That’s a serious incline workout! I struggle at 5.
Seriously.
Good for you!
I measured and counted calories for so long that I have the calorie count of almost every food I eat memorized and it’s not too hard for me to quickly estimate the number of calories contained in any dish that I cook. I can’t do that at restaurants but of course I know what’s less fattening on the menu, I just don’t usually choose it. We don’t go out to eat very often so when we do I eat whatever I want to.
The hardest part for me is coming up now - reaching my goal and maintaining it. It wasn’t like I was terrible at it, but letting 5 pounds creep back on every year, usually around the holidays is a mistake that I don’t want to make again. I also don’t want to be so regimented about it for the rest of my life but I guess I have to be. Given how much my weight can fluctuate in a month maybe I should only weigh myself once a month (or 28 days to be more accurate) and immediately deal with any weight I gain before I gain more. It’s almost like a part of me doesn’t even want to get there because I know how to do this part and it’s comfortably familiar. Successful maintenance isn’t.
I recently came across this interesting tidbit about burning more calories because you’ve got more muscle…
From the January/February 2009 issue of Cooking Light (page 26), “A woman who strength trains three times a week for six months can build enough muscle to burn 10 to 32 extra calories a day.”
Somehow, that fails to impress me.
Me too. I strength train but not so that I can eat an extra eighth of a cookie that day.
It should, yes. Something to remember is that BMR values from an online calculator are very, very rough estimates based on statistical models. Unless you’re participating in a study where they precisely measure what you eat and excrete, and correlate your activity level with the calories utilized, you won’t know your actual BMR. To get a good value, you’d have to know your lean body mass pretty accurately too. Again, online calculators just go off height/weight/age/sex for the most part. That’ll give you ballpark figures, but not really any better than that.
With all these tools and metrics, it’s easy to get caught up in trying to improve your “stats.” Those things are side issues. They’re indirect measures of success. You can starve yourself to get your body fat down if that stat is the most important thing to you, but you’ll be sacrificing many other aspects of good health along the way.
The important things are still really simple:
[ul][li]Exercise. Being more fit will make you healthier even if — by some miracle — you don’t lose fat by doing it. Health-wise, it’s better to be still fat and active than a skinny couch potato. You’ll look better, you’ll feel much better, and you might even find that you like it.[/li][li]Eat well, and eat an appropriate amount. Don’t ever think about the way you eat as a “diet” or temporary thing. How you eat now should be how you plan to eat for the rest of your life.[/li][li]Make healthy living your normal life. The way you lose weight and keep it off is through permanent lifestyle changes. If anything you’re doing to lose weight is not sustainable and healthy, you need to be doing something different.[/ul][/li]
On preview:
If you look at the increase in BMR by completely isolating the increased muscle mass from the rest of the picture, it doesn’t look that impressive. In real life, however, nothing about your body is that isolated. There are lots of other metabolic changes that happen when you do strength training, everything from increased hormone production, how your body prioritizes nutrient usage, and where it stores extra energy, to increased bone density, muscle fiber-type ratios, and neuromuscular adaptations that increase fiber recruitment under stress.
Plus, you’re burning a not inconsiderable amount of calories during and after your workout because it takes energy to build new muscle in the first place. If you wanted to make strength training look paltry in comparison to the calories used in aerobic activities, you’d skew the figures like this. The reality is that to build that muscle — not simply maintain it — takes a lot of calories, and the increased strength helps you do aerobic activities. In testing VO2 max, skeletal muscle strength and endurance is the main limiting factor in untrained subjects. In other words, some people couldn’t even stress their cardiovascular system enough to reach their peak.
Thanks!
I have a lot of leg muscle from years of rollerskating as a youngster, followed by lots of hardcore hiking* while working on my BS in geology mapping in mountainous areas of Nevada, Idaho and southern California.
However, the inclines of 6 and 7 get tiring especially at a quick pace. I power through it (feel the burn!!) and tell myself it will be over soon.
*Not anything resembling a hiking trail in sight. Some of the areas I did work in were so steep, they could be counted as low grade climbing. I think the geology professors sometime mistake their students for mountain goats or something - ha ha. Out doing that for 8 hours a day in 2 and 3 week increments, with a 20 pound pack (water and rock samples) while carrying a mapboard! It would probably kill me to that now.
Well, I didn’t show a loss today but I wasn’t expecting to. I’m getting adjusted to the fact that 4 weeks of weight loss show on the scale the week after my period but nothing much in between. I’m still going to weigh myself once a week anyway just to stay focused but not worry about the fluctuations in between. There’s no way that I’m eating enough to gain weight.
My jeans are starting to be too big even when they first come out of the dryer and I went right past a few pairs of pants that went from too tight to being too big. I’m not thrilled about my black suede pants being droopy. They’ll cost a fortune to alter.
I’m going to join the party, too.
The last couple of years have found me at my heaviest- something I thought I would never, ever be because I was one 'a them ectomorphs or endomorphs, whichever one means naturally skinny, I can never remember which one it is. I mean, jeez- I come from a family with Marfan’s Syndrome- tall and skinny are our middle names!
Then I had kids and got older and I like food a lot, especially tasty (fattening) food, and plus 8 months ago I quit smoking and put on 10 pounds just from that alone.
6 weeks ago I weighed in at 163. It was not a pretty sight, either. I was pretty disgusted with myself. So I decided to do the lifestyle change. I always like to clarify to people that it’s not a diet, it’s a permanent change. I quit drinking soda (I was addicted to Coke {-a-cola, of course!}) and stopped eating fast food, fried food, refined white flour, sweets, chips, etc. Now I mostly stick to whole grains, fiber, vegetables, fruit, chicken, and fish. Very little red meat but I still need a good burger every now and then. I just don’t get cheese on it (never have, though) and I don’t get the value meal with the fries and the soda.
I also have been exercising- not heavily, but working my way up. My primary care doctor told me that the two things you ever need to do to get in shape are 1) work out your upper body with 5- or 10-pound barbells, and 2)for your lower body the various types of squats. I’ve been doing those 2 things every day plus taking 15-minute intense walks every day as well. I tried running but the shinsplints put the kibosh on that. Maybe when I’m in better shape I’ll try it again.
It took at least 4 weeks for any weight loss- I was getting very frustrated. I was thinking, “I gave up my Coke and have been doing all this for* nothing*!!?” But then the other day I suddenly weighed 7 pounds less! Amazing! I don’t really feel any thinner, because I had rapidly gained those last 10 pounds, so I’m still not even back down to what I was, but it’s happening! It’s very exciting, and motivates me greatly to continue. It’s really not as hard as I thought it would be, either- I’m not starving at all, and I still give myself one good yummy meal a week to pig out on.
So welcome me and trust me when I say, “Squee!”
Welcome fellow loser - and indeed, “Squee!”. 
Since I’m not weighing myself right now, I can’t tell you if I’ve been successful so far, but I can tell you that it’s been 13 days, and I haven’t cheated once. Or been tempted to cheat. I’m down to one diet coke a day and drinking about 50 ounces of water. My nails are stronger than ever, my face is completely clear, and I feel more alert and healthy than before. I wish I could say I see a difference right now, weight-wise. But even though I can’t, I’m still pleased with the changes I can see.
Feeling better is the most important part, I think - not the numbers on the scale or the measuring tape, but actually feeling like you are getting healthier. Good for you!
I’ve noticed that I’ve lost inches around. I no longer have hanging flab on my hips and my face is noticeably thinner. I had to put a belt on today–on my size 16 jeans! My thighs are still too big to fit into a 14 but my waist is just about there.
preenpreenpreen
My pants feel noticeably looser also. I am officially 7 pounds down from where I started, as of a couple days ago. Last night and most of today were not really great eating days for me, but I didn’t blow my diet as badly as I have in the past. I am still focusing on my pledge to not quit before the end of February. I’m going to do a Turbo Jam tomorrow and get back on the train.
I have found that when I stick to a fairly “boring” food regimen, it’s much easier for me to stay on track. When I know exactly what I’m going to eat, it’s not tempting for me to vary from it. When I have a lot of different options and I’m not really sure what to do for dinner, I have a tendency to overeat. Lunches are really easy for me, because I just have a Lean Cuisine. Breakfast too: Eggs with broccoli or spinach, piece of whole-wheat toast. I just need to work on figuring out dinner. When I do go over my calorie target for the day, dinner is usually what blew it for me. (Well, that and the one day that I foolishly snacked on several handfuls of almonds, because they’re healthy, right? Then I plugged them into SparkPeople and had an :eek: moment when I saw the calorie count.)
Jali turned us on to Emerald 100-calorie dark cocoa almond packs over at SparkPeople. I also picked up 100 calorie almond and walnut packs.
An ounce of almonds (about 22 nuts) is about 170 calories. So, factor that into your calorie budget for the day. I know what you mean about eating healthy, but too much…before I found SP, I was eating TWO boneless skinless chicken breasts with dinner and three or four spoonfuls of peanut butter to tide me over until dinner was ready.
Portion control, baby!
I’m the same way with the ‘boring’ food regimen MsWhatsit. It makes it easier for me not to have to think about what I’m having for 2 meals a day and makes it easy to count calories. Breakfast is either a cup of whole grain cereal and some fruit and a little nonfat milk or one egg and slice of low fat cheese and one piece of whole grain bread. Both are only about 200-225 calories. Mid-morning I usually have a small spoonful of peanut butter on an apple or a piece of nonfat turkey with nonfat cheese melted on it. Both are under 100 calories. Lunch is a big salad with all of the vegetables I want and some chicken, fish or soy protein thrown in. Mid afternoon I have an 80 calorie high fiber tortilla with a little bit of low fat cheese. It’s easy, healthy and keeps me in the calorie range that I want to be in.
Dinner is harder and more varied because I have to cook for my partner and he’s a big guy who isn’t at all overweight so I end up cooking a lot of food that I don’t eat. If he wants steak I have him barbecue fish for me instead, if he wants pasta I eat a Lean Cuisine or something similar and if he wants chinese food I eat mine without the rice and noodles. Mostly I just avoid the empty carbs and fattening sauces that he loves. I’ve learned to make ‘cream of’ substitutes using chicken broth, nonfat milk and cornstarch and he doesn’t even notice the difference.
Sleel, thanks for the info, it’s helpful to know!
Well folks, if you’re interested, it’s week 9 since I started weighing myself (14 stone 10 pounds /206 pounds on Dec 19th). On Friday I weighed in at 13 stone 12 pounds (184 pounds), so I think it’s going pretty well.
Still, I need to get down to around 160 pounds to be ‘healthy’, according to SP (which I joined but never really got round to filling in day to day - if I had the time, it would be a great tool, but the stuff I did manage to do with it was a great help).
If anyone knows, what would be the amount (in kg) that an average healthy, 19 year old male should be able to bench press, shoulder press etc? my current weights go up to 15kg and that isn’t too hard to lift at all, I mean I can feel the weight, but at 4/4 cadence I could probably bench it for quite a while.
Kilograms and stones and all that confuse me greatly!
I made it to the branch of the Y that has the scale at it this morning (went to a really hard Spin class) and I have officially lost 10 pounds!! I’m very excited. I say that I have 11 pounds to goal, but, honestly, 6 might do it. I don’t know. I guess I will see how the clothes fit as I get there.
Oh, that loss is since December 27, 2008. So, what, 8 weeks?
I don’t think there is a set amount you should be able to lift - depends on your height/body composition, strength etc. I’m 29, 5’7 and currently weigh 155lb and I squat nearly 90kg and deadlift 70kg. But I’ve been going to gyms on and off for many years and so even though I’ve only been working out regularly for the past few months I’m building up muscle again I used to have. Also I’m quite naturally strong, always have been.
If you’ve never worked out in a gym before your ability to do weights will be very different to mine, even though you’re younger and may be bigger than me.
No problem. Fitness info has been one of my biggest interests over the last couple of years. It’s fun to share.
Like Illuminatiprimus said, it greatly depends on you; your genetic potential, level of fitness, strength/power specific training, age, etc. I’m assuming that 15 kg weight is a dumbbell? That would make the total weight 30 kg. You might consider just doing pushups instead. At your body weight that would be roughly equivalent to bench pressing 60 kg and would develop trunk muscles and other supporting musculature that bench presses don’t.
There’s an online resource that can help you gauge your current level at Exrx.net. It’s only really useful if you know your one-rep max, though, which I’m sure you don’t know at this point. The weights listed are in pounds. For reference, I’ve been doing CrossFit, working out an average of 3 days a week for over a year and a half, and I’m at the low end of Advanced on those tables for everything except bench press and power clean, where I’m only high Intermediate.
I’ve always been relatively weak benching because I’ve got ape arms, and my technique is almost certainly a limiting factor for the clean. I started out at the weak side of Untrained on those charts when I first got my butt back in the gym a few years back, and I was already over 30 when I started getting more serious about fitness. At your age, it’s easier to get strong since you recover faster. That doesn’t mean the workouts are easier (hell no!) it just means that you whippersnappers make more progress in the same time, can work out more often on top of that, and retain strength longer if you take time off compared to older athletes.
If you’re really interested in doing weight training, I suggest that you pick up one of the resources used to create those tables, Starting Strength, and either invest in a good Olympic bar and weight set, or get a gym membership to a place that has free weights, a squatting cage or rack (NOT just a Smith machine) and start some serious lifting.
Besides Exrx.net, some other online resources are:
CrossFit, which is what I’ve been doing exclusively since around the summer of 2007. The workouts on the main page are meant for the advanced people. I scale the weights down to about 85 or 90% of the recommended weight, or make other adjustments; I used to scale down to 50–60% when I first started, and sometimes had to drop a set. Scaled workouts can also be found at the message board here if you’re not sure where to start. There are a large number of exercise demonstration videos, research and articles, and other information on that site. Start with “Start Here!” to read a PDF about what they’re trying to do and why they go about it the way they do.
Stumptuous.com. Female-oriented, but has a lot of good advice for starting weight lifters of any gender. Plus, she’s an entertaining writer. A good introductory article is this one.
Thanks for the advice guys, it’s mainly just to quell curiosity, but I would like to buy more weights, I just don’t want to spend too much, so buying weights to an extent where I’m not going to be able to lift them for a long time is a bit counter productive in the wallet department.
I’m thinking of joining a gym when I’m finished at uni 'til next term, as most of my friends are moving away to do placement years, so I’ll have no-one to train with.
If I buy Olympic standard weights, I’m looking at spending around 200 pound sterling (damn this keyboards lack of a pound sign!), it’s only 24 pound a month at the gym with free weights, and I can use the cardio machines too, so I think gym will be the best bet!