I'm Fat, I'm Dieting & Exercising - Who's with me?

[ncermak]

Allee -

never would have guesswed you were out of your twenties...let alone into your fouties!

-NBC

[Allee]

Ooh, Noah, you're GOOOOOOODDDDD.

Sorry, but I'm as old and decrepit as everyone else. What I'd give to be Ais or Tonja's age, and know what I know now ...

[patmoore]

Wish I could remember my forties..... As I recall, the world was still in black and white then....

[bartron]

Well, I'm not fat and thus don't need to diet. So I'll stick to my current diet containing pizza, lots of cookies, cakes, etc. and eating anything I want. Good luck with your diet folks ! (as I duck and run :)

I strongly agree about going to see a professional certified dietician/nutritionist. It's totally worth the money and more. I went a few years ago for help with a chronic fatigue and depression problem -- yeah, seeing a nutritionist was my first choice, afterall, you are what you eat. I still stick to the diet today except for the bunch of sweets I eat. :lol:

If you're switching to vegan, don't be surprised if you still have some love handles and sensitive teeth. This is usually caused by consuming too little protein, which I hear is a common problem among vegans. Make sure you're combining your foods to maximize your protein intake. Check out: http://www.bodyforlife2.com/incompletprotein.htm

I just re-evaluated my protein consumption after my dentist telling me that my teeth were fine and he didn't see why I had developed a problem with really sensitive teeth since moving here. So I bumped it up, and varied my veggies more and sure enough, my teeth are feeling strong & fine ! :)

'later...

[davekempmeister]

Love this site - thanks to all for responses and suggestions. Intuitively, I think BobD's comments are most on the mark. Seems like a good fit and will address my needs. As is always the case in matters like these, there are many variables that contribute to my difficulty keeping my weight up. My metabolism, naturally, as well as (as Allee pointed out) a physically demanding job. I work night shift and sleep is erratic. I have an infant daughter and another that is six. On and on. Good life.

Some responses made me smile. Allee, 3000 calories is a snack! Dan, if I drank chocolate milk and ate Salami and Cheese sandwiches - OMG (you must be a very young man, no?) You guys, heh heh. All the best.

[jnshapiro]

It's been a while since I've checked in here.

May 1 I got on the scale for the first time in a long time. 205 pounds. Sheesh, I've never weighed that much! I'm 5'7" and 39 years old, but fairly muscular in the shoulders. I immediately cut back on the amount of food that I eat. I also crawled onto my bicycle. Yesterday (6/19) I was down to 188. 17 pounds in less than 2 months. Mostly due to exercise.

I still eat what I did before, just a little less of it. No more 2nd helpings. But I'm riding 80-100 miles a week, 4 or 5 days a week. It's making a big difference.

I have no final goal in mind. I am curious as to where the weight loss will end and when I'll need to eat more just to fuel the longer and longer bike rides that I will be going on.

I love my bike .

So I'm with you. I expect boarding will be much better this year since I'll be in far better shape.

[tex1230]

don't get it - eating better, working out as I planned, weight steady.

I think I'll try less aerobics and more weights - maybe that will kick my metabolism in the a$$

[Terryw]

don't get it - eating better, working out as I planned, weight steady.

I think I'll try less aerobics and more weights - maybe that will kick my metabolism in the a$$

If you really want to kick up your metabolism, drop the aerobics and start adding HIIT's to your workouts instead. HIIT's are high intensity interval training. You do the hits in rounds. The rounds consist of one minute of high effort followed by two minutes of moderate effort (recovery). High effort means that you should be struggling to to finish the whole minute at the rate that you chose to workout at. If you don't find yourself at 45 seconds wondering if you can finish the minute, you need to pick up the pace.

Typical workout:

Warm up - 5 minutes easy pace

rounds - 3 minutes each. 1 minute high effort you can maintain for the minute, followed by 2 minutes of moderate effort.

cool down - 5 minutes easy pace

Try starting out with 3 rounds three times a week. With warm up and cool down, these are 19 minute workouts. Quick and brutal.

Simple progression:

weeks 1-4 3 rounds 3 times a week 19 minutes

weeks 5-8 4 rounds 4 times a week 22 minutes

weeks 9-12 5 rounds 4 times a week 25 minutes

weeks 13-16 6 rounds 5 times a week 28 minutes

I credit the above information to my favorite workout book of all time "The New Rules of Lifting".

I usually lift 3 times a week. Following my weight work out I usually do 4 rounds. On my off days from the weight room, I try to get in 7 or 8 rounds. It is amazing how each round is like a stair step. Each successive round becomes more difficult and raises my heart rate higher than the previous round.

[Dan]

Allee, 3000 calories is a snack! Dan, if I drank chocolate milk and ate Salami and Cheese sandwiches - OMG (you must be a very young man, no?) You guys, heh heh. All the best.

3,000 calories is a snack? Even Tour de France racers only do around 6,000 calories a day...exactly how much are you eating a day?

Dan, if I drank chocolate milk and ate Salami and Cheese sandwiches - OMG (you must be a very young man, no?)

Young in outlook, maybe, but I'm not 12 years old, if that's what you're asking. I've done a fair amount of road biking and cycle touring, and I've found those foods to be easy to prepare, easy to consume, and to have a pretty high ratio of calories:time/effort required in preparation.

I'd be interested to hear more about your diet - it sounds like you have pretty extreme caloric intake needs. How do you get it all in?

[Allee]

High effort means that you should be struggling to to finish the whole minute at the rate that you chose to workout at. If you don't find yourself at 45 seconds wondering if you can finish the minute, you need to pick up the pace.

Oh good, so I have got it right then. I'm SUPPOSED to get that "I'm going to explode' feeling.:)

Tex, that book is well worth a look. My gym partner and I started on it last September, and she's made fantastic progress in her maximum weights and her overall shape. My maximum weights have increased about 15% over the same period.

[Kent]

I haven't tried it, but I heard the "Fin" diet is very effective.

You simply take a summer trip to Frisco and chase him around on a mountain bike for several days, then repeat.

In all seriousness folks....calories out need to be more than calories in = weight loss.

75% of it is diet, this is by far the hardest part. Don't believe me? Keep a food log for 2 weeks and report back and we'll discuss. ;)

25% is your exercise. This is tough because time constraints, enjoyment and folks overall current fitness. You can't simply go from nothing to 8 running miles a day overnight..it takes a bit of time. Regardless...just do something you enjoy, then repeat.

[John Gilmour]

I dropped 20 lbs this season. I rode a lot- lived at high altitude. I also got another new Total Gym- that really helped.

Now that the season is over... I probably put 10 back on. Slalom skateboarding seems to be the key to burning calories (haven't been doing enough of it) . If you do about 30 high intensity runs in 2-3 hours you can drop weight almost instantly. Particularly if you run TS. GS does nothing to lose weight than and SGS is all about walking up hills and I really don't see walking doing much for peoples fitness.

But run a 65 cone tight slalom course in 17 seconds. And then Run back up the hill and do it again.... you'll drop far more than you would from running. Except for one extremely fast Canadian, MIG- all fast TS racers are lean and ripped- and I bet if you did a CAT scan of MIG you'd find a solid muscular guy under that extra layer.

________

Xt250

[tex1230]

Next step...

Wiifit is fun and all, but I am not losing any weight...

it's helping balance and strength - but I need more.

My son's tae kwon do teacher has finally talked me into taking classes...

First class was tonight - Kicked my fat a$$ big time...

[Allee]

I finished my sprint tri yesterday! It was actually fun. Not enough fun to make me want to do it again, mind you, but I didn't feel like I was going to die at the end. I made 500m swim (that was my worst, 21 minutes by the time everyone played dodgems in the pool), 20km bike and a 5km run in 1hr 47min. It would have been a few minutes faster, except I sprang a killer nosebleed during the run and had to stop until it clotted over enough to carry on. By the time I stopped at the water station and cleaned up, I apparently looked like a car crash victim!!

So I'm pretty stoked. A great start to the Everest Base Camp fitness kick, and as a bonus, I learned how to swim.

I can hook the rollerblades out tomorrow night. Cool. I love rollerblading.

[Gecko]

But run a 65 cone tight slalom course in 17 seconds. And then Run back up the hill and do it again.... you'll drop far more than you would from running. Except for one extremely fast Canadian, MIG- all fast TS racers are lean and ripped- and I bet if you did a CAT scan of MIG you'd find a solid muscular guy under that extra layer.

this had me in tears from laughing so hard...I try to run my 48 cone tight HS course at least once a week and you are right it does wonders for weight loss

I just started P90X in addition to my regular swimming and skating

[two_ravens]

I finished my sprint tri yesterday! It was actually fun. Not enough fun to make me want to do it again, mind you, but I didn't feel like I was going to die at the end. I made 500m swim (that was my worst, 21 minutes by the time everyone played dodgems in the pool), 20km bike and a 5km run in 1hr 47min. It would have been a few minutes faster, except I sprang a killer nosebleed during the run and had to stop until it clotted over enough to carry on. By the time I stopped at the water station and cleaned up, I apparently looked like a car crash victim!!

So I'm pretty stoked. A great start to the Everest Base Camp fitness kick, and as a bonus, I learned how to swim.

I can hook the rollerblades out tomorrow night. Cool. I love rollerblading.

Wow, Allee - Congrats! Glad it was you though - that sounds like waaaay too much fun for me. ;)

[Dave ESPI]

Yaknow TEX, Drinking beers is counter-productive to being NOT FAT.....

[stevo]

i switched to bud limelightnings and lost 15lbs this summer

[biggerwrangler]

lost 15 lbs another 5 to go.

using ultra 90 am formula

running 2-3 miles every night

lapswim or sprint bike every night for atleast a hour

little to no carbs, olympics are great motivation as well. Stop drinking the beloved beer and eating BACON!

feeling better then I have in a long time

wife using slim for life lost 65 last year losing 25 this year she is at her 15LB mark 10 to go

goal. world cup at copper

[davekempmeister]

Looking through some old posts, I realized Dan asked a question that went unanswered.

A 3000 calorie "snack" is a trip to Don Pablos (Matador, Megarita & desert). Good for 3000 - 3500 calories and I could eat more. Lots. True, it's not really a "snack" so much as a sit down meal but the point is I can eat considerably more. Saw a water polo team at a Marie Calender's in CA years ago and marveled at what they put away.

[D-Sub]

since this got bumped, I thought I'd post an article I read recently

Could going to the gym make you fatter?

[BadBrad]

since this got bumped, I thought I'd post an article I read recently

Could going to the gym make you fatter?

This article really just says that you need to do more than just aerobic training. Increasing muscle mass increases your resting metabolic weight, so weight training is important.

I used to be an avid triathlete and mountain bike racer, and was skinny and pretty fast. Now I'm married and the father of a 20-month old boy, and I work long hours, so it's hard to find much time to train. I'm about 15 lbs heavier than i'd like to be. I made some significant changes to my diet -- eating more vegetables, eliminating sodas, no sugar in my coffee, avoiding most baked goods. But I didn't lose weight. I trained for an did a triathlon and a marathon, but didn't lose weight. I did the online Weightwatchers and stayed within my points limits, but didn't lose weight. I did the South Beach diet, and lost a few pounds in phase 1, but nothing significant.

So now I have started doing more training with free weights. I have always done some strength training, but it consisted of going through the weight machine circuit at the gym. I was using heavy weight (8-12 reps to failure) and going through the circuit 2 or 3 times, but found that I wasn't increasing the weight. I started reading up on free weight training, and it made a lot of sense that it would provide more real-world strength for lifting a suitcase or my toddler or doing yard work. I am still doing a little running, biking, and swimming, but my emphasis now is on the weight training.

I read the book "Maximum Strength" by Eric Cressey, and it had a lot of good info, but I discovered that the workouts aren't for beginners. I then got the book "The New Rules of Lifting", and I am doing the workouts provided in this book. I haven't lost any weight, but my pants do feel a bit looser, so maybe I'm losing a little bit of fat. I have, however, been able to increase the weight I use each week, so that would indicate that I am actually getting stronger. At first, just keeping my balance for some of the squats and lunges exercises was a challenge, and I could really feel my core working, so that's another benefit. For those familiar with the New Rules of Lifting, I have completed the Break-In workouts and I'm half way through the Fat Loss I workouts, so I haven't been doing it long enough to see what the long-term results will be, but the workouts kick my butt and I'm getting stronger, so that's all good.

Another key is to vary your workouts. I know people who run the same 5-mile course every day at the same speed and then wonder why they don't get faster. I was doing the same weight circuit routine over and over, and even though I was really pushing myself I wasn't getting stronger. You body gets used to a workout routine and then you'll plateau, so you need to mix it up. For running, do long runs, tempo runs, intervals, and hills. For my weight workouts I will be doing Fat Loss I, then Strength I, then Fat Loss II, then Strength II, and I might even throw in Hypertrophy I at some point, constantly mixing it up.

[Skully]

I then got the book "The New Rules of Lifting", and I am doing the workouts provided in this book.

Another "NROL" newbie here Brad... "The Aerobics Myth" chapter in the book was pretty eye-opening to me. Goes completely against what most people think. I've been a semi-avid cyclist most of my life, and have dabbled with strength training. It will be interesting to see how this "new" way of looking at fitness works out....

Just wait 'til you get to the Fat Loss II series. There's an exercise in workout b that will make you cry... (In a good way...;) )

[BadBrad]

Another "NROL" newbie here Brad... "The Aerobics Myth" chapter in the book was pretty eye-opening to me. Goes completely against what most people think. I've been a semi-avid cyclist most of my life, and have dabbled with strength training. It will be interesting to see how this "new" way of looking at fitness works out....

Just wait 'til you get to the Fat Loss II series. There's an exercise in workout b that will make you cry... (In a good way...;) )

I bet you're talking about the Bulgarian split squat with overhead press, right? Fat Loss I workout B just about does me in. Bulgarian split squats are freakin' hard!

[Allee]

Bulgarian split squats make me cry. My training partner calls them 'puker dips", and my knees just call them "#%$^&!$*"

Been using this program for about 18 months now, edited for my own twists. The strength training sessions on that program are fun, fun, fun, if you can tough through the Fat Loss stuff. You'll be amazed how much progress you can make in four weeks. Enjoy!