Q&A for: 9-Dec-07
2512. Q:
I'm a 19-year-old college guy, 5'8'' and weigh around 155 lbs. I once had been a nutrition-freak, who regularly checks the nutrtion facts label for every single food item I eat. However, I've started to eat and drink carelessly in college. Here's my question: How bad is it to eat 'junk food' such as muffins, bagles with cream cheese, and smoothies? From what I know, they contain lots of carbohydrates(sugar and etc.). Do you think it's OK to eat one muffin or one whole bagle with a smootie for a meal? I'm trying to lose some body fat, and I exercise every other day (anaerobic = 1 hr, aerobic = 15-30 min). P.S. Smootie at our school has numerous kinds such as mixed with yogurt or fruit juices.
A:
It's a matter of your goals... If you are aiming for very low body fat (think six-pack) then you really need to aim to eliminate foods like muffins, bagels, and even smoothies from your diet entirely. Maybe 'cheating' once a week is OK but not daily. On the other hand if you are only triyng to get down to, say, 15% body fat you should be able to accomplish that goal even eating those things daily.
If you absolutely cannot have a 'real' meal and forced to eat something on a go, try a lean-meat sandwich (like turkey) on whole-wheat bread with lettuce/tomatoes and a little mayo. Most cafeterias probably offer something like that and it's a better choice than a muffin or a bagel.
2513. Q:
I have conducted a little experiment - I tried to see if I could spend most of my day moving even when sedentary - Like a lot of people I spend quite a bit of time in front of the computer or the television. All I did was sit up with a straight back - i.e. not resting my back on the chair I was sitting in - and lightly tapping my ankles (at a moderate speed) like I was listening to some music. I noticed two things - I started to lose fat each week and I was more tired at the day's end. Before I tried this I could not lose fat each week despite doing heavy weights and intensive cardio (including HIIT cardio). I know all this sounds crazy but it does seem to back up what I heard on this programme where it said that people who take no apparent exercise but cant keep still manage to maintain a slim size and healthy weight. I must say though that the fact that I lift weights meant that I could burn a lot of energy even by the method I described earlier. It also proves that even whilst sitting you can take exercise - no excuse to say you have not got the time or money. I believe that doing say an hour of exercise a day (weights and cardio alternating) 5 days a week is great but doing that same amount of exercise whilst moving in any way possible all day long will really supercharge your metabolism. What do make of all this?
A:
Sitting up right for a long time, without any back support and without slumping forward is actually quite a demanding exercise and by itself will provide a decent workout to your core muscles -- lower back and abdominals. I'm less sure about tapping your foot -- that would only provide very slight load on calf muscles which are 'used to' fairly heavy and continuous load from walking or running.
It's certainly true that they all burn some calories and some may even boost long-term metabolism. I would still reserve judgement on such exercises vs. a structured resistance/diet/cardio program since I suspect in the end they reduce to either a form of resistance training or cardio training which should be adequately covered in a good program. However it is certainly great job by you to experiment and look for things that work for you. Different people undoubtedly respond differently to different programs and it's great to learn a little bit more about what works specifically for you.
2514. Q:
how much weight will you lose in a week if you do 100 jumping jacks every night
A:
By themselves jumping jacks won't burn very much. 100 jumping jacks will probably take around five minutes to complete and I doubt that even done daily they'll burn more than 500-800 calories or so calories per week, even counting their metabolism-boosting effects. 500-800 calories is less than a quarter of a pound of fat per week. Over the course of the year it can still add up to more than 10 pounds of fat lost, but most people probably prefer faster results and they can be accomplished with a more rounded program, that includes other exercises, diet changes, and additional cardio as I describe in my How To Lose Weight article.
2516. Q:
how many grams of protein should I take to weigh 160lbs?
A:
If you are physically active (though sports, weight training, or perhaps a physically demanding job), then you'll benefit from as much as 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight daily. In your case that means 160 grams of protein daily. Note that this counts ALL protein sources in your diet -- not just protein supplement or meats.
If you are actively trying to alter your body composition by gaining muscle and/or losing fat then you can probably benefit from even more protein -- as much 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight or 240 grams daily in your case. Of course, if you are serious about gaining muscle and/or losing fat then you need to remember that protein intake is still only a small prt of the equation -- you need to have a complete well-rounded diet suitable for your goals. You can read up more about it in my Diet article.
2517. Q:
It is my understanding that the body can only metabolize ~ 3lbs. of body fat a week. If I am losing 7lbs. a week on average, is it safe to say that the other portion of weight is water and muscle?
A:
I'm not sure about 3-pounds-of-fat-per-week figure, but it is certainly the case that for most people losing weight at 7 pounds per week is far too fast. I feel that unless you are very very obese (more than 50 pounds overweight) you should not try to lose more than around 2 pounds weekly (and preferably even slower, 1 pound per week). And 7 pounds is just really too much for just about anyone. As you noted, all that fast weight loss gets you is more water loss (which is irrelevant) and muscle loss (which is a very bad idea in the long run).
The only exception to the above is if you are in your first week of new diet -- as your body adjusts to the new diet it's not uncommon to lose a lot of weight (mostly water weight). But if you are past your first week or so, unless your doctor specifically approved your program and speed of weight loss I would strongly urge you to reconsider and adjust the diet that your lose weight a lot slower. It'll take longer, but you'll give yourself a much better chance to reach your goals AND you'll be a lot better protected from the unwanted fat coming back later.
2518. Q:
hey,im 20,f,125 pounds and 5 foot 9 inches.iv always been active and in a good shape but its like a year iv strated to workout seriously.i do intense cardio almost every day and weight train 3-4 times a week.my body has changed a bit but not as much as i expected...i still have a layer of fat on my entire body and cant see my abs.im so dedicated to my exercise and healthy diet... since im not overweight im wondering what do i do to lose fat and gain muscle?
A:
Getting to the six-pack stage is very difficult for a woman, even with dedicated training, diet, and cardio. First thing I would encourage you to NOT do is try to lose more weight -- at 5 foot 9 inches and 125 pounds you are already underweight and losing more weight is unlikely to get you the results you want and may actually cause health issues.
As far as what you can do to lose even more body fat... You clearly have very low body fat already, so any further improvement will be not only difficult but will require that you really optimize the heck out of your diet and training. Your training is probably already quite good but you didn't mention your diet at all and that's where most people could use some changes. You may be eating too little which suppresses metabolism and prevents any further fat burning. You may be eating some not-so-good foods, even without realizing it. For example, many people seem to think that those little flavored yogurt cups or rice cakes or pita bread are good for fat loss, while it's actually quite the opposite. For somebody who is overweight and looking to get back to average shape such small diet oversights don't matter. But for somebody like you, already in very good shape but looking to improve every little thing counts.
Unfortunately I can't give you any specific advice without knowing a lot more about your diet (and your training) in great detail. If you'd like you can post back here with much more detail, especially about your daily diet, and I'll suggest some changes. Alternatively you can check out my Nutrition article and/or Fitness Guide for ideas on how to improve your current diet. Hope that helps!
2519. Q:
Mike, What is the best method for tracking fat gains/losses, along with muscle gains/losses if you are female? We all know the scale doesn't detect this, and if you are a female who tends to retain 3-4 pounds water on and off, water under the skin can throw one's caliper measurements off, and even artificailly elevate the scale weight. So how can I tell if I'm gaining fat weight or muscle weight, in general? ANd how do I tell what my muscle and fat gains/losses are while I'm also currently retaining water weight? (how much underneath that water is more muscle or fat?) Thanks, Pat
A:
Unfortunately there's really no good way to track your body composition changes with such great precision. Even the best body fat measurement methods are only accurate to within 1-2% and 1% or 2% of anybody's bodyweight is going to be more than 1-2 pounds, meaning that it's impossible to track changes of just 3-4 pounds meaningfully.
My belief, however, that such close tracking is not really necessary at all. The single most important thing to do to ensur that you are on track for postiive body composition changes is to have a disciplined diet and training program AND to make sure that body weight changes are as slow and steady as possible. This is especially true when you are gaining weight and especially when you are a woman, as in your case, Pat.
Whenever you increase calories, you can expect extra water weight retention. So a 1-2 pound jump in bodyweight after every new 400 or so calories added to the diet is expected. Beyond that you should simply stick to your program and keep track of your weight by weighing yourself after waking up and using the bathroom and before eating or drinking anything in the morning. Weigh yourself only after your 'normal' days diet-wise. If you went out the night before, chances are your water weight will change. So only weigh yourself after you ate your usual scheduled meals.
By weighing yourself like that and keeping track for a few weeks you should see a clear pattern over the course of 3-4 weeks. Let me do a (lengthy) example to demonstate my point... Let's say in week 1 your weight measured at 130, 131, and 130 pounds (on 3 days of the week that you weighed yourself). On week 2 you added some calories to your diet and your scale showed 133, 132, and 132. On week 3, you measured 132, 133, and 133. Finally, on week 4 you measured 133, 132, and 134. By now you can see a clear trend from 130-131 to 133-134 pounds in 4 weeks. In addition you increased calories once which probably added 1-2 pounds in waterweight. So overall in 4 weeks you gained 3-4 pounds of which 1-2 pounds was waterweight. I would consider this example to be a very good, clean bulk which means most of the new weight is muscle and if you conduct a mini-cut with similar diligence to get back down to 130-131 pounds you should end up with most muscle and less fat than when you started. So nowhere in this process do you know exactly how much muscle or fat you have gained/lost, but by merely sticking to your program and tracking your weight you still ensure that you have made progress in gaining muscle and losing weight.
Again, to summarize, while it's impossible to measure muscle/fat gain/loss with great precision, by merely sticking to your program and eating enough to make your weight change as slow as possible you can be very confident in long-term success. And, of course, there's always the mirror -- on your 'good days' (not when you are bloated with water weight) it will probably tell you your progress better than anything else can.
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