New Get Fit Program...attempt !

Atchoo

Hi guys,

I'm embarking on a new get fit program after putting on 2st in the past year :eek: I'm 5'2" and 11st. Any diet advice appreciated, but I'm mostly unsure about the fitness side of it. A year ago I was 9 stone and hoping to go down to 8. My exercise was jogging and yoga, which worked for a while but I hit a plateau. I know now that I should have upped the ante, but I got disheartened and and I gave up altogether, then threw my good eating habits out the window.

I would love to lose 3 stone within 5 months, but to be honest its not the weight - its the inches that I would prefer to see disappear and any amount at this stage would suffice !

Diet:
Breakfast: Porridge/boiled eggs/home made fruit smoothie
Snack: Nuts/portion of fruit/olives
Lunch: Tuna salad / veg soup
Snack: Same as above
Dinner: Veg omelette / white meat & veg with wild rice

Training: I am putting some resistance/weight training into the mix, but I'm winging it and would prefer to have a solid work out plan. This is what I did yesterday. Any comments appreciated.

Weight -
Static Squats: on for 20secs / off for 10 x 7
Regular Squats: 4 sets of 15
Lunges: 4 sets of 15 per leg
Dead Lifts: 4 sets of 15
(I only used weights with the dead lifts, cant remember how many kgs)
Cardio -
5 minute walk
1 min jog / 30 sec flat out sprint x 4
1 min walk / 15 sec jog x 2
5 minute walk

Needless to say, I was absolutely embarrassingly knackered from the above (am a smoker also) and bum and legs are dying today. But at least I know its working ! I think...:o

Thanks in advance.

Kev.

Check out Bodybuilding.com

Ill pull up a basic guide Ive written before when I find it

This will help for now....


Wavelength Guide to Cutting v2.0

The goal of a cutting diet is to improve body composition by losing fat while preserving as much muscle as possible.

Essential Rules

- Workout with weights 3 times a week.
- Drink about a gallon of water each day.
- Eat at least 1g protein / lb of lean body mass a day.
- Eat some fruit, veggies/salad, and some essential fatty acids (EFAs) every day.
- Above that eat whatever you want, preferably a wide variety of foods.
- Adjust your food intake so that the desired rate of weight change is maintained.
- The rate of weight change should not be above 3lbs/week, 1-2lbs/week is recommended.

IMO, any diet (resp. cutting method) that follows the above rules is optimal for cutting, any further details will not have significant effect on body composition. If you already have a meal plan, just check if these rules are followed and adjust if not.

Measuring Progress and Adjusting Food Intake

- Weigh yourself once a week, always at the same time (e.g. right after waking up).
- Don't panic if your weight stays the same or even goes up for one or two weeks.
- If your weight does not go down for more than three weeks, slightly reduce calories.
- If your rate of weight loss is above the recommended value, slightly increase calories.
- The change in daily calories from those adjustments should not exceed 500 cals.
- After adjustment, stay on the new value for at least three weeks before adjusting again.

If you have never done a cutting diet, it's always better to start with more calories and reduce slowly until the desired rate of weight change is maintained. If you stay patient, you will not have to adjust very often. With more experience, you will not have to count calories anymore, but as a beginner it is probably a good idea.

Unessential Factors

Since many questions revolve around further details of cutting diets, here is a list of factors that I believe to be of insignificant effect for body composition:

- Cardio and fat burners,
- Meal timing and meal frequency,
- Protein / Carb / Fat distribution throughout the day,
- carb / fat ratio,
- Sodium intake,
- Moderate alcohol intake,
- Use of supplements resp. meal replacements,
- "Clean" food vs. Junk food (sugar and saturated fat).

All these factors should be used as tools to make the diet as convenient as possible. Many people e.g. have an easier time dieting with eating more calories and doing cardio or taking fat burners. Some people like myself have an easier time without cardio and fat burners. In my experience, the end result (body composition improvement) is not significantly influenced. Another example is protein supplements. I e.g. use whey powder to meet my daily protein intake out of convenience. I could just as well get all my protein from other sources. A third example is meal frequency and timing. This tool should be used to reduce hunger as much as possible throughout the day. For some people that means eating 6 times a day, for others it means eating only once or twice a day.

Psychological Tips and Tricks

- It is possible that you will not "see" changes in the mirror until your bodyfat gets rather low. Don't panic, as long as the rules are followed, everything is right on track.

- If at all, only assess your physique right after a workout. At other times it's too dependent on water retention, and the mind will play tricks on you (telling you your progress sucks, etc.).

- Have a cheat day (pig-out day) once in a while, where you eat what you want. I had one every week on my last diet. Don't feel guilty about it, as long as the rules are still followed, everything is allright.

- Don't take the whole thing too serious. It's better to not care about it so much. See it more as being the coach of another person, rather than yourself.

Bulking

The goal of a bulking diet is to improve body composition by gaining muscle while keeping fat gains as small as possible. Although this is a cutting guide, for bulking, the only thing that changes is that the rate of weight change X is positive (body weight increases).

The critical factor is the value of X. Everyone has a different ability to gain weight with a certain ratio of muscle vs. fat gain. This ability is dependent on factors like genetics, age, training experience, etc. The ratio will decrease the higher X is, but not in a linear way. The trick is to find the optimal value for X, where the ratio is still close to optimum. Unfortunally, this is solely a matter of experience. My advise would be to increase calories by 500 over maintenance and check if weight goes up while fat gains are still tolerable. If no weight is gained, increase calories again. If fat gains are too high, decrease calories.

Frequently Asked Questions

This section tries to answer the most frequently asked questions of the "How to lose fat for Noobs" thread (see link section) on the bodybuilding.com "Losing Fat" forum as well as questions I recieved via PM or on other threads.

Q: How do I determine how much calories I should consume?
A: You can just go by what you currently eat and reduce from there as described in the guide. Alternativiely, use a calorie calculator like the Total Metabolism Forecaster, see link section.

Q: Is it important to get the same amount of calories resp. macros every day?
A: No, it's OK to eat a little less one day and more the next.

Q: I lose more than 3lbs a week, is that OK?
A: Some people get away with losing more, especially when at high bodyfat. As long as strength is OK and all other essential rules are followed, no problem.

Q: How do I determine my lean body mass for calculating my protein intake?
A: You have to take your total body weight and subtract your fat weight. If you e.g. weigh 200lbs and your bodyfat is 20% (=40lbs), your lean body mass is 200lbs - 40lbs = 160lbs. If you don't know your bodyfat, just take a guess. When in doubt, just eat a little more. However, if for some reason, you can't eat as much protein, just eat a little less, most people will still do fine.

Q: Does it matter where I get my protein from and what are good protein sources?
A: Generally, it does not matter. You can get your protein from meat, fish, eggs, cheese, protein powder, etc. Although there are differences in quality (regarding muscle sparing effect), they can easily be made up for with just a little more quantity.

Q: I work out less/more than 3 times a week, is that OK?
A: Yes, as long as all other essential rules are followed. Some people get away with less, some do better on more.

Q: I lost a lot of weight in the first few weeks but weight loss has slowed down, why?
A: The initial weight loss was probably mostly water loss. Stay at the current intake for at least another 3 weeks. If weight loss stalls, slightly reduce calories as described in the guide.

Q: Can I increase muscle mass while losing fat?
A: Yes, depending on your genetics, training experience, and age, it is possible. The only essential rule that changes in this case is total caloric intake resp. rate of weight loss. You will have to find the sweet spot where you still gain strength in the gym while leaning out. In this case, you can measure progress not by rate of weight loss but e.g. by measuring waist size. Or you can just try to maintain a smaller rate of weight loss and still go by weighing. Depending on what is more important to you at the time, you can adjust calories to lean more towards fat loss or muscle gaining. However, it's a lot easier to concentrate on either muscle gain (bulking) or fat loss (cutting).

Q: What about keto diets?
A: Principally, keto diets (very low carb diets), as long as they follow all rules, would be fine. IMO, some people have a problem preserving muscle mass on a keto diet. For other people it works great. I don't think keto diets provide a significant advantage other than maybe being more convenient for some people.

Q: What about post workout nutrition?
A: I would not intentionally starve myself of protein after a workout. A meal containing some protein or a shake is perfectly fine.

Q: Apart from body composition, what about health?
A: First of all, it is important to distinguish between the goal of optimal body composition and the goal of optimal health. For the former, the guide provides all essential rules. For the latter, opinions vary a lot between experts and over time (see e.g. saturated fat, GI, food processing, cholesterol, etc.). Therefore, IMO the best way to go is to eat a wide variety of foods.

Q: How can I lose fat in certain areas of my body?
A: Although there are theories that spot reduction is possible to a certain degree, generally IMO it's not feasible. You can only reduce overall bodyfat and wait for the problem areas to come in.

Q: What are the rules for weight training on a cut?
A: None other than on a bulk. For an easy workout routine, check link section.

Q: What exactly is your cutting diet?
A: My cutting diet is somewhat extreme since I only eat one big meal a day plus a 100g whey protein shake (see link section). That's just the most convenient way for me. However, every other diet that follows the essential rules is also perfectly OK.

Q: Should I eat differently on workout days than on off days?
A: That's not necessary, I would only eat a little more on workout days if you are very hungry (out of convenience).

Q: Does this guide also work for girls?
A: Of course!

Atchoo

Wow, that's a lot to take in. Thanks Kev !

Gaz

Your best bet is to not over complicate things , while the above might be sound advice it is probably not applicable to your average joe ... you dont need to be "cutting"

Your diet looks reasonable, work out how many calories you need a day (this is in the stickies) then work out how much your eating (fitday) Now try to go 10-15% below what you need.

If say you need to drop 500kcal a day, make 250 of that from diet and 250 from exercise. Thats a negative drop of 3500 a week or 1lb of fat.
This approach is usually easy enough to follow.

Spread your meals out over the day , snack on things like nuts or carrot sticks. Carrot sticks with 100% peanut butter is a favourite of mine. Cut back on processed food and alchohol. Try to have some protein with every meal.

Follow this and you will loose weight. just be patient and enjoy it.

Good luck !

Atchoo

Sound. Thanks Gaz.

Atchoo

Is it ok to train if you have DOMS, as long as you do one day on, one day off ?