Ask me anything about fat/weight loss....

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  • MicheleTh
    MicheleTh Posts: 31 Member
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    ;-0
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,843 Member
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    I'm looking to lean out a lot more. I am 5'2 @ 115lbs and I'm looking to drop another 5-7lbs. I work out every day and it looks like this:

    30 minutes hard cardio -- running 3x a week and another machine the other days -- followed by about an hour of weight training. I focus on one muscle group/day alternating legs and abs every other day. I do this for two reasons: 1) I work out with my husband and that's what he does and 2) I can focus more on the muscle group that I am working. I lift heavy and I aim for 3x10 but sometimes the reps are more 10, 8, 6 with it getting more difficult to lift towards the last rep on each set.

    In the afternoons I incorporate two very brisk walks - 4mph pace in an area that is very hilly. Sometimes I'll switch out the walk and do a jog (we have a dog who is very hyper and needs to be walked twice a day so taking this out of my routine isn't an option).

    Eating:

    I am for 1,200 cals/day since I want to drop weight. I typically don't eat back my exercise calories (sometimes I do). I don't typically eat sweets, don't drink soda, don't eat fast food etc. and I imbibe in alcohol on the weekends. Pre-workout I have a protein bar (home made not a crappy processed one) and post-workout I make a protein shake.

    Is there anything else I should be doing/not doing to reach my goal?
  • TheOfficialEpic
    TheOfficialEpic Posts: 406
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    Any exercise ideas for a sagging stomach ? Ive lost 63 lbs and my stomach seems huge yet.
    ty !

    Time and consistency. Skin elasticity always falls behind fatloss. Think of the people on Biggest Loser. They lose all this fat, but their skin is saggy. The skin needs time to revert back in elasticity. It's like a rubber band. Remove the tension and it will eventually get smaller and tighter again, but that is going to be a product of how far and how long it was stretched.
  • annabanana1786
    annabanana1786 Posts: 48 Member
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    BUMP!! Thank you OP!!
  • MicheleTh
    MicheleTh Posts: 31 Member
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    Working out for 6 weeks 30 - 60 min 4 -5 days a week. Limiting processed carbs. Not seeing any weight loss. I am a 41 year old female. I am 5'1 and weigh 160. Have been trying to loose weight and am so discouraged. I try to keep my caloric intake around 1400 a day.

    Any ideas?

    Hmmm....might be hidden calories, water weight, dieting for too long without a break, stress, etc. I'd really examine the diet more at first though. Coffee is a culprit to many people. Salads also. Creamers and dressings can get ya in trouble VERY fast. Also might wanna reduce the calories another hundred a day for the next week and see what happens.




    Thanks. Don't do coffee or caffeine. Salad dressing is usually under serving size and light or FF. Will try reducing calories for a week and drinking more water.

    With working out should I be drinking more than the 8 8oz glasses a day?

    Thank you again.
  • TheOfficialEpic
    TheOfficialEpic Posts: 406
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    I've just started going to use the gym again after a long lapse, to use the weight machines. I've started doing 30 reps, x 30kg for leg work (extensions, abductors, adductors), 25 x 15kg lateral pull downs, 25 x 7.5 kg pec deck, 50 x 25kg abdominal crunches. This is now quite comfortable, and I'd like to up it a bit - am I better off incressing the weight or increasing the number of reps? I'm not aiming to bulk up, would like to be more toned and replace some of the flab with muscle!

    I'm losing weight, eating well, and do cardio (walking and elliptical trainer as well.

    Advice appreciated!

    Either or is fine. Women don't bulk up because of lifting heavy. They bulk up because they add muscle to their frames, but don't lose a proportionate amount of body fat. Think arms for instance. Most women will do a ton of tricep work thinking it will tone their arms. They end up adding a little muscle to each arm, but if they don't lose a proportionate amount of fat, then their arm IS bigger now. Muscle takes up less space than fat because it is compact. If you were to add a pound of muscle on to each arm and LOSE a pound of fat on each arm, your arms would actually be smaller. A pound of muscle weighs exactly the same as a pound of fat, but fat just takes up more space. And where does fat loss start?.....by burning more than you're intaking on the regular.
  • xcrunnergirl13
    xcrunnergirl13 Posts: 67 Member
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    I have 6 pounds to lose and up to 3 months to lose it. I would rather not take the whole 3 months, but on the other hand I want the weight to be as much from fat as possible. What would you suggest for a calorie deficit?
  • arotella
    arotella Posts: 98 Member
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    Bump
  • TheOfficialEpic
    TheOfficialEpic Posts: 406
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    Is 13.5lbs in 8 weeks a good, healthy weight loss?

    Yes. My usual reco for clients is 1-2 pounds a week which in your 8 weeks would be of course 8-16 pounds loss. So yes, perfectly fine so long as you didn't lose the full 13.5 the last day of the 8 weeks. ;)
  • saxmaniac
    saxmaniac Posts: 1,133 Member
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    Just want to say this thread is a goldmine of advice and I really like your replies - short and to the point.
  • TheOfficialEpic
    TheOfficialEpic Posts: 406
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    My HRM says I burn more calories than the treadmill when I do HIIT.. which I just started 2 weeks ago. However, I only sweat... a little. But I feel my heart rate high but I don't get why i'm not really sweating? Will this still result to weight loss by keeping a healthy meal plan and consistent hiit???

    Some people just don't sweat a lot. Me, I pool the stuff. I have friends who are way less trained, but all they get is a little glisten! Lol
  • tcm118
    tcm118 Posts: 54
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    I don't particularly have a question. I just wanted to say thanks for all the information/advice. I find it very helpful!
  • TheOfficialEpic
    TheOfficialEpic Posts: 406
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    REST WEEK?

    Okay so I've been lifting and doing cardio at least 5-6 days a week since the beginning of the year. I'm going to Mexico at the end of this week.

    Do I take it as a rest week and not do any weights/cardio or do I try and get something in while I'm there? I'll be swimming, walking, snorkeling, etc but should I get in an actual workout or take it as a rest week? I ask because its an all-inclusive so I will be drinking a lot of alcoholic drinks.

    Your thoughts?

    Completely up to you. At this point most of you probably get that I'm about moderation. Rest weeks are sometimes a GREAT thing for diet and exercise. Usually after I take a week off, I might have put on a pound, but my energy levels and motivation is through the roof the next week back. But if you on this all-inclusive and you're missing your workouts too much, then by all means, have some fun yeh!
  • jessicaj_824
    jessicaj_824 Posts: 114 Member
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    Great info - I appreciate your honest answers and the fact that you are not trying to claim - as many other MFPers do - that 1 particular regime will work for 100% of the population. Thanks!!!!!
  • TheOfficialEpic
    TheOfficialEpic Posts: 406
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    What is your view on CLA supplement? Is it something you recommend to your clients?

    Not necessary. Most supplements only equate for 5% of the bigger picture which is your diet and exercise routine. Fat burners, creatine, protein, CLA, preworkouts, test boosters, etc. I can get all this through my mindset, what I eat, and how I workout. Think of it this way. Think of all the vitamins in CVS....all of them do something, but where do you draw the line? If you bought just a tenth of what they have, you'd be popping pills all day long! Let supplements be just what they are....something to SUPPLEment the diet if you can't get it the natural way.
  • TheOfficialEpic
    TheOfficialEpic Posts: 406
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    I've got a challenging question for u ;)

    We know that cortisol causes midsection fat.
    We know that genetics play a big part in where u store fat.
    We know that u can't control where fat falls off first.

    Genetics say I should be super heavy on top. But I'm not... Maybe I was adopted idk. Lol
    So here's where it gets tricky. Let's say I lowered my bf% to like 15%. And I personally want to be more like 18%. Yeah I know it sounds backwards. It's not a typo. I am a highly stressed person so I'm sure my cortisol has been out of whack most of my life. I've been doing things to lower stress like eating clean foods with good fats and low sugar, drinking green tea instead of coffee, even gonna quit smoking (bad me!).

    So now let's say I'm ready to put on the extra fat to get my womanhood back and look less like a muscle machine. How possible is it that my new clean pure diet and destressed lifestyle might just put some weight on top instead of all to my thighs?

    I know about strength training those areas and working on that too. I would absolutely love to hear your input on this. U seem very knowledgeable and very accurate with your answers :)

    This goes back into what I call 'Tricking The Effect'. With strength training, and a smart diet, you can drastically change the game up of how you look. Large hips and but, but want slender legs....then stop training legs intensely! Skinny legs and no hips, then train hips and thighs intensely! Going after the hour glass figure but have boney shoulders? Start hitting the shoulders and upper back intensely twice a week. NOTHING will blow up over one workout. Track your measurements of what you want to get smaller, and what you want to grow larger. If something starts growing to fast or gets to big, decrease the intensity. Hope this answers your question yeh. Cheers
  • TheOfficialEpic
    TheOfficialEpic Posts: 406
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    First - thanks for doing this!

    My question: I started out at 330 lbs and since December I've lost 33 of them. I do strength training 3 days a week and cardio on those days plus 2 more for a total of 5 days at the gym (for about 1 hour each day.) I was losing 2-3 lbs a week and I was eating between 1500-1900 calories depending on my workout for the day.

    Then at the end of March I decided to alter my strength training a little bit and do less on the machines and more with my own body weight and/or dumbbells. More squats, step-ups, push-ups, crunches with a medicine ball, and arm work with dumbells. It felt great and was so much harder than my normal workout. But my weight loss came to an abrupt halt. I even started gaining. After 4 weeks of hovering betwee 299-305 I stopped doing those workouts and went back to what I had been doing, thinking maybe I had too much of a calorie deficit to be strength training that hard and would need to up my calories to build muscle but not end up losing fat. Being the weight that I am, I feel like I need more weight loss right now.

    Now I am into week 7 since my last weight loss and I still haven't lost anything. I've tried a week of eating more and I've tried taking a week off of working out, but that didn't do anything one way or the other. I fluctuate between 299-306 every couple of days. My food has not changed and I still work out 5 days a week. Is there something I can do to jump start my weight loss again? I am afraid of tinkering with my routine without knowing what I'm doing.
    ^^This

    Answered.
  • Babrao
    Babrao Posts: 152 Member
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    Hi! Thank you for all of your helpful insights, I was wondering what you meant about drinking coffee being detrimental to your weight loss. Can you please elaborate on this? Thanks!
  • TheOfficialEpic
    TheOfficialEpic Posts: 406
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    Well where to start! I was doing greag when i first started and nowmive been stuck for over a month! Ive been reading so much about how u should eat more to lose and eat a certain amount of carbs and protein and fats lol this is all so confusing to me! I just want to get back to losing weight again! I dont workout hardcore but im building myself up and am hoping to join a gym soon! But im atleast doing a jillian dvd everyday!injust need simeone to tell me what to eat every day lol...imnot picky i love all veggies n fruits im just so confused and cant get back fully on track to see the results i want! I feelmmy muscles getting bigger and stronger i just need to get the fat off of them haha! Thanks for any input!:sad:

    Start with the app. Set your goals. Make them realistic. Track your calories, and make sure you're consistently in a deficit. Hold yourself to no less than one pound loss a week. Rinse and repeat.

    Thank you!!! And sorry for the misspelling geeze! Damn touch screen! Ok i swear im so slow with this im sorry...i get i need to be at a deficit but i dont think i fully understand how to get there! My calorie goal is 1200 a day and if a burn a few hundred atleast a day should i eat back my cals to make my net 1200? Im happy with losing 1 pound a week i just need it to happen consistantly ya know! Im a lil taller then 5'3 and weigh 162 and and pretty active im a sahm of 3 and am trying to atleast workout once a dat sometimes i get do do an hour walk and 2 of jillians dvds those r my fav days! But how many calories do u feel i should be eating a day? In ur opinion? I really appreciate this as to where im just trying to figure out what is best for me! I want to make sure im eating enough for what i want my results to be!:bigsmile: Thanks again for answering all these questions!

    Consuming 1,200 a day is fine so long as you're not going crazy on activity. If you were daily burning 1000 calories due to cardio, I would DEFINITELY tell you to bump the calories up by 500 or so. But twenty minutes of jogging on a treadmill combined with taking in 1,200 calories a day, I would be fine with that. Most important is that once again you're losing....sometimes you have to crank the calories UP for this to continue!
  • LeslieMDoyle
    LeslieMDoyle Posts: 162 Member
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    ... Enjoy the ride, it will make for a way better biography. ...

    LOVE this line!

    Thanks for your straightforward responses. This has been very educational.

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