Q&A for: 15-Jun-07
2370. Q:
I won't be going to the gym anytime soon (ever maybe, reasons undisclosed) What do you suggest? I just started your no equipment training regiment today, anything else?
A:
Sorry to hear gym is not an option for you. But yes, you can certainly still make progress at home with only most basic equipment. My no-equipment program should be good if you are a beginner to weight training and not in very good shape. As you make progress you will probably want to increase intensity a bit by moving to my dumbbells at-home program. Eventually if you stick to at-home workouts you will want to have several pairs of dumbbells (heavier ones for compound exercises like rows, presses, squats, etc. and lighter ones for things like curls) and maybe eventually a bench. And a pull-up bar is a must for any at-home trainee.
As you progress further and get stronger you will want to have weights for every exercise that are truly challenging and might have to keep buying new pairs of dumbells as you get stronger. However you can buy basic dumbbells fairly cheap and if you hunt around for them at yard sales you'll probably find them for next to nothing. And of course you'd need to go outside for cardio then. But with enough inventiveness and dedication it's certainly very possible to make almost as good progress working out at home as at the gym.
2371. Q:
Hi Mike. I am 5 feet about 170lbs and a female. I don't look it from what everyone tells me. The biggest problem for me is my stomach. Also I would like to tone my body up. I was wondering if I incorporated whey protein powder into my diet and exercise program, whould it help or hinder my progress. I don't want to build muscle under the belly fat do I? Or should I lose the belly fat first? Thanks, Aliva
A:
Protein powder by itself will do very little if anything to help you lose extra stomach fat. The key is to improve your overall diet as I describe in my Nutrition article. Having enough protein is certainly one of the important points in a good fat-burning diet but just adding more protein to any random diet won't do anything. So please read the article I linked and think over your entire diet, not just the protein powder aspect of it.
As far as building muscle, it won't happen to a significant degree even with weight training AS LONG AS YOU ARE LOSING WEIGHT! So again, the key is to have a diet that allows for slow gradual weight loss. That combined with weight training and cardio is the best way to lose the extra fat. When you are losing fat your body simply will not any spare calories to allow for building muscle. You may gain a little muscle and you will certainly get stronger (strength comes not just from muscle but also from trained nervous system) but the amount of muscle gained will be very small while the amount of fat lost will be large.
So again, plan out your entire diet -- protein powder is just one small aspect of it -- and make sure you exercise and eat enough to slowly but surely be losing weight (1-2 pounder per week). That will burn the extra fat and prevent too much new muscle from building up.
2372. Q:
how to lose man boobs
A:
Please read this.
2373. Q:
In your articles on fat loss and muscle gain diets – you suggest that people eat more protein on the fat loss diets than on the muscle gain diet – why is this, does protein have some kind of special fat burning property? I always thought that protein promotes muscle growth not fat loss.
A:
It's actually not so much that you eat more protein to burn fat, but that you eat proportionally more protein when trying to lose weight because you will eat fewer calories and fewer carbs. Let me do a little math to explain...
I usually recommend using 30%/40%/30% protein/carbs/fat calorie breakdown target for bulking (building muscle) and 40%/30%/30% protein/carbs/fat for cutting (losing fat). But when one is bulking one will be eating significantly more calories. A typical bulk might require 3000 calories, while a typical cut only 2000 calories. So on that bulk you would eat 30% * 3000 calories = 900 calories = 225 grams of protein, while on the cut you would eat 40% * 2000 = 800 calories = 200 grams of protein. So even while you proportionally eat more protein on a cut (40% vs 30%), you still end up eating about the same or fewer actual grams of protein.
Another reason to keep protein intake high while cutting is that it may spare some of the muscle that would otherwise be burned for energy by your body. Plus the presence of protein makes it easier for your body to repair and replace existing muscle tissue. Remember a successful cut is not just about losing fat but also about preserving existing muscle as much as possible.
All these reasons combine to the recommendation of keeping protein intake high on a cut, even when fat and especially carb intakes are down.
2374. Q:
hi mike, i had a question 2 months ago which u answered saying that everything u r doing is right, as i am 18 n from 12st i have gone 2 10 1/2 st and i am 6ft,i do weight training 6 times, n cardio 2. however i have stil got man boobs. All my family n friends have all said that i have lost a lot of weight and think that i have gone skinny, however i know that i got man boobs n some fat on my lower back. So my question is i was thinking maybe i should start bulking instead of cutting for like 6months n den slowly start cutting the other 6 months, would that seem ok or shal i keep with my normal diet/training
A:
Yes, your weight is certainly low enough for your height now that a bulk would be appropriate, as you said. Remember that it's not possible or practical or even healthy to eliminate any and all fat on your body. Your chest area, stomach, lower back will always and should always have some fat on them. So it's important to maintain a healthy viewpoint of how much fat you really need to lose. At ten and a half stones and six feet tall you simply cannot possibly have very much fat remaining on you. I certainly would not advise continuing to try to lose weight at this point.
Also at 18 your body is probably still growing and changing somewhat and some of the 'man boob' effect may go away as you age.
In any case, I certainly think that a slow bulk like you said would be fine for you now. Just remember to maintain a good diet and gain weight as slowly as possible to minimize new fat gains. After the bulk you can re-evaluate and decide whether you need or want to cut again. Good luck!
2376. Q:
How do you loose weight with N.O.-XPLODE.
A:
You don't lose weight with it. NO-xplode is a creatine and nitric oxide supplement designed to stimulate muscle growth. The creatine part of it is a fairly proven effective (though not anywhere as spectacular as ads would lead you to believe) but nitric oxide is completely unproven scientifically and potentially dangerous. So overall it's a questionable supplement, despite its hype and certainly is not needed or even wanted for weight loss. For one thing, creatine will cause extra water retention actually increasing your weight.
If you are interested in a proven way to lose extra weight and fat, please read this article.
2377. Q:
Hi Mike, its me from Q2246. Quick recap. M:29 5’10” was 187lbs. Cardio 3-4 times per week. Lost 16lbs. Found your website which is great and am now doing your 3 day/week full body program muscle/strength mix and would like to continue cutting for another 10lbs at least before focusing on muscle build. My workout generally lasts approx 50 mins. I feel stronger and impressed with my physic thus far. However, I appear to have reached a plateau. Over the last 6 weeks, since weight training I can’t seem to shed anymore weight, albeit fat. In fact I now weigh 192lbs. My diet I thought was quite good althou you recommended I should be hitting at least 1800calories per day. I think it was more like 1200-1500, by calorie counting rather than nutritional value. i.e. weight watchers meals , After your advice my current daily food usually consists of porridge or Shredded wheat for breakfast Whey protein drink if went to the gym. Mid morning snack something like fruit/egg/quiche/cottage cheese on crispbread. Lunch a sandwich with plenty of salad with ham or cheese or similar/beans on wholemeal toast/jacket potatoe+filling/tuna (dry) salad with a bit of Mayo or coleslaw light to stop it being too dry/left-overs from previous evening meal. Mid afternoon snack would be similar to mid morn snack. Evening meal would be veg Stir-Fry with diced chicken/home-made curry/spag carbonara/spag bolognese/chilli/Bangers n Mash (or other piece of meat). All veg is fresh from market, cooked in a wok using 1Cal spray rather than oil. We buy brown rice, low carb or brown pasta and look for items displaying low fat content. Is there anything a miss here? Is my diet good? Please help, as I’m tempted to go back to cardio workout to loose my fat although I don’t believe it the figures appear to show otherwise.
A:
Sorry to hear your progress has slowed. Let me go through the possibilities one by one...
First off, let me try to go through your diet now and guesstimate the calories and comment on some food choices (unfortuantely I am not familiar with some of the foods you mentioned).
- Your breakfast looks good when you take whey along with porridge. Assuming porridge is oats or another whole grain on water that's probably 300 calories or so of mostly carbs and maybe 10-12 grams protein. Adding whey bumps it up to 400 calories with 40 grams of protein. I would always have whey with porridge here, assuming you can afford it.
- I'm a bit confused about your mid-morning snack... I'm assuming you mean you eat ONE of the following: 'fruit/egg/quiche/cottage cheese on crispbread'. Here calories and protein content can really vary, so it's difficult for me to guesstimate. A piece of fruit is an OK snack with about 100 calories but it has no protein so you'd want to get more protein than usual in other meals. An egg is about 70 calories with 7 grams of protein -- one egg is really a very small snack, I'd try to have at least a couple. Quiche I really don't know since it can vary so much depending on recipe and portion size. But it tends to have a lot of calories and probably has enough protein too. Cottage cheese on crispbread is probably 200-300 calories with around 20 grams of protein. Overall cottage cheese on crispbread is probably the best choice of the ones you listed (with more cottage cheese and less crisp bread). 2-3 eggs would be fine too.
- Lunch salad with either ham and cheese or tuna is a good choice and probably has 300 calories with 30 grams of protein or so. Jacket potato is not a very good choice (bad carbs and no protein) and probably has 300 calories with filling. Beans on toast is a subpar choice too -- beans are good but you probably don't have very many of them on that toast. Probably also around 300 calories.
- Evening stir-fry with chicken and curry (if lots of lentils and not too much oil) are good with probably 400 calories with 30-40 grams of protein. Spaghetti is not a good choice. Chili may or may not be good, depending on ingredients. Overall it looks to be 400-500 calories for dinner.
So your diet can really vary, but assuming whey for breakfast, one good snack choice (cottage cheese) and one so-so snack choice (a piece of fruit) you are getting roughly: 400 + 300 + 300 + 100 + 500 = 1600 calories and about 40 + 20 + 30 + 0 + 30 = 120 grams of protein. The rest of calories come mostly from carbs since your diet is very low in fat, except possible the quiche, eggs, and chili. Both calories and protein are lower than would be ideal. Again this all is just my guesstimate based on the info you provided...
So my suggestions on the diet would be:
- Always have whey with porridge. They make for a very good breakfast.
- For snacks, go with cottage cheese more (with some crisp bread but not too much). Alternatively a couple eggs are OK. If your quiche is not too calorie-rich and some some protein it could be OK too.
- Salad plus ham or tuna are good for lunch but other choices not so much.
- Stir-fry with chicken is probably best choice for dinner. Curry and chili might be OK depending on the recipe.
- Overall I would still recommend increasing calories and protein intake. This may cause to gain more weight temporarily but it's all part of revving up your metabolism which was in the dumps when you ate 1200 calories. You also could use more healthy fats in your diet (fatty fish, olive oil, dry-roasted nuts), so most of the new calories should come from protein and healthy fats.
That's it for the diet... Another thing to consider is how your body composition may have changed since you started weight training. You gained 5 pounds of weight but how much actual fat and muscle have you lost or gained? There's no way I can answer that question over the internet but as a beginner to weight training you certainly should have gained some muscle and it's very possible that all five of those pounds or even more are actually new muscle and you may have even lost some fat. Think about how you look now versus before. Think of whether it's easier or more difficult to fit in your pants compared to before. It's very possible that despite gaining a few pounds you actually lost fat! Not all weight gain is necessarily bad.
As far as training there is certainly no reason to stop cardio altogether just because you are doing weight training. I usually recommend 2-3 days/week of cardio to go along with weight training and you can easily do 3-4 days of cardio as you were doing before.
But it's important to understand that in long term excessive cardio with a very low-calorie diet like you've been doing is not a good combination. They will drive your metabolism into the ground, your weight loss will stop sooner or later and possibly reverse. You will also be very vulnerable to new fat gains should you stop cardio or start eating more.
So if you do increase cardio significantly you should also plan on increasing your calories as well (you should really increase them in any case) to make sure your metabolism has room to work. My recommendation will be to continue increasing calories to 1800-2000 at least, mainly through more protein and some healthy fats, continuing weight training, and re-start cardio, but I would not do more than 2-3 hours/week of cardio. Hope that helps!
2378. Q:
why would you say cardio is a small part of losing fat? That's the dumbest thing I've heard. You're getting people to look like ogres if you tell them to focus on weight training. They get even fatter because you end up with muscle and fat. Focusing on cardio will burn the fat and compact your muscles. If you want the muscle then work out after you lose the majority of the fat. It's better for your overall health including mental. Muscle burns fat but not that much. You also want a good strong metabolism and cardio will get you there a lot quicker than weight training.
A:
Nobody will become an ogre through weight training unless they also eat through the roof. What I recommend people is that they control their diets and eat enought to LOSE weight in conjunction with with weight training. Nobody and I mean nobody has become an ogre while losing weight.
Weight training is an extremely effective calorie-burner and metabolism booster. Cardio, on the other hand, when done excessively like many people tend to do depresses metabolism. In the long term, especially in conjunction with a low-calorie diet (which is again extremely common) heavy cardio does in fact lead to significant weight loss but leaves the person extremely vulnerable to new fat gains when they stop the cardio or start eating more (like they almost always do).
So my recommendation is to do moderate amount of cardio, though keep it fairly intense. This allows the trainee to derive all the physiological and psychological benfits of cardio without depressing metabolism. But the heavy work of fat loss is done mostly through good diet and weight training which not only burns the fat but also preserves metabolism and muscle mass so that the person is not so vulnerable to regaining the fat.
There's no question that plenty of people lose fat and weight through cardio alone but unfortunately many if not most gain it right back once they stop the program. This is not the case with a good weight training program.
2380. Q:
how many calories should a 12 year old eat
A:
Don't worry about how much you eat, but instead make sure you eat healthy nutritious foods and not junk foods. Eat tons of veggies, raw or lightly cooked, whole fruits, whole grains, lean meats and fish and dairy. On the contrary, minimize sweets, burgers, fried, pizza, sodas, chips, etc. If you give your body plenty of nutritious food it'll be sure to put it to good use as you grow.
2382. Q:
.im 147 5foot 9 and 19 age how do i get musle mass fast
A:
You can't gain it very fast (muscle gain requires weight gain and if you start gaining weight too fast you'll just end up with a lot of new fat -- probably not what you want), but through weight training and a good balanced diet rich in protein you can ceratinly gain 20-30 pounds of muscle in a couple of years. Start by reading my Nutrition article and Weight training article and then filling out Fitness Guide specifying 'Gain Muscle' as your goal to get a suggested starter program and food plan. Good luck!
2383. Q:
I am 64 yrs. old, male and 5'11' tall. What is my best weight for a long life?
A:
Healthy weight range for you is between 145 and 175 pounds. But your doctor would be much more appropriate to answer this question since he or she would be able to consider your overall condition and medical history into account.
2384. Q:
how many calories can you burn doing 300 jumping jacks if you weigh 135?
A:
Figure around 15 calories burned per minute of exercise if you are doing them continuously. But keep in mind that counting calories is not a very effective approach to weight loss -- please check out my weight loss article.
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