How to lose weight... really?

[EJFan]

I have no idea how many calories I consume, even when I had to loose weight. Just dont eat crap and excercize daily youll be fine.

for some people this is ok... for others, like when i lost my person's worth of weight, it's HIGHLY necessary. what's insane is when people stress over marginal things rather than focusing on the big picture.

 

[muddpuppy]

Someone mentioned earlier in this thread about consuming 3 gallons of water a day... Is that really a good idea? It sounds a little excessive to me.

 

[EJFan]

personally, i drink at least 80 ounces per day. water can't really hurt you... it helps deliver nutrients through your body and, of course, keeps you hydrated.

there are cases of drowning from drinking too much water... you essentially can "flood" your organs... but you have to drink a shit-pot full o' water to do this (this naturally depends on how big your particular shit-pot is).

 

[muddpuppy]

LOL... I dont think my "shit-pot" can handle three gallons of water a day.

 

[EJFan]

if you want a rule of thumb, i think you should shoot for around an ounce per KG of bodyweight (that's about an ounce per 2.2 pounds).

you can really go too nuts like measuring your water and shit... just drink regularly and, more importantly, eat water-rich foods.

 

[houseman]

LOL... I dont think my "shit-pot" can handle three gallons of water a day.

I'm just under 3 gallons/day - 12 liters.

 

[houseman]

I believe, if you are serious about fat loss (notice I did NOT say weight?) and/or muscle gain, you need to start learning to count calories.

Every single food I put in my body is weighed and measured.

In order to succeed you need a plan... a map. How do you know where you want to go if you don't have a plan that outlines how to get there?

Another reason why calorie counting is important is to prevent stalling. How do you know to reduce calories (and how much) if you're not keeping track?

 

[EJFan]

I believe, if you are serious about fat loss (notice I did NOT say weight?) and/or muscle gain, you need to start learning to count calories.

Every single food I put in my body is weighed and measured.

In order to succeed you need a plan... a map. How do you know where you want to go if you don't have a plan that outlines how to get there?

Another reason why calorie counting is important is to prevent stalling. How do you know to reduce calories (and how much) if you're not keeping track?

so you and i are on the same page here with what franks. said???

also... i started the hack-squats wednesday. very nice! i've done front squats, atf squats, sumos, et al... but never hacks. they're a little tedious at first but i got the hang of it after a few reps.

 

[houseman]

so you and i are on the same page here with what franks. said???

So it seems

also... i started the hack-squats wednesday. very nice! i've done front squats, atf squats, sumos, et al... but never hacks. they're a little tedious at first but i got the hang of it after a few reps.

Hacks are great. Our platform is adjustable. I move it up to the highest setting. Put on the max amount of weight and give'er nice and slow.

Great for bringing out my teardrops.

 

[BXGemini20]

I have been meaning to check back on thsi thread. I want to diet and start to lose some pounds. I just turned 21. I'm about 5'9 and weight about 250-260 lbs. I want to do a carb count diet, but can't figure out what is a good number. I was thinking about 1,000-1,500 carbs a day seems good. I have three pairs of free weights: 5, 10, 20. I been meaning to buy more, but never got around to it. Am I on the right track in thinking?

 

[EJFan]

I have been meaning to check back on thsi thread. I want to diet and start to lose some pounds. I just turned 21. I'm about 5'9 and weight about 250-260 lbs. I want to do a carb count diet, but can't figure out what is a good number. I was thinking about 1,000-1,500 carbs a day seems good. I have three pairs of free weights: 5, 10, 20. I been meaning to buy more, but never got around to it. Am I on the right track in thinking?

why do you want to do a "carb count" diet???

my personal opinion is that any diet that restricts or limits a person in this way isn't functional over the long term. i'll gladly help in any way i can (i've been where you are now) but unless there's some medical reason for you doing this type of diet i can't recommend it nor can i be of any help.

if you want to look into eating normally and losing weight in a healthy way i'll share anything i know with you.

 

[Eilan]

why do you want to do a "carb count" diet???

Calories, perhaps?

 

[EJFan]

Calories, perhaps?

meaning?

carb calories and protein calories are the same... 4cals/gram. we get our energy from carbs so they're not bad for you. they just got a bad wrap because the average person doesn't distinguish between bad and good carbs so all sorts of problems developed from that. this is why i never believe anything the government tells me about nutrition. we're all too different in small ways that makes creating a one-diet-fits-all approach nearly impossible.

 

[Eilan]

I assumed BXGemini20 meant 1000-1500 calories a day. Instead of carbs.

 

[EJFan]

I assumed BXGemini20 meant 1000-1500 calories a day. Instead of carbs.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH... i see what you mean.

could be. if that's the case, if it's just a calorie counting endeavor, i'd repeat the mantra we've kicked around before... ~500 cal below maintenance per day will lose rougly a pound per week. that's a good target.

1000-1500 is a pretty big window though so i would reocmmend BX spend a couple of weeks figuring out maintenance (how many kcals/day to neither gain nor lose) and then lop 500 off of that figure. 1000 is VERY low for just about everyone so, depending on whether BX is male or female, i'd suspect they'd be looking at closer to 1500... possibly even higher.

for the average person of 260 pounds, maintenance could be considerably higher though. ya really gotta play around for a while and/or try a couple of calculators to get a closer estimate.

we'll wait to hear from BX on whether the carb/cal thing was a typo or not.

 

[BXGemini20]

I wasn't really sure. I think you do carb counting diets right? If that is true then that is what I wanted to do. I can live with just eating 1-2 meals a days. I hate eating more than 2 meals unless I can get real early in the morning. So I can lose weight on with this type of diet?

 

[Eilan]

I wasn't really sure. I think you do carb counting diets right? If that is true then that is what I wanted to do. I can live with just eating 1-2 meals a days. I hate eating more than 2 meals unless I can get real early in the morning. So I can lose weight on with this type of diet?

Carbs are measured in grams. I guess that's why EJFan and I were confused about what you meant when you said 1000-1500 carbs. For example, on the Induction phase of the Atkins Diet, which is a type of carb-restricted diet, you'd eat only about 20 grams of carbs a day. I'm not sure if something like this is what you meant or not. I can't imagine any diet where you'd eat 1000-1500 grams of carbs a day, though someone out there might know how many grams of carbs an off-season, mass-building bodybuilder would consume.

Eating one or two meals a day is a really bad idea. And you should always eat breakfast.

When I'm trying to lose weight, and I'm trying to lose about 15-20 pounds right now, I eat 5 or 6 times a day. Not 5 or 6 full-course meals, obviously, but something every three hours or so to keep me from feeling really hungry. It's better to do that than skip meals. At the moment, I'm not counting calories, or carb/protein/fat grams, though I HAVE done so in the past, particularly when I was really seriously into lifting weights. For the time being I'm focusing on the RIGHT carbs and the RIGHT fats. The protein comes easily enough for me.

I drink a lot of water--a gallon a day. I exercise. I also don't obsess over the numbers on the scale. I don't even know what I weigh right now, though I have a pretty good idea, which is why I feel pretty safe saying I'd like to lose 15-20 pounds. I tend to go by how my clothes fit. I'm not trying to compete in bodybuilding/fitness/figure competitions or anything like that. I'm just trying to make sure my weight stays within the healthy range that it's in right now.

I lost 25 pounds of two-babies-in-13-months'-worth of weight last year by doing what I outlined above. Unfortunately, I gained a little weight back, so right now I'm trying to lose the little bit I gained and hopefully even more.

I'm sure it's been mentioned before on this thread, but eating too few calories a day can actually cause the body to store fat, which is the opposite of what you want to do. There are other Litsters who are more qualified to explain this than I am, but I think it has something to do with the body going into "famine mode" and believing that it needs to hang on to whatever nourishment it's getting.

Sometimes you have to experiment to see what works best for you.

 

[EJFan]

I wasn't really sure. I think you do carb counting diets right? If that is true then that is what I wanted to do. I can live with just eating 1-2 meals a days. I hate eating more than 2 meals unless I can get real early in the morning. So I can lose weight on with this type of diet?

listen to eilan... she knows.

i'm curious though... why do you want to do a "carb counting diet?"

 

[muddpuppy]

Anyone know why this thread was moved?
Just dropped in for an update, about 3 weeks ago i was weighing in at 145 pounds now the scale says 130, yay! I gotta problem though, my body is taking on a weird shape, it just dont look right... Whats goin on? Maybe its the way my weight is dropping too quick?

 

[Eilan]

Anyone know why this thread was moved?
Just dropped in for an update, about 3 weeks ago i was weighing in at 145 pounds now the scale says 130, yay! I gotta problem though, my body is taking on a weird shape, it just dont look right... Whats goin on? Maybe its the way my weight is dropping too quick?

What kind of weird shape?

 

[muddpuppy]

My hips look sunk in, i got dimples on the back and sides of my legs, and my butt looks different too... just a different shape really. Maybe its just that girly thing where i can see it but no one else can?

 

[EJFan]

My hips look sunk in, i got dimples on the back and sides of my legs, and my butt looks different too... just a different shape really. Maybe its just that girly thing where i can see it but no one else can?

15 pounds in three weeks is fairly drastic, mudd... you should start eating more than you have been. it's very likely that you're losing muscle mass and your bodyfat percentage is rising... that would account for the "odd" look (aside from what you noted above).

more than 1-2 pounds a week (gain OR loss) is generally not good.

 

[EJFan]

progress update

since you asked... here's the progress on my cut...

i'm down 6 pounds and 2% bodyfat in 5 or 6 weeks (i can't remember my exact start date off the top o' my head). the great thing is that i did the math and of the 6 pounds i've lost, less than half a pound was lean mass... the rest is all fat. woohoo!

 

[silverwhisper]

nice going, EJ!

ed

 

[Eilan]

since you asked... here's the progress on my cut...

i'm down 6 pounds and 2% bodyfat in 5 or 6 weeks (i can't remember my exact start date off the top o' my head). the great thing is that i did the math and of the 6 pounds i've lost, less than half a pound was lean mass... the rest is all fat. woohoo!

Most excellent!