jemhh Member

To slim down, eat in a deficit. To build muscle (since being "toned" generally means having some muscle and being lean enough to show it) I suggest either dumbbell or barbell bench press, rows, and shoulder presses, as well as lat pulldowns, lat raises, and rear delt raises or face pulls. 2-5 lb weights won't get you far…

Eat a bit less in order to lose weight. Lift in order to gain/maintain strength, muscle, and bone density. Do cardio for your heart/lungs. Be active in general because your body was made to move.

No

You can't. That's your build, though it will improve via fat loss and lifting weights. But you're not going to get wider hips, even with glute exercises. Whatever butt you build will look better from the side and back butt the overall width is not going to be bigger.

Ha. Agreed on the big salads. I bought a serving bowl that matches our dinnerware at home and it is known as "Mom's salad bowl."

I would suggest maintaining while starting resistance exercise at this time. If you don't have access to a gym or to any kind of equipment, a bodyweight program would be a good start. This is a program that you can do at home: http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html

I would break down the ingredients and log estimated quantities that way OR I would look up a similar dish on a restaurant website and use that nutrition info. Regardless of the event, building the skills to be able to estimate calories/portion sizes is a good thing. One thing that may help is googling "serving size chart"…

I just put the salad dressing bottle in my lunch bag and then measure it out at lunch time. For the salad, I use whatever bowl I can find a matching lid for.

Oof. Sounds like poor planning or customer service on the part of the hotel. Sorry, OP!

Yep, eat that plus your exercise calories. Realize that every calorie calculator result is an estimate. You need to eat that many calories for 3-4 weeks and then, based on your results, you may want to raise or lower calories. Or you may want to keep the same calorie goal.

I agree with taking it to work. And then next time don't get an entire cake if you don't want it. I would never even think of taking it to the fire station unless I worked there.

Are you talking about these? These are the ones I don't like because they hold so little cream. This is what I think of when I see the word "carton." Restaurants that don't use the little pods usually bring cream (or milk) in these:

I'm likely in your mom's demographic (middle aged woman) and it wouldn't bug me. My mom would probably notice and describe it in a whisper to me ("*He's such a nice young man. Do you know he has a *lip piercing! Two of them!*") but it wouldn't put her off having you as a trainer. I'm sure it will vary widely though, same…

She just needs to eat more in general. Whatever she likes and whatever sits okay in her stomach before training.

She absolutely does not need to be losing any more weight and I don't blame you for being concerned. I don't know what kind of trainer she has but talk to the trainer and to the coach if necessary. Fueling young bodies is as important as performing the actual sport.

Even at places that bring cream (or, worse, give you those tiny 1 teaspoon packages of half and half) I ask for 2% milk for my coffee. I've never been told no yet and, though I wouldn't mind having to pay for it, I've never been charged for it either. I prefer my coffee with milk in it. Quite a bit of milk, actually. At…

Oh how dumb. My gym kind of did this once. They had dumbbells that increased in 2.5 lb increments (so 5# per pair) and then suddenly one day they were gone and only 5 lb increment dumbbells were on the racks. Turned out they were replacing 2.5# pairs with new ones but got rid of the old several weeks before the new came…

Yes.

OP, what kind of timeframe are we talking about? As in, over what period have you gained weight? Your weight fluctuates all the time, due to various reasons (hydration levels, hormone fluctuations, how much food is in your digestive tract, increased water in muscles when you've become more active/started lifting weights,…

If you are prone to way overeating and then trying to "atone" for it via very low calorie days, I'd suggest aiming for a weekly average BUT implementing a daily high/low limit. For example, you might aim for an overall average of 1700 over the course of a week but not allow yourself to eat less than 1500 or more than 1900…

Having an actual program to follow would likely help. I'd suggest meeting with a trainer a few times or finding a lifting program to follow. There are a ton of free programs available online. In the "most important posts" thread in the gaining weight area of these forums, there's a thread that lists a bunch of different…

Your body is about 60% water. Eat a somewhat consistent level of sodium and carbs and stay properly hydrated and you'll have done all you can to control water weight. After that, water weight fluctuations are due to hormonal fluctuations and general weight fluctuations are also due to how much food is in your digestive…

I don't think you're eating 1000 calories but it also doesn't matter if you think you are. What matters are results. Your results are good, which to me says you're eating enough to fuel your fitness and little enough to lose weight. If one of those change, raise or lower your calories. If you keep losing as you are now,…

I think this is really key. At least it has always been for me when I've backslid. Starting anew (while keeping in mind lessons learned) has kept me going on a positive note.

Why? You're losing at a great rate. It sounds like you're doing well in the gym. Keep on keeping on.

Agreed. I think your rate of loss is fine considering your size. Don't get caught up in the oft-repeated "one to two pounds a week is a good rate of loss" thing. One to two pounds is great but it's not reasonable/sustainable/doable for everybody. Smaller people often end up losing 1-2 pounds per month.

Being "toned" usually means having low enough body fat to show off some muscle. Keep eating in a deficit. Leg press is good. I'd suggest doing a full body lifting program as they are great for beginners--even beginner's whose primary focus is their legs. There's a book by Bret Contreras called Strong Curves that may be a…

You'll have to cut calories further if you want to keep up the same rate of loss. But if you don't mind a slower rate of loss, you might not have to cut down in calories.

That should be easily doable with your stats (288 lb male losing 68 lbs in 10 months.) Start out with a goal of 2 lbs per week. At a certain point you'll downgrade that to 1 lb. But, truly, this is completely doable in a healthy and sustainable manner.

No. People usually gain weight as they age because they become less active but don't downgrade their eating to keep pace with their activity levels.