Crossfit question!

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farfromthetree
farfromthetree Posts: 982 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I belong to a CrossFit style gym. This question has been on my mind and I just wanted some opinions. There are quite a few people at the gym who are significantly overweight. They are all levels from beginner to members who have been there for quite some time. The trainers emphasize "healthy" eating, lots of protein, Paleo, good fats etc...But, they never seem to try and get members to lose weight in the process. It is very difficult to do any kind of exercise when you are 50-60 poinds overweight, and I just wonder why it seems that losing weight and losing "strength" is a big no-no.One girl told me the trainer said to snack on almonds. She told me she ate almonds all day long. He never spoke to her about portion size or calories. The trainers emphasize eating more but they CAN because of their exercise level. Another guy who I noticed lost some weight and was looking great told me he was getting yelled at for not eating enough. As I was losing weight, my strength decreased but I can do other things with so much more ease. Thoughts??

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  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    outside sources, like trainers, nutritionists, fitness websites, or whatever, can only do so much. a person has to go out and educate themselves too. they have to go that extra mile on their own.

    i'm sure the trainer meant well when he said "snack on almonds" and never thought that the girl would eat a whole bag of them.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
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    Depends on your goals.

    Thinner does not necessarily mean better if you have other goals. First you ask "what are my goals?". Then you ask "where am I?". Finally you ask "what do I need to do to get from here to there".

    If fat loss will help your goals, then a calorie deficit will be part of that plan and other qualities may need to be moderated to get it done. Cutting calories to lose weight negatively affects your progress with some other qualities, so it's something you have to consider "in the round" when working towards a goal

    My current goal, for example, is to improve my sprint times. I need a mixture of fat loss/muscle retention, absolute strength development and power development. Low rep/low volume lifting, plyo stuff, sprints, calorie deficit, lots of protein. That's how I've structured my training and eating to meet my goals. Everything else is fluff and is dropped until I refocus in the winter.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,523 Member
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    It's not unusual to lose some strength when a significant amount of weight is lost. Weight loss not only reduces fat, but also muscle to some degree.
    As for people being overweight at your gym, it's because of calorie maintenance/surplus. While being strong is great, unless it's tattooed on your forehead, no one in general population knows how much one squats, benches, deadlifts etc. nor do most bother to care. It's more a personal thing.
    Strength progression is FINITE. And as one ages, it's normal to lose strength once they've peaked. At that point is more about maintenance and probably working more on body composition.

    A.C.E. Certified Group Fitness and Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • richardheath
    richardheath Posts: 1,276 Member
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    Because Paleo is a magic eating style where you will miraculously become healthy and be at your ideal weight regardless of calorie intake. True story*.








    *The data presented in this post have not been verified by science, logic or the FDA.
  • SrMaggalicious
    SrMaggalicious Posts: 495 Member
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    Because Paleo is a magic eating style where you will miraculously become healthy and be at your ideal weight regardless of calorie intake. True story*.








    *The data presented in this post have not been verified by science, logic or the FDA.

    I need to FR you....snark is such an aphrodisiac
  • smarionette
    smarionette Posts: 260 Member
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    Everyone has different goals. That person who lost weight and was told to eat more? Maybe he had been bemoaning the lost strength that goes with weight loss. The girl with the almonds...it is hard to eat a lot of almonds, ever try to eat more than a couple? They are delicious sure, but after a serving I tend to go looking for an apple or something sweet to balance them. Your goal is weight loss, so it is likely you won't get told to eat more.

    Generally the crossfit community (based on my experiences with it, ymmv) isn't about losing weight, it is about performance. How much can you lift, how fast can you sprint, etc. Eating is more about supporting performance. If these aren't your goals you may find less aggravation and more success elsewhere.
  • PRMinx
    PRMinx Posts: 4,585 Member
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    Trainers aren't dietitians or nutritionists and shouldn't pretend to be. It's up to us to research what we eat and when we eat, just like it's up to us to find an exercise that meets our goals. I'm not sure what you are expecting from your CrossFit gym, but they are there to run a workout and instruct people on form. That's about it.

    ETA: No one should be telling you to eat more or eat less, especially if they really don't know what you are eating. I don't talk about my diet with people for this reason and I ignore unsolicited advice that comes my way.This isn't really a CrossFit problem, it's a people not minding their business or doing their own research problem....and it probably happens at most gyms. I used to go to a regular gym with a trainer and he told me to eat 1000 calories/day. :laugh:
  • h7463
    h7463 Posts: 626 Member
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    Hi there...
    Everybody has to start somewhere. I don't judge heavy people who are actively making an effort in fitness. It's difficult enough for many, making time to get to a gym in the first place. At least they surround themselves with fitter people for motivation. You'll have to give them credit for that. Maybe over time, a lucky few will get a grip on their nutrition, too.

    Define 'overweight'. Many people eat for very specific goals. A serious bodybuilder in the middle of a bulk will easily pack on 30-40 pounds on purpose, hoping that there will be a significant lean muscle mass left after leaning out. Some sports require athletes to have a certain 'fat padding' left for the purpose of reducing injuries. Think football...those guys will blow up any BMI chart.

    I have trained a very heavy girl (240 lbs at 5'8") for a while, and she had done CrossFit before, until she could no longer afford the ridiculous membership fees. She clearly had a food addiction (which made all her efforts useless and wasted my time), but her leg press was phenomenal...

    Don't forget, CrossFit is a business. They sell everything, including the food. I had been a member of a gym with a box attached, and while I sat at the counter, slurping my post-workout protein shake, faithfully recording the calories in my food tracker, the CrossFit team went nuts on a giant jar of peanut butter. They had probably no clue, that their serving of '1 tablespoon' would have been half of my daily calorie allowance....
    O yes, a personalized nutrition plan from your CrossFit coach might be a nice idea, but it will probably cost extra...
    HOWEVER, I would never pay anything for getting yelled at. That's simply unprofessional in any business....

    Happy lifting! :flowerforyou:
  • farfromthetree
    farfromthetree Posts: 982 Member
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    All great responses and all so true. Sometimes, I just need to hear it to put it in perspective!
  • farfromthetree
    farfromthetree Posts: 982 Member
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    Hi there...
    Everybody has to start somewhere. I don't judge heavy people who are actively making an effort in fitness. It's difficult enough for many, making time to get to a gym in the first place. At least they surround themselves with fitter people for motivation. You'll have to give them credit for that. Maybe over time, a lucky few will get a grip on their nutrition, too.

    Define 'overweight'. Many people eat for very specific goals. A serious bodybuilder in the middle of a bulk will easily pack on 30-40 pounds on purpose, hoping that there will be a significant lean muscle mass left after leaning out. Some sports require athletes to have a certain 'fat padding' left for the purpose of reducing injuries. Think football...those guys will blow up any BMI chart.

    I have trained a very heavy girl (240 lbs at 5'8") for a while, and she had done CrossFit before, until she could no longer afford the ridiculous membership fees. She clearly had a food addiction (which made all her efforts useless and wasted my time), but her leg press was phenomenal...

    Don't forget, CrossFit is a business. They sell everything, including the food. I had been a member of a gym with a box attached, and while I sat at the counter, slurping my post-workout protein shake, faithfully recording the calories in my food tracker, the CrossFit team went nuts on a giant jar of peanut butter. They had probably no clue, that their serving of '1 tablespoon' would have been half of my daily calorie allowance....
    O yes, a personalized nutrition plan from your CrossFit coach might be a nice idea, but it will probably cost extra...
    HOWEVER, I would never pay anything for getting yelled at. That's simply unprofessional in any business....

    Happy lifting! :flowerforyou:




    Thanks for response and again, so true. The members I am referring to are usually people who are in their 40's, and have not exercised for years and are overweight due to poor eating habits. Some are diabetic and some have high blood pressure.They are not your "athletic" body type as you refer to. They cannot do many of the exercises and are given alternates, which is awesome! I give them a ton of credit. It is a tough workout and it takes courage to get in there and exercise with others who are at a totally different level! I just wish sometimes they had better (free!!)guidance on nutrition and healthy weight loss. :drinker: <---protein shake!
  • vs1023
    vs1023 Posts: 417 Member
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    I know for where i do my crossfit, the head coach always said he didn't feel qualified to talk nutrition. We have people of all shapes, sizes and fitness levels there. Everyone does something different. Some eat more paleo-ish, some do IIFYM, some do Eat to perform and some do nothing and just workout and eat what they want i guess. Most of the people right now including our head coach is doing IIFYM.

    I"m sure the coaches can guide their members if they are asked. I mean it's not rocket science to say to you need to be in a deficit to lose weight.

    By charts, etc I am considered overweight, but I'm still in there 4 days a week doing my best :)
  • maricash
    maricash Posts: 280 Member
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    Generally the crossfit community (based on my experiences with it, ymmv) isn't about losing weight, it is about performance. How much can you lift, how fast can you sprint, etc. Eating is more about supporting performance.

    This is what I really appreciate about CrossFit. No one has ever given me the impression that they assume that I am there to lose weight. And I haven't heard it come up with anyone else unless that person specifically has stated that that is one of their goals.

    There have been many times in my life in which I started to exercise and gave up when it didn't "work", where the definition of work was "cause me to lose weight." I haven't lost much weight with CrossFit, but I have definitely improved my strength and endurance, which is far more important to me at this point. Not seeing weight loss as the only marker of success or the most important marker of success has really made a huge difference for me.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    Generally the crossfit community (based on my experiences with it, ymmv) isn't about losing weight, it is about performance. How much can you lift, how fast can you sprint, etc. Eating is more about supporting performance.

    This is what I really appreciate about CrossFit. No one has ever given me the impression that they assume that I am there to lose weight. And I haven't heard it come up with anyone else unless that person specifically has stated that that is one of their goals.

    There have been many times in my life in which I started to exercise and gave up when it didn't "work", where the definition of work was "cause me to lose weight." I haven't lost much weight with CrossFit, but I have definitely improved my strength and endurance, which is far more important to me at this point. Not seeing weight loss as the only marker of success or the most important marker of success has really made a huge difference for me.

    this is also what i liked about crossfit. as someone from an athletic background and got 70 pounds overweight all while working out, i definitely appreciated the fact that i didnt get condescended to on day 1 of crossfit. i can run, i can sprint, i can snatch, i can clean jerk and i can do 1 almost OK unassisted pullup all while being significantly overweight and there were no expectations in that regards during the on-ramp. compare that to joining a new commercial gym and the assumption is that if you're a fatty then you must not be active .

    with crossfit everyone is treated like a (potential ) athlete which means the nutritional advice if you do get it is based on performance not on weight loss.
  • farfromthetree
    farfromthetree Posts: 982 Member
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    Generally the crossfit community (based on my experiences with it, ymmv) isn't about losing weight, it is about performance. How much can you lift, how fast can you sprint, etc. Eating is more about supporting performance.

    This is what I really appreciate about CrossFit. No one has ever given me the impression that they assume that I am there to lose weight. And I haven't heard it come up with anyone else unless that person specifically has stated that that is one of their goals.

    There have been many times in my life in which I started to exercise and gave up when it didn't "work", where the definition of work was "cause me to lose weight." I haven't lost much weight with CrossFit, but I have definitely improved my strength and endurance, which is far more important to me at this point. Not seeing weight loss as the only marker of success or the most important marker of success has really made a huge difference for me.

    this is also what i liked about crossfit. as someone from an athletic background and got 70 pounds overweight all while working out, i definitely appreciated the fact that i didnt get condescended to on day 1 of crossfit. i can run, i can sprint, i can snatch, i can clean jerk and i can do 1 almost OK unassisted pullup all while being significantly overweight and there were no expectations in that regards during the on-ramp. compare that to joining a new commercial gym and the assumption is that if you're a fatty then you must not be active .

    with crossfit everyone is treated like a (potential ) athlete which means the nutritional advice if you do get it is based on performance not on weight loss.



    Great Job!! And you know, after reading these comments I remember that this is what inspired me to stay at the gym. It truly is a judgement free zone.(as far as weight goes) Many are afraid to try it but for me, it was one of my best decisions. I have to remember everyone has different goals, and they will figure out what their goals are on their own. It is up to them. One of my goals is to do one unassisted pull-up. It is a lot harder than it looks. Thanks for these perspectives...

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