Q&A for: 18-Aug-05
380. Q:
I'm 31 and a mother of a 6yr old. Through out my early twenties I weighed no more than 175lbs and looked and felt great! I'm 5'10 and now weight 235 distributed. I've had my thyroid tested because I can't seem to loose much more than 12lbs or so. I was very active and could eat anything. My arms are what bothers me the worst. I hate wearing short sleeves or tanks. I have plenty of muscle and used to belong to a gym for 6 months doing on rotation muscular and cardio workouts. My trainer kept advising put more weight on, NO! I don't need any more upper body mass. During my gym days I ate nothing but healthy, fish, skinless chicken, veggies, fruits and some carbs like Muslix Cereal with yogurt. PLEASE, advise. I am distributed pretty evenly but very over weight. I'm 5'10 and weight 235. Not interested in the gastrobypass! I have a 6yr old so after work or early walking just won't work for me. Please advise, Thanks!
A:
If your trainer encouraged you to use more weight when you performed exercises, then he or she was actually giving you the right advice. Remember: lifting heavy weights in the gym will NOT make you bulky! Overeating is what makes you bulky! Lifting heavy weights AND undereating slightly is what will give you the best fat loss results. Lifting light weights isn't going to do nearly as much to boost metabolis as lifting heavy.
It sounds like you were eating most of the right things while you were working out. Muslix and yogurt are two things that should go and you may have needed a bit more healthy fats (like oilive oil in your salad, for example).
Right now your goal should be two-fold. One, improve your present diet to have several small healthy meals throughout the day. Two, restart resistance training, either in the gym or with minimal equipment at home. To both ends, please check out my Fitness Guide, complete it (put 175 lbs for your weight) and look at the recommended exercise and nutrition programs. Then do your best to follow them. If you do not have a gym membership and can only work out at home, then use either this or this program -- they're not going to be as effective as a good gym lifting program, but still far better than nothing. And again remember: DO NOT BE AFRAID OF HEAVY WEIGHTS!!! They will never ever make you bulky unless you eat too much. By having a good diet like the one suggested by the Fitness Guide, you will turn heavy lifting into the best fat-burner possible. You should be losing about 1 pound per week for optimal sustained long-term fat loss. Spend a week or two on the suggested diet and from then on adjust your serving sizes up or down to stay on track for 1 pound/week weight loss. Good luck!
381. Q:
how do i get rid of my 'moma pouch' stomache ?
A:
Please read this article. There's no way to JUST lose the stomach fat, but by losing fat all over your body as described in the articles, you'll lose the stomach fat as well!
382. Q:
I'm 19, and sometimes I feel very tired at work, then at school I feel sleepy.. is there any supplement that could help me be more active..? What do you suggest I do?
A:
Don't rely on supps to get you through your day! If you're constantly tired or sleepy, especially at young age like you, there's something wrong with your schedule and/or diet and/or exercise routine. Are you getting AT LEAST 7 hours of good sleep? 8 hours would be best, but at least 7. If not, can you cut something from your routine to get you extra sleep? Are you eating enough? If you're trying to lose weight, you should still eat enough to lose no more than 2 pounds/week max and slower is better. Are you exercising too much? If you spend more than 5 hours in the gym per week and more than 2 hours on cardio per week, you're most likely doing too much and it's starting to affect your everyday life. More is NOT always better. Take a week or two completely off the gym and then come back to a light volume gym program. You can find a bunch of sample programs, both high and low volume, on this page.
Examine all facets of your life to find the cause for your tiredness and fix it, don't rely on pills. There's nothing wrong with an occasional coffee, but that's as far as you should go in trying to keep yourself up when your body is telling you it needs rest.
383. Q:
does starch make u fat
A:
Sorry, it's not that simple. Three biggest factors responsible for making you fat are: eating too much, eating wrong, and not having enough physical activity. It's perfectly possible to eat certain starchy foods and not gain weight and even lose weight as long as you eat 'right'. I try to explain what 'eating right' means here with a cliff-notes version here :)
384. Q:
Hey Mike, for 5 months i havent been able to get a burn in my biceps, which is as long as ive been going to the gym. I do preacher curls, standing curls, seated curls, and hammer curls.. If i dont get sore muscles the next day, like the feeling, do they still bulk up? how can i get the burn feeling the next day
A:
You do NOT need to feel the burn to make progress. As long as the rest of your program (both diet and exercise) is good, you should be seeing results in your biceps after 5 months. If you absolutely want to feel the burn, try drop sets with biceps: pick up, say, 30-pound (or whatever you usually use) dumbbells and do as many reps as you can to failure, then immediately without any rest drop the 30-pounders and pick up 22.5-pounders and do as many as you can to failure, then drop 22.5-pounders, pick up 15-pounders and again go to failure, then the same thing with 10-pounders and even 5-pounders. That will give you a good burn and may be even some soreness the following day. But again, burn and/or soreness are not in any way necessary to make good progress.
385. Q:
In order to lose fat u should also do weight training in order to build some muscles.But i have heard that in order to build muscles u need to eat more.On the other hand in order to lose fat u need to eat less.I heard that losing fat and building muscles are different goals and cant be achieved together.What do u think of this and what should i do in weight training to build muscles and lose fat at the same time?(my primal goal is to lose fat )
A:
Burning fat and building muscles are different goals, but they're very related. As a beginner, if you have a conservative weight-loss diet (in other words, slightly undereat), you'll be able to both burn fat and build muscle for some time. After that initial period you'd be best served by picking one goal or the other and structure your diet accordingly. But your exercise program should always be in muscle-building mode! That way if you're trying to build muscles and eat accordingly, you'll get the result you want. And if you are trying to lose fat and eat accordingly, then exercising in a muscle-building way will become your best natural fat-burner besides the good diet.
So you always weight-train the same way: as if you're building muscle. Then you structure your diet either to lose fat or to build muscle. I tried to outline these guidelines here.
386. Q:
how to lose man boobs
A:
Please carefully read this article
387. Q:
how can i loose weight in my stomach and my lwers thighs fast and without drugs and dangerous diets?? and also how long will this take im starting school soon and i want to losse a little weight to fit in these shorts my mom though that would fit me.
A:
It's IMPOSSIBLE lose fat fast and keep it off! Any fast weight loss will result in significant muscle loss (not just fat loss) which not only makes you look worse, but also makes you susceptible to new fat gains. Whatever pounds you lose fast will come back with vengeance. Make a committment to yourself, learn, and follow a steady healthy fat-loss program losing 1-2 pounds per week. Please carefully read this article to learn how.
388. Q:
how do i loose weight near and on my stomach in less than 3 days
A:
It's IMPOSSIBLE lose fat fast and keep it off! Any fast weight loss will result in significant muscle loss (not just fat loss) which not only makes you look worse, but also makes you susceptible to new fat gains. Whatever pounds you lose fast will come back with vengeance. Make a committment to yourself, learn, and follow a steady healthy fat-loss program losing 1-2 pounds per week. Please carefully read this article to learn how.
389. Q:
how do u loose fat FAST???!!!
A:
It's IMPOSSIBLE lose fat fast and keep it off! Any fast weight loss will result in significant muscle loss (not just fat loss) which not only makes you look worse, but also makes you susceptible to new fat gains. Whatever pounds you lose fast will come back with vengeance. Make a committment to yourself, learn, and follow a steady healthy fat-loss program losing 1-2 pounds per week. Please carefully read this article to learn how.
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