It's that time of year again...

[Kifle]

Yup, my diet time! For some reason, around the same time every year, I get pissed at my man-tits and potbelly. Last time, I was able to stay on my diet from around this time of the year until thanksgiving (damn that holiday). I lost roughly 3lbs a week (which I'm completely satisfied with), but there was a problem and I don't want it happening again.

See, the problem was, while I was eating healthier, and I was losing weight, it seemed to be muscle instead of fat being lost. I didn't notice any triming effects (weighing 155, you'd think 15lbs would show something, right?). At the time I was on a diet of salads, turkey sandwiches, multi-vitamin, fruit, juice, water. I suck myself at around 1k-1.5k calories a day. I at 5x a day every three hours... 3 meals, 2 snakcs (salad/fruit). I didn't excersize much, so I'm thinking that was the problem. Also, i completely cut out soda.

This time, I'd like to see more of a triming effect instead of just raw weight loss. I'm planning on going back to the gym (as soon as my friend agrees to go with me and let me use her schools gym -- mine's 45 mins away). I've also switched out from lettuce salads to baby spinich salads. What should I do to trim up the torso specifically, for those of you who are good with diets.

Basically, from what I've gathered, eating more times a day in smaller portions helps the metabolism keep going instead of getting tricked into storing the calories. So, it's 5x a day rather than 3. Also, eating pretty much as soon as you wake up kickstarts the metabolism so it works sooner in the day than later (I usually don't eat for the first 4hrs of the day). Keeping hydrated is also key I heared as well... but I'm really only trying to lose the fat on the two areas and tone up a bit, so... what would be a good excersize regimen to stick to along with going on this horrible diet again?

Gracias.

[avak]

More protein. Imperative to work out (at least some) or you will always lose muscle! But I am not a lawyer or a personal trainer.

[Shar]

If you can afford it, pilates (with a trainer) for overall tone and strength/endurance followed by weight training. You'll see a difference within just days and you'll feel it immediately. You'll begin to be very flexible (if you weren't already) and you'll have tons of energy.

Good luck on your work out goals. It is hard to do, but you can do it! :)

[Shar]

Oh, it also trims off those really really hard to reach areas. Keeps it tight or makes it tight! :)

[bawog]

I've always found that running has worked to keep my body taught since I dropped over 50 lbs. Also if you dislike running, go for swimming, its a great workout for your body and heart. If your just trying to lose weight I'd suggest running/swimming/pilates. Also I've found that taking Yoga/Kickboxing has helped out alot in trimming up the excess fatty cells. However thats just my 2 cents, might send a new picture to Maxler now that I'm happy with my appearance, but have to wait until the bruises etc. heal.

[Botef]

A good stomach flu does wonders when you don't have an appetite.

I 2nd running, its one of the few things I've found that actually gets rid of excess rather than just dropping weight.

I've heard about this pilates bit alot but I couldn't tell you what that is. I've always visualized it as Billy Blanks in a tutu doing a modernized version of sit to be fit.

[alendar]

I've always found that running has worked to keep my body taught since I dropped over 50 lbs. Also if you dislike running, go for swimming, its a great workout for your body and heart. If your just trying to lose weight I'd suggest running/swimming/pilates. Also I've found that taking Yoga/Kickboxing has helped out alot in trimming up the excess fatty cells. However thats just my 2 cents, might send a new picture to Maxler now that I'm happy with my appearance, but have to wait until the bruises etc. heal.

you only run cause apparently you cant drive.....

the tires go down, roof goes up... not the reverse...
you drive on the road... not in the ditch...

[Kifle]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. About the protien... isn't the turkey/spinich enough protien? Pilates, wtf are they and why are thy so much better than conventional non-weight training excersizes like situps/pushups/running?

Again, thanks guys. I could use all the help I can get. I'd like to do it right this time instead of just punishing myself for another 3 months.

[avak]

I've been told 20-30% protein and you might be near that. More importantly, by not increasing your level of physical exertion you are essentially starving yourself, inadvertently causing (some) fat storage and protein loss. Did your energy levels drop during the diet? As for the exact physical regimen, some resistance training (weights) would be smart, but any cardio is pretty critical...and usually people recommend whatever is the most enjoyable...so like 'adult' endurance training with a partner five times a day?

[Yayaril]

8)

Aren't halflings supposed to be fat?

[Shar]

Info on Pilates :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilates

Basically pilates is kindof a blend of the "mind over matter" mentality and actual physical work. Calisthenics meets structured stretching. It can be life changing for more than just its benefits relating to exercise.

[Kifle]

8)

Aren't halflings supposed to be fat?

Lol, and here I thought you fell off the face of the earth and died!

Anyway, Yeah, as soon as I find either my gym key to the apt complex here, or convince a friend of mine to let me use hers at her school, I'm thinking I'm going to just be able to do the ol' run around the complex a few times and do pushups/situps for a while.

Also, yeah, last time I didn't really feel an increase in energy at all. When I was working out I did; however, I was on a diet of high protien (tuna,peanut butter, spinich, red meat)... it's pretty much all I ate. And, while I saw a huge increase in strength/endurance over that period of about 6 months, I didn't notice anything else (muscle mass/fat loss). So, I'm thinking I need to find a happy medium between an intense protien diet and a fruit/vegy diet. I might go with tuna 3xweek, turkey 2xday, salad 2x day, and possibly a home cooked hamburger once a week or so... throw in mixed vegies and fruits in between. That sound like a proper diet?

[Llaaldara]

so... what would be a good excersize regimen to stick to along with going on this horrible diet again?

There's this guy I know at my job, and he's lost 45 lbs since April and just keeps getting skinnier and skinnier. I asked him what he does, his response was:

"A normal man has a 2,000 calorie a day requirement, and women are like 1,200. So I'm going with a 1,000 calorie day diet. I run for 45 mins every day, usually in the morning first thing, and then do 50-100 (depending on how tired I am) crunches a day - usually in the evening. In the morning I have a granola bar and a low fat yogurt."

He eats only very small things the rest of the day, and for dinner eats fruit or vegies. Stays away from pasta as well.


I used to be on a diet like this before, almost identical to it, and I too lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time, but.. honestly.. it's hard to do that.. you'll be so tempted to eat other things and to splurge. I think he's trying to get down to a 28 inch waist or something. I think that's way too slim, he'll be a twig! He's kinda tall too. Until the pulled muscles in my knee are fully healed, running is off for me, so I had to go back to other methods. But I've started eating jasmine rice again as often as possible, and I'm already loosing weight.

Seriously, get a big bag of it, and a rice cooker, and goto town. The imported Jasmine rice is yummy and has like nothing in it! 25 lb bag for like 12 bucks lasts forever! :) I learned a long time ago that you can just put any simple old can of soup right on it, and the lower the cals/fat in the soup the better, cuz soup is just mainly water anyways.

Half a can of soup, and a big bowl of rice, and you'll be really full of nothing. Works great! :)

G'luck Kif!

[Sarvis]

Wow... both of those diets sound so very, very unhealthy. Well, I don't know how good jasmine rice is I guess...

I'm trying to lose weight again, the basic plan is no more soda and to cook various rice/vegetable dishes for dinner or just have sandwiches. Just rice never fills me up, and adding fresh vegetables should help actually keep me healthy... in theory at least. ;)


I'd like to announce my amazing results, but I haven't quite broke myself of the Mighty Taco lunch habit yet, let alone gotten myself to excercise regularly... I've still lost around 10lbs in the last 2 months though.

[Shar]

I too have used the jasmine rice diet. This was.... not healthy by any stretch of the imagination, but I was very, very thin. My advice is to not do it. It is just filler, like eating rice krispies w/o th milk. Your body dosen't need it or use it in any function, minus the carb calories that don't get used right away. Guess what those get stored as!

Anyway, just chiming in again to say I'm not a fan of the rice diet. It totally totally screwed up my metabolism.

Eat more, move more. Eat healthy, be healthy. Kindof a DUH statement. :)

[Tasan]

Kifle's a dude?


Anyhow... weight training is great and all, but muscle lies underneath fat, so without cardio you're never going to see the muscle.

I could talk about my 5 years of XC running and what happened to my body during the season, but I'm sure you can figure out the in-between.

Start of season: August 18thish 165lbs
End of season November 4thish 125ish lbs

During the season we went from about 60 miles a week to 105 a week before sections, then cut back to save energy and wear and tear to 85 for the final 3 weeks or so.

I think the biggest things about running are:

Make sure you have good shoes; shoes should last about 500 miles.

Change your route or your routine; mixing up your running much like your lifting fools your body and forces it to adapt. If you run 5 miles at an even pace one day, run 4 miles the next day and vary the pace for each mile you run.

Don't eat directly after or before you run, but drink plenty of water.

Stretch! If you don't learn to stretch before you are active you are far more likely to get injured. Stretching also helps after your activity to stretch out the muscles tissue which becomes more compact as it builds. I also used to run barefoot(in the grass, not on the street!) over about 100 yards, slowly coming to speed during the first half and then after peaking at 50 yards slowing back. This helps stretch out the tendons around the ankle and foot arch.

You can buy wax cups(think 8 oz size) and fill them with water and freeze them for after workouts. Peel a section of the top off the ice and use it to ice down the muscles in your legs. Lying with your legs extended up a wall also will help drain lactic acid from your muscles and reduce the feeling of fatigue.

These are all things I learned from years of training and probably should relearn, but I'm sooo lazy :)

[Iduna]

http://www.drsears.com as well as http://www.zoneliving.com/

I printed the following out and hung it on my Fridge..It helps me while preparing meals..and yeah sometimes I just have pizza!

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.
The Zone 1-2-3 Method makes it simple to determine the fat, protein and carbohydrate content of every meal and snack. For every gram of fat you consume you need to eat twice as many grams of protein and 3 times that amount in grams of carbohydrates.



Meals for Females
At each meal consume approximately:
10 grams of fat
20 grams of protein (2x the fat grams)
30 grams of carbohydrate (3x the fat grams)

Meals for Males
At each meal consume approximately:
15 grams of fat
30 grams of protein (2x the fat grams)
45 grams of carbohydrate (3x the fat grams)

Snacks for Females and Males
At each snack consume approximately:
3 grams of fat
6 grams of protein (2x the fat grams)
9 grams of carbohydrate (3x the fat grams)

The 1-2-3 method is an easy way to make sure you get the right balance of fat, protein and carbohydrates to “turn onâ€

[Kifle]

Hey tasan, ok... um, I could probalby not even run a mile right now. I'm a smoker and very out of shape (not that fat, but out of shape) I'm around 155lbs 5'9", so, weight wise, I'm ok, but I'd like to be around 165 with less fat. So, the question is, what is the best way to start running to get in shape? What should my target time for the mile be and how long should I run? Is it best to set a jogging pace right off the bat or walking? Would sprinting any of this help out any. Also, would real running or treadmill running be best?

I've always wanted to get in shape by running, but I honestly never saw results. For a while when I was in my last workout phase, I could run the mile in around 8mins (yeah, I was that bad still), and I hardly saw improvement over a two month period. I didn't get cramps or get out of breath, but my legs would just kill like a son of a bitch.

Duna, that diet looks more like a weight training diet than a fat loss diet. I'm really not prepared to add that much fat to my diet right now. The protien is good, but I'm cutting out as many fat grams as possible and trying to replace them with protien and water.

Shar, I'd love to check this pilates shit out, but I'd feel like a nancy fag sitting in a tree pose for 10 minutes. I'd feel too much like an 80's post pregnancy mom watching aerobics on the tv :( Do you think squat thrusts would do my body just as much good as pilates? Now, don't get me wrong, the stuff looks very attractive for what I'm wanting, but I don't think I could get past the stigma that those workouts have around them :(

As far as the rice diet. I tried the starvation shit already and all it did was made me weaker and have less energy. I lost, again, around 3lbs a week, and I was miserable. My face lost more weight than my gut did and I started to look and feel sickly. Never again will I do that. I'm making sure to eat red meat this time and having nice balanced food consumption throughout the day.

Thanks all for the help. Lot of nice suggestions even if I don't use them. It still helps me know what's out there and compare what I'm doing to those plans. It seems with my up in protien and cutting the fat/sugar out of the diet, I should see slower results but with less damage done to my body over all. I'm sure if I started the excersize program and did it right this time, I will probably be happy in 3-6 months.

Again, thanks and keep'em coming. Also, if anybody wants to be a diet buddy and turn it into a sick competition, I'm sure that'd help me out a bit :)

[bawog]

Kifle, start out with small steps into getting to that mile marker. Start it out at lets say 1/10 of a mile round trip, do 1/2 running 1/2 walking. Its how I got my endurance up slowly, don't shock your system with jumping into a full regiment of 1 mile etc. You do that your body will be so sore it won't even be funny. As you gain the confidence in the smaller distances go that extra 1/10 mile or so, and before you know it you will be over a mile, 2 miles and so on. In terms of a diet, I'd reccomend trying a high protein/low carb diet to help bulk on the muscle accompanied with a rigerous workout. Make sure to space the workouts to every other day, and you will see results within a few weeks. Also another thing that will help with physical endurance, swimming, holding yer breath and swim underwater as far as you can, and rinse repeat etc. I can buddy up with you cause I still want to lose an additional 10 lbs then bulk up with muscle, had alot of fatty tissue that almost gone.

[Dalar]

A little off-topic, but I'm kind of going through the same thing Kifle. I'm 6'0 and was about 210 2 weeks ago, 203 now I think. I tried to start going to the gym for years. I've never been fat, just slightly overweight. I just recently started going to the gym and have gone somewhere around 6 times a week. What finally got me going was some stupid digg article about Jerry Seinfeld's way of doing random shit. He has a calendar where he puts red X's over days he does something. Once you see alot of X's you want to keep it going to not break the combo. I do the counting in my head and the only days I've really missed are Saturday. That, my mom telling me she's seen overweight people not get promoted as much, and this new chick I'm seeing are other factors as well!

[Oghma]

Something I'd like to start doing, and that a girlfriend of mine does (and lost a ton of weight) is Rock Climbing. I'm not sure if there are any climbing gyms near you, but it is such an incredible workout for your body, it's crazy. It requires a partner for repelling, which is great for motivation, competition, and socialization.

As for competition, I'll totally take you on Kifle...except I won't be losing weight...

[sotana]

I started jogging at the beginning of 2007. Honestly, I don't love jogging but it is such an efficient exercise, I couldn't resist. Would you believe I work in a fitness center? Hey, I'm only the receptionist but I directly face the treadmills and ellipticals aaaaall day. Amazing what watching all those folks working so hard can do for your motivation!

When I started getting my butt moving, I took advantage of the fitness center trainers' expertise to maximize my dreaded jogging time :-P Two big things they taught me:

1. interval training - there's lots of articles out there about interval training but here's a couple of basic ones -
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/interv ... ng/SM00110
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/tips ... ervals.htm
Interval training has several benefits but one of the big ones for me was that it changes the way your body processes your exertion so you actually got more out of your workout than the usual straight calculations of caloric energy expended. I'm all for even more efficient use of my exercise time! At this point, I vary my intervals (just to keep myself from being bored) but usually do 1 min of really intense running with 30 sec - 1 min of fast walking. That being said, I know runners who hate interval training because they never reach that runner's high. Having never experienced the runner's high, I don't know what I'm missing so I'll keep on with interval training :-P

2. perceived rate of exertion (RPE) - more than specific distance or speed, you're gonna want to pace yourself based on your perceived rate of exertion. There's a few different scales referenced by various exercise plans but here's a fairly common one:
The Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)
RPE 1-2 Very easy; you can converse with no effort.
RPE 3 Easy; you can converse with almost no effort.
RPE 4 Moderately easy; you can converse comfortably with little effort.
RPE 5 Moderate; conversation requires some effort.
RPE 6 Moderately hard; conversation requires quite a bit of effort.
RPE 7 Difficult; conversation requires a lot of effort.
RPE 8 Very difficult; conversation requires maximum effort.
RPE 9-10 No-talking zone
If you're doing interval training, you usually want to vary between 4/5 and 7/8 with maybe some 9 thrown in for a very short distance.

As for treadmill vs. open road, it depends on what works for you. I have to jog on a treadmill. If the road weren't moving beneath my feet, I would talk myself into stopping much sooner :-P Sad, but true!

There are several really good sites that help you figure out how to best start jogging. Unfortunately, I don't have any of them on my home computer but something like http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml may be enough to give you some structure. Shape magazine (http://www.shape.com/index) is a great source for some good exercise information and they have a decent search engine to help you find what you specifically want (sure, you might have to stare at a boatload of ads for silly girly products in the side banner as you go but it shouldn't leave any lasting marks). Oh and for quick reference, Shape (June 2007 issue) has some plans for how to make the best cardio use of limited time, with some suggestions for 15 min, 30 min, 45 min, or an hour, depending on how long you have to workout. Good luck with your exercise plan, whatever you decide! :-)

[Ghimok]

From my understanding of approaching weight loss from a calorie counting perspective you don't want to cut your caloric intake by half. That's bad because it tricks your body into thinking its starving. Any time your body thinks it is starving it will slow your metabolism down, cause you to store any extra fat available, and also break down muscle tissue and convert it to energy.

Let's say for example the average guy requires a gross of 2,000 calories to maintain a consistant weight (realizing that it varies based on your current weight, age, and activity level). If you want to loose weight steadily without adding much extra excersise you'd want to take in approximately 1,600 to 1,800 calories (basically a 10-20% cut). This way your body won't think its being starved.

Now if you add in heavy cardiovascular activity you're not going to want to drop your 2,000 calorie a day diet down to a 1,600 calorie diet because your net carb intake may be more like 1,200 calories, thus causing your body to start conserving calories. If you're going to start doing heavy cardio keep this in mind.

Also, if you're going to do resistance or weight training you'll burn not only more calories, but also you'll need a higher protien intake. The upside of resistance or weight training is that when you build muscle, that muslce in turn requires more calories to function. In otherwords the more muscle you have the more calories you burn, and thus the more weight you can loose.

Now keep in mind that I'm not a personal trainer, dietician, body builder, or professional athlete, but for me taking my caloric intake from approximately 4,000 a day down to a around 3,000-3,400 calorie a day and doing pushups, situps, lunges, and weight training at home. I also mountain bike, hike, rock climb, and walk to the bathroom from my computer. Since January I went from 6'4" 230lbs to 6'4" 205lbs and am now going back up in weight, but adding muscle mass. I'm sitting at around 215 lbs now. I'm not washboard abs guy, but I don't want to be washboard abs guy with his shirt off all summer. My goal is to get up to around 240-250 lbs with all the gain coming from muscle mass, while still maintaining a lean fat layer.

[Kifle]

Sotana, I've heard of the interval training, and I thnk it sounds very good on paper, but, honestly, I'm too lazy to really do things like that at this point. Unless I have somebody like a trainer telling me "no, you shit, do it this way," I'm going to do it the regular run, walk when I get tired, run some more when my legs aren't jello... which, in actuallity, is a very flimsy interval training workout. I think after a month or two when I stop hating excersize so much, I'll start to do the more complicated things. I do appreciate the advice though, because I will definately use the more complicated shit down the road :)

Ghimok, about the tricking your body into starvation. Yeah, I heard that as well, and actually went through it last time I DIEted. I do not recomend it for anybody. I've been keeping my protien high and eating when I'm hungry still, but I've just been eating smaller portions and a lot more healthy things. I'm really trying to get healthy and not sickly this time around. And yeah, I also read about the muscles burning more calories which is why fit people can eat shitty food and still stay in shape with less effort than us chubby people. I think, at this point, even a regimine of pushups, squat thrusts, crunches, and running will add muscle to my body, so I'm going to leave weight training out for a month or so... maybe start doing curls because thos muscles don't get worked very often through those other excersizes.

Lazus, bawog, dartan... You guys have yourselves a bet. Some of us are farther along than others, but, fuck it. I hate losing, so this makes me work a bit harder. We'll go by a weekly weight-loss/gain depending on what we're individually shooting for. Also, I'd like to do waiste/arm circumference measurments as well. So, I'll leave the math to you guys... I didn't make it through calc two in college, so I don't wanna fuck it up.

Lastly, for those of you wanting some competition -- we should really think of a reward. As it is, I don't lose anything if I lose (even less so since I don't have to be around the winners gloating in my face daily), so, come up with somthing by monday that we can play for. We'll start on monday (since the week is almost over). I hate losing, so, you guys are pretty fucked.


P.S. I'll start a seperate thread Sunday night to track shit and keep this one up for more suggestions... I love me some suggestions.

[bawog]

Erm as much as I'd love to participate, I sadly can't until my ribs heal and the bruising of my body goes down. Heh I totaled my car on sunday and broke a few ribs etc. and well its kind of counter productive to me trying to lose/gain any weight atm. I can try, but the workouts that I can do are severly limited until I heal properly

[Yayaril]

8)

You can lose between 100-200 pounds nearly instantly by entering orbit.