OK, there have been a lot of "I need to lose weight and tone up" threads since Jan 1 (go figure) so I thought I would start a thread with beginning fat loss in mind. Please note that this is an intro and many of you already know this info, so please keep in mind that some people come to this board with no knowledge of nutrition and this thread is for them. (I've been meaning to start this for over a year now).
First and foremost, you are making a very positive change in your life. Congrats. You feel physically feel better and be emotionally happier. Your insurance companies thank you as well. (although McDonalds may spite you for a lower share price).
Remember that weight loss and fat loss are different. Weight comes off and is added quickly thru water manipilation, food in the gut, etc. True fat loss is slower and since we all know that fat loss is the goal, we need to be patient. Not all weight loss is fat so dont get excited when you lose 7 lbs the first week and dont get discouraged when 5 lbs come back the next week. To set expectations, don’t count on seeing anything visible in the mirror for 3-4 weeks. It's up to you if you want to weigh in everyday to see shorter term progress, but remember that daily changes in weight can fluctuate wildly. just stay with your program, and you will see results. You didnt get fat overnight and you wont get ripped in a week. So please be patient.
So how do you lose fat?
First, you need to be in a caloric deficit. Your body needs to burn more cals than it takes in on a consistent basis. There are three ways to do this:
1. Eat less
2. Exercise more
3. A combination of 1 and 2
EAT LESS
Lets look at the most important factor here: eating less. This is the single most important factor for someone new to losing fat. You never have to exercise in your life but as long as you eat correctly, you can lose weight. You want to eat less than your maintenance cals (the cals your body uses to get thru everyday life as it maintains a constant weight). You can determine maintenance cals by charting your daily caloric intake and seeing at what level you remain at the same weight. Or you can estimate it by multiplying your bodyweight by 15.
To lose weight, you need to eat less than that. A 20% caloric deficit is a good place to start. That would equate to about 12 cals per pound bodyweight. For most people, the following formula can give them a good place to start in determining how many cals they need to eat in order to lose weight:
Bodyweight x 12 cals/lb
So if you weigh 180 lbs, a good starting point is 2160 cals. Some go for a larger deficit but if you haven’t dieted before, or if you have a strong psychological connection to food, then a slower start is better. later, you may want cut back to 8-10 cals/lb. Every body is different, so you may need to tweak your cals a bit. ***remember: as you lose weight, your maintenance cals will decrease so alter your cal intake periodically***
Now on to what "diet" works best. The short answer, it doesn’t really matter. All diets work. Atkins, Zone, South Bronx tapeworm, etc., they all create cal deficits and results can be seen. The problem is that people quickly go back to their old eating habits and the weight loss reverses. My advice is to always eat natural, unprocessed foods and lean meats but that cant be done for all people so you will have to use your discretion. But since we know your calorie requirements, lets start running some numbers.
First, lets set your macronutrient goals. Since many people exercise, protein is going to be very important. I generally recommend 1g/lb bodyweight. This means 180g (720 cals) for the 180 lb example. (protein provides 4 cals/gram) This amount help keep your muscle and prevents you from wasting away. For a beginner, you may seem some solid increases in muscle mass as well. Please note that an increase in muscle mass may keep your weight from going down but you may still be losing fat (see earlier comments on the difference between weight and fat).
Believe it or not, your body needs fat (so no need for Alli). A good place to start is to get 25% of cals from fat. Since fat provides 9 cals/gram, lets do the math for our example:
2160 cals x .25 = 540 cals
540 cals / 9 cals per g = 60g of fat needed daily
So the rest will come from carbs (preferably unprocessed foods and veggies). Since we need 2160 cals, and 720 are coming from protein and 540 are coming from fat, then we need 900 cals from carbs. That translates to 225 grams since carbs provide 4cals/gram.
To summarize:
1. Determine your weight
(180)
2. Multiply weight by 12 to determine daily caloric needs
(180 x 12 = 2160)
3. Multiple weight by 1 to determine number of grams of protein you need daily
(180 x 1 = 180 grams) (this also means 720 cals since each gram of protein has 4 cals)
4. Multiply daily caloric needs by 25% to determine fat intake
(2160 x 0.25 = 540 fat calories) (divide this number by 9 to determine how many grams of fat you need…60g in this case)
5. Get the rest of your cals from carbs.
(2160-720-540=900 cals) (divide this by 4 to get the number of grams…225g carbs)
The body knows what it is doing. It will know that you are cutting back on cals and will try to fight it. To reduce this metabolism slowdown, take 5 hours each week to eat some decent amount of foods, a free meal. While this meal is mostly psychological, it can also have some physiological benefits, especially if you are working out intensely (refill muscle glycogen). Once every 10-14 days, take a whole day or 2 off the reduced cal diet and refeed. Eat at above maintenance cals with the majority of cals coming from carbs, then protein. Some people choose to eat high fat meals and while this is fine for one meal, it is not in the best interest of your goals to binge out. Every 6 weeks or so, it is a good idea to stop dieting completely and eat maintenance cals for 5-7 days. just remember, the fatter you are, the less refeed you need (fatter individuals should wait 14 days). Dont fool yourself into thinking you need a refeed if you really dont. And a refeed is not an excuse to stuff your face with as much as you can.
Oh, and drink LOTS of water.
Now we can start exercising...
EXERCISE MORE
This is a very personal aspect of life. Some people run marathons, others run sprints. Some people love to lift weights while others wont step foot in a gym. The choice is yours and the options are endless. The bottom line is that you move around a lot and get some work done.
If you are new to running, get out there and run. Walk or stop if you need to rest and then get running again. Set goals. Hell, set goals for everything you do. There are lots of runners on this board that will be glad to help (I’m not one of them)
If you like lifting weights, incorporate full body routines 3 times a week to start. Again, start slowly and then build up. Cardio is great but can be time consuming. Look into HIIT and incorporate that into your program.
LADIES...unless you are taking anabolic/androgenic steroids, you will not bulk up by lifting weights.
FYI, there is no such thing as spot reduction when it comes to fat. A thousand crunches a day won't get rid of your spare tire if your diet isn't in check. Fat comes off in a genetic predetermined pattern, much like it was put on. For guys, the fat is generally added first to the ab area, and that is the last place it comes off. For women, its hips, thighs, and ass. Yes, it sucks, but then again, so does nature for doing this to civilized people. Damn my ancestors...
IF YOU ARE ALREADY LEAN...and want to lose some of that stubborn body fat, please search for the post on "stubborn body fat" where I quote Lyle McDonald's routine. This routine is for people that are already lean. If you arent sub 10% BF, then it wont be as helpful and other methods can work better.
A few words about supplements: other than protein powder and fish oils, which I consider food since they have calories, most supplements are useless. Don’t waste money on them. For questions on protein powders, check out this thread:
http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1086031&forum_id=48
(this is a work in progress so it will be updated but i had to get it out there or I never would post it)
[This message has been edited by Sr. Gomez (edited 2/19/2008 1:30p).]
[This message has been edited by Sr. Gomez (edited 2/27/2008 11:39a).]
First and foremost, you are making a very positive change in your life. Congrats. You feel physically feel better and be emotionally happier. Your insurance companies thank you as well. (although McDonalds may spite you for a lower share price).
Remember that weight loss and fat loss are different. Weight comes off and is added quickly thru water manipilation, food in the gut, etc. True fat loss is slower and since we all know that fat loss is the goal, we need to be patient. Not all weight loss is fat so dont get excited when you lose 7 lbs the first week and dont get discouraged when 5 lbs come back the next week. To set expectations, don’t count on seeing anything visible in the mirror for 3-4 weeks. It's up to you if you want to weigh in everyday to see shorter term progress, but remember that daily changes in weight can fluctuate wildly. just stay with your program, and you will see results. You didnt get fat overnight and you wont get ripped in a week. So please be patient.
So how do you lose fat?
First, you need to be in a caloric deficit. Your body needs to burn more cals than it takes in on a consistent basis. There are three ways to do this:
1. Eat less
2. Exercise more
3. A combination of 1 and 2
EAT LESS
Lets look at the most important factor here: eating less. This is the single most important factor for someone new to losing fat. You never have to exercise in your life but as long as you eat correctly, you can lose weight. You want to eat less than your maintenance cals (the cals your body uses to get thru everyday life as it maintains a constant weight). You can determine maintenance cals by charting your daily caloric intake and seeing at what level you remain at the same weight. Or you can estimate it by multiplying your bodyweight by 15.
To lose weight, you need to eat less than that. A 20% caloric deficit is a good place to start. That would equate to about 12 cals per pound bodyweight. For most people, the following formula can give them a good place to start in determining how many cals they need to eat in order to lose weight:
Bodyweight x 12 cals/lb
So if you weigh 180 lbs, a good starting point is 2160 cals. Some go for a larger deficit but if you haven’t dieted before, or if you have a strong psychological connection to food, then a slower start is better. later, you may want cut back to 8-10 cals/lb. Every body is different, so you may need to tweak your cals a bit. ***remember: as you lose weight, your maintenance cals will decrease so alter your cal intake periodically***
Now on to what "diet" works best. The short answer, it doesn’t really matter. All diets work. Atkins, Zone, South Bronx tapeworm, etc., they all create cal deficits and results can be seen. The problem is that people quickly go back to their old eating habits and the weight loss reverses. My advice is to always eat natural, unprocessed foods and lean meats but that cant be done for all people so you will have to use your discretion. But since we know your calorie requirements, lets start running some numbers.
First, lets set your macronutrient goals. Since many people exercise, protein is going to be very important. I generally recommend 1g/lb bodyweight. This means 180g (720 cals) for the 180 lb example. (protein provides 4 cals/gram) This amount help keep your muscle and prevents you from wasting away. For a beginner, you may seem some solid increases in muscle mass as well. Please note that an increase in muscle mass may keep your weight from going down but you may still be losing fat (see earlier comments on the difference between weight and fat).
Believe it or not, your body needs fat (so no need for Alli). A good place to start is to get 25% of cals from fat. Since fat provides 9 cals/gram, lets do the math for our example:
2160 cals x .25 = 540 cals
540 cals / 9 cals per g = 60g of fat needed daily
So the rest will come from carbs (preferably unprocessed foods and veggies). Since we need 2160 cals, and 720 are coming from protein and 540 are coming from fat, then we need 900 cals from carbs. That translates to 225 grams since carbs provide 4cals/gram.
To summarize:
1. Determine your weight
(180)
2. Multiply weight by 12 to determine daily caloric needs
(180 x 12 = 2160)
3. Multiple weight by 1 to determine number of grams of protein you need daily
(180 x 1 = 180 grams) (this also means 720 cals since each gram of protein has 4 cals)
4. Multiply daily caloric needs by 25% to determine fat intake
(2160 x 0.25 = 540 fat calories) (divide this number by 9 to determine how many grams of fat you need…60g in this case)
5. Get the rest of your cals from carbs.
(2160-720-540=900 cals) (divide this by 4 to get the number of grams…225g carbs)
The body knows what it is doing. It will know that you are cutting back on cals and will try to fight it. To reduce this metabolism slowdown, take 5 hours each week to eat some decent amount of foods, a free meal. While this meal is mostly psychological, it can also have some physiological benefits, especially if you are working out intensely (refill muscle glycogen). Once every 10-14 days, take a whole day or 2 off the reduced cal diet and refeed. Eat at above maintenance cals with the majority of cals coming from carbs, then protein. Some people choose to eat high fat meals and while this is fine for one meal, it is not in the best interest of your goals to binge out. Every 6 weeks or so, it is a good idea to stop dieting completely and eat maintenance cals for 5-7 days. just remember, the fatter you are, the less refeed you need (fatter individuals should wait 14 days). Dont fool yourself into thinking you need a refeed if you really dont. And a refeed is not an excuse to stuff your face with as much as you can.
Oh, and drink LOTS of water.
Now we can start exercising...
EXERCISE MORE
This is a very personal aspect of life. Some people run marathons, others run sprints. Some people love to lift weights while others wont step foot in a gym. The choice is yours and the options are endless. The bottom line is that you move around a lot and get some work done.
If you are new to running, get out there and run. Walk or stop if you need to rest and then get running again. Set goals. Hell, set goals for everything you do. There are lots of runners on this board that will be glad to help (I’m not one of them)
If you like lifting weights, incorporate full body routines 3 times a week to start. Again, start slowly and then build up. Cardio is great but can be time consuming. Look into HIIT and incorporate that into your program.
LADIES...unless you are taking anabolic/androgenic steroids, you will not bulk up by lifting weights.
FYI, there is no such thing as spot reduction when it comes to fat. A thousand crunches a day won't get rid of your spare tire if your diet isn't in check. Fat comes off in a genetic predetermined pattern, much like it was put on. For guys, the fat is generally added first to the ab area, and that is the last place it comes off. For women, its hips, thighs, and ass. Yes, it sucks, but then again, so does nature for doing this to civilized people. Damn my ancestors...
IF YOU ARE ALREADY LEAN...and want to lose some of that stubborn body fat, please search for the post on "stubborn body fat" where I quote Lyle McDonald's routine. This routine is for people that are already lean. If you arent sub 10% BF, then it wont be as helpful and other methods can work better.
A few words about supplements: other than protein powder and fish oils, which I consider food since they have calories, most supplements are useless. Don’t waste money on them. For questions on protein powders, check out this thread:
http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1086031&forum_id=48
(this is a work in progress so it will be updated but i had to get it out there or I never would post it)
[This message has been edited by Sr. Gomez (edited 2/19/2008 1:30p).]
[This message has been edited by Sr. Gomez (edited 2/27/2008 11:39a).]