[mulveling]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quado I was always skinny, and am slowly gaining more weight. My recommendation is to not exercise--since you are already strong--but to keep yourself busy with a hobby (to tell the truth, I was always skinny because I played video games a lot and was so into it, that I didn't even THINK of eating). All I would eat was the foods that were full of calories (junk food/drinks)... I didn't like to eat lots of meaty or fatty foods along time ago; but of course, that's why we have a libido to usually solve this problem if you're skinny. Calories is just energy, and should not really make you fat (in my opinion), so I recommend to stop eating really meaty/oily/milky/fatty substances (believe it or not, sugary/unhealthy things don't really make you very fat; because usually they only have few calories and contain little fat, but still give you a nice amount of energy + physically, most junk food is very small compared to regular food...). Exercising will just confuse you into eating more food than usual to make up for the calories lost--however, this food will most likely be meaty/oily/milky/fatty, for obvious reasons (hint hint, don't excercise too much or you'll just build up more muscle and fat)... But definately--to me--the absolute fastest way to lose weight (specifically fat), is to not eat at all (compensate for drinking lots of things with calories; fix the eating habit by eating only PHYSICALLY SMALL things). Yes, I'm crazy and a little biased, but this is from MY experience in actually being a skinny person, lol (whether I'm wrong or right, you have nothing to gain from my advice, lol).

Dude, that is some seriously bad advice, LOL. Being skinny doesn't mean you've got good body composition. In fact many skinny people have high body fat % because they don't have any muscle. Sugary junk food is empty calories. Excess calories WILL be converted into fat by the body. Skipping meals will shut down your metabolism and eat muscle tissue. Less muscle, more fat => crappy body.

Yes, the only sure fire way to do good for your body is the cardio + weights + healthy diet (as Teerawit pointed out). Make sure you get plenty of protein. The hard part for me has always been cardio because it can get boring. It's important to find an activity you like to do. I've started competitive swimming again after an 8 year hiatus, and the results after 3 months are very good. I've lost noticeable amounts of fat and am in much better shape. Swimming is a great excercise for fitness AND weight loss, I know some experts claim it isn't as good as running/etc. in that respect but I wonder how they came to that conclusion - many people don't swim intensely or long enough. If you can swim intensely for 3K-4K yards every other day, that WILL have a dramatic effect on your body.

 

[Quado]

Yes, but I never GOT excess calories (that's why I never got fat; many days I would barely eat ANYTHING. Also, compare eating a piece of candy to a bowl of cereal, or a sandwich--there's a reason skinny people like me ate such things as junk food--because there's no big stuff to transfer to your body as calories/fat/etc.; that just feels weird for us skinny people, to feel the large amounts of food inside your small body). I was so skinny, you could see my whole d*** rib cage! BUT, I'm miraculously fit though; I actually exercised a WHOLE lot more than the rest of my family (I even used to carry a backpack that was around 30 pounds to each class!)--even exercising to the point of after-pain that would last for about a week in that certain area (no sweating, no weakness; only since teens would I sweat, and only really in the armpits--actually scared me, the first sweat drops! Like someone was touching me! Actually, only since teens that I actually had fat on my a**! LOL!!). I already have a slightly larger than normal chest (for my size/etc., probably), which makes me feel uncomfortable, so I hunch a bit (sometimes I can see my abs at an angle/flex; when I flex them, they get harder than I'd expect.) As you can see, I have some problems, lol. Oh, and last I remember, just like a year ago, my body fat was around 12 whatever...just some number around 15 (probably below).

 

[markot86]

The number 1 rule to losing weight is:

Don't pick a plan that is too hard to stick to for long periods of time.

Eating 1500 calories and working out all day will make you lose insane amounts of weight, but it does you no good if you can't stick to the plan. The key to losing weight is to do it slowly; remember that. Losing 30 pounds over the course of the year is WAY better than losing 30 pounds in 2 weeks and then gaining it again over the course of a year.

 

[overlunge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quado Yes, but I never GOT excess calories (that's why I never got fat; many days I would barely eat ANYTHING. Also, compare eating a piece of candy to a bowl of cereal, or a sandwich--there's a reason skinny people like me ate such things as junk food--because there's no big stuff to transfer to your body as calories/fat/etc.; that just feels weird for us skinny people, to feel the large amounts of food inside your small body). I was so skinny, you could see my whole d*** rib cage! BUT, I'm miraculously fit though; I actually exercised a WHOLE lot more than the rest of my family (I even used to carry a backpack that was around 30 pounds to each class!)--even exercising to the point of after-pain that would last for about a week in that certain area (no sweating, no weakness; only since teens would I sweat, and only really in the armpits--actually scared me, the first sweat drops! Like someone was touching me! Actually, only since teens that I actually had fat on my a**! LOL!!). I already have a slightly larger than normal chest (for my size/etc., probably), which makes me feel uncomfortable, so I hunch a bit (sometimes I can see my abs at an angle/flex; when I flex them, they get harder than I'd expect.) As you can see, I have some problems, lol. Oh, and last I remember, just like a year ago, my body fat was around 12 whatever...just some number around 15 (probably below).

Go and get you cholestral checked, mate... Being fit, and skinny doesn't mean your arteries aren't clogging up like the rest of us. Any family history of cardiovascular, metabolic disease? If yes, you should be 'extra' careful of what you put in your mouth. If no, good for your gene, but you definetly don't want to be the first person in your family to start the history, so to speak.

Some elite athlete drops dead on field, does that mean they aren't fit? No. Doest that mean they aren't skinny enough? No.

Sore joints from after exercises? Maybe it's your body tells you to get some rest, which is as important as exercise/training. Or maybe it could be early signs of gout, again, get your uric acid level check in your blood... while you getting your cholestral checked.

You would be surprised how slowly you are killing yourself.

Overlunge

 

[Blitzula]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRESCENDOPOWER Monday/Wednesday/Friday Resistance training 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps on all body parts except abs, and calves which should be 3 sets of 20, or more reps. Tuesday/Thursday/ Saturday/Sunday Aerobic conditioning AT LEAST 30 minutes continuous, start out slow then pick up the pace. Doing some quick stretching after your muscles are warmed up also is a smart idea. Eliminate fast food, Pop, and excessive carbohydrates. Eat more vegetables, and lean meat. Keep your caloric intake below 1500 calories until you look the way you want. Drink lots of water, and get 8 hours of sleep a night. Don't eat food 4 hours before you go to bed. After you have achieved your goals don’t forget to treat yourself to a nice meal once a week. If you stick to this program your body will burn like a furnace, and the fat will disappear. Good luck!

That's all great advise except the below 1,500 calories part. Do NOT go that low without a doctor's involvement. That's horrible advise normally, but particularly for someone who weighs 240 lbs.

How many calories you consume depends on your weight and metabolism. You're at my weight....2,500 calories or so would get you 1-2 lbs a week, which is what you should shoot for. Any faster and you'll sacrifice muscle mass. Adjust the calories up or down based on your weight loss.

Definitely keep an eye on your muscle tone as a guide to whether you're losing too fast. And remember that if you only lose 10 lbs but your muscle tone goes up, that's a good thing. Body fat composition is more important than weight.

 

[Teerawit]

ok...THIS ISN'T A WEIGHT LOSS THREAD last time I checked, lol...the OP wanted to lose fat weight and replace it with protein/muscle weight...that requires the proper eating and exercising regimes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quado My recommendation is to not exercise--since you are already strong--but to keep yourself busy with a hobby (to tell the truth, I was always skinny because I played video games a lot and was so into it, that I didn't even THINK of eating).

How are you going to build muscle without exercising?

Quote:

All I would eat was the foods that were full of calories (junk food/drinks)... I didn't like to eat lots of meaty or fatty foods along time ago; but of course, that's why we have a libido to usually solve this problem if you're skinny. Calories is just energy, and should not really make you fat (in my opinion), so I recommend to stop eating really meaty/oily/milky/fatty substances (believe it or not, sugary/unhealthy things don't really make you very fat; because usually they only have few calories and contain little fat, but still give you a nice amount of energy + physically, most junk food is very small compared to regular food...).

Sugar = instant energy. It's the fastest thing your body can metabolize for energy. What's a sugar rush? It's the way your body responds to a surge of energy. Why do athletes drink Gatorade? For instant energy to their muscles. Having an abudance of energy at any given time means that your body cannot make use of all that energy. So what does your body do? It stores it as glycogen and fat. Eating lots of junk food will mean your diet is malnutritioned, as well.

Quote:

Exercising will just confuse you into eating more food than usual to make up for the calories lost--however, this food will most likely be meaty/oily/milky/fatty, for obvious reasons (hint hint, don't excercise too much or you'll just build up more muscle and fat)...

Again, the OP wanted to build muscle to replace fat loss. Muscle-building is very energy-consuming, but you do not want to go about this by eating loads of instant-energy sugar. You need slow-digesting foods, such as lean protein, fiber-rich foods, and unsaturated fats. Eaten properly, this will aid in fat loss as well.

Quote:

But definately--to me--the absolute fastest way to lose weight (specifically fat), is to not eat at all (compensate for drinking lots of things with calories; fix the eating habit by eating only PHYSICALLY SMALL things). Yes, I'm crazy and a little biased, but this is from MY experience in actually being a skinny person, lol (whether I'm wrong or right, you have nothing to gain from my advice, lol).

The OP actually wants to have muscle on his bones, lol.

 

[Quado]

No, no joint pain: really only ab pain; just some sore muscles I guess (something like that, lol I'm not KILLING myself...I think). And about the muscles, it's not like the guy's muscles are just going to get much "worse". He said he's already fit...I don't exercise anymore, and my muscles do not seem to change, at least from the outside--still look the same size; probably getting healthier now that I consume WAY, WAY more food than I used to... (more vitamins, minerals, whatever the h** all that stuff is). Oh, and what do you expect from an idiot like me?! lol (I'm skinny...hhmmm, yeah I guess I'm just going to have a VAST knowledge about stuff like this! heh heh..).

Edit: Oh, yeah! I'm not going to have any kids! *shudders from the thought* I don't want to see/be reminded of the suffering from the pain of life that every kid has to go through... Edit 2: But overall, you don't have to take large amounts of sugary things (besides, what gives you more energy? A bottle of gatorade that can just be SIPPED from time to time...or something like a burrito? Little pieces of the food pyramid can be consumed instead of just junk food...since you all want to be "healthy")

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CookieFactory Under 1500 calories a day WITH all that activity? Maybe if you're a 5'5 girl. At your body height/weight that's a sure fire way to go into starvation mode. Aim for net 1800 calories a day instead.

Yes, that quick trip to the vending machine for a pack of Twizzlers licorice will make a night, and day difference whether an individual is getting enough calories.

Quote:

CRESCENDOPOWER (organ reference?), when I was on a diet before the holidays, I lost 30 pounds eating 2800 calories a day with little exercise. Then again, I'm 6' 1.5", 295 pounds and big basically everywhere. But you're telling me I should exercise like a madman and eat 1500 a day? That's less than a small girl on a diet would eat. You'd run out of energy to work out, period. And you'll feel like total crap since you're not eating enough and your metabolism has shut down, like Teerawit suggested.

This is hardly a workout that is difficult at all. The repetitions are fairly high which will make the need for higher amounts of protein, and recuperation time minimal. You can ask any doctor, nutritionist, or fitness trainer for advise on fitness training, and diet, and you will get so many differing opinions it is not even funny. Using small food portions, a 1500 a day caloric intake with healthy food will not lead to starvation. The individual will lose weight, see immediate results, and it could become a lifestyle for them.
Keep in mind that a cold cut combo salad from subway, and light Italian dressing (which is very large I might add) is just over 300 calories.

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quado And about the muscles, it's not like the guy's muscles are just going to get much "worse". He said he's already fit...I don't exercise anymore, and my muscles do not seem to change, at least from the outside--still look the same size; probably getting healthier now that I consume WAY, WAY more food than I used to...

The OP wanted to build and tone muscle...just because you think he has enough muscle doesn't mean he thinks it's enough

To maintain muscle tone, exercise is imperative. I know this from personal experience.

I also have the skinny body type so I'm speaking from experience when I say that diet and exercise must be done right...

 

[Quado]

Yeah, but you know what? Sometimes, we can all just do what we need to do at one time (follow my advice), then do the right (healthy) thing later. If the guy follows my advice, it's not like he's going to die or lose his entire health...he can just lose weight my way, than regain his "health" later on (and if done right, he can slowly build his muscles and be skinnier AND "healthy" at one time or another...were all rushing him to be healthy, but d***, I really think he just wants to burn the fat NOW...regardless of whether he's "healthy").

Edit: On a more useful note--from my experience--hot foods make me want to drink cold drinks (lots of drink), while dry foods make me make me feel like I could use either no drink or drink something like water (regardless of temp.). So maybe you could save your stomach from excess drinks...?

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quado Yeah, but you know what? Sometimes, we can all just do what we need to do at one time (follow my advice), then do the right (healthy) thing later. If the guy follows my advice, it's not like he's going to die or lose his entire health...he can just lose weight my way, than regain his "health" later on (and if done right, he can slowly build his muscles and be skinnier AND "healthy" at one time or another...were all rushing him to be healthy, but d***, I really think he just wants to burn the fat NOW...regardless of whether he's "healthy").

One slip can be damaging. For example, eating one steak will definitely affect your arteries. Just because you can't see/feel immediate effects doesn't mean they don't happen.

Building muscle takes alot more time than shedding fat. I think it's more feasible for the OP to burn fat while simultaneously building muscle than losing fat then building muscle.

 

[overlunge]

Quado, no offense, but I hope you don't ever become a health professional. Your comment is along the line of: 'Let's poison this guy and see if he dies, and if he tries to, we just give him antidote'.

Sure, that's the radical philosophy in pioneering interventions, but in everyday situation, irresponsible comments like yours is...

Overlunge

 

[jbloudg20]

Well, I appreciate all the replies. I plan on not cutting down the amount of food I eat (except for my times going out to dinner

), but improving the quality of the food. I notice that while I am at school, I usually eat healthy food (except for too many french fries) and doing that alone last semester I lost 15 pounds over the course of 4 months. Last summer I was hitting 253ish, now I weigh in at 237-240. This semester I plan on adding workouts to the mix. The tentative plan is:

Mon/Wed/Fri: approx. 30 min of cardiovascular, whether it be cycling, running, swimming... whatever I feel like (probably running most of the time). I'll increase the time as I get more fit. Followed by a good stretching routine.

Tues/Thurs/Sat: Resistance training. I have yet to finalize a schedule for this.

The haredest part for me, is not seeing results. It takes time to see something happen, and I usually lose interest after a few weeks, and seeing barely any difference. This was the onle rreason I was looking at the Thermogenics, hoping to see some early results, which would keep me motivated. It seems you are all against it, so I do not think I am going that route, but I am still researching it.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[CookieFactory]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRESCENDOPOWER Yes, that quick trip to the vending machine for a pack of Twizzlers licorice will make a night, and day difference whether an individual is getting enough calories. This is hardly a workout that is difficult at all. The repetitions are fairly high which will make the need for higher amounts of protein, and recuperation time minimal. You can ask any doctor, nutritionist, or fitness trainer for advise on fitness training, and diet, and you will get so many differing opinions it is not even funny. Using small food portions, a 1500 a day caloric intake with healthy food will not lead to starvation. The individual will lose weight, see immediate results, and it could become a lifestyle for them. Keep in mind that a cold cut combo salad from subway, and light Italian dressing (which is very large I might add) is just over 300 calories.

Do some research, specifically look up what starvation mode means.

 

[Blitzula]

I'd like to again mention that anyone considering-as a male- to go on a 1,500 or less calorie a day diet should talk to their physician first.