the pool in addition to the other exercises I'm doing.

Should I be incorporating something else into my work out or be trying to build up to do something else?

Hello, MorningWhisper!

Firstly, congratulations on your achievement so far! If clean eating is your choice that is perfectly fine, while I may not agree with "clean" eating, I respect your choice and if it helps you get to your goal I certainly won't recommend stopping it, providing you sustain it and don't go on binges.

Cardio work outs are a lot less effective for changing body composition than weight training is. None of my clients, or myself have done cardio in a transformation. It is solely your choice to choose whether you do that or not. There is obviously many health benefits from it, but a fat loss view it isn't all that useful, but with you being at 300 lbs currently it is probably the smarter option to keep it, especially if you enjoy it!

Keep doing resistance exercises, I wouldn't suggest starting proper weight training yet if you don't feel like it, but at some point weight training will be EXTREMELY useful to you.

Fat loss is pretty much created entirely through a caloric deficit (eating less calories than you need to maintain your current weight) so whilst this is happeniing for you, I suggest planning the upcoming months.

Start reading about weightlifting. These websites will be useful to you...

www.rippedbody.jp - there is many training and nutritional options here, I learnt a lot from this website and you can benefit greatly from it. This isn't an advertisement btw, no money or sign-up fee's required, just a very, very useful website. There is specific sections for Training and Dieting. It also allows you to work out some PROPER caloric needs, if you look through the dieting section.

Hope this helps, don't hesitate to ask if you think of anything else or I missed something.

Thank you, I will look at the website.

No problem, anymore questions fire away!

Thanks! I watched the video you suggested and read the article. Both are very helpful. I appreciate your time.

No problem, anymore questions fire away!

Thanks for the article - wow, felt like those were my words, hahaha. I know exactly what you are talking about, I was doing the six meals a day and was constantly HUNGRY, now, I'm relaxed and doing my thing. I eat multiple meals in my eight hour window, though I don't exceed my recommend caloric intake. I've lost all of my weight since early April of this year. I've been on leangains for about half of this time - I've never felt better. I sleep better, don't feel bloated, more energetic and definitely noticing a huge difference in my overall look and feel.

Awesome! Congratulations on your weight loss - feels great doesn't it! I'm glad we experienced a lot of the same feelings during IF - it really cements its place in the "fitness industry" because of things like this. A lot of people doubt its validity.

Bump

I've been losing weight consistently for about 7 months. I am almost to my goal weight. Eventually, I want to do a bulk. I've bulked up in the past, but I didn't really know what I was doing and it was probably by accident...lol. I have quite a bit of experience lifting as I was an athlete in high school and college.

Can you point me to some good resources on bulking? My goal is to just gain maybe 5-10 lbs of lean mass. I'm not looking to become a bodybuilder. What is the best method in doing this and how long should I bulk for? I've heard to do TDEE + 10%. Also, I keep hearing the terms "dirty" bulk and "clean" bulk being thrown around. What do they mean exactly? Which leads me to my last question: how do I avoid gaining too much fat while bulking?

Stats:
5' 9"
175 lbs
~16% bf with Bioelectric Impedance (although, I haven't measured in a while and have lost quite a bit of weight since)

Pretty much the perfect question! I have just started bulking myself..

The first step is, once you have got to your target weight after losing you want to go back to your maintenance and stay there for roughly 3 weeks. If you are losing 2 lbs a week, you'd add 1000 calories to your current cals, if you are losing 1 lb a week, you'd add 500 and so on (to be at your ROUGH maintenance)

Then you'd let your weight stable, and if it stays roughly the same, you've found your true maintenance.

Now..

Dirty bulk = don't track anything, just eat eat eat eat lift lift lift (this is bad.) you will gain so much fat and probably hardly any muscle and even if you do, you'll just have to cut down again drastically, so its a waste of time.

Clean bulk = track it all, do it SLOWLY, eg, bump your calories up just above maintenance and keep tracking, so you're gaining 0.5 lbs a week, 1 lb MAX. That is how you avoid gaining too much fat,, you can make it so minimal.

If I missed something or you have more questions, just ask! glad to help

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