duckpond11 Member

I read that in reality, muscle doesn't really burn that more than fat. It burns about 5-6 cals per hour vs fat, which is 2-3. Considering the small percentage of your lean body mass that is actually muscle, it doesn't work out to be all that much. Additionally, some of us that have high body fat also have a lot of lean…

You can buy some resistance bands as well as do body weight exercises. The bands are cheap, and you can use them in your home. Good luck, I can only imagine that being at maintainance is scary - but you can do it!

you can't actually lengthen or elogate a muscle - it is attached to the ends of your bone. The shape of your muscles is determined by genetics. I would focus on fat loss (not measured by a scale but by body fat) and I bet you will see them shrink. But I also agree that you gotta love the body you got.

I don't know yet - we'll see. Next week is going to be challenging. Holiday on Monday (is my gym even open, I don't know...), then out of town for a few days for work. Hopefully the hotel has a decent gym.

Forgot to mention that my body fat is 42%, measured by electrical impedance.

Female Height: 5' 5" Weight: OBESE! 218 Goal: 135 I exercise 5 times a week, 3 strength, 2 cardio circuits. I have not had much luck losing so far, but finally managed to drop some weight last week by eating an average of 1955 calories. It was 1700-1800 most days with a few days going up into the 2200-2300 range. Am going…

Are you doing a lot of endurance type exercise (i.e. steady state running?). I would back off on that for a few days a week and try incorporating more strength training if you aren't doing it already. If you are, then I'd just back off the endurance stuff and focus harder on the strength training.

I don't think I have a preference. I like the squats, rows, and pushups of A, but the step ups and prone jackknifes kill me. I dislike the deadlifts in B, but like the shoulder press and lat pulldown. Lunges I dislike, crunches I like. I am looking forward to moving to stage 2, although it will be a little bit longer for…

I have been struggling for a couple months to find my "sweet spot" for calorie intake. I started with my goal target set at 1200. I felt horrible and didn't lose any weight, probably because I was constantly over eating at night because I'd been starving myself all day. Then I tried 1200 with eating exercise calories.…

I did 3 sets of 10 good pushups today (30% incline)! To quote my daughters potty training book, "I'm so proud of me!" :).

I have plantar fascitiis - you could be starting to experience that. You DON'T want it. If you ignore the pain and work through it, it will get worse. Stay off your feet for a little bit, take a NSAID (iboprophen) and ice it every night. Plus do some calf stretches, but not to the point of pain. If it doesn't subside soon…

Unfortunately, this number is accurate for us as well. I saved all my recipes one month and figured it out and was blown away. I will say though that we don't do a lot of coupons and other stuff to save money, and we spend some portion of that on non-neccessities like alcohol.

I don't consider what I do cheating - but I only plan to stay within my eating plan 90% of the time. 10% of the time, I can indulge in a treat meal. That is about 3 or 4 meals a week. If I tried to go 100% I would just give up.

I also was in denial about some food issues I had, which I've only in the past couple months really admitted to myself. I would also sneak/hide food. I didn't consume fast food or soda, so I never accepted that it was bad. For dinners I would serve myself a normal portion and eat it virtuously - but when I was cleaning up…

It is a difficult spot to be in - personally I would just buy them a nice healthy kids cookbook as a present. One that talks about nutrition requirements for kids. I recommend "Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family", or "Child of Mine, feeding with Love and Good sense". Perhaps they are just ignorant. It is ok for a 6 month…

I have a very picky 2 year old. I think she's showing signs of growing out of this phase, but for now what I do is put out 3 or 4 items and make sure one of them is going to be something she likes. And I just skip it if it isn't something I should be eating. For example, if I make some kind of meat and veggies I'll make a…

It is a great treat - although I sometimes cringe at the amount of calories. I have to drink 16 oz to get about 16g protein, which is about 350 cals. Someone on MFP suggested Kefir as well, which seems to be another reasonably easy to obtain and convenient option. It would have less calories probably. Although one can…

there's a lot of evidence out there that the HCG diet is very unhealthy. Do some googling and you'll see what I mean.

What's the "Window of Opportunity"? Sometimes I forget my drink and need to run to the store or something. At what point do I lose the benefits of it and I shouldn't even bother with it?

I have read that wine (alcohol) can lower your metabolism significantly. Which sucks, because I love it to. I would say reduce to no more than 2 glasses (4 oz) per day, every other day preferably. Also going to go with eat more. 1800 calories for an active male is way too little. But make them be good clean foods, not junk.

I have read that your metabolism is lower when you don't get enough sleep. You should try to get at least 7.5 hours, and if you are young probably more than that.

It can mean different things to different people as far as the details go - I think there's a diet book or something with that name. But the concept has been around for decades. It is basically that you need to eliminate processed foods and focus on whole foods for the most part.

I did 12 good 30% incline pushups today in my first set. The second, I could only do about 8 or so, but I am seeing definite improvement in pushup land. yay! I think in a few weeks I might be ready for real deal pushups.

You can add me! I just started cleaning up my eating this week and would be very happy to have more support.

I started drinking chocolate milk as a post workout snack and find the sugar rush pleasant :). I figure the milk at least is good for me, and it is a mix of protein and carbs.

Do you have a whole foods or something like that in your town? They sell it there, and in some regular grocery stores if they have a natural food section. It is refridgerated, so look in the refridgerators.

This is counter to everything I have read, and I've read a bit. I suggest you read up on it yourself. You basically can only keep what you already have, unless you are very new to lifting.

Phew, found the new thread :). Do you guys do any warmups? I have a confession - I am lazy and just walk around for 5 minutes first and then jump right in.

I don't think you can really build muscle while you are on a calorie deficit. At least this is what I've read. You can get stronger with what you've got, and strength training will help you lose fat faster than cardio because of after burn and stuff. So it will help you keep the muscle you already have, which is good,…

Yes - I just did this test today actually. For circuit training - MFP would have given me nearly 600 calories, but my HRM said 300.