Q&A for: 4-Dec-05
1121. Q:
Hi Mike.
I have seen and heard of a product called
Phedra-Cut which is marketed under the USN lable.
As far as i know it is used to reduce fat in your body.
I would like to know what it is designed for and whether its effects are long lasting or just temporary.
Thanks
Mike in SA
A:
I am not familiar with this specific product but from looking at it on the web it does not seem much different from dozens other 'fat-burners'. I don't have a very high opinion of these products (see Q&A #812 for reasons why) and don't have any reason to think of this specific one differently.
1122. Q:
does strech marks mean you gained weight or lost weight
A:
Stretch marks can actually appear for both reasons. I'd say that gaining weight is the more common one, but they can appear as result of both. If you're a yo-yo dieter with your weight constantly going up or down you'll be very likely to end up with stretch marks.
1123. Q:
What percentage of one's daily calories should come from saturated fats?
A:
The official USDA guideline is to get less than 10% of your total daily calories from saturdated fat. So if you eat 2500 calories per day, that works out to 250 calories or about 28 grams of saturated fat daily.
I personally do not feel that the saturated fats and dietary cholesterol (from eggs/animal products) are nearly as bad as they're made out to be (trans/hydrogenated fats, sugary or sugar-equivalent foods, and plain unbalanced diets are far worse), but my guideline would probably be similar to USDA's. I usually recommend getting 30% of your calories from SOME fats, but making most of those healthy monounsaturated fats (like olive oil) and some polyunsaturated omega-3 fats (salmon, flax seed). So figure about 10% of calories left over for saturated fats specifically.
1124. Q:
Is it true that the taller you are the more calories you need to consume? How many more calories would a man who is 6 feet tall need to consume compared to one who is 5 feet 4. Assume that their activity levels are the same.
A:
It's true in the sense that taller people weigh more on average, so they need more calories. So it's weight and not height that you should look at. The other part of it is that shorter person with the same weight as a taller person is more likely to be overweight, so it'd be a good idea for that person to eat less. But strictly going by calories burned during the day, the weight and not the height is what determines it.
1125. Q:
If someone goes from 600 pounds to 200 pounds shouldn't a small percentage of that weight loss come from muscle?
A:
Yes, in case of virtually any significant (say more than 30 pounds as a rule of thumb) weight loss, the lost weight will come at the expense of both muscle and fat. The goal is to minimize the muscle loss and maximize the fat loss. Small percentage of weight loss, as you said, will come at the expense of muscle, but the goal is to keep that percentage as small as possible.
In case of an extremely obese individual like this example, they would certainly be able to lose A LOT of fat and quickly without much of a muscle loss. My usual recommendations of losing at the speed of 1 pound per week does not apply in extreme cases like this.
1126. Q:
Q: 958 Since 1 gram of sugar has 4 calories and one gram of fat has 9 calories fat is obviously more fattening.
A:
Sorry, it's not that obvious at all. You should be looking at two things if you want to answer that question:
- Will eating 1000 calories of sugar make me gain more or less fat than eating 1000 calories of fat?
- Am I likely more likely to eat 1000 calories of sugar in one sitting or 1000 calories of fat?
Answering those two questions will start to give you an idea which is more fattening. The answers are not obvious at all, though I would suspect that in both cases eating 1000 calories of sugar is both more likely to happen and will make you gain more fat. But as I said in Q&A #958 either of those things and other aspects can and do make people overweight. You should have a whole balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle instead of looking for magic bullets like 'never eat sugar' or 'never eat fat'.
1127. Q:
I know someone who went on a fruit and vegetable diet and lost 50 pounds but gained all of it back once he went to normal eating.How can one avoid gaining back the weight?
I assume that on the diet he ate less calories.Would he have been successfull in keeping the weight off if he would have eaten 2500 calories of fruits and vegetables which would have been about equal to his normal caloric intake.
A:
That's a pretty typical story. Restrictive diets make you eat fewer calories so your body loses weight, both in fat and in muscle. (To give you an idea, 2500 calories is about 25 pieces of fruit or well over 25 POUNDS of most green veggies -- he probably ate maybe 8-10 pieces of fruit and 1-2 pounds of veggies per day which is only 1000 calories altogether). Weight loss like that results in significant muscle mass loss and depressed metabolism. So whenever the person goes off this diet, his body burns much much less energy daily than it used to before the diet. So going back to his old eating routine gives his body a lot more calories than it needs so they all go into fat and the person regains all the fat back. This is the result of more than 90% of 'weight-loss diets' out there.
The problem was of course restricting calories without paying any attention to preserving muscle mass and keeping metabolism high. The key to those last two things are a good balanced diet, slow weight loss at the speed of just 1 pound per week or so for an average person, and weight training. By doing these three things you can not only lose fat successfully but also make sure it NEVER COMES BACK!
1129. Q:
Hi mike im the guy from Q795 , 796 and etc okay i did what you told me and stopped losing weight , now actually i realise im not fat but its because some person called me fat i don't know the reason why he did that maybe because he was thin like a stick and he does not know what is muscles anyways im here to tell you everything about myself so that you can help me better my height is 1.75 if im not wrong and my weight is 59kg and my BMI is around 18-20 ( i can't really remember ) and its somewhere near the underweight for my height i think so im trying to tone my body by doing weights and cardio and trying to make my whole body tighter im now trying to get a six-pack so i know the problem is to get rid of the stomach fats i have a not so visible 2-pack now and im doing sit-ups everyday now im currently doing 120 sit-ups and i extend 10 more every week is there anyway to lose those tummy fats faster or something to get a six-pack more effective
A:
I can't find which questions of yours I've answered in the past, but at 59kg 175cm I'm very glad you've decided against losing weight ESPECIALLY if you are still a teenager!
There is no quick magic to get the six-pack. It's a combination of time, eating healthy, and being physically active. For an adult, especially an overweight aduly, weight loss would be required too, but for you, a lean teenager, you definitely should NOT try and lose weight.
Learn how to eat healthy (again, ignore the parts talking about weight loss and focus on the parts talking what foods and meals to eat) and make sure that you follow it. Be physically active! Doing hundreds of situps daily will not do a whole lot by itself, instead you should make sure you play sports or run or swim or bike or weight lift (but not heavy lifting if you're not yet 16 and with adult supervision). All those things together with your continuing natural growth will make you even leaner than you are now, may give you a full six-pack (it's not guaranteed, but pretty good chance of it), and prepare you well physically for the rest of your life! Then, when you are 20 or so and done growing, if you still don't have a six-pack and REALLY REALLY want it, you can try losing a little weight. But if you start eating healthy now and being physically active and exercise, chances are you'll get the six-pack naturally well before then.
1130. Q:
mike sometimes i have a craving for some junk foods like burgers and chilli dogs , do you think eating them once in a blue moon is alright
A:
Sure it's fine. Just make sure once in a blue moon doesn't happen every other day :)
1131. Q:
i read what u said about spreading and eating food throughtout the day , but i don't seem to be able to adapt to it as i always eat my usualy 3 meals a day Morning , Noon , Evening
A:
It's all a matter of degrees. You don't HAVE TO eat 5-6 times per day to make progress, but it would make your progress faster and better. If you absolutely can't do it, eat 3 times/day, but eat healthy and eat portions big enough to keep you on track, whether slowly losing weight or slowly gaining weight and muscle.
In either case eat just enough -- not too little and not too much. How fast you lose weight will be determined by your diet. So if you want quality weight loss and you do all that other exercise, eat enough so that you lose about 1 pound per week or slower. Such slow weight loss is the only way to have a lean toned body in the long run.
If you are not losing weight at all, make your portions a little smaller, substitute veggies for grains. But always make sure you don't lose too much weight too fast. Figure how many pound you need to lose and allow 1 week or even more to lose each one -- that'll tell you how long it'll take. If you want to be conservative, allow 2 weeks per pound. Again, the slower you lose weight the more likely you are to succeed in the long run.
1132. Q:
example if i do a heavy workout , cardio for 30 mins and swim normally 20 laps and my diet would be a NO Junk Food and al those unhealthy stuff and eating mostly boiled food with sufficient vegetables and meat without over eating 3 times a day , the standard , what is the rate i would lose weight and have a very toned body
A:
It's all a matter of degrees. You don't HAVE TO eat 5-6 times per day to make progress, but it would make your progress faster and better. If you absolutely can't do it, eat 3 times/day, but eat healthy and eat portions big enough to keep you on track, whether slowly losing weight or slowly gaining weight and muscle.
In either case eat just enough -- not too little and not too much. How fast you lose weight will be determined by your diet. So if you want quality weight loss and you do all that other exercise, eat enough so that you lose about 1 pound per week or slower. Such slow weight loss is the only way to have a lean toned body in the long run.
If you are not losing weight at all, make your portions a little smaller, substitute veggies for grains. But always make sure you don't lose too much weight too fast. Figure how many pound you need to lose and allow 1 week or even more to lose each one -- that'll tell you how long it'll take. If you want to be conservative, allow 2 weeks per pound. Again, the slower you lose weight the more likely you are to succeed in the long run.
1133. Q:
of course 1000 calories of sugar is equal to 1000 calories of fat.but that is a weak arguments.fats are more calorie dense than sugars.thats what i mean when i say that fats are more fattening.
A:
As a matter of fact they are not necessarily equal. 1000 calories of one food will NOT always the same impact on your body as 1000 calories of another. Try 1000 calories of celery compared to 1000 calories of cake, for example. You will likely lose weight eating the former but certainly not the latter. The sugar/fat comparison is not so extreme of course, but it's in no way obvious that they'll have the same impact on you.
And yes, 1 gram of fat = 9 calories and 1 gram of sugar or any other carb = 4 calories, but that's not the whole story because people don't eat sugars or fats in isolation and certainly don't eat them by the gram :)
1134. Q:
why is it that now that I'm in good shape with more leam body masss my metabolism is higher than before.so why is it that it is harder for me to lose weight now? when I was in bad shape and more overweight I had less lean body mass and a slower metabolism yet I lost weight more easily.shouldnt a faster metabolism yield faster weight loss?
A:
The difference is that before your body had lots of extra fat that it was perfectly happy losing. Now you are much leaner and don't have much extra fat. Your body views this last bit of fat as a critical 'emergency' reserve and will not give it willingly! The leaner you become the harder it is to keep losing fat.
|
