I my advice after make sure you eat enough protein is to stop assessing your body fat%.

Ok. I'll stop. I thought it was an important part of making sure I was losing fat and not muscle. But it only makes me a little crazy, so I'm more than happy to stop.

I never assess my bf%.

I gauge my progress primarily on the reflection in the mirror and my performance.

Getting extremely wrapped up in the numbers like body fat % and weight transform you and your emotional well being into a slave. You become a slave to the numbers. If they're not saying what you expect, you're down. You doubt yourself. You get frustrated.

And that's silly.

Focus on the process. Focus on consistency. If you know you're doing what needs to be done and you're doing so consistently, the rest will fall into place.

I haven't weighed myself in nearly half a year. I don't care what I weigh assuming I like how I look and I'm getting better at the things I enjoy doing like lifting weights, running, etc.

Thank you for that. I really needed to hear that. I sometimes look at myself in the mirror and think that I look pretty good, until I get on the scale, and don't like the number, and all of a sudden, I don't like the way I look anymore. Based on what you said in my other thread, I will lower my calories slightly, but mostly make sure that I am eating well, working out, and noticing changes for myself, not based on any number. Then, in a few weeks I will weigh myself, but only as a way to monitor my progress to make sure that what I'm doing has got me on the right track. Does that sound about right? Thanks for being patient with me. I seem to be slow to catch on about how to go about this whole body image/weight thing.

Sounds great.

I'll note that if I'm not happy with what I see in the mirror, it doesn't throw me in a downward spiral either. I'm always focused on the process. The process is the benchmark for how I'm feeling about this lifestyle.

I completely agree with Steve here, I also assess myself by sight and Performance, if you managed to do that extra push up more than yesterday then you know you are getting better, i still have that wall to climb over that barrier where you cannot get that little bit of extra weight off, but that’s because I love my beer & Crisps to much

Fat % and all these mathematical equations on how to improve your own body is interesting but not essential to fitness, longs you eat well (meat, Veg, potatoes, salads and fish)

My weekly food routine goes as follows: and this rotates through each week

Breakfast: 2 sets of fruit, usually with a banana as its filling
Lunch: sandwich with meat and salad in it (sometimes a breakfast roll)
Dinner: rotated meat (Stake, lamb, pork, chicken) with salad & rice
Rotated Fish (Cod, Haddock, place, salmon) with salad and bread
Rotated dishes of (Tai curry, pizza, Pasta,) with salad and Veg
Rotated Drinks of (Vodka, beer, beer, beer and vodka) usually Saturday night and without salad :-p

Exercise regime:

Monday: Gym (Running for 10 mins and sprinting for another 5, Rowing 2000m, Free weights for 30 mins, crunches, push-ups, sit-ups)
Tuesday: Gym (Same regime but rotated)
Wednesday: Swimming (average of 30 lengths and then steam room for 30 mins)
Thursday: Dance Class (freestyle)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Party (Dancing & Drinking)
Sunday: Rest (recovering from Sat night most likely lol)

This is my own personal regime and I am comfortable with it so it won’t suit everyone.

Some people ask me if doing all that exercise tiers you out? yes it does but if you cool off and stretch out your muscles after your work out you end up with a lot more energy the next day ready to do it all over again, if you fuel your body correctly you will never get tired having 2 days of rest is recommend though as you need to give your body time to repair those torn muscles.

Think of the army for a second the soldiers eat up to 6000 calories a day and not put on one ounce of fat, this is due to all the exercise they do through the day and it all goes into muscle, not just the legs, arms & abs but also the lungs, stomach and heart all your internal organs are muscle and can be strengthened making you a much more healthy person.


Ok thats my 2 cents into healthy eating and living, what were we talking a bout again?!?

Eat whole, natural foods in 6 smaller meals
each day. Get lots of fiber, lots of protein, lots of vegetables.
Eat healthy fats...Drink lots of water and tea.
1. Set the tone with the first meal of the day by consuming a lean protein source and high-fiber, low-glycemic carbohydrates. Fiber at this meal will help control blood sugar over the morning and can help modify appetite at subsequent meals.

Hey there..

I heard about a few product which can Bind Your Fat Intake and can reduce weight.

No harm to read and understand the product first...

SPAM

Happy trying !!

Hey man whats going on? My name is Eyan and I have been responsible for helping people lose as much as 10 lbs in 10 days. Now I am going to tell you that, I totally understand where you are coming from, as far as wanting to lose fat and not weight.

But unfortunately my friend, in this case it is literally the same. In order for you to lose the fat you have to lose the inches. And in order for you to lose the inches you have to lose weight.

Now after reading your question, I am a bit concerned! Do you currently know how many calories your body is burning per day or are you guessing?

Well I will help you out. An easy and simple way to find out how many calories you are at per day is multiplying your current weight by 12. That number represents the number of calories you need to take in per day to sustain the weight you are at right now.

I have written books on this and over 50 articles on this topic alone. In my opinion losing weight and losing fat go hand in hand. Your on the right track as far as trying to understand your calories, but anyone who answers your question would be giving you a wrong answer because no one knows your current calorie intake except for you.

Now I gave you the formula. So let me know if you have any more questions.

Talk to you soon.

Eyan Edwards

Holla at this post! Copied, Saved and Bookmarked LOL

Glad you were able to take something from it.

Hi Steve,

I hope you get a chance to read this as I have some questions for you concerning this thread. Let me start out with some backround about myself. I am currently in a calorie deficit to loose weight and I want to make sure I understand this thread completely. I have read through it completely but there is a lot to grasp here. I also want to note that I recenltly discovered I was in a severe calorie deficiency and am in the process of slowly getting that back up to a more desireable level. I am 215 lbs (started at 265lbs), 6' tall 28 year old male. I thought I was getting in 1500 calories a day but after tracking labels more closely found that number to be at 1200-1300/day and then after purchasing a food scale found out that I was actually closer to 975 calories a day. I wasn't feeling to bad energy wise but I knew I had to increase my caloric intake. over the last week and a half I have gotten up to 1200 calories a day and plan on slowly increasing that daily (maybe 50-75 calories/day) until I get up to 2080/day. (I think i have done all of the math correctly, I figured 12 X 215 (current weight) = 2580 calories per day, and then subtracted 500 calories to leave a deficiency of 500 calories).

I apologize for all of this information because I am sure it seems so far like I am posting in the wrong thread, but my real questions are with the weight training plan that you have outlined in this thread. I have been doing some weight training, but not focusing on full body, and not to the number of reps/all of the body parts/ and not to the weight that you have suggested. so while I am correcting my eating habbits I would also like to correct my weight training program. I am currently limited to my weight bench, dumbbells and treadmill (I also have resistance bands but have never used them).

I am outlining the full body A/B program that you have suggested earlier in this thread and posting some questions next to certain excersises in hopes of getting your opinion on what I can replace the excersises I do not have the machine for or to make sure I understand what the excersise actually is).

Workout A:

Romanian Deadlift 3x8
DB Lunges 2x12
Cable Rows 3x8 (don't have the machine can I replace with standing barbell rows?)
Flat BB Bench 3x8
Cable Pulldowns 2x12 (don't have the machine, replace with what?)
DB Overhead Press 2x12

Workout B:

Leg Press 3x8 (don't have the machine, replace with what?)
Leg Curl Machine 2x12 (don’t have a machine but have the what I assume is the same thing on my weight bench?)
Pullups 3x8 (can’t physically do (yet :P ), replace with what?)
Military Press 3x8 (is this like the DB overhead press except you use a BB and it comes down to your neck in front of your face?)
Some sort of Row 2x12
Incline DB Bench 2x12

At the end you could throw in 1 or 2 exercises for a couple of sets for arms and core each.

I hope you have time to answer these questions as I am fairly new when it comes to weight training. And also if you have any suggestions or questoins about anything else including getting my calorie intake back up please let me know.

I also want to double check, but this was a suitible routine for someone that is in a calorie deficiency (weight loss mode) correct and not for calorie surplus (muscle gain mode) correct (would this routine be made more intense when I get to the calorie surplus stage)? I do not have an ideal body weight in mind but I have an extremely high bodyfat percentage. I have not gotten my bodyfat proffesionally checked but I am loaded with subcutaneous fat (so I don't look too fat until i take my shirt off :P) but I think my target weight will be somewhere around 170 lbs. My scale at home reads bodyfat at 32%.

I appreciate any assistance you can give me as I seem to find your information very informative.

Thank.

That sounds like a decent plan of action A couple of random thoughts...

1) Maintenance with exercise is generally 14-16 calories per pound. Not 12.

2) This is most likely obvious to you, but what comprises your calories is also critical. While calories are the foundation of any weight loss plan... nutrition is the foundation to physique and health.

Mind you, this thread was a communication between me and specific people. There isn't one particular way of doing things. That said, the routine outlined in this thread can be used by most.

What sort of weight are your dumbbells?

You don't have a barbell?

Okay.

Any exercise here can be switched with another similar exercise. The magic IS NOT in the exercise selection. It's in the balance, intensity and volume. Have you read the Basic Principles & Concepts of Resistance Training stickie on my forum?

If not, I highly suggest you do. All of the stickies in the resistance training section of my forum will help you tremendously.

Any chance of getting a pullup bar?

Squats

You can do single leg glute bridges, SHELCs, single leg romanian deadlifts, etc.

Read this thread where I discuss progressing to full pullups:

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weigh...tml#post505569

Yes

My suggestion would be to read those stickies in the section of my forum I linked to above. After that, if you have more questions, I'm all ears.

Not necessarily. Intensity is defined as percentage of your max strength. The higher the intensity, the closer the weight lifted is to your 1 rep max in that particular exercise. The lower the intensity, the further away the wieght lifted is from your 1 rep max in that particular exercise.

When dieting, dropping intensity is pretty typical for most people. They drop the intensity so they can do more reps. They do this b/c they believe high reps are for toning and toning is what they're trying to accomplish when dieting.

What builds muscle though, is typically what maintains it while dieting. That said, intensity needs to be kept "high" during dieting. You don't tone with weights so dropping intensity to allow for more reps is futile.

The difference between lifting weights while dieting vs. "bulking" is simply the amount of total work you can do. When dieting, b/c of the reduction in total energy intake, your recovery ability is down a bit so your volume must be adjusted accordingly.

Volume can be adjusted using various means (frequency of sessions per week, total sets and reps, etc.).

This routine is just fine for dieting. There are other, newer routines in the stickies I linked for you above that are great.

Hi Steve, and thanks for the reply. It is very informative.

Ok, it took me a minute to catch on here, but I think I got it. so 215 x 15 = 3225 and then subtract 500 (or I think I have read as many as 20% of 3225) to stay in a colorie deficiency (wheight loss) mode? Subtracting 20% of 3225 = 2580. (thats a lot of calories for healthy foods....or rather a lot of food when eating healthy).

This is actually how the severe calorie deficiency came about. Once I cut out the fast food, soda, and unhealthy cooked foods. I felt like I was eating the same amount or even more food at times, but healthy foods are lower in calories. I really am going to feel like I am stuffing myself at 2580 calories but if thats what's healthy thats what I want. And also, as I loose more weight the total number of calories will reduce as I recalculate the math. I will try to get some time today to start a food diary on the forum so you can see what you think. I'll post a link in this thread once I get it going.

they are the type with plate weights so you can vary the weight. I am not sure what total weight I have in plates is off of the top of my head but it's more than enough for now. I can take an inventory of all of the plates I have if you would like to know.

Yes, I do have a barbell also. Sorry, I wasn't clear about that.

I have low ceilings in my basement so I don't have a space where I could permanently put one. Are the ones that you see advertised on TV that you can temporarily insall in a door frame ok? I could use something like that upstair since it wouldn't be permanant.

Thanks, I'll take a look at your link as soon as I am done here. I'll let you know if I have any questions.

Ok, makes sense. So stick to this program (or whatever I come up with after substituting excersises I have the equipment for) during weight loss. I will probably do session A on Mondays and session B on Thursdays). But what you are saying is when I do get into calorie surplus (muscle gain mode) possibly go to an A/B/A, B/A/B plan or increase the number of sets and or reps on the A/B plan?

Thanks for your time so far. I am off to go look at the link you provided. I appreciate your assistance.

You're welcome.

It's amazing the volume of food you can actually consume when you're eating the "healthy" stuff, huh?

20% is a very general rule.

I've used more than 50% before. The quantity of food isn't so much the determining factor of what's considered healthy. Instead it's the quality of food. I mean, it's important to get adequate amounts of the essentials such as protein, essential fats, vitamins, minerals, water, etc. But that's pretty simple to achieve when you're eating a balanced mix of healthy foods each day.

I'll take a look at what you're eating once you set up the journal.

The more fat you have to lose, the greater the deficit you can be in without worrying about losing muscle and negative repercussions in terms of your metabolism.

I like using the rule of 1% of total body weight per week as a guide for the rate of weight loss you should shoot for. Plan your calories according to that.

Ok, that's good. Adjustable dumbbells are nice.

I've known people who used them successfully so I believe it's worth a shot.

Yea you could do that. Or change up the programming entirely to something like a 4 day per week upper/lower split. There's really endless possibilities of increasing the work load when bulking. Hopefully after you read the stickies on my forum you'll better understand what I'm talking about.