Any Weight Loss Suggestions?

[AngryPotato]

I'm having trouble dropping the pounds as I'm working out. On a good week I get in 5x weight training / 3x bike riding. I think I have actually gained weight from the muscle building. Any ideas on a way to shed the fat.
Huge amounts of water I know.

Anyone use supplements such as protein drinks/ECA stackers for working out?

My diet has to include red meat and potatoes.


I'm looking into becoming a police officer and need to be able to bench 110% of my weight.

[NormanBlood]

There is a technique I know called a "fat flush". Basically you are supposed to drink various mixtures of water and cranberry juice a day. It is a small amount of cranberry juice with a larger amount of water (will get right measurements later). Basically it cleans out your liver and insides and "flushes" all the fat out. Usually it takes about 2 weeks and you drink at approximately 7 times a day (in addition to lots of water). Also try to cut down on carbs for about 2 weeks. Carbs are what can really help in putting on the calories.

When it comes to work outs try a variation of different work outs at home (situps, "hindu" pushups, "hindu" squats, lunges, "the wall", the bridge, knuckle pushups etc.) then when you go to the gym do lots of cardio, cardio helps with the fat burn while lifting weights only helps with muscle (not necessarily getting rid of the unwanted).

[Gladstone]

Probably you are quite aware of about 3/4 of what I'll say but I'll throw everything I know in just in case.

Ultimately it gets down to the caloric intake and whether your body is burning more calories than you take in daily. Generally it's advised for a male to have 2000 calories a day, a very active one somewhat more; however as you are trying to lose weight you might want to cut down below 2000. An absolute minimum recommended is 1200 daily and this, needless to say, gets into the unpleasant area of calorie counting. At those lower counts of calories you want to be sure they are of high qaulity as in having as many vitamins in them as possible and being low to non-fat foods if possible (those nutrition labels are all very helpful in this). Outside of the vitamins you want to be sure to be getting the daily recommended amounts for calcium (bones) and protein (muscles); as you are working out, even a bit more than the daily recommended for calcium and protein would not be entirely out of order if it can be swung. Probably you are taking vitamin supplements of some type which is wise. If you have been out of the loop as to exercize sometime prior to starting up, it is also adviseable to see a doctor about a physical and let him/her know what it is you are planning; sometimes there are hidden conditions that can be problematic.

There are also some "tricks" that can help out in the fight. When eating your meal(s) have it be in the morning or at mid-day but not within a few hours of going to bed; your body takes those late meals and burns them during the night rather than that fat you are trying to rid yourself of, and even turns those meals into fat as it is shutting down. As to water drink ice water if you are able; the body has to heat the water up which burns calories-I think I read somewhere 15-25 calories per 8 oz glass. If you have friends who love to eat at every social occassion, you might want to avoid them for a time or find something low calorie to eat at the restaurants (a couple of leaves of lettuce ought to do ;-). Do not weigh yourself daily, its too discouraging. Go by what you look like in the mirror; its that spare tire around your waist you want gone (and the rest of the fat too, if theres more than around the waist), and providing you are losing weight it should be shrinking and your clothes should be fitting looser (if that is not happening over a period of days, you'll have to adjust what it is you are doing.) Generally, and depending on body type, it is said "slim bordering on gaunt" is how our physical body ought to be as to fat--those "heroin addict" looking men and women models people laugh at know that and are probably far healthier than most. It is also useful to find a calorie converter; these can be found on the net and not only tell a person the calorie values of all sorts of foods but how much a person burns of the said calories from various exercize (everything from mowing lawns to walks to weights-also taking into account the length of time exercizing). The calorie converters are sobering as to exercize; a good hard three mile run can burn barely more than one or two candy bars worth of calories. I find exercize just too boring to go for hours daily, and is why I put the emphasis on calorie intake as to myself, however every person is different.

Hope this is of some help and best of luck as to the police job!;-)

[Gladstone]

Just noticed the part as to the the ECA stackers and protein; I don't bother with the stackers (I do not know a great deal about those) but I have used protein supplements. Slimfast makes a soy protein powder (or did) I've used; its full of vitamins and protein (yes, its got sugar, but soy by itself without something flavoring it I have found to be disgusting:-(). There are certainly other soy products better than sLimfast; I just didn't want to spend the money . I've been trying to find alternatives to soy as a supplement, but it seems most are based on that.

As to the red meat, find the leanest cuts. Potatoes, even when on a low calorie diet seem to be turned immediately into fat if I did not know better;-). Again, best of luck on the fat loss effort!

[Vojvoda]

Cut down on your carbohydrate intake.When you reduce your carbohydrates, your body will start to use up glycogen stores. Low glycogen forces your body to switch to using more body fat for energy.

[Ewergrin]

Time honoured and proven weight loss method:
Eat less, move more.

[Awar]

1. Really, walk for a couple of hours every day.
2. Work out regularly and intensively.
3. Eat on such a schedule so you truly use up the energy ( avoid eating late ).

Gaining strength means gaining weight.
I can bench-press 160-170% of my weight, for someone experienced, it's easy to lose weight but to keep the strength, if you're inexperienced, you can only lose both the weight with strength, so you'll end up again with lifting less than 110%.

[Ahura Mazda]

The Atkins diet works wonders for weight loss if you are excercising. It is basically what Vojvoda said, I guess, but also be prepared: your breath will reek the whole time you are on this diet.

[AngryPotato]

Thank you for all of your suggestions.

I've considered the Atkins diet and might do something like it (I will still eat potatoes). I would consider myself a picky eater who eats large quantities of a very limited range of foods. Reducing intake will of course help. I packed on the pounds after getting a tech job where I am on my ass all day and not on my feet 8 hours out in the field doing support.

I don't think I can go with water/cranberry juice. The juice would help me lose weight by dropping my intestines out. I'll try it out on Saturday to see how my body reacts.

Right now I'm using salmon oil and MegaMen vitamins as supplements. The MegaMen vitamins should cover all my needed vitamins and the salmon oil is supposed to help with triglyceride levels. I'm also taking the salmon oil pills because I eat no fish. Bad experience.

From speaking to a guy at GNC...I was told that I shouldn't go any lower than 3000 calories a day due to my height/muscle build.

So many views. Just trying to get ideas for one that will work for my body and lifestyle.

[Julius]

Throw out the weighing-machine. Weight is no good measure since you're building muscles which increases your weight. It's not the weight that counts, but the percentage of fat in your body. Also, the more muscles you have the more energy the body will need, and thus with more muscles you will burn more fat also when just sitting in front of the computer.

If you have the opportunity: Do as the professional body-builders; walk every morning before breakfast. 90 minutes in high speed - but walk don't run. Aerobic excersice has a cathodic effect, ie. it decomposes not only fat but also muscles. Low-intense excersises are the best for burning fats and keeping muscles. Also bikeing is somewhat good for burning fat.

It's very good too eat small meals 5-6 times a day, every third hour. I won't go into any details, but it has to do with the insulin and blood sugar levels etc. When you eat only three times a day then the body will get lots of energy which it can't burn quick enough. When you eat the same amount of food, but spread out throughout the day the body will keep metabolizing fat. Also, it leads to a low and even blood sugar-level all day long so you won't be having any lure of sugar and fat food.

It's also important to eat fat, the body needs about 30% fat from food if I remember correctly. If you eat no fat at all the body believes it's starving and therefor lowers its burning of energy, puts away fat to `survive' and starts to burn carbohydrates instead.