Q&A for: 13-Apr-08
2635. Q:
hi mike, great website that you got runin, i've got a ? because im a vegetarian and im cutting back, im 20 6ft nearly 13 stones, and my body fat is nearly about 23 or 24, but people think that im muscular, becuase i have big arms and nice shoulders, my meals for the day would be like this. meal1- oatmeal, almonds, soya protein, and blueberry, meal 2- lentil soup with cottage cheese mixed, soya protein, 1 wholegrain bread and peanuts, pre workout meal- brown rice, with lentil soup on top, also soya protein, after meal- is is the same, but i replace soya protein with tuna, Meal five tuna, cashew nuts, vegetables, and some soya chunks, last meal- tuna and vegetables, such as spinach broad beans, green beans, and maybe asparagus spears. now do you think this is a good days meals, and do you think im taking in not enough calories or do i need 2 include more stuff, and the only protein i eat is cotage cheese nuts, tuna soya protein and soya chunks, thanxs mike
A:
All those foods are great choices -- good job! Unfortunately I can't really tell you whether that's too much or too little as far as calories because it completely depends on how big or how small your portion sizes are. If you can approximate roughly how many calories you are eating you can compare it with the output of my Fitness Guide. With all those protein sources you shouldn't have trouble getting enough protein -- at least 1 gram per pound of bodyweight (about 180 grams of protein per day or about 30 grams of protein per meal in your case).
Individually all your food choices are great. Maybe you can try to add a source of omega-3 fats such as flax seed or salmon -- but that's really a very minor point. And even if you are not sure about the exact calories you are eating it really doesn't matter much as long as you are steadily and slowly losing fat -- aim for about 1 pound of weight lost per week. Slow steady weight loss will guarantee that most of the lost weight will be fat and not muscle. Again, good job and good luck going forward!
2636. Q:
hi mike, i have a queston, what more benificial and builds more muscls, light weights and high reps(8-12), or low reps(1-5) and heavy weights
A:
Both of those approaches should have a place in your routine, but if your primary goal is hypertrophy (increase in muscle mass), then most of the time you should probably be lifting in 6-12 rep range to failure (or nearly to failure). However, as I said, you will likely benefit from varying your routine throughout the year including periods of very heavy weight training and not going to failure. Another variation you may want to incorporate into your arsenal is Strength-specific training and follow it once or twice per year as a way to increase your strength and break out of plateaus.
2637. Q:
Hi Mike, I am like the lady in question 2634. I am 5'2' and weigh 170 and I have been going to the gym 4 times a week for at least a hour and a half. I have been doing about 30 min of cardio, about 100 crunches and rotating arm and leg exercises. I have oatmeal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and then I cook dinner. I do snack, mostly on the 100 calorie packs. I still have not lost any weight. What can I do differently? How can I lose the weight?
A:
Thanks for posting back! I wish you went into a little more detail on your diet (how many of those 100-calorie snacks daily and what do they consist of? What are then sandwich and the dinner you are eating?) but from what you've mentioned I can tell you how to make a few improvements right away...
For training, cardio is great and your crunches are a good start (I am not entirely sure what you mean by rotating arm and leg exercises), but overall you are missing out on high-intensity exercise for most of your muscles. You want to really stress as many of your muscles as possible with high-intensity exercise (meaning you can only perform the exercise a dozen repetition or so before literally not being able to do another repetition without some rest first). Such high intensity approach inflicts actual physical damage on your muscles which your body then 'repairs'. It is that 'repair' process that has great fat burning potential. Crunches are, more or less, an example of such intense exercise, but they only exercise your abdominals which are only a small fraction of your entire muscle mass. (Note that just because crunches target your abdominal muscles does NOT mean that they help you lose abdominal fat any better than other exercises.) You need to work all your muscles and especially legs, lower and upper back, and chest which are your largest muscle groups to maximize your body's fat-burning potential. Start by reading my Weight training article to learn how to intensely exercise all your muscle groups.
As far as diet, oatmeal is certainly a great food but it does not make for a complete breakfast by itself. And unfortunately I can't comment on your other meals since you didn't mention what you are actually eating there. Start by reading my diet article to learn how to structure your meals and what to eat. Then start changing your current diet to make it look more like what I described. That will probably involve increasing protein intake (for breakfast protein, for example, you could have some cottage cheese or eggs or egg whites) and probably replacing some of poorer carb choices like bread or pasta with stuff like green veggies.
Your overall daily calories should ideally be over 1200 but if you are eating much less than that now, you don't need to jump to 1200 right away but instead slowly gradually increase them. Of course, those 1200 calories should come from quality sources as described in the article I linked and not from junk. Hope that helps!
2639. Q:
will sex make you lose mulsce
A:
Sex is a perfectly healthy activity and certainly will not make you lose muscle (at least not if you are eating enough to maintain your weight).
2641. Q:
Hey Mike! Your site looks great. I was just wondering: Your nutrition advice seems flawless, but I struggle sometimes with fitting healthy eating into my every day life. Hardest to deal with is dinner out, saying no to what other people make for me, or just generally finding healthy food when I can`t make my own meals (like residence food). Any suggestions?
A:
Certainly, eating healthy is not easy and often you'll need to make some compromises. When eating out your best bet for a healthy meal is some sort of grilled meat, poultry, or fish with veggies or salad. Ask for the dressing on the side and use it sparingly. For some other meal ideas for a student, check out Q&A #239, Q&A #266, Q&A #440, Q&A #531. Hope that helps!
2642. Q:
Hi mike, I've jsut startred working out over the last two weeks. I am 29, about 5"4 appx 127pounds. I have never been a workout person. I've been the same weight forever. Only time I've gaiend weight was pregnancy and was right back to my normal weight within days. I knwo most peopel would love this. However I have a very long, thin frame. SInce having children I went from a 32B to a 34D and now I'm back down. My breast stretched and currently sag. Can you recommend any exercises to build the muscle in the pecs (I know naturally there is really nothing ot give them that "perky" look we all lvoe without surgery, which is out of the question). Can you also recommend a diet that will help with the weight gain. I eat very healthy, drink plenty of water. Thanks
A:
Unfortunately, weight training will not be able to significantly change the appearence of your breats since they are fat tissue and not muscle. The only thing that might make some difference is training your upper chest area to increase the muscle mass there and thereby slightly 'lift' your breasts. You would accomplish this by performing chest exercises such as bench press (with dumbbells or a barbell) or dumbbell flies on an incline bench (instead of a flat bench). If you are not sure what those exercises are, you can find video links for them on my Essential Exercises page. But, as I said, the visual effect will be quite minimal.
As far as how to eat to gain weight, check out my Diet article for general food and meal guidelines and then fill out Fitness Guide specifying 'Gain Muscle' as your goal. It will give you a starter weight gain diet suggestion (it's equally applicable for people such as yourself looking to generally gain weight in a healthy way and for people who specifically want to gain muscle).
2646. Q:
hey!!! im only 14 when i first started training i weighed 7stone 8-10 pounds ! now a year later i am weighing8 1-2 pounds!!! is tat heavy ??????- oh im about 5'3 5'4 !!!!! i have tonned up but i have a lot of muscle. I have baketball training 4 days a week which is 5 or 6 hours, i swim 2 a week and i have dancing for an hour and a half. i also walk . i want to loose weight but am finding it sssssoooooo imposible!!! and when i weigh myself i feel so heavy !! i cant loose weight Please help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A:
Actually your weight is perfectly normal and healthy for your height and your age! Furthermore, as you age and your body develops you should actually be gaining weight, even if your height stays the same (and, of course, you should be gaining even more weight if you are still growing in height). So I would say you are in great shape and doing everything right as far as your physical fitness!
Trying to lose weight at your age and your physique is a doubly bad idea -- first because there is no reason to do it, but even more importantly because if you actively try to lose weight you can jeopardize your continuing growth and development! My recommendation for you is to keep on being physically active as you already are, eat plenty of healthy nutritious foods (lots of fresh veggies and fruits) and be very proud of yourself because you are doing a great job building the foundation for health and good looks for life.
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