[rickcr42]

I'm with mike on this one.Trying to keep the weight ON is my problem and other than my stint in the military it has been a constant struggle my entire life.My wife actually nick named me "brawny" after the paper towel guy who she said i looked like for a time but that did not last either

I eat like a pig but I play and work hard so I guess I use up all the calories as fast as i get the little suckers in

I am also a fidgety fk so maybe just sitting still (as if i know the meaning of the word

) is burning the calories up....................

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Increasing activity levels AND reducing calorie content is important if you want to lose weight.

Low carb type diets reveal good information about why we gain weight and why it is tough to lose it, so if you are overweight, dropping carbs like bread, rice, pasta and potatoes is a great way to lose weight. Your body converts carbs into glucose for energy, and if you don't burn them off, they get converted to body fat. So, excess carbs causes weight gain. Protein and fat are not so easily converted to glucose, and thereby less easily converted to body fat. Table sugar, corn syrup sweeteners etc. are pure death and should be avoided by everyone except for the occassional treat.

If you are of a normal weight, some bread, pasta, rice, etc. is ok in your diet.

For those of you who have a hard time keeping weight on, a high carb diet with lots of protein (for muscles) might be the right way to go, if you are like rick and burn up lots of energy.\

The toughest thing for me is to avoid eating sweets as an emotional escape. There's lots of ways to get high, and eating to get high is just as much of a problem as alcohol and drugs. For those of you who have just gotten a little lazy or a little older, taking off the extra weight shouldn't be much of an issue. But for those of us with other problems, all the diets in the world don't help to address the underlying issues.

 

[rmx]

I've got a bit of a system that seems to have worked *for me* .

I'm a computer science professional/student. My activities involve spending 10-12 hrs a day seated in front of a computer screen. Due to heavy workload and a recurring lower back injury, in 3 years I had not seen the inside of a gym, and had consumed over 6 cans of pop a day regularly. I was 246lbs last april... I'm 5'10". I was in bad shape... disgustingly bad... it really hit home when I was browsing thru some albums and saw old pics of me in my "prime" at 175lbs - able to sprint 100m in 10.424 seconds. I decided to do something after having that epiphany. As of today morning, I'm 184lbs, and I have about 10lbs of fat more to lose, mostly around the gut, but that's taking its own sweet time.

The biggest change I made was completely cut out sugary or carbonated drinks. No pop, no cola, no fruit juice, nothing... just water, with the occasional beer or wine or shot allowed. No sugar in coffee/tea either. I couldnt believe how much sugar I was ingesting. No candy bars. This alone, no exercise and no other modification of my diet allowed me to drop 25lbs in 3 months. I plateaued after that at around 225 lbs for a month. I then started a very activity intensive summer job (program facilitator for a high school summer camp with 60 kids), and lost another 10lbs in a month while going to the gym every day with the kids, swimming, teaching kayaking, running, and hiking. I was eating a lot more (even a lot of unhealthy, fatty food) during this month, and I managed to feel a lot more fit, and clothes fit better.

After that month, I went on a cross country road trip that did horrible things for my diet, mainly due to excess consumption of alcohol and bar food. I managed to run 6K every morning regardless, and did a lot of walking, so I maintained weight at 210lbs that month.

When I got back, I set myself a goal to get to 175lbs by the next time I had to work in the summer program, so I could keep challenging the kids physically, rather than the other way around. I used to be a bit of a star athelete in high school and early university, so I set out to get back into that shape. I went on a strict calorie reduced, protein rich diet consisting of a small can of tuna and a banana for breakfast with half a glass of skim milk, a low fat turkey or chicken sandwich and another banana for lunch, another can of tuna before a 1 hr run followed by a 2 hr gym session, and a very small dinner about half the size of lunch.

With this, I dropped a lot of fat and gained a lot of muscle, particularly around my core. I've kept up this diet for the past 6 months, allowing a few indulgences (christmas, birthdays, graduation etc etc). My weight hovers between 182 and 186lbs nowadays, and within the next 2 months, I should hit 175. I havent clocked myself in the 100 recently, and frankly, I don't care about that goal any more. The best part of all this has been being able to outpace my 5 year old husky/shep cross on our runs together, and being able to fit into a 35" waist size 42 "regular" designer suit for grad. "Regular" . I like the sound of that. My old wardrobe is useless... whole lot of 44" waist jeans and the like... all my XL/XXL shirts look like bags now... I'm lovin it.

The worst part? THE SKIN! Man, I wish I could cut some of it off... I know it'll tighten up eventually, but I don't think I'll be going shirtless anytime soon... lol.

Hmm.. that turned into a longer rant than I had intended... oh well...

 

[bigears]

[size=medium]Why not test it with twins ?[/size]
Aerobics versus (properly done) Weigth Training?

"Identical twins Kelli and Vanessa Dunn,
plus-size models living in New York City,
to do a little experiment with us.

The twins say even plus-size models
have to watch just how plus they are.
“I've never, ever been able to wear a bikini.
Never, ever could wear a half shirt halter-top,
cute clothes. Low rise jeans?
Oh, heck, no,” says Vanessa, who wants to lose 10 pounds.

The twins were asked to follow two separate exercise programs.
They had five weeks to reach their goals.
And they were also told to watch their diets.

Vanessa was asked to do a traditional cardio regimen
three to four days a week.
“I’m already dreading tomorrow or the next day,”
says Vanessa, who started her program at the midtown Manhattan Gold’s Gym.

Kelli tried “Power Of 10,” just once a week for 20 minutes.
“I can’t say it was quick and painless,
but it was quick,” she says.

In fact, it’s so quick that while Vanessa is spinning,
bouncing, crawling and dancing away,
Kelli is out shopping and having fun.

After five weeks, the experiment is over.

Kelli has lost a total of 15 pounds (6,8 kg) and 8 inches (20,3 cm)
across her chest, waist and thighs.
Vanessa, who did the cardio workout,
lost only 4 pounds (1,8 kg ) and 4 inches (10,1cm) .

“I was literally putting in 5 hours a week.
She was putting in 20 minutes,” says Vanessa.
“And she did more than 30 times more weight loss than I had,
so the proof's in the pudding.”

The whole article here:
http://www.informfitness.com/press-p...elthepower.htm

Both these two books are good at explainign it:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=UTF8&v=glance
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=UTF8&v=glance

Both books offer programs that can be done at home
with simple home objects, with in 30 minutes a week.
So not having time is no excuse...

But this program is not for lazy people or mind-weak people...
Requires full concentration during workouts, and determination.

The diet recomended in both is a low carb, moderate/high protein diet,
inspired in "protein power" and in the "zone".
The exercises complement the diet quite well.

 

[Soundbuff]

I can tell you from personal experience that The Zone diet works AMAZINGLY well, if you have the will and discipline to follow it somewhat strictly.

I went on this diet several years ago and followed it to the letter for 6 months, losing 40+ lbs. It works best if you cook the special recipes that are published in books, rather than trying to wing it following the principles at restaurants.

I did fall off from following this diet strictly, partly because it takes a lot amount of time to shop, cook and clean (now I eat out almost all the time since I work full time), and partly because the recipes (at least back in 1998) were repetitive and tiresome, using many of the same ingredients over and over.

The recipes may be better now than back then. If you follow it, I guarantee you will get good results. I still try to follow the eating principles to this day when eating out, but not as strictly as before, and thus my results are not as good as they once were.

I also recommend joining a fitness club. I just joined one and found it makes all the difference. Previously, I was walking my dog for 1+ hours a night, but that's not really enough. You need to build muscle mass from weight training, and you need to work your heart.

It's also not enough to exercise at home. You won't do it - I know I don't. I have a NordicTrack that sits around collecting dust. At a gym, you get the benefit of using all kinds of machines that no one could otherwise afford to buy or store in a house, and it's more fun to exercise with other people anyway.

Bring a good flash player and some canalphones too - makes all the difference.

 

[Tyson]

bigears,
your article shows my point more eloquently than I ever could, thanks so much. I've got to show that to some of my female friends that are battling their weight problems, but won't listen to me because I'm not a "certified fitness expert" like their trainers at the gym. Maybe an article like this, with results that dramatically different, will maybe get them to start thinking differently.

Here's the bottom line - lean mass (muscle) equals metabolism. More muscle (strenght) means a higher metabolism. Less muscle means lower metabolism. I'll say it again, the problem with aerobic exercise is that it doesn't properly stimulate muscles. Only resistance exercises do that. Thus, only resistance exercises will be able to maintain or increase your metabolism, which is especially important when you are on a calorie deficit eating plan.

Aerobics are very important for cardiovascular health, but they are less important than diet and resistance training for losing weight and looking fit. So, consider resistance exercise as the primary activity that you must, must, must do every week, and you can supplement that with aerobic exercise. But if you are ever going to "miss" a workout, make sure it's the aerobic workout you miss, not the resistance training.

Also, you will never, ever, ever look "toned" or fit if you only do aerobics. In fact I've seen a LOT of people diet and do aerobics as their primary plan, with little or no resistance training, and what always happens is 2 thing - 1, they actually lose muscle because their bodies scavenge the living muscle tissue when they diet, and 2, they lose equal ammount of muscle and fat, so they merely end up looking like smaller versions of their out-of-shape selves. Plus they have to now contend with the fact that their metabolisms slowed down significantly due to the muscle loss, and must exercise all the more, while eating even less. Its a viscous downward spiral. In the end they just can't run or bike or elliptical enough to keep the weight down, and every little think they eat puts weight back on them very easily. When they go back to eating somewhat normally, they put a lot of weight back on very quickly. And now you have the beginnings of yo-yo dieting and weight loss/gain.

Wow, ranted a bit longer than intended. Anyway, this power factor 10 training is actually pretty good, after looking in to it a bit. It covers the 3 areas that are CRITICAL to getting good results with weights:

1. Intensity - you must lift a weight until you reach muscular failure. It is specifically reaching the point of failure which causes a biological response from your nervous system to create muscle.
2. Brevity - Unlike aerobics, MORE IS NOT BETTER with weight lifting. In fact, once you hit failure on an exercise, stop doing it. And don't do it again until your next workout. Once you have stimulated growth, there is no reason to work the muscle again until your next workout.
3. Infrequent - doing an exercise to the point of failure is VERY HARD on your body, and it takes a lot of time for your body to recover. There are 2 stages to recovery that everyone (without exception) will go through - 1st, there is repair. During the repair process you will generally be sore. For most people this will take 1 to 3 days to complete. When you are no longer sore, that means that you are fully "repaired". The 2nd stage is growth, and it takes just as long to complete as the repair phase. So, if you are sore for 2 days, then your growth process will take an additional 2 days. DO NOT WORK OUT WITH WEIGHTS AGAIN UNTIL THIS ENTIRE PROCESS IS COMPLETED. Some people will say 'yeah, but I worked out my chest yesterday, surely I can work out my legs today, since they are different muscle groups. THIS IS FALSE AND SPURIOUS LOGIC. The repair and recovery process is systemic, not localized. Your body has very limited resources to do the repair and growth process. If you work out again REGARDLESS OF THE MUSCLE GROUP, you will short circuit this process and you WILL NOT GROW, or at least not grow as much as you might have.

Besides, this way you spend less time in the gym for better results. And who doesn't like that idea

 

[NiceCans]

Thanks for the info Tyson, what you say makes sense but I have a question.
As a woman I do not desire to add bulk, I want to be leaner, healthier, trimmer, NOT muscular.

I want my 22 year old bikini body back

So, can your methodology be applied without adding too much muscle, yet still reducing and toning?

 

[mulveling]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiceCans Bicycling and walking have helped, especially since women tend to gain in the thighs and bottom so that is the area I am targeting, and bicycling does help tone these areas. (Glad I am not a guy, they gain in the belly and I hate sit-ups but enjoy bicycling and walking.)

This is a myth - you can't target specific areas of the body for weight loss. Doing sit ups will not cause one to lose fat in the belly; it will only (potentially) stimulate abdominal muscle growth - which would in fact increase mass in the belly and could result in "muscle gut" (ew).

Weight loss happens via the calorie deficit method, and it's your genetics and body composition that dictate where the weight comes off first.

In order to look fit, I agree with Tyson's philosophy.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiceCans I want my 22 year old bikini body back

When I was 22 I was a great believer in the **** like a bunny tecnique.......... that sure does keep you in shape and happy

Pinkie.

 

[mulveling]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiceCans Thanks for the info Tyson, what you say makes sense but I have a question. As a woman I do not desire to add bulk, I want to be leaner, healthier, trimmer, NOT muscular. I want my 22 year old bikini body back So, can your methodology be applied without adding too much muscle, yet still reducing and toning?

Getting bulky - this is a common but unfounded fear many women have. You have to have some muscle mass to look toned (good). Genetically, it's almost impossible for women to naturally (ie: without steroid use) gain enough muscle mass to even approach bulkiness. Working out with weights will raise your metabolism to burn off fat, and at the most you will show moderate amounts of muscle tone (after a LOT of serious weight training).

It is an equally good method for men and women. BTW, even many men have a hard time getting bulky with weight training - and even men can prevent from getting bulky by limiting caloric intake, which would favor burning fat over building muscle.

 

[S_Dedalus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulveling Getting bulky - this is a common but unfounded fear many women have. You have to have some muscle mass to look toned (good). Genetically, it's almost impossible for women to naturally (ie: without steroid use) gain enough muscle mass to even approach bulkiness. Working out with weights will raise your metabolism to burn off fat, and at the most you will show moderate amounts of muscle tone (after a LOT of serious weight training). It is an equally good method for men and women. BTW, even many men have a hard time getting bulky with weight training - and even men can prevent from getting bulky by limiting caloric intake, which would favor burning fat over building muscle.

I don't excercise nearly enough, but I'm still pretty bulky. Its definitely all down to genetics.

 

[kramer5150]

First off = exercize regularly. Volleyball leagues 2 nights a week and mountain biking were my thing before I had kids. Havent ridden my bike in ~3 years

But Im still in volleyball leagues and Ive replaced mountain biking with a stair climber 2-3 times a week.

Watch what you eat, especially late at night. My rule = after ~8 PM .... its all green. Sometimes, late night I NEED some carbs. My blood sugar drops and I get sweaty and my hands start to shake. If I do consume carbs late, its complex carbs or whole grains... in moderation of course, with the green stuff.

NEVER go grocery shopping hungry. Thats the killer.... its sooo easy to give into temptation on an empty stomach, before you know it youre staring at a box of twinkies at 1:AM

I also take vitamin supplements regularly. Those 1- a day for men horse pills.

Garrett

 

[Tyson]

NiceCans (nice nick, btw),

The VAST majority of women simply do not have the ability to get bulky. They lack enough testoserone and HGH to get bulky. The women you see getting "big" and ripped up, are all taking scary high levels of steroids, synthetic HGH, and probably testoserone as well. Lifting weights will NOT make you look like these women. In fact, by losing fat and lifting weights, you will end up most likely with a dancer's type of body (think Jennifer Garner from Alias). Now, I don't know many women that wouldn't love to look like her

For the vast, vast, vast majority of women, strength training will make them look toned, not bulky.

One thing to note! Women, unlike men, only store fat on top of their muscles (men store it on top of them as well as inside of their muscles). Which means you must lose fat AND gain muscle to ever look toned. If you only lose fat, you end up looking emaciated (ala Kate Moss). But, if you gain a bit of muscle without concurrently losing fat, then your new muscle will "push up" the fat and make you look bigger. So you gotta do both the fat loss and the strength training together in order to end up with the nicely toned look.

A last addenum. I can get away with 1700 calories a day and lose fat because the daily caloric intake needs for a male is on average about 2300-2500 (for someone with moderate activity). For women, they have an average daily caloric need of around 1800, so your daily caloric intake should be around 1300. Still very do-able. The most important thing is consistency over time. You will only lose a pound or 2 a week, but it will be pure fat that you lose, and you'll start looking really good after about 2 or 3 months (depending on how much you need to lose).

 

[pne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiceCans Thanks for the info Tyson, what you say makes sense but I have a question. As a woman I do not desire to add bulk, I want to be leaner, healthier, trimmer, NOT muscular. I want my 22 year old bikini body back So, can your methodology be applied without adding too much muscle, yet still reducing and toning?

when I ask my girl friends why they are lifting extremely light weights in the gym, such as 3lb bicep curls, they all reply they want to tone and not get bulky. The word tone is really getting rediculous, lifting incredibly small weights isn't going to tone you at all. For the muscle to grow you have to work it, you have to feel it, and you have to sweat, light weights are a waste of time. As mentioned above, if you are a woman and you go into the gym training like a man, lifting to your peaks and using heavy weight, you will definately "tone", but you won't get bulky. If all that was needed to rack up huge biceps was one carelessly mistaken lift of a heavy weight, I'm sure every male who ever went to the gym would be huge. I personally am 18, still in that puberty/testosterone stage, and working my ass off trying to bulk up. It doesn't happen overnight. Don't worry unless you are spending night after night in the gym maxing out, coming home and sucking down protein shakes. You will NOT bulk up.

 

[bigears]

Those pics are from the sites of one of the authors.

From men and women that gave testemonials
of the good results they had folowing that technique:

http://www.seriousstrength.com/testimonials.html