The Fitness Thread
 

As per the comments in another thread, I figured I'd start a thread dedicated to people who want to talk about keeping fit, working out/training, cutting/bulking, nutrition, motivation, etc.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I may as well start with myself:

Right now I'm about 236 pounds or so, just a bit under 26 years old, and 6 foot 2 inches tall.

(I'm the guy playing on the right -- kmay's on the left):


I don't *look* hugely overweight or anything but it's all in the midsection (which I get tired of hiding) and I'm probably 35% bodyfat based on a 48-inch waist (gachhhh). As you can see, I get winded easily.

So, I'm going on a cut (-1000 deficit from calculated maintenance). Unfortunately, no weight progress so far, so I'm likely doing something wrong. XD

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Good thread. To start, I am trying to gain weight for my size. I have been doing pullups and pushups each day since I am focusing on my upper body strength first.

I currently weigh 125 lbs (~56.7 kgs) and I am 5'6'' (~1.69 m). Ideally what weight should I aim for and how do I gain weight? Thanks!

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I'm 5'9, 155 pounds. 11% body fat.
Currently just focusing on getting my stamina back. In about 2 weeks I'm going to focus on bulking up.

If anyone would like some advice with workout routines, diets, etc. I'd be happy to help.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Nick, please enlighten us! I'd like to hear advice from anyone haha.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Wilson, if you want to gain weight/bulk up, you're going to want to workout your entire body. You're also going to need to eat about 500 calories more than you burn, with lots of protein throughout the day. This is just really general, I can go into more detail if you PM me or something.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

For me, at 48 inch waist, 74 inch height, neck circumference 16 inches, that puts me at 35% bodyfat or so using the equation:
(495/(1.0324-0.19077*LOG10(2.54*(waist circumference at the navel-neck circumference)) + 0.15456*LOG10(height*2.54))-450)/100 with all units in inches

So at 236 pounds that puts me at about 152 pounds lean mass, 84 pounds body fat. Using the Katch-McArdle formula for calculating BMR, that means basal metabolic rate is 370+9.79759519*152 = 1860 calories.

I am aiming to lose 2 pounds of fat per week. Right now I'd like to get down to 15% bodyfat, which means a target weight of 152/(1-.15) = about 180 pounds, which means I need to lose about 56 pounds of fat. A pound of fat is 3500 calories, so two pounds a week means 7000 calories which means 1000 deficit per day.

Problem is I have little muscle mass, which complicates things a bit.




Anyways, my problem:

I'm not sure what exercise routine to follow or how to adjust BMR to account for caloric expenditure. For sedentary people like myself who have a desk job Monday through Friday, the multiplier to BMR is typically 1.2 -- i.e. without working out, my daily caloric output (maintenance calories) would be 1860*1.2 = 2232 calories.

Problem is that a deficit of 1000 from this number puts me at eating 1232 calories a day, which seems quite low. Of course, I'd need to work out.

I don't know the best way to work out and how to calculate the correct caloric output from that. I am figuring that if I lift weights 3x/week and do cardio twice, that brings the multiplier from 1.2 to 1.4, thus a maintenance of 2604 (and eating 1600 calories each day doesn't sound outrageous).

I don't know if 1.4 is too aggressive an estimate or what. I'm not sure what goals to set currently, since right now nothing seems to be moving the needle.

Also not sure how to determine the macros. I figure a gram of protein per lb lean mass is adequate, but I'm not sure if this is optimal (let alone how many carbs/fats I should be taking in). Always hear about the 40/40/20 rule but that sounds a bit outdated, especially for those with high bf%.


EDIT: As you can probably tell I am a bit obsessed with the math. I need the math to make sense but I don't know enough about the underlying biophysics to gauge certain things.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Alright, in that case, I need to go out for a run/ work on my abs more often. Thanks for the small advice. I'll PM you if I need more information.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Don't forget your legs! Very important part. A lot of people just focus on their upper body, and end up having a really disproportional body.

Also, Marcus, checkout this workout plan. If you follow it I guarantee you'll see the results you want.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/guides/m...fat-loss/intro

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Thanks for the link, but unfortunately everything mentioned (especially in the nutrition section) is already taken into account in my above post (and with greater precision as opposed to just multiplying weight by 15).

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

You could go with your more detailed stuff, but if you use the same food and workouts, it should still help a lot.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

210 pounds 5'11, muscular, I have a tad bit of fat in my midsection but most of my mass is muscle mass. I'm going to try to bulk up to 225 in muscle then start to tone.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I'm 5'11", 180.2 pounds with a 34" waist. I'm sitting on the 17.8% mark of body fat.

I've lost 16 pounds in about a two-month span, as well as two inches off my waist. I've logged both my food intake and exercise in an online journal, and it has done complete wonders for me both physically and mentally. I'm sure I can lose at least another inch or two off my waist, because I still have lots of visible fat down in my midsection. It's a long road, but I know I'm gonna make it there.

If you're interested in the idea, here's the website. It's free to use and has a built-in community for it.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I was getting out of shape because of university. I used to bodybuild back in highschool and university, so I decided to get back into it in January.

Started at about 165 lb, 5'11", bodyfat at about 17% (I measure with calipers).

Bulked up to about 177-179 lb, bodyfat actually dropped to about 16% at that time.

I've been cutting now for the past few months and I'm down to about 160 lb and my bodyfat % is down to 8%. Have gained over 10 pounds of lean body mass. Waist is down from about 35 inches to 28.5 inches. At this point, I'm going to start clean bulking again.

Benchpress went from 110x10 to 180x10 during the process, squat went from about 155x10 to 250x10.


I just started using www.fitocracy.com to track my progress and I really like it. Would recommend. I was using a word document, but an RPG is a lot more fun haha.

Can also give routine/dieting advice to anyone interested.

What are your goals? I highly recommend weight training to anyone that plans to lose a lot of weight, because it will help you maintain muscle mass, but depending on your resources and goals it might be easier to simply adopt a cardio routine.

By my calculations, your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is about 2500 calories. That is how much you would need to consume to maintain your bodyweight.

I would start someone like you off at a fairly large deficit to get the weight off fast. Definitely under 2000 cal/day. So, try 1700-1800 a day for starters.

Make sure you log these calories somewhere. Add them up. Only eat foods for which you know the caloric content. The biggest mistake people make is trying to estimate this in their head and doing it completely wrong.

Make sure you weigh yourself every week when you start this, and when you do weigh yourself, do it first thing in the morning. The night before, do not eat any food after supper, and keep supper relatively light. Try to minimize how much water/fluid you drink in the evening as well. The goal of this is to determine your dry mass that is not influenced by fluid retention.

From there, track your weight over time. Someone your size should safely be losing 1.5-2 pounds a week. If you're not losing enough, try cutting back your intake *slightly*. If the weight is literally falling off, increase intake *slightly*, unless you're not hungry at all, in which case keep going!

Do NOT worry about macros or how to compensate for working out if your goal is weight loss. These are advanced concepts. Learn to walk before you run. Just workout and eat the same amount that you planned to eat.

The only macronutrient you should even take into consideration is protein, if you are doing resistance training. At that point, I would keep it over 100 grams per day. Otherwise, just worry about your calories.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Wilson i would say around 150ish is a good weight for us(im 5'6" also), ABSOLUTELY work your legs. You will not get bigger(throughtout your whole body) without doing legs they are very important. Also pushups and pullups are not really good ways to add bulk(they add alot to your core) but putting weight on you might wanna aim for weights. As for putting weight on protein is very helpful so if you get a bag(for shakes) or eat alot of meats and fish its a good way to bulk up. And dont watch what u eat as long as it isnt all junk food, lots of peanut butter samwiches throughout the day!!!

+1 for thread idea because face it we are all on the computer way to much

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Definitely my thread. Need to hit 150lb by the end of nov.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Wow, this looks really cool and useful. I'll probably start using this too. Thanks man.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Thanks for the advice! I am thinking about shooting for 150 lbs. I should probably get my cousin or some hot girl to be my workout partner or something ;)

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I work out 2-3 times per week. Just staying in shape, not too crazy .

Bench about 8x 130lbs 5 sets, squat 160 5x5 ( I suck at squats )

Was 190 in February, now 176lbs (6'2") and trying to incorporate healthy eating habits

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Reincarnate, from your post, you seem really concerned with the mathy stuff behind workouts. I'm not super ripped or super strong, but I'm probably the most normal looking guy in a group of people who seem to be hitting the "This is where I get fat" stage of life. Don't worry so much about numbers, imo. Instead try to focus on having a fun, adventurous, childlike approach to life in general (when it's appropriate), and the workouts will take care of themselves.

And that DDR doesn't look like it's hurting either. Keep doing that is my advice. And try to avoid soda and booze. A lot of stuff is bad for you, but not in the deathblow kind of way those are.

What's wrong with core?

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I want to be in better shape but like Mike said, I'd have to give up booze, which probably won't happen rofl.


I've started running again (used to run x-country and track in high school), I'm at the "blisters on feet" stage. -___-

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I wouldn't say I've ever been noticeably muscular, but I don't think I've ever not been in shape (as far as being overweight goes). Combining my metabolism and a lot of ITG has been good for me over the years and I've cut back a lot on energy drinks and soda because of kidney problems. I got a bit of muscle last year from weightlifting in school but I've never really done weights other than that. I think the most I ever weighed was I think 158-159 and that was last year from moving and not really doing anything as far as fitness goes. I weigh 152 now and I've been playing shit tons of ITG as of late so I'm pretty sure I'm only going to lose more.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

absolutely nothing is wrong with core mike.. core is essential if you plan on lifting or getting bigger .. but to add weight and bulk up like wilson was asking pushups and pullups usually wont do to much in that area..

for anyone who is serious about lifting and getting fit i would recommend doing planks and other core strengthening excersises

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Pushups are one of the best exercises since they workout a wide variety of muscles. Pullups are great for biceps and back...so yeah. They're good workout for adding mass if you're also doing other exercises as well.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Imo aesthetic exercises (push ups, pull ups, crunches, dips) are more of toning exercises and define more then add mass.. For bulk and size you usually have to rip the muscles then allow to heal and repeat.. They are important to incorporate into your workout but alone wont usually do all that much to add size or gain weight is all i meant..

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I thought the idea of "toning" in general was outdated?

Anyway, marines don't seem to have much trouble getting strong with bw exercises, but if you're going for an extreme commando ripped type of thing, then yeah you'll probably need more. I'm all for pushups and pull ups, but I can't pass them off as the same as 300lb reps. There ARE ways to make them harder though.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

If you can do more than 15-20 reps though your pushups aren't going to build much muscle. I did them for awhile but used a backpack and added weight to it over time.

Same with pullups. Useless once your reps get way up there, but if you go to a gym most of them have belts you can add weight to.


Also, yeah, the idea of toning is bullshit. You can build muscle or lose body fat. Pick one. Toning makes no sense, lmao.


Tier 1 mass builders are pretty much: Bench press, Squat, weighted chins, overhead press, deadlift.

Other greats include dumbbell presses, flyes, tricep extensions, shoulder presses, rows, pulldowns, barbell/dumbbell curls, leg presses, leg extensions or curls.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Cool thread, i always pretty much just work out core/cadio and have done this for years, and have really been wanting to move on to more lifting based workouts for a while now. Reach, that was a great post, what do you think a good weight based circuit would be for someone in good shape cardio/core wise but just starting out with weights? I also work out my legs a decent amount, I'm really excited to develop more muscle mass and arm strength though as those weren't my main objectives being primarily a volleyball player

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

In the marines, you'd be seen as an outcast if you weren't working out on your offtime. All physical training in the military branches are regulated and are more for maintaining fitnesd.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

...oh


Anyways, I'm like.. 5'3"? weigh about 140lb.
I'm not fat, but I have no idea how much body fat I have. How do you even figure that out?
I guess I would want to gain muscle, but that's like the hardest thing for me to do. Help~

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Calipers are the most reliable. You can buy them at many drug or fitness stores.

Alternatively, many scales use bioelectrical impedance analysis to estimate body fat, but it tends to overestimate it since it can't differentiate between fat and water.


As for building muscle...it's complicated. The short answer is go to the gym, lift heavy weights, do compound movements and eat tons of food so you gain weight.

The long answer? Well, that will depend on what you need to know, haha.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Haha yeah all the 5'11 is annoying. Go back to tall people land, you genetically superior dicks!

Oh well, for the record I'm like 5'8. Closer to short than tall, and like 150lbs.

My fitness feats include: Not being heavier.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

6'2" and my goals include loosing weight by running and exercising a lot.

In all reality, just run and do basic exercise stuff, like push ups, sit ups and the like. I don't know about gaining muscle mass, but it's usually a safe bet to ask people that work out that kind of info.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I had a quadruple baconator few days ago

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I run sometimes, usually 2-3 miles at a time. I ran a lot more when I was in high school cross-country and track. Running helped me lose 25-30 pounds.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

5'7, 225 pounds here. But the thing is, I don't look even remotely close to that - I fit comfortably into my 38" pants. The thing is, I have a significant amount of muscle mass, especially in my legs which look like that of a professional cyclist despite the fact that I haven't ridden a bike seriously in years. A lot of it is genetic for sure, with my weight and height I should be a real fatass (I have seen people my height and weight who are huge).

That's not to say that I don't have weight to lose - I do not exercise nearly enough and my diet leaves something to be desired (mostly in the way of portions, my diet is free of soda and almost all kinds of junk food save for the occasional splurge). What is disappointing to myself is that I actually did manage to lose a lot of weight about 18 months ago. I dropped 45 pounds in about 11 weeks - this wasn't with a crash diet either, I more or less maintained my diet but with smaller portions, averaging out to about 1600-1800 calories a day punctuated with 45-60 minutes of walking (averaging around 4 miles per hour) and ample water consumption. Unfortunately, I didn't have the discipline to maintain it and after hitting 179 pounds with a 30" waist (still obese for my height, supposedly...) I stopped and by the end of the year I was back up to my old weight.

I understand that what you eat factors into weight loss - obviously a diet fills with carbohydrates and sodium promotes muscle loss and fat gain over muscle. However, I've seen a lot of my family members (who also struggle with weight gain) try various diets (low carb, paleo, etc) with little success. I maintained my current diet, which to begin with included a good amount of protein over sugar and sodium, but I just ate less of it. Coupled with ample water consumption I lost weight at a remarkable rate without muscle loss, though I'm fairly certain my genes factor into that since my mom and dad are similar in that regard. I'm going to start up my old routine again and get back into good shape especially as I near graduation and employment within the next 12 months, since in reality I'm still too heavy as it is.



Whoa, post #2000. Only took me four and a half years to do it too. :P

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

5'11, 155lbs here. Once or twice a week, I go down to the arcade to play PIU doubles (D14-D17) for a couple of hours, but even after all of that, I still have a gut, and I haven't gotten rid of it since... ever, I think. Any ideas on how to work on that?

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

What kind of food do you eat? If you eat a lot of junk food, you're not going to get the results that you're looking for. The better the food you put into your body, the better the results.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Uh... Let's just say that I haven't followed any sort of diet. I'm never hungry when I get up, so I pretty much just have two home-cooked meals every day, and at night, I have gamer food. Chips, iced tea, stuff like that. On days that I have work, I pack and bring lunch with me.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I'm 5'7, currently 168 lbs. my heaviest weight was 195 lbs in February of this year and I started losing weight since then. What I have been doing that I think helped me most was running 2.5 miles around my neighborhood, averaging 30 minutes, as well as changing my eating habits.

What bothers me most is my cheeks, chest, mid section, and thighs. From what I heard, thigh fat is hard to get rid of. My calves are great, my biceps are okay, but it's just my upper body basically that bothers me, along with my face.

I mostly drink water (about 3-4 water bottles a day, sometimes even 5-6) and nothing else, which has helped me a ton, and I love drinking water. I make sure I eat every 2-3 hours, and that the meals are light and about 300 calories, no more than 500. I also make sure that two of the snacks are fruits (I'd usually have a yogurt for one small meal, then a banana/green apple the next meal). If I wake up early, like at 8-9 am, I don't eat after 6pm. On weekends, since I wake up later, I don't eat after 9pm.

My main concern is that I'm not entirely sure what I want to go for. My goal is 150 lbs, but I'm afraid that it won't be enough for me to see a complete difference. I lost nearly 30 lbs so far but I'm not 100% satisfied.

tl;dr - I want a flat chest, or pecs, along with abs, and less thigh fat. My arms and legs are pretty okay though. My eating plan is okay but I should still reduce some stuff like bread (which I eat a lot of) and more protein. Running is what I enjoy most, and daily I do push ups throughout the day (25 at a time). Basically, a lean but decently-muscular body, but not too buff.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

If you have a small breakfast everyday, and cut out the chips and iced tea and replace them with healthier foods, like almonds and water, you should see much better results. As long as your body is burning more calories than you are eating, you will lose weight.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I'm around 5'4 and 100-105 pounds/~47kgs (underweight) I pretty much never work out, I'm badly out of shape. I've had a naturally really fast metabolism all my life, I used to eat like crazy and be just under a normal weight for my height. A bit over a year ago there was money problems, less food, depression, etc. I stopped eating as much and kind of stuck to it. I'm not sure if I've ever really felt hunger which is weird, but when I ate a lot I just loved eating and craved everything (especially sweets) and now I barely ever feel like eating anything and I get full really easily.
I think that I should be able to get back into the habit of eating properly over time, but it's a bit of a struggle. I should probably start exercising at least once in a while too because it might help balance everything out. Not sure why I even posted this lol, just felt like sharing.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I'm 22, 6 ft 1 inch tall , and right now sitting at about 185 pounds. I recently just got back into cross country running. I used to be very passionate about it in high school, and I stopped doing it as soon as I graduated. It's been about 2 weeks, and so far I've been averaging 32 miles per week. This includes sprints, and a much healthier diet.
My goal is to be in the low 170's in regards to weight.

Edit: Changes I've made in my life for the past 3 months...
1. I quit smoking cigarettes. I can taste, see, smell, and react much better. (I encourage anyone who smokes to do this. The longer you wait, the harder it is to quit.)
2. I stopped drinking as much as I used to. I still drink, but not nearly as much.
3. I quit eating so much fast food. Every now and then I will get it, but only as a last resource - in addition to this, I started learning how to prepare simple meals that require a microwave.

My confidence points shot up, and made my life 5x more stress free.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

once or twice a week really won't do you much.
do atleast 10 minutes of cardio on the days you arent doing piu

also foods matter

6'4 160lbs -- was 202lbs start of my junior year of high school. pretty much just run and eat healthy and be fit and whatnot

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

This.. 100%.. for gaining mass..

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I've actually been working on this for about 2 weeks now, since summer breaks about over i gotta get off my ass haha

Here's what i've been doing so far and actually accomplishing


At work (movie theater), and out
-stopped drinking free soda
-stopped eating movie butter on free popcorn

At home
-less snacks
-healthier meals

Exercise
-Cycle every day for 2-3 hours
-Lift/crunches/sit ups/push ups/pull ups every other day

So far so good! haha and also thank you for showing me Fitocracy.. I freaking love this.


OP should have account names of FFR members on Fitocracy since it's a social network of a sorts, motivating, and relevant

Edit: I also like how it's got levels. Lol

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I just thought I'd share this. I'm 6 feet tall, probably around 200 lbs. I haven't exersised in a really long time (probably at least 2 or 3 months) and I eat unhealthy foods more often than healthy (over half my day when I'm not in school I probably actually spend on FFR). Sometimes I do end up making better choices in exersise and food, though. How can I get the motivation to exersise again (for someone like me it's really difficult because I am lazy).

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I was the skinny dude in high school (Weighed 125 lbs going into uni) but when I went away for school, binge drinking and eating pizzas before passing out, awful sleeping habits in combination with the fact that my ridiculous metabolism might have 'slowed down' from getting older, I shot up to 175 by my 3rd year of uni. Very little physical activity throughout being at school.

Every summer I would work labor jobs with full-time hours and if I wasn't working I was out drinking. I would lose around 10-15 lbs over the summer and gain a little muscle.

Right now I'm 5'11'' 160 lbs, I only drink around 2-3 times a month now (compared to 3-4 times a week) and I'm still working doing physical labor. I eat fast food probably 3 times a week though (midnight mcdonalds runs are epic).

All-in-all I'm pretty damn out of shape, a healthy weight for myself I could see being around 150 and it would be so easy if I focused a little more on what I ate and/or if I did some cardio every once in a while.

I've never had to work out to stay away from being obese and I'm lucky I have the genes to basically abuse my body and still stay relatively small (although I had a bit of a beer gut at some points)

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

It's all about numbers. You can't track progress or fix faults without knowing exactly what you're doing wrong. You can still have fun while doing the math.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I somehow cut on anything with wheat and loss 10 pounds, stopped being a sleeping zombie, improved reaction/concentration etc. and I'm a lot less hungry all of a sudden. ?_?

I also have the same weight/shape as Reincarnate somehow rofl.. I saw the DDR vid and I almost thought it was me and went wtf.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

You lost weight because you were in a caloric deficit. Also wheat is high in carbs and carbs restore glycogen. Glycogen is basically an energy store for muscles. Makes your muscles puffy and big looking too.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

For people that find it extremely hard to find the motivation to workout, try finding a friend, girlfriend, boyfriend etc. To workout with. It makes it a lot easier to get the motivation, and I actually find it more fun to be honest. I used to have absolutely no motivation at all, but I always wanted to get bigger. When I started working out with my girlfriend, I noticed how much I actually love weightlifting. I actually help train a few of my friends, and they've gotten some pretty good results. If you can find someone if similar goals, or even just someone to go to the gym with, it'll make it all worthwhile.

A huge portion of getting those results you really want comes from the food you guys eat. I know from first hand experience that a lot of you skinny guys may think you just have a "naturally fast metabolism", while I'm not saying that this is entirely untrue, but I guarantee that you guys probably don't eat as much food as you think. I thought I was eating a lot when I was skinner, and then I actually counted how many calories I was eating, and it wasn't nearly enough for me to gain weight. Everyone should do a calorie count for a few days, and be honest on it, too. That can be a great starting point for a lot of you. Write down everything you eat, and when. Portion sizes and everything.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Back in high school, I was 6'2 weighting about 170 lbs and was in REALLY great shape.

Now, I am 6'3 weighting about 210 lbs however I have gained a ton of muscle since I decided to do weight training recently. It has been 46 days so far and I must say that I am liking my results however I am still not satisfied with the extra fat I have in the abdominal area and I really would like to hear from Reach/SCWolf what I should do to trim that fat off.

My Goal: Get to 190 lbs with around 8-9% of body fat. I am currently at 210 lbs with around 15-16% of body fat that seems to be hard to get rid of for me.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

This is 100% true. Studies show that metabolism doesn't vary nearly as much between most people under normal conditions as they would like to think.

"Fast metabolism" is just code for "I don't eat that much and naturally feel full quickly". That feeling is controlled in the brain and tends to vary a lot between individuals. Most people that claim to have slow metabolisms simply have the opposite problem; they don't feel full easily.

Also completely agree with your ideas on motivation. It's great to have a partner.

It took me 3 months to go from 17% to 8%. You will have to keep going, probably for awhile.

Another thing to consider is that you will lose body fat from different places at different times. I had a similar problem in that as I got to around 10%, my arms, shoulders, chest and back were completely ripped to shreds, but I still had a lot of flab on my abdomen and legs. However, I simply kept going, and the fat started coming off of my stomach almost all at once. Legs came last.

You can't really spot reduce sadly. Getting rid of the fat in those areas involves losing fat everywhere, and chances are your abs will be the very last place you lose fat.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

What he said.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

addendum: i'm currently ~8.25% body fat. was about 4.5% last semester due to too much exercise and a poor diet. however, i have found that managing body fat becomes very easy once you find out the extremes.

for anyone wanting to drop a few percent, cut out calories and colors from fluids aside from protein -- only water and protein shakes. easiest means of cutting a gut, when you sweat off water weight, sodas and sugary drinks will evaporate as well, but sugar stays, fat remains etc

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Body fat percentage guide:

6%: Amateur competition condition. Physiological minimum that is sustainable without drug usage. Abdominals visible unflexed.

http://www.podarco.com/fitness/image.../shredded2.jpg


5%: High level competition condition. Physiological minimum for natural bodybuilders. Cannot be sustained without drug usage. Increased vascularity compared to 6%, skin begins to become paper thin.

http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/im...i46d1066e.jpeg

4%: Professional competition condition. Impossible for natural bodybuilders. Cannot be sustained for more than a few weeks even with drug usage. Very similar to 5% in terms of vascularity and thickness of the skin, but overall muscle mass is vastly increased because of steroid usage:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eRp_UgKxei...ybuilder15.jpg

3%: Physiological minimum under any condition. Cannot be sustained for more than a few hours. Incredibly dangerous and unhealthy condition. The body must be completely dehydrated in order to achieve this state, as subcutaneous water levels approach 0. The individual is also in a state of starvation. This condition needs to be carefully controlled, as death can be a serious risk.

http://muscleandbrawn.com/forums/att...55137335_n.jpg

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

as some peeps on this forum know, i lost some 75lbs between '09 and '11 (230-155). in that time i was pretty regimental about food and exercise and did a lot of group-sporty activities like running and tae-kwon-do and eskrima stick fighting which kicked the fat out of me pretty good. peak i was around 145 and 9% body fat (i'm 5'9 and have been since 6th grade =.=).

since then i've been -very- slowly putting weight back on, a result of depression, a good bit of family trauma and dropping out of school for a few semesters and more or less becoming a binge-eating zombie. i usually bounce out of it long enough to keep it from getting too out of hand--i'm 165 now and not horrendously unhealthy--but i've stopped the martial arts and whatnot and still hate my habits since prior to now i've had experience with being really healthy/fit.

so basically this is a great thread idea and will hopefully keep me motivated to get back to the gym (or more likely just bodyweight workouts for now) and eating healthy. the latter should put some ease on my wallet too since fast food and cigarettes gets to be a pretty pricey diet <____>

my ultimate goal is to get lean/semi-cut as frankly i don't particularly like the bulky look myself. i've got a lot of random flab/stretchmarks from my overweight days and it's always been a point of insecurity for me; nothing counters that like having a sexy ass core.

will stay posted in here with my progress :) and good luck to everyone else with their own goals. LET'S GIT IN SHAPE

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

holy shit

why anyone would want to look that vascular is beyond me

EDIT:

On the other hand, I can understand the impulse. I had great fun pushing the limits of my desktop computer to see how much performance I could squeeze out of it by overclocking everything and optimizing every variable that I could. There was, of course, risk involved.

Same likely applies here -- except I'd argue that there's a huge leap between risking computer hardware vs. risking your body :P

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Also, anyone just wanting to do bodyweight exercises should take a serious look at Insanity. SCWolf mentioned it before, and I just looked into it and it looks like a pretty good workout program. You can find a torrent of it easily.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Not gonna go into my specs, but i'm fit. But I've been busy, and demotivated. I need to start doing a daily routine again. I'll probably start that really soon, now that I'm disease/kidney stone free and can move without much intense internal pain 8]

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I am 5 11 and weigh between 180-185. Right now I am training in MMA and am very driven to get better right now. Going all out now to build strength/explosiveness/skill. Anybody else like to train for MMA?

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

well im 6'2 and i weigh in about 290 lbs.
thats alot. my waist is a size 42 and i
currently lift weights. i think i need to
hit the cardio a little more so that i can
be more fit and try not to get my fat
turn into muscle it looks nasty lol

@ Jerry DB i had barely 1 week in the
MMA training. But the damn trainer said
i was too aggresive and i got kicked out
for starting too many fights lol thats
why i quit and sticked to body building

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Well yeah, anyone that does this doesn't really care about aesthetics. It's not to look good. It's to push the absolute limits of the human body.

In order to get there you would already need to be around 4% and then stop eating for a few days, other than maybe some carbs prior to this picture for the glycogen. Extensive diuretic usage allows you to dehydrate completely. Normally your body would burn only muscle in this state, but the right combination of anabolic steroids will prevent this from happening, so the only thing left to take away is fat, but much of that fat is essential fat which is why this is so risky.

End result is...basically looking like an anatomy model, since there's no fat covering anything, only really skin.

I guess some people don't really care about the danger. To be fair, they're already risking their body with high levels of steroid usage. Not that steroids are as bad as most people think they are, but they're not exactly healthy.

Seconds after this photo was taken though, chances are this guy was downing several XL pizzas and litres of water.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

So I've been at 236 for like 2 weeks now, and all of a sudden I was 231 this morning. WTeverlovingF. Probably water weight or something. Hopefully with enough data points I can start to separate the noise from the trend. Eventual long-term goal is to hit single digit body fat.

One thing I might do is start taking pictures of myself every day and do one of those lame YT videos (cutting phase + bulking phase) where all the photos get put together into a fast-frame slideshow. I'm probably way too lazy to actually follow through with something like this, however.

Another idea I had (that I think would make for a really cool video) is have my present flabby self having a conversation with my future (hopefully ripped) self with some lame greenscreen magic. I think that'd be pretty wicked. :P

Of course, still probably too lazy.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

i hope you can achieve everything you want to. i feel the same way as you considering how close we are in size and weight. as you already know. and some day i will get to motivation, and income, to start getting in shape. hard to make money when you only work 2 days a week. =/

but yea. seeing you get in shape would definitely star to push me in the right direction. seeing the shape you can build and how it would look. would most likely make me want to look the same way for when you attend another meet-up :p

6'2 228lbs

was an avid volleyball player until i tore my meniscus. i really want to start playing again but the scar tissue around the tear honestly is enough to cripple me some days. where even walking hurts, and other days i can go to the arcade and play ITG. so its weird. advice. DO NOT TEAR THE MENISCUS. and for those of you that don't know. the meniscus is the cartilage in your knee.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

5'10, 167 lbs.

It sounds ideal for the most part, then I realise that I don't really have that much muscle mass to begin with, and most of my fat comes from my belly or thigh (Common places for the most part)

Been drinking water more often compared to other sweetened drinks lately, and I'd say that I'm getting used to it pretty fast.

I walk for around 30 minutes daily, sometimes I go for more. My diet's pretty okay too, around 2,300-2,500 calories per day, occasionally a bit more though.

I've lost around 11 lbs in 5 weeks (176 -> 167) but I don't really see much of a difference, maybe except for muscles being more obvious and thighs being a little smaller, but it isn't much of a significant difference.

Goal would be more muscle mass and less body fat to say the least haha. I just want a moderately muscled body for my size I guess.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

I see your problem. You could probably have had an intense 20 minute workout in the time it took you to make that post.

My bf went gluten free and dairy free with me and he lost 20-25 lbs and is still losing daily, although at a much steadier pace now. We're still eating plenty of carbs and lots of fat and sugar. I lost 5 lbs so far, lol. I'm hoping it is helping out his thyroid though, he's got hypothyroidism but isn't on medication for it yet. He's got blood tests coming up, so we can see if his TSH has changed at all.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Hehe, while I can't tell if this was said in jest or not, I do think there's some validity to this.

"Eat less, move more" is probably good enough for most people:



However, I think it's important to work out smarter, not harder. IMO it's good practice to understand the calorie-counting math/underlying physics of how the body processes things like fats, carbs, proteins, and nutrients, because then you have a better idea what to adjust/tweak if something isn't going the way you want it to. Of course, I'm still in the process of learning a lot of this stuff, so ehh.

Yeah, definitely -- it's always a lot more fun when more people are progressing together.

However, I do want to point out that it's actually been cheaper for me to eat healthy. What I did (as much as I didn't want to) was go back over the past couple of months on my debit card statements and add up how much money I was spending on food. It was atrocious. Now I am spending a very small fraction of that.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

But seriously the best way to just get in shape without being a girl and just dieting is just freaking work out. Go start running two miles every day. Do small weights at first and ALOT OF CORES EXERCISES!! Core is so very important trust me. Only do what you can handle at first then build on that. If you can run two miles at first start out at one mile or 1/2 a mile. Dieting and eating right is essential but you wont get anywhere without real physical activity.

Edit: im 5'8 150 pounds and workout daily. I should check my % body fat but its really good. Im in shape.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

hmm thats a good idea, but i dont buy my own food for the most part. maybe at school ill start getting salads or something, but thats about it. i eat pretty healthy when i go out to eat... and i could definitely cut out the soda, i do it for like a week, then it gets too hard cuz the water at work tastes so bad lol

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

There isn't much to the claim actually. Diet should always be the first thing you have in check. 20 minutes of exercise might burn 50 calories. That ain't nothin but a few peanuts. You're far better off taking the time to get everything else in check first.

It's fairly well established among obesity researchers that exercise alone will never fix the problem. It is impossible to compensate for a bad diet with exercise. In most individuals, exercise increases hunger. The majority of people that claim this problem can be solved with exercise alone use anecdotes from people that never ate that much to begin with.

And uh, core exercises aren't that important. You can't ever build a six pack by doing situps. In fact, I stopped doing ab work weeks ago and my abs look better than they ever have. Restriction of body fat will give you abs. Your core can be worked in a number of other more important ways, specifically compound movements like squats and deadlifts.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Yep. It's an awesome starter program for anyone who wants to lose weight and get in shape. Essentially, like you said, it's all body weight exercises which is why I would recommend it over P90x, solely because you don't have to buy any extra stuff.

Insanity is intense cardio, as well as a great way to build Type-1 muscle fibre. Type-1 muscle fibre is that muscle that's not so big, yet incredibly strong. Olympic athletes are overflowing with Type-1 muscle fibre.

The reason all this is good is because once you're done, lost some weight and you're ready to hit the gym, your body will already be well conditioned and stronger than if you were to just walk into the gym. You will also have more of a general knowledge of your body, exercises, and what you can and can't do. This is good because when you lift, you're able to focus more on your movement rather than struggling through it (not that everyone struggles, I'm just saying).

Keep up the good work dude. You could probably do with lowering the calories a bit to see more weight loss. You're not far from a healthy weight as it is.


I won't even begin to explain why your first sentence is wrong.

While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I personally think eating gluten free isn't necessary to lose weight. It isn't necessarily detrimental to your body and/or building muscle, it's just more hassle than anything else. Gluten is the main ingredient in a lot of foods we eat, and gluten free foods were made for people who have celiac disease, not for people who think it will help them lose weight. Losing/gaining weight is simple mathematics, people tend to blow it way out of proportion.

You need to eat right to give your body the fuel it needs to build/maintain muscle, otherwise you will just get fat (if you eat too much) or go catabolic (if you eat too little). If you go catabolic, you will most definitely lose weight. In all the wrong ways.

Seriously, just find your daily energy expenditure and work with that. It's not that complicated. There are tons of ways for you to count calories, and the easiest way is by looking at the nutrition facts on the back of what you're eating/drinking.

Take things steady, that's really all there is to it. Once you gain more knowledge about what you're doing, then you can advance into deeper workout routines and diets.

Everyone has to start somewhere. Always get multiple opinions on things, and never assume.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

This is why I do think the math is important. Based on what I've read online (after trying to cut through most of the broscience), weight loss is mostly a function a diet anyway. Exercise is just there to help maintain pre-existing muscle mass.

A few people IRL know I am going on a diet and think I am overthinking the whole thing by focusing so much on the math. I just fail to see how it's considered overkill when it seems so crucial to understanding what's going on.

Otherwise you run into the kind of scenario you brought up before -- people signing up for gym memberships, working out for 2-3 weeks, and seeing no progress/giving up because they didn't have a diet plan.

Without understanding the math, it's too easy to work out, get hungry, and eat way more than you actually worked off, thus resulting in a net gain instead.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Lost 60 pounds on pure cardio myself, eating copious amounts of junk food along the way

Then again I also have a pretty physically intensive job

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

As long as you're burning more calories than you're intaking, you will lose weight.

EDIT: First meal of the day :D

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Math is important but doesn't replace plain gusto. At some point theory needs to turn into action. What Reach was saying about exercise being less important than diet may be true, but if you're not doing both, you're not optimizing your results.

Exercise isn't just about burning off that peanut. The way you act tells your body how it needs to compose itself, and affects how the deficit created by diet is put into action in terms of burning. Eating at -1000 and not working out would create a wasting away effect that leaves you weaker, more lethargic and less healthy than when you started.

Workouts also give better results the longer and harder you do them. 20 minutes of light jogging might burn off a single peanut, but doing twice that in HIIT might burn off a whole pack, and the metabolic effect stays with you longer. 20 minutes is nothing unless you're REALLY going at it. Most people block their activity in terms of hours. An hour of hockey here, an hour of running there, an hour of lifting 3 times a week, and so on. A list of workouts ordered by effectiveness would be based on calories burned per hour.

I would even say math could be ignored completely without becoming much of a problem. Fitness is only really governed by two general rules:

1. Your body adapts to what you put it through.
2. It knows what you need to eat to fuel it, and it will tell you.

The mathiness of fitness is mostly caused by lazy people who feel like getting fit is about spiting your instincts, and is used more to RATIONALIZE fitness than actually improve it.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Lol yeah, you can never really overdo it when it comes to dieting. Taking it seriously is the first step to success. People with a lax attitude about it never end up getting the results they want.

I call the lax attitude '****arounditis'. Many people suffer from this. I used to. They go to the gym and work hard but don't get serious about the things that actually matter and never get results.

Of course, combining exercise with diet is the way to go, because it will improve overall health.

Being at caloric deficit though is ultimately what determines how much you will lose.

Re: The Fitness Thread
 

im fat and need to lose 50 pounds help