7 Day Experiment.
silverstringbp
Posts: 19
Well per my last thread I've been slipping with monitoring things properly. So I need to do a 7 day experiment to kickstart me to the next level.
November 10th to November 16th:
1. Go to the gym 5 days in the week (I normally do this anyways...)
A. 45 Minutes Elliptical (5MPH on 14 resistance)
B. 4 Weight Lifting exercises
C. Log correct calories based on 500/HR for Elliptical. For 'eating back' purposes.
2. Eat only food I know the contents/calories of.
A. Weigh raw ingredients
B. Use UPC info
3. Food also needs to be no sugar and low sodium for health reasons.
4. Drink only water.
5. Stick to 1500 calories a day + 'eat back' calories.
After 7 days I want to see how things change, how I handle it, and how many times I need to repeat it to lose 50 pounds of fat while gaining some muscle.
November 10th to November 16th:
1. Go to the gym 5 days in the week (I normally do this anyways...)
A. 45 Minutes Elliptical (5MPH on 14 resistance)
B. 4 Weight Lifting exercises
C. Log correct calories based on 500/HR for Elliptical. For 'eating back' purposes.
2. Eat only food I know the contents/calories of.
A. Weigh raw ingredients
B. Use UPC info
3. Food also needs to be no sugar and low sodium for health reasons.
4. Drink only water.
5. Stick to 1500 calories a day + 'eat back' calories.
After 7 days I want to see how things change, how I handle it, and how many times I need to repeat it to lose 50 pounds of fat while gaining some muscle.
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Replies
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Lose fat first and work out to protect as much muscle as possible whilst in defecit
But you ain't doing both fat loss and muscle gain at the same time cos it doesn't work like that0 -
This sounds like a reasonable plan. As rabbitjb mentioned, you won't be gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time, but you WILL strengthen the muscle you already have so that as you lose the fat it will appear that your body is more firm than you might expect.
Good luck!0 -
Im not sure but I think that strengthening muscle and gaining muscle is the same thing? Unless I am missing something. Not trying to be a smartbutt, just not understanding the statements.0
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Truittmark84 wrote: »Im not sure but I think that strengthening muscle and gaining muscle is the same thing? Unless I am missing something. Not trying to be a smartbutt, just not understanding the statements.
Nope, very different.
Gaining muscle means gaining actual muscle MASS, which requires actual size and weight gain, meaning your measurements go UP, which can only really happen in a caloric surplus.
Strengthening muscle means training the muscle you already have. If this occurs in a caloric deficit, your measurements and weight go DOWN, but you can lift more weight, run further/faster, etc. You can get stronger while not actually getting bigger.0 -
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fivethreeone wrote: »Truittmark84 wrote: »Im not sure but I think that strengthening muscle and gaining muscle is the same thing? Unless I am missing something. Not trying to be a smartbutt, just not understanding the statements.
Nope, very different.
Gaining muscle means gaining actual muscle MASS, which requires actual size and weight gain, meaning your measurements go UP, which can only really happen in a caloric surplus.
Strengthening muscle means training the muscle you already have. If this occurs in a caloric deficit, your measurements and weight go DOWN, but you can lift more weight, run further/faster, etc. You can get stronger while not actually getting bigger.
I've been looking for that explanation for awhile! Any sources to back it up? I'm just curious to know more. What is happening when your weight stays the same but your measurements go down significantly? I've had that happen a lot....(I can't 100% say I was in deficit as I wasn't consistently tracking).
Thanks!0 -
fivethreeone wrote: »Truittmark84 wrote: »Im not sure but I think that strengthening muscle and gaining muscle is the same thing? Unless I am missing something. Not trying to be a smartbutt, just not understanding the statements.
Nope, very different.
Gaining muscle means gaining actual muscle MASS, which requires actual size and weight gain, meaning your measurements go UP, which can only really happen in a caloric surplus.
Strengthening muscle means training the muscle you already have. If this occurs in a caloric deficit, your measurements and weight go DOWN, but you can lift more weight, run further/faster, etc. You can get stronger while not actually getting bigger.
I've been looking for that explanation for awhile! Any sources to back it up? I'm just curious to know more. What is happening when your weight stays the same but your measurements go down significantly? I've had that happen a lot....(I can't 100% say I was in deficit as I wasn't consistently tracking).
Thanks!
No problem.
What you're referring to is called recomp (recomposition). It generally occurs when you are eating at maintenance and also generally takes a while to accomplish.
Check out bodyrecomposition.com for some excellent studies and information on the topic
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No sugar at all? So you are not going to eat and fruits or veggies?0
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No sugar at all? So you are not going to eat and fruits or veggies?
I was thinking more of sweet foods. I have always ate just fruit before noon.
That's for the first 7 days to clear out the food in my house ( no eating out either )..
The NEXT 7 days I'll be eating only freshly cooked things. So my rules for then are:
Eat only fruit, fruit juice for a smoothie, vegetables, chicken thighs, fish.
No grains, no cheese, no dairy, no beef. Most of which I never eat anyways.
PS: I bought a scale today to get REAL here..0 -
silverstringbp wrote: »No sugar at all? So you are not going to eat and fruits or veggies?
I was thinking more of sweet foods. I have always ate just fruit before noon.
That's for the first 7 days to clear out the food in my house ( no eating out either )..
The NEXT 7 days I'll be eating only freshly cooked things. So my rules for then are:
Eat only fruit, fruit juice for a smoothie, vegetables, chicken thighs, fish.
No grains, no cheese, no dairy, no beef. Most of which I never eat anyways.
PS: I bought a scale today to get REAL here..
Why all the exclusions and complicated rules?
Eat at a calorie defecit
That's it0 -
keep it simple eat foods you enjoy and are healthy if you wish but your body needs all food groups to function properly I find by saying no I get bad cravings so I say yes but only 20grams or whatever fits.0
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silverstringbp wrote: »Well per my last thread I've been slipping with monitoring things properly. So I need to do a 7 day experiment to kickstart me to the next level.
November 10th to November 16th:
1. Go to the gym 5 days in the week (I normally do this anyways...)
A. 45 Minutes Elliptical (5MPH on 14 resistance)
B. 4 Weight Lifting exercises
C. Log correct calories based on 500/HR for Elliptical. For 'eating back' purposes.
2. Eat only food I know the contents/calories of.
A. Weigh raw ingredients
B. Use UPC info
3. Food also needs to be no sugar and low sodium for health reasons.
4. Drink only water.
5. Stick to 1500 calories a day + 'eat back' calories.
After 7 days I want to see how things change, how I handle it, and how many times I need to repeat it to lose 50 pounds of fat while gaining some muscle.
did similar to lose first 40lbs.
only downside was i didnt do weights initially and deffo lost muscle mass as i was full on cardio only.
very important as already stated to protect muscle with ongoing strength/ weight training.
some of us need to be strict on ourselves,so good luck with your experiment and let us know outcome.
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You don't need to cut anything out, just eat in a calorie deficit and enjoy what you want in moderation.0
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Well it's almost the end of Sunday and tomorrow I'll start this 7 day experiment. I'm ready to go! The only REAL difference in these 7 days is more strictly counting calories, and completely avoiding some foods I am not supposed to eat per health reasons like cheese and salt. Otherwise it's just a new combination of what I've done for many months.
Here we go! Weighing in every morning.
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OK well I finished my first day. I was 219.4 this morning. I'm not gonna weigh myself until the end probably since daily weight change isn't much.
Went well - luckily I love bowls of steamed veggies and cooked chicken thighs.
Should lose 13 pounds in 5 weeks at this rate.0 -
Day two is over. I did fine, went a little over calories due to going out for sushi. But between the last two days they even out. Don't normally go out so that's fine.0
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silverstringbp wrote: »Day two is over. I did fine, went a little over calories due to going out for sushi. But between the last two days they even out. Don't normally go out so that's fine.
I thought one of the rules was no eating out? That didn't last long!!0 -
TavistockToad wrote: »silverstringbp wrote: »Day two is over. I did fine, went a little over calories due to going out for sushi. But between the last two days they even out. Don't normally go out so that's fine.
I thought one of the rules was no eating out? That didn't last long!!
yup - failed 2 and 3 already
2. Eat only food I know the contents/calories of.
A. Weigh raw ingredients
B. Use UPC info
3. Food also needs to be no sugar and low sodium for health reasons.
that's what happens when you set yourself such stringent goals and why, IMO, it's best to just calorie count and eat a balanced diet including what you fancy0 -
I didn't fail at any of my rules.
Nowhere does it say I can't eat out. Nowhere did I eat unprocessed sugar OR high sodium food.
I appreciate the feedback but come on now!
I should add that these rules are not "stringent" for me at all; I follow them nearly every day. The main difference is better counting and less exercise.
So far I've lost 7 pounds in just 6 days, and I'm only on day two of this 7 day experiment.0 -
silverstringbp wrote: »
That's for the first 7 days to clear out the food in my house ( no eating out either )..
Yeah OP you did...
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I think OP is just trying to get his head back in the game after slipping a bit. I get it.
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UPDATE: Three days in and lost about 6-7 pounds in about 7 days, and almost 2 pounds in the first 3 days of this week.
Clearly exercising LESS makes it easier for me to eat less. Now only exercising 40%-50% of what I was doing.0 -
0somuchbetter0 wrote: »I think OP is just trying to get his head back in the game after slipping a bit. I get it.
I agree. Different things work for different people. It should be easy to see that after reading these forums for a short time.0 -
silverstringbp wrote: »UPDATE: Three days in and lost about 6-7 pounds in about 7 days, and almost 2 pounds in the first 3 days of this week.
Clearly exercising LESS makes it easier for me to eat less. Now only exercising 40%-50% of what I was doing.
Good! Thanks for the update. I hope you are doing weight training during this time. IMHO it's important to keep as much muscle mass as possible.0 -
OK, I did my weigh-in this morning and that concludes the 7 day experiment.
*Started at a weight of: 219.4
*Ended at a weight of: 217.0
I ate an average of 1717 calories a day. It was fairly easy to do. The goal was 1500 a day.
I did eat more calories than planned due to a single day. It was planned and expected, but still... Luckily that won't be a regular thing.
Not only did I eat less calories than before (presumably, since I lost weight), but I ate better. More than half of my non-breakfast meals were chicken and vegetables. I always eat fruit for breakfast.
I only exercised twice a week, this is because eating less seemed to drain my energy so I didn't feel able to workout as much as I normally do. So it's a catch-22...
OK - onto the NEXT 7 day challenge this week.....0 -
7 DAY EXPERIMENT PART 2!!!! THE SEQUEL
November 17th to November 23rd:
1. Eat AVG 1500 calories a day.
2. Weigh raw ingredients and use UPC data.
3. Keep sodium under limits.
4. Drink only water.
5. Do 3 days of cardio burning at least 250 calories each time.
6. Do 2 days of workouts with 8 exercises each day.
The same as last week, but still trying to do the exercising with lower calories. It's all about timing eating and exercising together. Here we go!
STARTING WEIGHT: 217.00 -
Good luck and thanks for update!
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1,500 calories is very low for a male. Where did you come up with that number? With 37 lbs to go..
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal
Set your MFP to lose 1 lb/week and see how many calories it gives you. That number will be sustainable and will slowly get lower and lower as you lose weight until you have 25 lbs to lose, at which point you will then drop your goal to .5-1 lb per week, etc.
You're more likely to stick to this in the long run if you are losing at a healthy rate given how much weight you have to lose. You will also retain more muscle mass as you lose fat if you're doing so slowly. You will also have more energy for workouts if you're feeding your body adequately.
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"Is ideal" is an opinion based on assumptions about a person's needs and wants. Some want to lose faster and then their "ideal" rate is different. Some people are more likely to stick to a plan that shows more results. And some their energy doesn't depend on their food consumption for the day, since they use calories stored in fat to fund their deficit. I don't think 1500 plus 'eating back' is unsafe for a man.0
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Thanks for the comments Broccoli!
That calorie intake is just for the weekly experiment, to get a sense of how I feel with 1500 a day, and what kind of weight loss it results in.
I'm working towards a better mixture of eating less vs being able to exercise more. After this week I'll make adjustments.
WalkingAlong - I am definitely more likely to stick to a plan that shows REAL results. That's me for sure.0
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