Q&A for: 2-Nov-05
939. Q:
mike, in 923 you gave advice to that guy.. i eat everything you told him not to pretty much, and my acne is udner control. i would say go to your dermatologist. he gave me pills and a lotion to put on in the morning and before bed it works good
A:
Well, he asked what foods to eat, so that's what I answered :) It's a personal choice whether you want to control acne (or many other health problems) by improving your diet and lifestyle or whether you prefer to get a pill or a lotion that does the work. I prefer the former approach because it provides numerous other health benefits that you will be thankful for as you get older and older. But as I said, it's a personal choice and yes, acne medications do work pretty well.
940. Q:
calories burnt doing crunches
A:
Not many. Counting calories is not a good approach to losing weight. Please see Q&A #197.
941. Q:
my sudden weight loss of 4.4 pounds had nothing to do with change in diet since I was eating the exact same thing when I was working out at a heart rate of 125. but you did not answer my question.Why is it that doing cardio at an average heartrate of 145 caused me to lose weight while working out for 50-60 minutes wIth a HR of 125 did not help me lose even one gram.?
A:
Sorry, but I did answer exactly your question. As I said then, you should not be looking at one-time weight changes (up or down) but instead at long-term trends in your weight. A jump of 5 or even 10 pounds in the course of a couple of days is meaningless at best, and harmful at worst. It is NOT FAT that's being lost, but what is called water weight.
I also calculated for you how much actual fat (not just weight) you could've possibly lost in the best case scenario and that was 1 pound of fat. The rest of your weight loss is, whether you like it or not, is just water and/or digestive wastes that emptied out. You are doing the right thing by upping your cardio intensity, but that change certainly did not and will not cause you to start losing weight at nearly a pound per day! You should see it for yourself by now -- you didn't lose another 5 pounds in the 5 days since I answered your question, did you?
And, as I think I also said back then, your goal should NOT be losing weight as fast as you can. Very fast weight loss will quickly grind your metabolism to a halt and weight loss will stop soon and then reverse with you gaining extra fat. Instead of trying to lose weight quickly, lose it gradually, at 1-2 pounds per week. That way you'll guarantee that you really are losing fat and not water or muscle and you'll be able to continue losing fat for a long time AND keep it off afterwards.
942. Q:
hi mike im from question 932 my diet contains these meals, breakfast: 2 scrambeld eggs 3 peices of bacon and 2 pieces of wheat toast. Lunch: Usualy what ever i have at school but i usualy only eat half. Dinner: My dinners usualy consist of non breaded chicken, Porkchops,Steak,boiled ribs, salads eith ranch dressing and sometimes a soda.(i know you already know this but i dont eat that all at once)
A:
It's an OK diet (unless your school lunch is complete junk), I've certainly seen much worse :) So you should make pretty good progress for at least a few months. After that you'll definitely want to improve your diet and also pick one direction: lose fat or gain muscle? You may want to read up my Nutrition article and start planning how you'll start introducing its suggestions into your diet. One thing you can and should do now is eat more veggies and whole fruits. But in the meanwhile, by all means, focus on exercise and enjoy good progress for at least a few months!
943. Q:
what is the average amount of calories that humans should in take?
A:
Please see Q&A #889
944. Q:
Hi Mike. I'm overweight as a result of a depression i was in a few years ago, during which I ate alot and did little. I don't eat hardly as much bad food as I did then, and I'm active. I've tried losing that weight through workout routines but I havn't been able to succeed. I can only keep concentration on it for about two weeks then I lose interest. I've tried your routines as well, I just can't keep going.
I've been eying surgery, because I know that now once I lose the weight I won't gain it back. I was living horribly back then, but I do alot (and I mean alot) better. I realize the risks and I know it can be pretty costly, but do you think it is alright to take off the bulk of my fat and wait for the effects to wear off then begin exercising?
I just need a head-start, so it doesn't feel so impossible. I'de like to know what your opinion is on this. Do you think it would be fine to take off 30lbs through surgery then exercising afterwords? Because I seriously cannot keep a very good excercise routine I've never been able to and probably never will - that's just me.
A:
That's really a decision only you should make. I personally would not have surgery, especially for just 30 pounds, but again it's not my decision. Ask yourself how certain you are that after the surgery the remaining path in front of you won't feel so 'impossible'. And of course remember it's only impossible if you think it's impossible :) Millions of people, both stronger and weaker than you, accomplished the same thing so there's absolutely no reason why you couldn't do the same. But it is your decision.
945. Q:
Hey, do you think that those the Bowflex weight thing is a good product? Sorry I don't know what it's called and I'm not sure if you've had it in your Recommendations or not. It's the one where you can change how much weight you're lifting by turning the dial. How much is it and do you think it's a good buy for the amount you'de spend on all the weights seperatly (do you know the weight range on it?)
-Thanks.
A:
Bowflex is an OK product and those dial-in dumbbells (dial in 10 to 50 pounds in 10-pound increments) are too. I did have them in my recommendations, but in the end I replaced them with plain old pullup bar and dumbbells simply because they are so much cheaper. Cheapest Bowflex runs over $800 and dial-in dumbbells over $300. The pullup bar costs 15 bucks and can give you as good or better back and bicep workout than the Bowflex. Combine that with 2-3 pairs of dumbbells (light, medium, and heavy) you'll still spend around $100 or so and be able to do full-body workouts better than the Bowflex. I did cover the plusses of Bowflex in Q&A #730 so you can read that and decide whether the benefits outweigh the disadantages and cost.
946. Q:
I am 5'7 and 143 pounds I just turned 18, and started working out when I moved out on my own 2 months ago. I have lost about 7 pounds since then. For the past 2 weeks, I have been going to the gym 5 times a week: weights, abs, cardio 3 days, abs and swimming the other two. For cardio I usually do 1/2 hour on the elliptical. Abs-I do 25 situps, a good 100 or so crunches in various positions. I also try to swim 28-30 laps and lift and use machines. I eat 2-3 meals a day, mostly bread, fish, vegetables, pasta, fruit. Meat once or twice a week. Milk or water with every meal. I don't feel or look much different...when can I expect to see results? I would really love to have a six pack of abs. Thanks for any advice you have to give!
A:
This is not going to be easy, but please read on :) Your case is very typical and not very easy to solve. You have perfectly healthy average weight and, from the sounds of it, perfectly healthy average body fat percentage (which is around 15-17%). Body fat percentage means what percent of your weight is fat. The trick is that in order to have a six-pack you need to bring your body fat down to 10% or so, which is not at all average or easy to accomplish (or else everyone would be sporting six-packs). Why 10%? Because that's the way things are. Most men require around 10% body fat percentage before they can start seeing their six-packs and all the crunches and situps in the world won't change that (which also explains why so many guys are doing millions of crunches but still can't see abs). It's very unlikely that you'll be able to lose enough fat to go from your present 15-17% to 10% in a straight line.
You can lose a little bit of weight, bring your body fat percentage down a point or two or three, but by then you'll have also lost some muscle so your meatbolism slows down and your weight loss stops. In order to restart it, you'll need to build back some of the lost muscle which means your bodyweight will go up and so will your body fat percentage (because you can't gain muscle without gaining some fat and even a little new fat will push your body fat percentage up). So now you may be back at your orginal weight, but one or two points lower body fat percentage. Now you repeat the same process again (lose weight -> lose body fat -> gain muscle -> gain some, but not all old fat back -> end up at same weight as before but lower body fat). So this zig zagging eventually gets you to your six-pack. Sorry, it's not as easy as I wish it could be, but this is the only way to get there unless you're one of the lucky few who has great genetics and gets the six-pack easily.
If everything goes well you'll only need to repeat this process once: lose weight (as you've done already partially), regain muscle, and then lose weight again till you have your six-pack. They key to success is having a good routine and equally importantly a good diet for both, the 'cutting' (losing weight) and the 'bulking' (gaining muscle) phases. When losing weight you'll want to lose it very slowly (1 pound per week) so you preserve as much muscle as you can. Similarly, when gaining weight you'll want to gain it even slower (1 pound every two weeks) so you minimize new fat gain.
Your exercise program may be OK already, but your diet needs a lot of improvement if you want to reach that six-pack look. Please read my Nutrition article to learn how to structure your diet, both for fat loss and muscle gain. You also probably should check out my Weight Training article to see if you can improve your program a bit.
One last bit of advice is to be patient and be happy with every little bit of progress you make. Don't expect the six-pack quickly, but take your time and take pride in all the little steps along the way. Good luck!
947. Q:
what is the point of doing crunches and situps if they dont do anything
A:
They are just like any other exercise for any other muscle group. By themselves they won't make any visible difference but as a part of a well-rounded program with a good diet they will all add up to some serious progress. No one exercise, no one food, no one week of intense workouts will make any difference. It's a matter of having a complete program and following it for a long time.
948. Q:
Im 30 years old, 6'1' tall, and weigh 220 pounds
A:
Sorry, if you're following up on another question please give me the question number or I have no way of connecting the two.
949. Q:
Hey mike, 2 things. in 591, i gave you my workout guide. 5 meals, how much protein should i get per meal? if im 200 pounds.. also, in an effort to get bigger calves, i did lleg press calf raises, seated calf raises, and i also tried something i made up with 2 dumbbells in your hands, and then you stand on your tip toes and hold it for a second, is this good? i kind of felt it afterwords
A:
Try for at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. So 200 grams per day in your case or 40 grams of protein per meal. If you're used to the five-meal diet by now, it'd be a good idea to introduce another meal which will allow you to increase total amount of protein and/or spread it over more meals.
The exercise you did for calves is very good. You can do some variations of it... Get heavy dumbbells to stress both your calves as well as your grip (building forearm strength and muscles). While standing on tip toes, shrug your shoulders up to get a trap workout in addition to calves.
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