Weight Loss Thread

chaos_sl said:

If you're not hungry I wouldn't really worry about it. A lot of days I only get like 1400 calories and I don't feel hungry until I'm just about to go to sleep. People overplay the whole "starvation mode" thing. It isn't as if you don't follow My Fitness Pal to the letter and your body shuts down. Some other people are more educated than me, maybe there is some big risk, but I doubt it.

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If you've been consistently eating healthy food, then your physical (not psychological) hunger level pretty much tells you if you should eat or not. So, if you eat a lot of healthy food, and don't feel sluggish, tired, or hungry, it is probably fine. Especially if you are fat in which case your body will tap those reserves.

Kovaks_sl said:

As part of my weight loss i am counting calories. Usually i end the day around 1400-1700 of my allotted 1950 (this is food minus exercise). Today i am only at 1000 calories and im not hungary but im worried can i be getting too few calories? Looking for advice is there a min i should be going for looks like the government thinks its 1200 but what does your experiance say?

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There's a certain amount of food that your body requires to function, but I can't tell you what it is. The thing is, you can go without food for extended periods of time, it's just whether you're willing to sacrifice muscle mass for it.

BruuceWarduck_sl said:

omg my shit flucuates so much its so annoying. its not uncommon to see 4-5 pound swing in either direction on any random given day.

my foot just started feeling better after i hurt it by adding in jogging between lifting days. today i ran 5 miles and now my knee hurts to where its pretty noticeable. stupid

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Take up some low impact cardio instead like swimming, biking or the gay elliptical. I have awful knees/hips from a life of skateboarding and I couldn't run a mile to save my life.

Deathwing_sl said:

Why is the elliptical gay? Oh, wait, are you one of those guys that likes to pound the treadmill so hard, you annoy the people around even through their earbuds?

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Nah, I don't bro out at the gym. I do all my cardio in nature or if the weather is too bad, at home on the rollers.
I just think the elliptical is for women because of how silly you look on it.

Elurin_sl said:

There's a certain amount of food that your body requires to function, but I can't tell you what it is. The thing is, you can go without food for extended periods of time, it's just whether you're willing to sacrifice muscle mass for it.

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Definitely don't want to sacrifice muscle since it boosts metabolism. Im 6'4" 285 and about 26% body fat right now. I want to get back to 230 and lean out. Last few times i have lost weight i did it by lifting alot with some light cardio mixed in and i always ended up at low bodyfat buch much bulkier than i wanted so i though i would try mixing in calorie restriction cardioand lighter lifting this time to see if i can get lean.

I'm being lazy and don't feel like searching through this thread right now (sorry!) but any recommendations for at home work out routines? I've done P90X, P90, Brazil Butt Lift so will likely work my favs in but looking for some new stuff to do with the husband.

DDP Yoga is pretty great.

Has anyone tried Thrive90? They've done a good job at marketing it to my exact situation, but don't know how good it is.

Kovaks_sl said:

Definitely don't want to sacrifice muscle since it boosts metabolism. Im 6'4" 285 and about 26% body fat right now. I want to get back to 230 and lean out. Last few times i have lost weight i did it by lifting alot with some light cardio mixed in and i always ended up at low bodyfat buch much bulkier than i wanted so i though i would try mixing in calorie restriction cardioand lighter lifting this time to see if i can get lean.

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You really 26% body fat? If so, you're fucking jacked. That'd give you 210 pounds LBM...which is huge.

I started dieting on Jan 1st. I bought a scale and a fitbit bracelet thing. At this point I've done nothing but monitor my calories, aka, eat less/drink water instead of diet soda. Here are the results so far (14 days in)



I'm sure it will just stop falling on its own sooner or later, and I'll probably have to actually do some kind of exercise, but for now, this is just eating less.

Elurin_sl said:

You really 26% body fat? If so, you're fucking jacked. That'd give you 210 pounds LBM...which is huge.

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I dont know if it was the most scientific method of testing, i used one of those devices that send electronic pulses into your body and give back a body fat % and it said 26%. Also took some mesurments to go with it. Im not super jacked i do have a good bit of muscle under the fat especially through the butt and legs, but i have huge heavy bones and have met very few people even at my height or taller who are as broad and dense. I do feel like i am carying more fat than 74 lbs though.

Onoes_sl said:

I started dieting on Jan 1st. I bought a scale and a fitbit bracelet thing. At this point I've done nothing but monitor my calories, aka, eat less/drink water instead of diet soda. Here are the results so far (14 days in)
I'm sure it will just stop falling on its own sooner or later, and I'll probably have to actually do some kind of exercise, but for now, this is just eating less.

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How you eat has a lot more to do with losing weight than exercising. Exercising just helps reshape your body into something more attractive than a stick figure (and helps you lose weight faster if your net calories are lower as a result)

The only other thing i would say about exercise is that lifting will boost your resting metabolism afor about 24 hours after the session and the more lean muscle mass you build the faster your resting metabolism gets and more efficient your body is at burning calories.

I'd say exercising, as most people think of it (cardio), doesn't really do anything to reshape your body outside of helping you cut calories. Muscle is what people think about when they think "toned." It's also ripped, muscular, etc. I'm not saying you need to go balls to the wall, but addingsomemuscle mass I think is a requirement to "reshape."

Speaking of lifting, I'm 2 weeks into my cut, but I deadlifted 410 for 3 reps today (172 body weight this morning). It was hard as shit, but pretty excited about it since I was only able to get a single at 410 a month ago. 2.38x BW for 3 reps on a cut.

Congrats on the reps. I love deadlift and cleans. I am thinking i may have to add some rubber bumpers to the gym with my bonus this year so i can do them easier in the garage.

splok_sl said:

I'll try to post a video later today.

Not really, I've hyperextended it a couple of times, but that was years ago and it wasn't anything that didn't fix itself after a few days. I don't get the same problem with the leg press machine, but then I'm probably not be doing a comparable amount of weight once my bodyweight (300ish) isn't involved. Bodyweight squats don't seem to cause problems initially, but it fires up once I add a bit of weight (like 90lbs). After it starts, even lighter weights/bodyweight is painful for a while afterwards. And no, no real stretching/foam rolling habit.

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Errr... You pretty much answered your own question.

You weigh a lot to be putting any extra weight on your knees, and you should not increase the weight until you can comfortably do bodyweight squats in significant quantities (ie: 3 reps of 20+ without struggling) before you start adding weight. 90lbs is a LOT of weight to be starting with as well if you're not sure of your technique, if you're talking about a bar + 25 on each side? or are you talking about bar + 2 45s which is actually 135 which would make it even worse? I know it doesn't look "manly" but doing squats with just the bar empty is a great way of working on your form.

I'm not a PT or anything, so this is pure broscience / experience from high school sports/military...

I signed up for the 90 day challenge at my gym. My measurements this morning are: 179 pounds and 14.7% body fat. I was in shock at all the people that signed up for this. Has anyone ever done this type of challenge before? If so what type of numbers win?


Also, going along with Spiok's squat question. Is doing body weight squats better then going to a squat machine and slowly adding weight? Or is doing both the way to go, along with other leg machines? I haven't tried adding any weight to my squats yet (had ACL Surgery 10 weeks ago). But I currently don't have any pain doing BW squats and I did do some deadlifts this morning and was able to get up to 135 without any pain. My PT told me to take it easy and slowly add weight. So any advice on which way to build strength/lose fat with squats is appreciated.

Convinced the husband to start a work out program with me. Yay. I feel so much better when I'm active and eating well, I just have terrible willpower and crappy motivation when I'm trying to do it on my own. Need to lose 3 lbs and tone up some before Hawaii in two months. Super stoked right now (I'll be hating myself in a week I'm sure).