Losing Weight

[Tyche]

Man, I'm a lazy slob compared to some of you. I'm not walking up any damn stairs, I hate walking up the stairs in my house to go to bed at night. Give me an elevator, give me an escalator, hell, I'd cruise around in a segway if it was practical around here. While I wont stake claim to a Phelp's-esque diet, I have a tendency to tear into some food. I eat fast food quite a damn bit, especially when I'm meeting people for lunch. I think my fridge probably has about 8 frozen pizza's and a large box of totino's pizza rolls. I keep a healthy supply of little debbie fudge brownies in my cabinet for night snacks. I'm also a sugar fiend, I drink the hell out of Dr. Pepper (although over the past couple of weeks, I've binged on 7up/sprite) and I munch on candy all the damn time. I don't understand how fat people get fat

[fantasticdan]

Man, I'm a lazy slob compared to some of you. I'm not walking up any damn stairs, I hate walking up the stairs in my house to go to bed at night. Give me an elevator, give me an escalator, hell, I'd cruise around in a segway if it was practical around here. While I wont stake claim to a Phelp's-esque diet, I have a tendency to tear into some food. I eat fast food quite a damn bit, especially when I'm meeting people for lunch. I think my fridge probably has about 8 frozen pizza's and a large box of totino's pizza rolls. I keep a healthy supply of little debbie fudge brownies in my cabinet for night snacks. I'm also a sugar fiend, I drink the hell out of Dr. Pepper (although over the past couple of weeks, I've binged on 7up/sprite) and I munch on candy all the damn time. I don't understand how fat people get fat

You probably have worms.

[Talus]

I thought I'd chime in with a couple of things:

1) I run marathons, but marathon or half-marathon training isn't for everybody. It isn't even a great way to lose weight, because a) yes, you're running more but b) you're also eating more to make up the difference. The energy has to come from somewhere or your performance suffers, or you're more likely to injure yourself or burn out. When you do longer runs, say greater than 60 mins, once you hit 75 minutes or so is when you need to think about drinking a sports drink, something with sodium, electrolytes, or possibly doing gels and sticking to water. Under 75 minutes, you'll be fine on water. The human body was designed to become dehydrated and keep going... how else would we be here if our ancestors couldn't tire out animals by chasing them down until the exhausted animal finally collapsed. Our ancestors were exhausted but shit, they had steaks that night.

2) People underestimate portion sizes, as Woozie mentioned in the diet pills thread. A serving size of meat, which is about 3-4 oz, is about the size of a deck of cards. How much of a serving size of meat do people typically eat? I'd say the average person's serving is 2-3x that size. It may help to keep a food journal as you start, and write realistic portion sizes as you track your habits. Include portion sizes, what time you ate, how did you feel before/after, i.e. I ate a bowl of lucky charms @ 10:00am because I was bored, isn't necessarily a good entry, but it's honest if that's what happened.

3) I'm pretty sure you see the best results when you combine resistance training (weightlifting) with cardiovascular training (playing basketball, running/walking/jogging, swimming, bicycling, elliptical, etc) and a good diet. Muscle tissue, even while at rest, burns more calories than fat tissue, so if you build up your muscle tissues, your basic resting metabolism will be burning more calories. Lifting is a good idea, for this reason, and for your bones, among many other reasons.

4) Another thing about diet. People say eat lots of fruits & vegetables, and they're right. Mix it up. Get a lot of different colors in your produce. The main drawbacks, in my opinion, of eating more healthy, is that a) the most calorically dense foods are typically super cheap (witness how you see some fat homeless people, which you think is a paradox but they're living off the $1.39 mini-donuts that are 360 calories for 6. with a lot of fat), and b) it's more time-intensive to prepare your own meals than to just go to Wendy's, McDonald's, or wherever. However, while it may be MORE expensive to eat better, both in expenses and time, I think it balances out with the health benefits. You look better, feel better, your self-confidence increases, and down the road you should most likely have fewer medical problems if you keep the weight off that are most often associated with increased weight around the gut (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, atherosclerosis, etc).

It's a lifestyle, but taking care of yourself and your health should be a priority. I think it's worth it.

[Darus Grey]

You probably have worms.

That or one day you're going to very rapidly balloon 100lbs when whatever X factor you have going for you changes.

[Wulfgang]

I wrestled fairly seriously in HS, went to the prep national championships. One thing I probably learned better than wrestling is losing weight in a prompt manner. Given there is a difference between losing 8 pounds of water weight in 12 hours and losing "real" weight; however, I also played football in the fall. I lost ~30 pounds in two months doing a hybrid Atkins diet (no carbs) while also probably burning 4000+ calories a day.

Realistically, it's just about burning more calories a day than you take in; that's weight loss. Being a nazi immediately just doesn't work though, I'd start easy first: avoid white bread, sugar, high calorie foods. Eat a spicey chicken sandwich instead of a baconator at Wendy's, but especially drop the fries for a side salad.

No matter how you change your diet, the key thing is still exercise; some people refuse to accept this. You may lose weight by just changing your diet, but most people don't really want to just lose weight, they have an image of themselves that cannot be achieved without exercise (typically involves washboard abs, etc etc); will never happen.

There is no secret, you should do cardio 4-5 days a week for at least 30 minutes with an avg. heart rate of 150-170 a minute; throw in some bench / curls / etc. to not only build muscle mass, but to keep your metabolism higher even when you are not working out.

[Zalius]

work out an hour-hour n a half a day. dont be a bitch. buy dumbells and use the gym for legs abs and flies, if you cant/dont want to go to a gym, run in the morning. know how many calories youre eating and how many calories youre burning. read EVERY nutrition label. if you're getting 2k now, drop to 13-1400 and you should be ahead 1-300 a day (1 lb/10 days@300 burned calories/day). If you want to go faster you can either eat less or work out more, but i really really really recommend just working out more so your body doesnt go bitchmode on you by 2:00

when you read labels, look at servings, serving size, calories, and calories from fat. that's all that matters. dont worry about carbs, youll be fine. protein is good, boneless skinless chicken breast is your friend.

i want to bold a bunch of this stuff but its all bold material. burn more than you take in, it really is that simple. the more muscle you have, the more you burn while you sleep(still not very much), but the speed you lose weight is totally up to your willpower in how you eat and how you work out. just google the shit dude, watch your calories, and work out. know the calories of EVERYTHING YOU ARE EATING if youre taking this seriously, sometimes shit will be like 300 calories and not even remotely fill you. if you want to do like 200 calories eaten/hr, that'll be good for your metabolism and really easy to burn off, but its really hard to maintain cause youre always eating small shit once an hour and you cant go out/enjoy your nights.


dont drink soda. drink water, buy a few 24 packs of bottled water and put them in your fridge, and dont put soda in your fridge. if the water is cold youre more likely to drink it, but youre more like to drink warm soda than tap water. DO NOT DRINK SODA, DRINK WATER. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON IN THE UNIVERSE OTHER THAN FLAVOR TO DRINK SODA. once you start drinking water youll seriously not want to drink soda anymore. on occasion yea, but with standard meals, drink water.

you only have to endure this for about a week. after that your body will adjust and this is the way you will WANT to eat. the problem with those fat faggot people that say diets dont work is because they eat terrible low calorie food that basically starves them, dont work out at all and cant handle it for a week. seriously, once you overcome your appetite youll be fine.

in short
work out
lower your intake increase your exercise
drink water
=success


best of luck, kisskiss, zalius



ps: read it all asscock

[TacoTaru]

As far as cardio goes, is running vs. riding (machine) any better or worse for one or the other. Normally when I used to go to the gym all the treadmills were always taken so I'd just use the bike and do a couple more miles then I would vs the treadmill, but I didn't know if one was particularly better than the other.

[Zalius]

Man, I'm a lazy slob compared to some of you. I'm not walking up any damn stairs, I hate walking up the stairs in my house to go to bed at night. Give me an elevator, give me an escalator, hell, I'd cruise around in a segway if it was practical around here. While I wont stake claim to a Phelp's-esque diet, I have a tendency to tear into some food. I eat fast food quite a damn bit, especially when I'm meeting people for lunch. I think my fridge probably has about 8 frozen pizza's and a large box of totino's pizza rolls. I keep a healthy supply of little debbie fudge brownies in my cabinet for night snacks. I'm also a sugar fiend, I drink the hell out of Dr. Pepper (although over the past couple of weeks, I've binged on 7up/sprite) and I munch on candy all the damn time. I don't understand how fat people get fat

tall and lean muscle, your metabolism is probably huge, i have a few friends like that, but you probably have chicken legs unless youve done a month of serious legwork

[archibaldcrane]

Impurities are present in virtually every manufactured product, and in some cases, even though the product may be considered harmless, the impurity is not. Such was the case in the late 1980's when an epidemic of cases of eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome, including over 30 deaths, were blamed on a contaminant present in L-tryptophan (9), an amino acid supplement widely taken as a sleep aid. Creatine, and other such supplements, are not regulated by the FDA. No published investigation has been conducted on creatine to determine what impurities might be present in creatine supplements, and what their long term effect might be.

The bottom line is that no one can confidently state that prolonged creatine supplementation is safe, and its use would best be avoided until more data can be compiled. Prolonged administration is, in essence, an uncontrolled toxicity study and one which might yield harmful results. Is it worth the risk? Remember, it's your body!

This is the biggest wishy-washy thing I've ever seen. It's been used for 20 years, it's currently being used by half of NCAA athletes. Yes, supplements are not regulated by the FDA. But fear-mongering because of that fact is borderline silly for something that provides significant, well-documented benefits with no proven negative side effects other than slight dehydration. I'm intaking about as much creatine as is in 2.5 lbs of beef, per day. Now, sure, that's more beef than people usually consume in a day, but it's not absurd. The powder i take is 6.2g per serving, 5g of which is pure creatine, and the rest makes it taste like kool-aid. I split this serving in half, half before and half after the workout.

Don't take it for weight loss of course, I put on 10 pounds in 3 days (water weight) when I started it.

[melbufrauma]

Okay ill tell you what i did, im 5'10-5'11 i used to weigh 235, now i weigh 172,
the first thing i started to do was stop drinking soda all together, all i drink is juice, teas and water.

Then I started going to the gym about 4-5 times per week having the rotation of Bis and Tri's, back/shoulders/chest, legs, abs, then cardio,

Just follow that rotation and you will burn a shitload of weight and bulk up at the same time, just watch what you eat, i dont eat fast food and i tend to try and eat healthier still even after losing all that weight, chicken and steak is like the best way to go

[Zalius]

This is the biggest wishy-washy thing I've ever seen. It's been used for 20 years, it's currently being used by half of NCAA athletes. Yes, supplements are not regulated by the FDA. But fear-mongering because of that fact is borderline silly for something that provides significant, well-documented benefits with no proven negative side effects other than slight dehydration. I'm intaking about as much creatine as is in 2.5 lbs of beef, per day. Now, sure, that's more beef than people usually consume in a day, but it's not absurd. The powder i take is 6.2g per serving, 5g of which is pure creatine, and the rest makes it taste like kool-aid. I split this serving in half, half before and half after the workout.

Don't take it for weight loss of course, I put on 10 pounds in 3 days (water weight) when I started it.

water weight is the most awesome thing in the universe because youll get on a scale and be like HOLY SHIT I AM A FUCKING BEAST only to lose that feeling later

[ertyu]

Eat less. I've lost 25~lbs by just not eating as much as I used to. 6'2" 165~ atm.

You are way too skinny.

To the OP:
don't get discouraged, it'll take a long time to lose even the smallest amount of weight. #1 key thing is patience and dilligence. You won't see yourself drop 10 lbs in one day. You just need to be smart about it, everybody's body is different and will react in different ways. Some people can get away with eating certain things and some other may not. Some people need to go carb intensive, and some need to cut carbs out completely. Of course there are things that are good for you no matter what.

1) DO NOT drink caloric beverages. Water is 0 calories a day and not only will it not make you gain any additional weight, but water helps you lose weight.

2) Eliminate fat, greasy foods. Fast food/Things you buy and heat up in the microwave/etc. Try to make fresh food, if you can't, your next best bet is to buy already made organic food, though it gets kinda pricey.

3) Always ALWAYS read the labels and know what % Daily value you are getting from your food. Calories aren't what everyone makes them out to be. Calories are energy, and as long as you expend more energy than you take in, you will lose weight. Try to keep tabs of everything else on the label though. Fats, carbs, sodium, in that order. Make sure you are at least getting somewhat near the daily reccomended value of sodium, but don't go too far over it. This will lead to water retention and increased weight.

4) Exercise. Self explanatory. Start small and build yourself up.

Just use common sense, and weigh yourself everyday. People say "don't eat as much" but that really isn't healthy for you if that's solely all you're doing is eating less. Your target weight is perfect though. 180 on 6'0", assuming you have a middle sized body frame is perfect.

[Zalius]

You are way too skinny.

To the OP:
don't get discouraged, it'll take a long time to lose even the smallest amount of weight. #1 key thing is patience and dilligence. You won't see yourself drop 10 lbs in one day. You just need to be smart about it, everybody's body is different and will react in different ways. Some people can get away with eating certain things and some other may not. Some people need to go carb intensive, and some need to cut carbs out completely. Of course there are things that are good for you no matter what.

1) DO NOT drink caloric beverages. Water is 0 calories a day and not only will it not make you gain any additional weight, but water helps you lose weight.

2) Eliminate fat, greasy foods. Fast food/Things you buy and heat up in the microwave/etc. Try to make fresh food, if you can't, your next best bet is to buy already made organic food, though it gets kinda pricey.

3) Always ALWAYS read the labels and know what % Daily value you are getting from your food. Calories aren't what everyone makes them out to be. Calories are energy, and as long as you expend more energy than you take in, you will lose weight. Try to keep tabs of everything else on the label though. Fats, carbs, sodium, in that order. Make sure you are at least getting somewhat near the daily reccomended value of sodium, but don't go too far over it. This will lead to water retention and increased weight.

4) Exercise. Self explanatory. Start small and build yourself up.

Just use common sense, and weigh yourself everyday. People say "don't eat as much" but that really isn't healthy for you if that's solely all you're doing is eating less. Your target weight is perfect though. 180 on 6'0", assuming you have a middle sized body frame is perfect.

37 minutes behind me good sir

[archibaldcrane]

water weight is the most awesome thing in the universe because youll get on a scale and be like HOLY SHIT I AM A FUCKING BEAST only to lose that feeling later

Naw, I was like "i'm a fatass lol". The beast part was about 2 weeks later when I was leg-pressing 450 8 times and felt fine. Then I was like "where the fuck did this come from?"

[Zalius]

Naw, I was like "i'm a fatass lol". The beast part was about 2 weeks later when I was leg-pressing 450 8 times and felt fine. Then I was like "where the fuck did this come from?"

ya lol, the first time you break max on anything and can go multiple times is just in general a "holy shit" moment. never gonna compare to the feeling i got when i first put up single plates though, i think i flirted with every pretty girl i saw that day

[archibaldcrane]

First benched 135 you mean? That was a cool day for me too, but like 10 years ago. When I first did 225 I was pretty fucking stoked though.
Photo-derail:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...flexmirror.jpg

[Mr. Flippy]

i used to be about 375 in high school. i was miserable and couldnt breath. i joined the football team just becuase i had always liked football and thought it might help me loose some weight. and it did. lost 110 lbs in about 7 months. i was weight training and cardio exercising about 2 hours about 4 days a week and also jogging on wekends, along with cutting back calorie intake (i.e. soda and bread and carbs in general). altho its been 3 years since highsschool i will admit i have put on some weight since highschool. going from 260ish to about 330. looking at this thread has got me motivated to get back into the old regiment and start exercising again.

[Zalius]

ya 45's on an oly bar, that'd be the end of freshman year for me

you have really natural shoulder definition, i tried but i cant cut my shoulders right now, im not in any position in terms of work/school to go hardcore enough to cut out shoulders. i cant even go a week grinding abs because of school/work, so i doubt i'll be able to do shoulders within the next year.

[archibaldcrane]

I don't do any shoulder-specific exercises at all, they just get hit with bench, incline dumbells, some lat exercises, etc.

But thanks! (It's all lighting anyway)

[Drex]

Count calories and burn more calories than you eat every week. That's all there is to it.

There's more specific stuff like avoid fast foods etc., but the reasons those are bad are high fat and high calories. They fall into the same boat - if you eat less fast food, you are already eating less calories.

It sounds like a lot to keep track of, but it's really only a lot of work for the first 1-2 weeks while you try to find your target caloric intake (how many calories you burn on average a week). Once you've got that, just drop a couple hundred and you'll start losing weight. Easy.

Eat less, make up for it by eating stuff that's good for you instead of filler food with no nutritional value, pop once-a-day vitamins to make sure you've got energy, and burn more calories every day (read: exercise) so you can eat more calories without gaining weight! If you need motivation, remember that the more you exercise, the more you can eat while still losing weight. That's always been enough to keep me going.

But I also agree with the advice of "don't pick a target weight". Weight is misleading with how fat and muscle interact, pick a target body fat %age instead.