35% Body Fat

Ezra Wibberley · 20-10-2015 9:57am #1

So I've had an assessment done on my body fat (using calipers and being pinched and squeezed!), and have started a workout program.

- 31 years old
- male
- 177cm
- 106kg
- 35% body fat

37kg of my body is fat.

My trainer has told me that following his program (2 days weights a week, 1 day intervals) and by steadily introducing the dietary changes he's prescribing (he knows as well as I do that if he does a 100% overhaul overnight the chances of me sticking rigidly to it are low!) it will take 10-12 months to get me to 15% body fat.

While I'm delighted to have actually started getting this underway, I feel I've got an uphill battle ahead of me. I'd love to hear some advice, personal experiences, etc from other boards users who have been in similar situation or know of others who have started from similar positions.

The dietary changes he has pushed so far; post workout (I've had 3 so far, DOMS is horrific!) to cut out carbs with my meal, i.e., for example go with a baked fillet of salmon and vegetables, "the greener the better", and ensure at least 50% of my plate is veg. First thing I'm to eat in the morning is half an avocado and chicken fillet.
Take a krill oil each morning & evening.

The plan is do body fat measurements every 2 weeks to monitor progress - I intend on posting my progress on boards.

ford2600 · 20-10-2015 10:34am

First of best of luck.

Regarding DOMS read this
http://revolutionfitness.ie/3-tips-deal-doms/

I've no idea how hard losing weight is but I would keep the following in mind
* Consistency is essential
* Get to like clean foods, be it fish, chicken, kale, broccoli or whatever. You can train your tastebuds to like almost anything. Your an adult quit the whinging

* learn to cook, spices are your friend
* This change isn't for 6 months or 12 months it's for life.
* Most people will be supportive, use the complements as motivation and remember anything negative is just someone reacting to your change challenging them
* We are hard wired to seek calorie dense palatable food, while that was an advantage in the jungle/desert or wherever in our mostly toxic junk food environment it means that pizza/chips/ice cream etc etc is always going to look good. Maybe learn to associate junk food with looking and feeling bad or similar; use your rational (newer brain) to beat the ancient animal one
* Improve your sleep aclai.ie has a few posts on it
* Get an activity you like and enjoy to do which requires some movement, be it cycling, racket sports anything

Oryx · 20-10-2015 10:47am

On your bad days (and you will have bad days) when you want to quit, come back and read your opening post here and remind yourself why you are doing it. If you are getting bored or unmotivated, talk to your trainer for a shake up of your program. Find something to motivate yourself apart from random 'lose weight ' or 'get fitter'. An event, or sport, or challenge you currently cant do. Something like that will keep you going when you dont want to.

Ezra Wibberley · 20-10-2015 10:56am

ford2600 wrote: »

First of best of luck.
* Get to like clean foods, be it fish, chicken, kale, broccoli or whatever. You can train your tastebuds to like almost anything. Your an adult quit the whinging
* learn to cook, spices are your friend

^^This isn't going to be much of a problem. I have turned around my eating pretty well of late, so the exercise program was the next natural step. I feared overwhelming myself by attempting it all at once, so decided to 'sort' my diet first. This is actually going pretty well most of the time. Spices are indeed my friend

My diet isn't perfect but processed foods intake has dramatically dropped over last few months, and plan to continually improve my diet slowly and steadily.

ford2600 wrote: »

remember anything negative is just someone reacting to your change challenging them

Interesting observation!

Ezra Wibberley · 20-10-2015 10:58am

Oryx wrote: »

On your bad days (and you will have bad days) when you want to quit, come back and read your opening post here and remind yourself why you are doing it. If you are getting bored or unmotivated, talk to your trainer for a shake up of your program. Find something to motivate yourself apart from random 'lose weight ' or 'get fitter'. An event, or sport, or challenge you currently cant do. Something like that will keep you going when you dont want to.

Good solid advice. I need to think about this one. I've never had a particular love of anything sporty. Have completed a half marathon previously and know that running is not enjoyable for me. Maybe cycling.. or swimming.

jester77 · 20-10-2015 11:02am

Are you taking photos of your progress? If not you should. Stick that initial photo on your mirror where you get ready each morning as a source of motivation. Create shopping lists before you go shopping and stick to them, don't deviate. If you have a good solid shopping list, you won't succumb to buying unhealthy food. Best of luck. The DOMS will ease off after a few sessions.

Zillah · 20-10-2015 11:17am

ford2600 wrote: »

Regarding DOMS read this
http://revolutionfitness.ie/3-tips-deal-doms/

I did some googling. I wonder if Hanley knows that all of the ZMA studies which suggested it works were funded by supplement companies.

ford2600 · 20-10-2015 11:50am

Zillah wrote: »

I did some googling. I wonder if Hanley knows that all of the ZMA studies which suggested it works were funded by supplement companies.

Maybe so, but placebo effect kicked in for me with ZMA!:pac:

It was probably better sleep and little more protein though

Hanley · 20-10-2015 12:03pm

Zillah wrote: »

I did some googling. I wonder if Hanley knows that all of the ZMA studies which suggested it works were funded by supplement companies.

I wonder if he cares.

Just take magnesium instead if it's that big of a deal.

Zillah · 20-10-2015 12:08pm

I wonder if he's feeling confrontational for no reason?

Ezra Wibberley · 20-10-2015 12:16pm

I'm unsure if I should be going down the protein shake route yet really? Perhaps wrongly, in my mind its the type of thing that is only for people who are well into a weights routine? Or is it the case of people like me, in infancy of weight training need it even more? Thinking of sticking to lean meats after work outs for my protein, but maybe this isn't the way to go?

Ezra Wibberley · 20-10-2015 12:21pm

jester77 wrote: »

Are you taking photos of your progress? If not you should. Stick that initial photo on your mirror where you get ready each morning as a source of motivation

I haven't taken photographs, but this sounds like a good idea to give real tangible evidence of progress. I know at times it may feel like progress isn't being made when it is!

desertcircus · 20-10-2015 12:31pm

I'd echo the suggestion to work on finding a physical activity you enjoy doing. Of the people I know who've dropped a significant amount of weight and kept it off, almost every one of them has taken up a sport.

Tiddlypeeps · 20-10-2015 1:17pm

Ezra Wibberley wrote: »

I'm unsure if I should be going down the protein shake route yet really? Perhaps wrongly, in my mind its the type of thing that is only for people who are well into a weights routine? Or is it the case of people like me, in infancy of weight training need it even more? Thinking of sticking to lean meats after work outs for my protein, but maybe this isn't the way to go?

Protein shakes aren't needed if weight loss is the goal, they aren't even needed if putting on muscle is the goal, they are just a convenient source of protein. One thing I can say about them tho is that they make me feel really full for fairly little calories, so on days where I do have one I'm much less likely to over eat on other stuff and I'm much less likely to snack. If you don't feel they will help you then don't bother with them, if you find it hard to eat enough protein or you find you are hungry through out the day then maybe give them a try.

lawred2 · 20-10-2015 1:23pm

Zillah wrote: »

I did some googling. I wonder if Hanley knows that all of the ZMA studies which suggested it works were funded by supplement companies.

what is ZMA?

Ezra Wibberley · 20-10-2015 1:42pm

..double post removed..

Ezra Wibberley · 20-10-2015 1:43pm

Work offered a free body composition analysis today, which I gladly accepted.

I have a scan copy of my results here... but as a new user I can't attach images or links. Perhaps if somebody PM'd me, I could give them the link and let them upload the picture for discussion?

Zillah · 20-10-2015 3:01pm

lawred2 wrote: »

what is ZMA?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZMA_%28supplement%29

Seems like it might be a placebo unless you have some actual vitamin deficiencies.

Squall Leonhart · 20-10-2015 3:43pm

Ezra Wibberley wrote: »

I have a scan copy of my results here... but as a new user I can't attach images or links. Perhaps if somebody PM'd me, I could give them the link and let them upload the picture for discussion?

PM sent

Squall Leonhart · 20-10-2015 4:10pm

Image attached on behalf of Ezra..

Ezra Wibberley · 20-10-2015 4:34pm

Thanks Squall!

So it appears my body fat % according to today's assessment is 32.1%, which is definitely better than 35, but I'm not sure how accurate either measurement is to be honest. Suffice to say even within a good margin of error I'm well on the wrong end of things.

As somebody who doesn't really understand the rest of the measurements, can anybody comment on the numbers?

Dtp1979 · 21-10-2015 7:57am

Ezra Wibberley wrote: »

Thanks Squall!

So it appears my body fat % according to today's assessment is 32.1%, which is definitely better than 35, but I'm not sure how accurate either measurement is to be honest. Suffice to say even within a good margin of error I'm well on the wrong end of things.

As somebody who doesn't really understand the rest of the measurements, can anybody comment on the numbers?

Bioelectrical impedance isn't a very good way of measuring body fat or anything else. It's most accurate first thing in the morning, after fasting.

koutoubia · 21-10-2015 9:02am

I used to take ZMA before bed but I had to stop as I was getting very deep very real dreams some of which disturbed me so stopped.
Tried two different brands but with the same effect!

Ezra Wibberley · 21-10-2015 9:12am

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Bioelectrical impedance isn't a very good way of measuring body fat or anything else. It's most accurate first thing in the morning, after fasting.

Thanks Dtp1979, so in your opinion the calipers (if used competently) are more likely to give accurate readings?

Intervals tonight... still feeling damn sore after Monday night. I'm sure it'll be fine once I start into it. Best thing is it's only about 35 minutes but it's quite full on (if you ever want a way to extend your life, intervals for me seem to slow down my life, "only 6 more seconds..." haha)

Zillah · 21-10-2015 10:34am

Am I right in saying that you're going back into exercise while you still have DOMS?

Dtp1979 · 21-10-2015 10:52am

Ezra Wibberley wrote: »

Thanks Dtp1979, so in your opinion the calipers (if used competently) are more likely to give accurate readings?

Intervals tonight... still feeling damn sore after Monday night. I'm sure it'll be fine once I start into it. Best thing is it's only about 35 minutes but it's quite full on (if you ever want a way to extend your life, intervals for me seem to slow down my life, "only 6 more seconds..." haha)

Callipers are fairly accurate and cheap to do. Dexa scan would be optimum but way to expensive

Ezra Wibberley · 21-10-2015 12:01pm

Zillah wrote: »

Am I right in saying that you're going back into exercise while you still have DOMS?

You are correct.

My first session, weights, was last Tuesday, followed by a day of rest and interval training on Thursday.

Then I resumed with weights on Monday, rest day yesterday and will have intervals tonight, weights tomorrow.

To be honest, I'm in much better shape heading into intervals tonight than I was last week. Last week was cruel, but when I got moving and warmed up the interval session was manageable (but tough!). Today I'm sore but not whimpering up stairs!

Tar.Aldarion · 21-10-2015 12:19pm

Foam rolling removes a lot of pain for me. I don't think it matters when i eat after, be it a minute or hours (afaik zma and bcaas are mostly pointless). Initial pain will be more intense, just because you've not been using the muscles. Sounds like you are exercising different muscles than the ones that gave you DOMS today and will be back to them tomorrow?

Blacktie. · 21-10-2015 1:02pm

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Foam rolling removes a lot of pain for me

OP be advised while doing it, especially at the start, this will hurt!

Ezra Wibberley · 21-10-2015 1:44pm

I don't think my gym has foam rollers, but I could be wrong. I'm not sure. How do they work out of interest?

TarAldarion, you're correct, there's a slight overlap on the work tonight with Monday's work (upper legs will be put under pressure tonight, walking up and down steps with a kettle bell in each hand) but it's not nearly as demanding as the leg specific free weight exercises. Tonight is 25secs of an exercise, 10secs breather, some with weights, some without, repeat through different exercises.

Valmont · 21-10-2015 6:18pm

I usually go to the gym before work during the summer when the days are long and it's not as cold. When winter sets in I just start going after work instead. It can get very hard to get up at 6am to go the gym in the middle of November when it's dark, raining, and cold.

35% Body Fat

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