Q&A for: 17-Oct-05
732. Q:
im from question 683 and i wanted to know because i usually eat a potato bread with turkey and ranch dressing sandwhich,honey nut cheerios,cinnomin roll oatmeal,carrots,salad,grapes,bananas,and maybe once a month a pizza, then maybe once every 1 month a pop,then taco bell, i dont eat them at a time but is that good to eat cereal and oatmeal cuz thats like my favorite ever to eat,tell me or not wut to eat or if u have better stuff to eat tell me
A:
Most of those foods don't sound too bad. Obviously pop, pizza, and taco bell are junk, but if you only eat them once a month, then it's OK. Instead of potato bread, get whole-wheat or other whole grain. Go real easy on the ranch dressing or use mayo instead. Since it sounds like you eat cereals more than anything else, then that's where you can improve the most -- instead of your current choices try to eat plain old-fashioned oatmeal (big cylindrical Quaker boxes in the supermarket) and add bananas, berries apples, or cinnamon to it if you need to make it sweeter. Honey nut cheerios and cinnamon roll oatmeal both have a lot of added sugar (bad), while plain old fashioned oatmeal does not.
It's very good that you eat all those fruits and veggies -- keep doing that! A nice big salad with grilled chicken breast and olive oil once in awhile would get more protein and more healthy fats into your diet since it's pretty low on both now. And don't forget about being more physically active, as I said in #683. Your man boobs will definitely disappear with a healthy diet and exercise as you grow a little older.
733. Q:
whats a healthy weight for a 5 ft 5 male
A:
Between 120 and 145 pounds.
734. Q:
15 year old from 724 i already use 5kg weights that is as high as i can go before i could harm myself i know from experience and i do about 40-50 reps of the exercises i told you and i do eat a lot of fruit my from a estimate i am likely to end up between 6'3 and 6'6 and about 160-170 would be a good weight from me. I am also very healthy do not smoke drugs and i only drink at christmas (i know i shouldnt :P) but i have taken your advice and am trying green beans and lettuce in meals. I dont want to have buldging muscles i am not even bothered about six pack just a flat solid chest. could you recommend personally the best types of weight training. i already do 50 dumbell bench presses, dumbell flies, 40 dumbell lunges and 75 crunches every day
A:
I did tell you the most effective weight training in my answer to Q&A #724 -- using heavier weights and doing fewer reps. The weight training you're doing now is, essentially, cardio. To get the maximum fat-burning benefit out of weight training you need to be using heavy weights that you can only lift 10-12 times before needing a rest. This happens to be the same type of training you'd use to build muscle, BUT just because you train that way doesn't mean you'll build bulging muscle!! Whether you burn fat or build muscle will be determined by the amount of food you eat. So your goal is to eat just enough to maintain your weight or a little less to lose weight very slowly (no faster than 1 pound per week and preferably even slower at your age). This is a very important point and I want you to understand it: heavy whole-body weight training is BOTH the best fat burner and the best muscle builder. But whether you mostly burn fat OR mostly build muscle will be determined by your diet and how much you eat. In your case, you'd eat less and burn fat.
So given that fact and given that you already eat healthy (a lot of fruits is OK, just eat them raw -- don't eat those syrupy canned fruits), the best thing you can do is get heavier weights so instead of tiring yourself out after 40 reps, you tire yourself out after just 10. If you absolutely cannot get heavier weights, then you need to use your own bodyweight to make the exercises harder. Do pushups and diamond pushups (hands close together, thumbs touching each other) instead of presses and flies. Find a pullup bar and do pullups (they work the back muscles and you don't exercise back muscles at all now). Try doing one-legged squats -- don't bend your knee so much that go all the way down, but go pretty low on just one leg before straightening back up (be careful with this exercise and don't push yourself too hard at first -- you can injure yourself if not careful). And so on. These will all help you exercise your muscles in low rep range where you can do less than 15 in a row before needing a break. Again, this will help you burn fat most efficiently when combined with a healthy diet in which you don't overeat and keep your weight constant or lose it slowly.
735. Q:
how do you get rid of a fat stomach that is hard
A:
Please read the fat loss article carefully and follow its directions.
736. Q:
how to lose man boobs
A:
Please read the fat loss article carefully and follow its directions.
737. Q:
Hi, I seriously do not have enough spare cash to spend on any machines or weights. I repeat: I cannot buy any weights. I don't have access to a gym either. I weigh 230 lbs, am 15, and I really wan't to get down to at least 180 by the time I graduate. Please help, because I have no clue how to effectively lose weight without weights or other devices.
A:
If you absolutely cannot get weights, then you'll have to have a good diet and use your own bodyweight to do resistance exercise. Losing 50 pounds in 3 years should absolutely not be a problem -- that's only 1.5 pounds per month which is both very doable and a very heathy fat-loss pace. For the diet, I think I've already gave you all the directions I could. For training, since you don't have equipment, you'd want to follow the no-equipment weighttraining program 4 times per week (or even more often if you want). The only thing I ask you to find is a pullup bar. It could even be a tree branch -- just anything from which you can hang. Do your best with these exercises. With pullups if you can only do 1 or 2 (or even none), just do the best your can with partial pullups. Same with pushups. If pushups become too easy (you can do over 20 in a row easily), starting placing your hands closer and closer together -- that makes them harder. I hope that helps, feel free to post follow-up questions as they come up.
738. Q:
How come all of my friends can eat a lot of junk food without getting fat? I weigh over 200 lbs and I eat healthier than some of them, I know metabolism is involved but it can't be like that with ALL of my friends can it? Can being overweight be generic or is that a myth?
A:
It is genetic to some degree, but even a person with the worst genetics can get themselves in pretty darn good shape with discipline and time. The reasons why some kids eat junk and seemingly get away with it while some get quite fat is due to metabolism differences (to some degree) but more importantly in the amount eaten and how active the kids are in general. Many kids eat one burger and fries and maybe a small breakfast and that's all they eat -- it's junk but because it's so few calories they don't gain weight. While others will eat the burger, fries, and a shake in addition to the three regular meals -- they eat about the same amount of junk but it's all extra calories on top of their regular meals which leads to weight gain. That is NOT to say that the kids who only eat one burger a day and nothing else are doing good -- eventually such a poor diet will catch up with them both fitness-wise and health-wise. But during the teenage years they might well get away with it.
The other thing is activity levels. Playing sports and being generally active would allow you to burn some of those extra calories off which may be your friends' 'secret'.
But if you really overeat, whether through regular foods or junk or a mix of two, even a lot of cardio won't help you. And in the worst case scenario you used to overeat when young, gained a lot of weight, and now cut your calories drastically killing your metabolism so you don't lose weight even though you eat little and/or healthy. In this case, you'd need to rev up your metabolism through the kind of diet I describe in the Nutrition article -- many small healthy meals throughout the day.
My advice would be to not look at your friends but instead focus on fixing your own situation by improving your diet (as described in the Nutrition article), and by being more physically active, including weight training. The results won't come quickly, but over months and years you'll look and feel better and better while your friends's poor diets start catching up with them.
739. Q:
Hi Mike,
I wanted to know how can I lose my love handles? I exercise and watch what I eat. I run, lift weight, and even do cardio. But I can seam to lose my love handles. what's the best exercize you recommend?
A:
It's not a matter of any one exercise, but the whole shebang -- diet, weights, and cardio. You say you do the right thing for all three, but I can't really comment on what's happening with you unless you give me more info: you age, gender, height, weight, typical daily diet, cardio routine, weights routine (exercises, weights used, reps and sets). Then I'll hopefully be able to give some suggestions.
One other thing to keep in mind is that slow progress is the only kind of lasting progress. So patience has to be part of the deal. But in any case, post all the info I asked for above and I'll give you some pointers.
740. Q:
Hi again, I posted 737. In the no-equipment program, I'm not sure I can complete any of those sets. Is that alright seeing as how I'm just starting? I can do the jumping jacks, probably lunges, and mabey the squats. Probably not though. I know I cannot do that many push-ups (I can do about 5...and that's pushing it), crunches, or pullups.
For the walking lunges, do I actually have to move while I do it? I know that sounds like a stupid question, but is it the same as standing and doing a lunge?
A:
Do the best you can. When you can't do a full squat or pullup or whatever, do a few partial ones and then stop your set and take a 2-minute break before the next set. Your strength will build up pretty quickly and soon you'll be able to do more and more reps. For the lunges, you can do them either in place (taking an exaggerated step forward with one leg, then returning to the original place, then taking another lunge with the other leg, etc.) or walking (taking long exaggerated steps with the forward knee bent at 90 degrees and the trailing knee nearly touching the floor). I prefer walking lunges, but it really doesn't matter -- do one or the other.
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