Joined Golds Gym!

[Darin]

Time to lose the pooch. I've hit 215lbs. Not good considering I was 155 when I got married. So I gave my wife a gym membership. Mine. I hate having a belly!! So for her, and myself, I am so far hitting the gym everyday and cutting calories WAY WAY back. I usually have a big soda.....make that 2 big sodas everyday. A snickers, or equivalent. Ice cream, pastries, McDonalds at least once a day, usually twice, or TacoBell. But fast food twice a day.

So everyday, 30 mins on the tredmill, 15 of it running, but most of it at 142 or higher heart rate. Then upper body on day, lower the next on the machines. I've been told that I could see results in as little as 3 weeks. But certainly in a couple months. I'm pretty excited about it.

I'm not getting on the scale since I hope to be replacing fat with muscle.

[Rotti]

That fast food is a killer. Just cutting out that and the soda will make a big difference fast.

[Darin]

Originally Posted by Rotti

That fast food is a killer. Just cutting out that and the soda will make a big difference fast.

I'm sure hoping so.
You work out?

[ColinMmmmm]

You probably will notice a difference pretty quickly - but I find there's always a period where you slow down about 3-4 weeks in. Then comes that hard work. But you'll have a great time. My advice - start cooking your own meals - when you're adding things like salt and fat yourself, it's easy to cut back. Pack yourself a lunch in the morning, get into a routine and you'll be set.

[Rotti]

Originally Posted by Darin

I'm sure hoping so.
You work out?

Yes but not hardcore or anything. I have done the weight loss thing though and it's mostly about what you eat. If you can change your eating habbits for the better you will see results. You already work hard, contractor right? So it's mostly about diet. Fast food is the worst. McDonalds and Taco Bell twice a day is an extreme amount of bad food to be taking in.

[andy7jem]

Good luck, hope you stick with it!!

[Darin]

Originally Posted by Rotti

Yes but not hardcore or anything. I have done the weight loss thing though and it's mostly about what you eat. If you can change your eating habbits for the better you will see results. You already work hard, contractor right? So it's mostly about diet. Fast food is the worst. McDonalds and Taco Bell twice a day is an extreme amount of bad food to be taking in.

Yep, flooring contractor. Which is probably why I'm not 300lbs.

[jk-27]

Diet is the main thing here, and it's the 2 fast food meals that have killed you weight wise, as the physical labor in your job is giving you some good workout and burning calories.

To pack on muscle, eat plenty of protein (chicken, fish, or protein shake) as when you're weight training you are basically tearing your muscle fibers, and your body repairs them and adds a bit extra to stop them tearing again (which is why you need to keep upping weights or changing your routine otherwsie you will reach a plateau where you won't be making any difference), and protein is what the body needs most to repair and build muscle.

The main problem I'm having though is the love handles. I'm losing weight, but everywhere else but the love handles, they're staying. Does anyone have any tips on how to get these things off! Do I need to do more cardio, is there a weight exercise, or is it diet based?

[Canadian Mark]

Originally Posted by jk-27

Diet is the main thing here, and it's the 2 fast food meals that have killed you weight wise, as the physical labor in your job is giving you some good workout and burning calories.

To pack on muscle, eat plenty of protein (chicken, fish, or protein shake) as when you're weight training you are basically tearing your muscle fibers, and your body repairs them and adds a bit extra to stop them tearing again (which is why you need to keep upping weights or changing your routine otherwsie you will reach a plateau where you won't be making any difference), and protein is what the body needs most to repair and build muscle.

The main problem I'm having though is the love handles. I'm losing weight, but everywhere else but the love handles, they're staying. Does anyone have any tips on how to get these things off! Do I need to do more cardio, is there a weight exercise, or is it diet based?

Unfortunately, spot-specific fat loss doesn't work. Fat loss varies in different areas due to the distribution of certain receptors on the fat cells. This is the reason why men tend to hold on to fat in the love handle areas longest while women tend hold on to fat on their upper thighs and asses the longest.

The only way to loose the love handles is to lose more fat in general. I didn't get rid of mine until I got below about 8% body fat.

[jk-27]

Below 8% body fat? siht, are you an athlete or something, I only know pro athletes who have such a low body fat ratio!

So I guess that means more cardio and even less calories then for me then?

[Canadian Mark]

Nah, I'm anything but an athlete. I used to do fairly serious bodybuilding. The leanest I got to was about 6% (which is very hard for me, I'm not naturally lean). I did it be doing 45 minutes of cardio 4-5 mornings a week (before breakfast), and keeping my carb intake quite low (less than 50 grams/day). It probably took me about 4 months to go from about 11% down to 6%.

Then I got married and had kids. The end. My bodyfat is about 15% now at 220 pounds. I'm working on getting back down to 205 pounds which would put my bodyfat in the 7% range.

Don't cut calories AND increase your cardio at the same time. You will burn muscle and send your metabolism into starvation mode which will stop your fat loss. You only want to be 200-300 calories below maintenance level.

[ColinMmmmm]

^ how does starvation mode stop fat loss???? I think I know what you're getting at . . . but I thought it was a funny way to say it. You don't want to DRASTICALLY cut your caloric intake, because then all kinds of harmful things happen to your body - but cutting calories and doing cardio at the same time is a good idea. You want to have enough energy throughout the day so you can function - don't go crazy. But cutting some some fast food and doing weights/cardio is the way to do it.

[Canadian Mark]

Your body will go into starvation mode and hang on to any tissue possible (fat or muscle). Your metabolism will slow down in order to hang on to that tissue. When this happens, the BMR is reduced, you get chilled more quickly, and you cannot put on any muscle.

If you cut your calories too much below maintenance (upping cardio and cutting calories can cause this), you will burn muscle tissue as well. The muscle tissue is what drives a majority of metabolism. It takes a lot of energy to maintain and build muscle. If you lose muscle, you will not burn as much energy to maintain the lower muscle mass.

You might still lose fat, but you will also lose muscle and wind up looking emaciated.

[ColinMmmmm]

I see what you're saying. But you'd have to try pretty hard to get your body to start munching up muscle tissue. I'm sure Darin could cut 500 calories a day easily, with working out, and there wouldn't be any problems. It's not like he's trying to lose 100 pounds in a month.

[Canadian Mark]

For the short term, you are probably right.

Just keep in mind, he can burn 500 calories doing 1 hour of cardio alone (if he's jogging). Then, he also cuts 500 more calories out of his diet. If he ads weight training, he is upping his calorie requirement, putting him farther into calorie deficit. Plus, he's got a physically taxing job installing flooring (I did it for a while when I was in high school-not an easy job).

The sum of all of this would probably lead to him being in an overtrained state fairly quickly. I would predict that he will get sick and injured more easily, and his fat loss would slow down or stop.

Instead of cutting calories, I would first try to change the calories while adding cardio. Replacing sugar, starches, and saturated fats with protein and unsaturated fats would be a more sustainable (and healthy) way to go about doing it.