Mikau Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 I guess this is a bit of an odd question, but here goes anyway. I've always been overweight. I'm about 6'4" and for the last couple of years I hovered around weighing 250 lbs. This year I decided that needed to change, and after hovering around that 250 lbs for the first 2 and a half month of the year I'm now starting to lose weight. I'm not really on a diet, just eating less junk food, I almost cut out sodas and energy drinks and I'm excercising more (a mix of karate, jogging and riding my bike). I now weigh around 238 lbs, so I lost about 12 lbs. I'd expect to gain a bit of muscle tissue as well (I wasn't in great shape to begin with and by the way my muscles hurt after karate practice I'd say they'll get bigger). Apart from weighing I also measure the circumference of my belly, thighs, chest and arms. I basically have noticed 0 difference in those numbers, even though I have lost what I think is a pretty decent amount of weight so far. So, long story short. Where is that weight going? I thought I'd lose mostly fat and gain (but at least not lose) muscle tissue. Am I overestimating the change in my body from that 12 lbs loss?
tman666 Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 How often have you been weighing yourself? If you only have a "before" weight and an "after" weight, then you only have 2 points of data. Bodyweight can fluctuate quite a bit during the day due to water weight, hormones, how much you've eaten, your level of activity, etc. My guess is that you've probably lost some fat, but that the majority of your weight fluctuation has come from water weight. Keep in mind that all calories matter. One can still overeat on traditionally "clean" foods. Without a consistent caloric deficit, you will not lose fat. Another key indicator is your athletic performance. Have you been getting better, worse, or have you stayed about the same doing the physical activities that you do (karate, jogging, riding your bike, etc.)? I would also recommend that you begin some sort of strength training, which has a plethora of benefits for most every goal, including fat loss.
silvermane187 Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 Cutting out junk food is good, but just remember that you need to burn more calories than you take in if you want to lose weight. It's really that simple. Eat less, exercise more, you will lose weight. 12 pounds on a guy your size won't be a huge difference. Keep it up and you will notice results. The best way to gain muscle is to focus on compound exercises such as the squat, deadlift, bench press. I highly suggest buying the Starting Strength book if you want to focus on gaining muscle once you get your body fat down to a resonable level.
Author Mikau Posted April 4, 2011 Author Posted April 4, 2011 (edited) I weigh myself a couple of times a week, always at the same time in the morning (after I went to the toilet, before I eat/drink anything). My weight was "steadily" dropping over the past few weeks. I do feel I'm getting fitter, better stamina/endurance etc. Gaining muscle isn't really a focus for me, but I wouldn't mind it if it happens. I'm more interested in losing weight and just getting all round more healthy. I don't think I've been eating more lately. I still snack occasionally, I just overall eat more healthy than I did before. Snacks are usually a couple of pieces of fruit or some nuts, maybe some yoghurt. Probably not ideal (minus the fruit) but still loads better than the junk I was eating before. Most of the energy drinks and coke I was drinking are now water and tea. So even though I'm not following any diets or excercise programs, I am living more healthy than before now. As I said, I am losing weight, I was just wondering what weight I've been losing if not (noticeable) fatlosses. As you said, 12 pounds out of 250 isn't that big a deal, but it's still 3 1.5 liter bottles of water. Still feels like something you'd notice losing. Edited April 4, 2011 by Mikau
tman666 Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 I also wanted to mention that I don't think that anyone here is trying to minimize the progress you've made. 12 lbs in 2 months isn't fast by any means, but if you can stretch that progress out over a year, then you're looking at some big changes. Keep progressively challenging yourself and tweaking your diet habits for the better. Slow and steady is a good thing in the world of fat loss and muscle gain.
Author Mikau Posted April 4, 2011 Author Posted April 4, 2011 I get that tman, thanks. I appreciate your and anybody's input. One of the most important problems I had when trying to lose weight before was that I just wanted to do too much. After a week or two I'd get fed up with my new training regime and ditch it, and instantly gain the weight I lost in those 2 weeks. What I'm doing now is what I enjoy, both in terms of excercise and diet, so I expect to be able to keep this going for far longer. That's why I don't want to join a gym (again), going there bored me to tears so I'd basically be spending loads of money for no result (as I have done for the last year). Currently my excercise schedule looks something like this: Monday: 90 mins of karate practice (about 20 mins of push ups, sit ups and other excercises aimed at gaining muscle, rest is stamina and technique) Tuesday: playing tennis or 30-60 mins of jogging/walking Wednesday: 30-60 mins of jogging/walking Thursday: 2x 60 mins of biking to and from school Friday: 90 mins of karate practice (same as monday) Saturday: 2.5 hours of walking (I'm a mailman a couple of hours on saturday, so I'd say that qualifies as excercise) Sunday: 30-60 mins of jogging/walking I feel that as I get fitter and the weather gets better I will probably add in more and longer instances of jogging and biking, so I expect things to pick up once I get adjusted to my current schedule.
tman666 Posted April 4, 2011 Posted April 4, 2011 Some people prefer to create a caloric deficit through intense training (which is stupid, in my opinion), while others find it easier to manipulate their diet to create the necessary deficit for weight loss. Ideally, a combination of hard (but smart) training and a nutritious, satiating, maintainable diet will yield the most desirable results over the long term. If you're not the kind of person that likes to go to the gym and destroy yourself, then there's no sense in trying to fit into that sort of routine. From what you've posted, you appear to be healthily active. The biggest changes in your physique are going to come from fine tuning your diet. This doesn't mean you can't have good things (a diet of tuna, chicken, and broccoli would be cause, in my opinion, for severe depression ), but that you'll need to focus on getting in more protein and lowering your daily caloric intake slightly (by lowering carb and fat intake). Having an idea of your daily caloric intake will help you make food and portion choices. I'm not suggesting that you go out and buy a food scale and become OCD about it, but having a general idea about your macronutrient intake and caloric intake will help you a long ways with determining what steps you need to take to fine tune. I still recommend that you take another look at strength training. There are many creative ways to do this without joining a gym, but the gym route is probably the most common and convenient for most people. I'll probably get slapped on the wrist for linking to so many other websites, but there are several very good resources out there. One of the best, in my opinion, is Matt Perryman's website: http://www.ampedtraining.com/ Martin Berkhan's website, Leangains.com is a great resource for intermittent fasting, which has helped me personally to lose fat. JCDFitness is another good one.
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