Fat-Loss diet

[soxhuskies88]

I'm just about done with Fat-loss 1, but in the past two months I have gained about 10 pounds (after doing the break-in as well). I definitely haven't been gaining fat (as I have been going up in weight consistently every workout for the past two months), but at the same time I haven't done much in the way of 'burning fat'.

I like the extra muscle I'm gaining, but I would also like to focus more on burning fat. I'm wondering if my problem is in my diet- I have been tending to eat more than usual around days when I work out. However, I'm worried that not eating enough will cause me to lose muscle mass.

Should I simply eat less and continue working out? I feel like this is the obvious answer to my question, I figured I would ask it. Also, should I change my diet drastically when I switch to the hypertrophy program?

[rixatrix]

Yes. Check your diet. Have you been tracking your calories at all?

If your primary goal is fat loss, then cut your calories a bit, but track well. If you've got body fat calipers, use those every week to calculate where your loss is coming from. You're not going to lose all your lean mass overnight, so when you check in each week, you can assess if you're losing fat or lean mass and what you should do with your diet to meet your goals.

[soxhuskies88]

Originally Posted by rixatrix

Yes. Check your diet. Have you been tracking your calories at all?

If your primary goal is fat loss, then cut your calories a bit, but track well. If you've got body fat calipers, use those every week to calculate where your loss is coming from. You're not going to lose all your lean mass overnight, so when you check in each week, you can assess if you're losing fat or lean mass and what you should do with your diet to meet your goals.

I've actually never heard of fat calipers before... Is there a website that you recommend that I could check for more information?

[rixatrix]

Originally Posted by soxhuskies88

I've actually never heard of fat calipers before... Is there a website that you recommend that I could check for more information?

Of course! This thing is my new best friend.

Accu-Measure Body Fat Calipers

I've been doing NROL4W, just switched over to Fat Loss 1 for a month. During Stage 1 and 2 of NROL4W, the scale pretty much didn't move, but my body fat readings kept creeping down. I've still got about 20lbs to lose, so it's hard to tell just by looking/feeling. If I didn't have the calipers, I'd be pretty discouraged right now. I lost about 10lbs of fat while gaining around 7lbs of lean mass. A big change!

Get yourself a pair. They're priceless, really.

[MPaquin]

Stay away from the carbs! If you want a good diet, check out the TNT diet whose forums are on the same site as here. Alwyn Cosgrove designed the workouts for them too. I lost two belt notches in the first few two weeks. And muscle keeps building.

I reccomended casein protein to someone else here. It digests slower than whey, so its good for right before bed and first thing in the morning. Just drink lots of water if you're cutting carbs.

The TNT recipes are awesome.

[jennyl1]

you dont need to use fat calipers you can do a hip to waist ratio to find out if you are loosing fat. fat calipers are not always accurate and you need to take measurements in about 5 places.
You dont need to go on a low carb diet just cut calories

[soxhuskies88]

Yeah I can't really follow any specific diet, but I'll be able to cut calories no problem. I'm living on campus right now, and going carb-less with dining hall food just won't work.

[rixatrix]

Ah, the dorms! Most people gain weight when the start college; I lost 15. (My dorm room was literally the farthest from everything, on top of a hill...it was great.)

I know what you mean about dorm food. In my cafeteria, we had a sandwich bar (build your own) and you could request things off the grill - a hamburger, for example. You could easily just toss out the bun. Or go open-faced.

Do you have a mini-fridge?

[bcbarnes]

I have to agree with rixatrix that you need to drop calories and keep an eye on your body fat %.

If you know your maintanance calorie level, then just eat somewhere between 10 and 20 % less to lose weight. If you want to insure that the weight you lose if fat, and not muscle, do your workouts, and watch your body fat %.

The problem with body fat measurements is that there is no direct method to measure your body fat (other than an autopsy, which if you're having one, is really too late to do anything about it anyway ... ). The currently available methods all estimate body fat by measuring something else, whether it is your waist and hip size, your bodys response to electrical stimulis (bio-impedence), your body mass (hydrostatic testing), or skin folds (calipers).

Each method is an estimate, and each is prone to errors. But the key is that you don't really care what your EXACT body fat % is, what you care about is whether or not it is going up or down. For that, you don't need to be accurate, just consistent and repeatable.

That's why I tend to recommend the Tanita scale that weighs and measure body fat at the same time. It is pretty easy to control the variables that effect this form of measurement. I wake up, go to the bathroom, and step on the scale - every morning at 6:00 AM.

I've used calipers before, and they are supposedly more accurate, but taking the measurements is really tricky, and you have to practice, so I never got very consistent. If you are willing to put in the effort to get good with them, then that would probably be the most accurate way to go.

Using measurements is a good alternative too, as long as you are consistent with when and how you measure.

With all these methods, the key word is CONSISTENCY. Get good consistent numbers, and you will be able to tell whether your body fat % is going up or down, and that's really the key thing to watch, in my opinion.

Brian.

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by soxhuskies88

Yeah I can't really follow any specific diet, but I'll be able to cut calories no problem. I'm living on campus right now, and going carb-less with dining hall food just won't work.

At least try to cut out the high glycemic index carbs - white bread, starchy foods (french fries), pasta, anything with refined sugars. Go for the good carbs - whole wheat bread, vegetables, fruit. The good carbs are high in fiber, meaning they digest more slowly.

[Chris Correia]

Originally Posted by Hunter

At least try to cut out the high glycemic index carbs - white bread, starchy foods (french fries), pasta, anything with refined sugars. Go for the good carbs - whole wheat bread, vegetables, fruit. The good carbs are high in fiber, meaning they digest more slowly.

I sounds like you've gained some good muscle. Congratulations! That's a feat.

If you're eating enough protein, then you won't really lose muscle when dieting down. A lot of the muscle loss talk is overhyped. Alwyn Cosgrove, in his blog, has asked, "Where's all this muscle loss? I just don't see it."

To keep it simple, get your 1 g of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. After that, as Hunter noted, focus on lots of veggies and then some fruit. You get filled up with less calories. It's really hard to eat less cals when you have lots of grains. Do that even on workout days if you're serious about cutting the fat, but you could throw in the grains around you workout time (before and after). Just don't go hog wild.

Get to that point, then you can adjust/refine from there.

[sg516]

use an online tool to help track your calories. i like FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal it helps take the guess work out of how much you are actually eating. just have to be diligent with inputting the data.

[soxhuskies88]

Thanks for all the replies everybody

[justinbass]

dorm food is the devil. The amount of fat in/on everything is scary. Eat as clean as you can.

Also, use a mirror and not a scale to judge your progress. As rixatrix said, you can be gaining muscle and loosing fat, and not see the scale budge.

Good luck!

[Riddlah]

I wouldn't count calories. You're a young guy who's physically active and unless you gain weight really easily, there's probably no need. I can tell you that I don't do it.

Background info - 34 yrs old, 5' 11", 189 lbs. I've worked out moderately and consistently most of my adult life, but this past year I've moved, got married, and been somewhat of a slacker. Not totally.... but I've worked out less than I should.

I just started working out consistently again about a month ago, just finished NROL Break In. My waist has already gone back down to what it was when I was 10 pounds lighter.

My diet philosophy has been simple, and it has worked. I follow the Abs Diet schedule - 3 meals, 3 snacks. A typical day is something like this.

============================== ========================
Breakfast - 7:30 am
* 3 scrambled eggs including the yolks, 3 slices of Oscar Mayer microwave beacon (the beacon isn't bad, about 70 calories for all 3 slices)

Snack #1 - 10:30 am
* It varies. Usually a protein shake with skim milk, frozen strawberries, and a little bit of natural peanut butter for fat. I blend it at home and bring it to work.

Lunch - 12:30 pm
* About 6 oz lean meat (lean steak, chicken breast), package of individual microwave-in-bag frozen green veggies (brussel sprouts, peas). Handful of almonds (about 15) for good fat source.

Snack # 2 - 3:30 pm
* Varies, maybe a little protein powder with water & an apple with a few almonds.

Dinner - 7:00 pm
* About the same composition of nutrients as lunch.

Snack #3 - 9:00
Protein shake blended with steel-cut oatmeal (not Quaker instant), a little bit of natural peanut butter, frozen strawberries. I don't cook the oatmeal, just throw it in the blender.

On workout nights, I usually swap snack #3 and dinner. In other words the snack is about 7:00 and the meal is about 9:00. It's also good to get the quality whey protein (from the shake) right after a workout.
============================== ========================

But that's just preference really.

Your schedule will look different than mine since you're in college. And of course you will pick your own foods. I would recommend eating some protein with every meal and snack, because of the thermic effect and it helps keep you satisfied better than carb-heavy meals.


The whole point of my rambling post..........

1. Cutting out the starches really helps you shed excess fat.
2. If you eat sensibly you DO NOT have to count calories.

Obsessively counting calories is hell and doesn't fit well at all in the lifestyle of a college kid. Slow down on bread, pasta, potatoes, cereal, rice, etc. You don't have to completely eliminate them, but make it a point to get most carbs from vegetables and a little bit of fruit like berries & apples.

I haven't drastically lost weight (I don't need to), and have certainly not lost muscle. Like I said, my waist has shrunk this past month to about what it was when I was 178 lbs. My chest is a little bigger, legs are stronger & bigger, so I've put on a little muscle. I'm no hulk by any means, and that's not my goal, but I've seen positive changes.

NROL is going to be an excellent workout. Even the Break-In gave me decent starting results.... I'm starting Fat Loss I this coming week.

Let me end on a positive note. I do ocassionally enjoy a couple of beers with a friend or out at dinner with my wife. About once every 3 weeks for me, but you will do it more.... and at your age, you should. And once a week, I have a meal of whatever the hell I want. It could be a big burger & fries, chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes.... anything, as long as it's just once a week.

Good luck to you bro. And if I've said something stupid or confusing, everybody please call me on it.

[soxhuskies88]

Thanks for all the advice. As Riddlah said I'm not really going to count calories, but more so not eat excessively and stay away from certain foods (cutting out pasta/white bread, and instead getting carbs from fruits/veggies/whole grain breads).

My dining hall usually has a large supply of good alternatives such as cottage cheese, which is my favorite source of protein for breakfast/snacks. I usually mix it with some yogurt or fruit (for taste).

[banderbe]

If you want to know how to drop unwanted body fat, do yourself a HUGE favor:

Buy a copy of Tom Venuto's book Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle.

Fat Loss Secrets - Fat Burning Diet - Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle

Trust me, you won't regret it. And DO NOT cut out carbs. You can reduce them, but there's NO NEED to drop carbs any lower than your body weight in pounds.

If you weigh 175, eat 175 grams per day, and every fourth day eat 350 or so.

This is a basic carb cycling approach that will strip the fat off faster than you can imagine.

Tom goes into much more detail in his book.

The only reason a person might have to slash carbs very low is if they are highly insulin resistant- most people are NOT this way, or if they are prepping for a contest or show.

Lots of body builders and figure competitors will do nearly zero carb diets in the weeks leading up to a show, but there's just no reason to do that otherwise.

Besides, slashing carbs too low just sets you up for failure because when you do reintroduce carbs, and you will, your body won't be efficient at processing them and you'll just gain weight back faster.

[banderbe]

Originally Posted by Hunter

At least try to cut out the high glycemic index carbs - white bread, starchy foods (french fries), pasta, anything with refined sugars. Go for the good carbs - whole wheat bread, vegetables, fruit. The good carbs are high in fiber, meaning they digest more slowly.

Pasta is JUST FINE. It's made from semolina and has a lower GI than whole wheat.

Besides, you eat it with meat- protein and fat, that makes the GI pretty much irrelevant.