A little advice here? anything..

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  • LadyBoss_1989
    LadyBoss_1989 Posts: 121 Member
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    Why is any kind of weight lifting soo good for fat loss? I really thought jogging/running do the trick for that, exp in the belly area.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    A person who is eating at a calorie deficit to lose weight and is lifting heavy is going to preserve lean body mass. A person who just does cardio, eating at the calorie deficit to lose weight is going to burn off more lean body mass, so when they both reach their goal weight, the lifter is going to have a lower body fat %. Muscle is more metabolically active. During cardio, you burn those calories only while doing the cardio. With lifting, you burn less calories during the workout, but you burn more calories during the muscle repair process, while you are sleeping, the day after you lift, etc.

    There is an article I read awhile ago by a woman who is a marathoner and she just could not shed the belly fat even with serious and aggressive training for the marathon. But she did it while lifting, not working nearly as hard. I'm looking for the link but I can't find it at the moment. There was a lot of good information in it.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Why is any kind of weight lifting soo good for fat loss? I really thought jogging/running do the trick for that, exp in the belly area.

    Oh you will lose weight faster doing just the cardio and eating at a deficit for sure. Problem is a good amount of that weight will be your muscle so when you have hit your target "weight" you will find that you still look soft and pudgy just considerably smaller.

    If you want to look healthy fit trim sexy etc you want to keep that muscle around, lifting weights and eating more will help you do that. Sure the weight will come off slower but it will all be fat and eventually you will reveal that trim sexy fit muscle rather than just more flab underneath.

    Aesthetics aside its just plain healthier to.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Here is the article I mentioned. She was training for an iron man, not a marathon.

    http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_final_nail_in_the_cardio_coffin
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Let me try to put it in terms of math. How "good" you look aesthetically is basically down to your body composition which comes down to your bodyfat percentage. This is oversimplifying but for now lets just go with it.

    Lets say you weight 180 pounds and you want to get down to 130. At 180 pounds 100 pounds of that is lean mass which means you are at 44% bodyfat.

    Now lets say you decide to get to 130 you are eating at a very large deficit and just running and running and running. What happens is your body burns fat for calories and muscle to give you the essential amino acids you are depriving yourself of. After a year you have finally attained your goal weight of 130 but looking in the mirror you still look a bit fat...what happened? Well in addition to going from 180 to 130 pounds your lean mass dropped from 100 to 80 due to all the muscle burn. That means that your body composition is now 35% bodyfat which although better will still have you looking pudgy.

    Now lets say instead you decide to get to 130 by lifting weights, eating at a small deficit and doing some cardio but not overdoing it. What happens is your body burns fat for calories but retains the muscle because it is using its muscle and you are supplying it with enough calories to keep it around. Your nutrition supplies the needed amino acids so there is no need to break down that muscle that you are using every week. After a couple of years you have finally attained your goal weight of 130 and look slim, trim and fit. What happened? Well you kept your lean body mass at 100 pounds since you lost zero muscle but your body weight dropped to 130 from fat loss. Your body fat percentage is now 24% which is pretty sleak and trim.

    That is why you lift weights.

    That is why you eat at a small deficit not a large one.

    You want to lose weight fast, do what you are doing. If you want to actually look good when you are done then eat more and lift some weights.
  • LadyBoss_1989
    LadyBoss_1989 Posts: 121 Member
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    thank you and above for the advice. This is what Im currently doing daily and maybe if could let me know if there are any adjustments I SHOULD make. I'm eating about 4 to 5 meals a day. Yogurt and fiber bar in the morning, or yogurt with eggwhite sandwich, a Salad with meat always for lunch, snack is fruit, dinner is either salad again or lean cuiseine meal, and sometimes
    a snack after that. but not always as I don't want to eat past 7 or 8pm. Right now im going to the gym at night after work,
    so i eat dinner around 7pm and than im going to the gym around 9pm and pretty much burning off my dinner at least, and
    than coming home going straight to bed. (I don;'t want to eat after a work out since its late at night when I get home)
    Now on the weekends, I will go to the gym in the morning or afternoon, so typically eating before and after my workouts,
    just on the weekends. For working out, I'm doing a mixture of Brisking walking and running (in intervals on the treadmill)
    and/or using the Elipitcal. I'll use either for about 10, 15 or 20 mins (depending on how tired iam) than Ill use pretty much
    all of the weight lifting machines, doing atleast 3 sets of 10( &using the same weight) for each machine (not doing free weights yet..but I can). I just enjoy using the weighty lifting machines :)
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    When you eat doesn't matter very much for the average person (unless you are a competitor). How much you eat, and how much protein you are getting is important. Also, you will see better results with a lifting program that has lower repetitions and higher weights.
  • LadyBoss_1989
    LadyBoss_1989 Posts: 121 Member
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    Im not sure on the exact number of protein im getting per day but a few days out of the week ill drink a protein shake or a protein bar, and when ever I eat any of my salads, I have atleast a "deck of cards" size amount of boneless skinless chicken added to my salad and my frozen dinners always have some kind of meat in them. I also just started eating egg whites. and im adding safflower oil to my diet per day as well, as I heard its a good fat that helps shed belly fat.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    You can make protein appear as a category on your food diary. The amount you are getting is probably not enough. Aim for .8 grams per pound of your body weight.

    Regarding the safflower oil, while it is lower cholesterol than other oils you might use, there isn't some magic property that is going to burn fat. Just because Dr. Oz had it on his show doesn't make it true.
  • LadyBoss_1989
    LadyBoss_1989 Posts: 121 Member
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    how do I caluclate how much that is?
  • LadyBoss_1989
    LadyBoss_1989 Posts: 121 Member
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    it shows me 60grams of protein per day since im doing 1200cals
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    how do I caluclate how much that is?

    Your body weight x .8 = amount of grams of protein to eat
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    it shows me 60grams of protein per day since im doing 1200cals

    You should be eating more.
  • LadyBoss_1989
    LadyBoss_1989 Posts: 121 Member
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    what would you consider over 60grams of protein per day? so I know how to add it in my diet/what needs to eat
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    You should be eating more calories than 1200. Already established earlier in the thread that you are not eating enough to preserve lean body mass.

    You should eat "your body weight" multiplied by .8 = grams of protein to eat.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    Why are you not listening to any of the advice given to you on the first 2-3 pages of this thread? Why are you asking all of these people to regurgitate what has already been clearly outlined on the first 2-3 pages of this thread?
  • sweetpea03b
    sweetpea03b Posts: 1,124 Member
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    1) More protein... I'd maybe cut back on the fruit so much... lots of sugar... and sugar that isn't used turns into what? Fat.
    2) Eat more... 1200 is WAAAAAY too low for as much as you're exercising.
    3) Are you lifting? The first time I was using MFP back in the 08/09 range I lost 20lbs but still didn't really look much slimmer... because I did it all doing cardio. This time around, I do a little cardio and lift 3x/week and I'm the same size I was then but 18lbs heavier.... and I look slimmer.

    Just hang in there... stick with it... good luck!
  • hstnljean
    hstnljean Posts: 52 Member
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    how do I caluclate how much that is?

    Your body weight x .8 = amount of grams of protein to eat

    something good to remember for myself lot of info here
  • kitlynnJ
    kitlynnJ Posts: 78 Member
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    Im worried upping my calories will just make me gain more, It was hard to even lose this much weight, it seems like I lose weight very very slowly, that or im just not working hard enough or eating well enough. as far as excerising, I do a mixture of walking and running on the treadmill, using the Eplitical, and using 3 different weight lifting machines at the gym.

    You said you started in mid Jan of this year at 156, and are now at 136. That is twenty pounds in less than three months. That is not slow weight loss, that is fast weight loss, ~2 pounds a week which is the most mfp recommends.
  • LadyBoss_1989
    LadyBoss_1989 Posts: 121 Member
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    ALL the weight I have lost was water weight and muscle and maybe a tiny tiny bit of fat. At the time of doing 1200 cals, I wasn't working out at all, so i lost muscle. NOW i'am still doing 1200cals, AND working out and i just started trying to do heavy lifting...

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