Hey, it's no problem - I enjoy helping people out with fitness. Usually I get people who think they already know all they need to know about fitness and never ask questions, so it's kind of refreshing. Also, when some people do get useful information, they fail to use it and then still complain about how they're not losing weight! I'm actually not even going to school for anything nutrition/exercise related, I just really enjoy it - I guess you could call it a hobby of mine. I take extra classes, read health journals, got my certification and work at the campus gyms "for fun". Maybe someday in the future I can make it a full-time thing, but right now I'm going to stick with something that will make me a better living (monetary-wise). Anyway....potassium supplement - good idea. When you follow a low carb and high protein diet for an extended period of time your body doesn't retain potassium well (because of ketosis). If you are past the ketosis stage you are probably fine, but it doesn't hurt to take the supplement, just in case your potassium levels are still a little low.
I skipped a good part of the thread, but on key thing A-Train said is to drink water- it really is the fountain of youth. Not only will it help you lose weight, you will look and feel better too. Also, and this is so key, make sure to cut out sodium where you can. I know it's hard eating pho, but if you cut back on the salt intake, you won't retain as much water and be much more slim/cut.
I read one thing that said 96 oz. a day (3 liters) is the way to go. It's what I do. I have three 1-liter water bottles that I go through every day. Usually go through a 4th on workout days. It's helped me so far.
One of my New Years' Resolutions this year was to get in shape. I wanted to lose about 10 lbs of fat and gain about 15-20 lbs of muscle. In the spirit of doing this, I signed up for a gym membership on Saturday and I went to the gym today. BAD IDEA!! After three sets of bench presses and 3 sets of tricep dips (using moderate weight), my body feels like Jell-O. After the bench presses and dips, I could not even do dumbbell presses with 25 lb weights. I felt so bad that I didn't even try doing any cardio. Any fitness gurus out there know how I can boost up my muscular endurance? If I don't get my stamina up, I don't think I will reach my goals. From what I am told, 20 lbs of muscle is possible, but not probable.
jackfruit, one of the problems when it comes to a workout regime is starting intensely. instead of doing a full routine, just do half a routine or a quarter if it's your first workout. after a week, increase your routine. people seem to always want to run 5 miles the first time when they decide to start to lose weight. i say run half a mile the first day. run 1 mile your 3 rd workout. run 1.5 your sixth workout. just do it incrementally. it prepares you.
Nothing new to add -- justed to give a big, big THANKS to Franchise. I'm in the same boat as many others who have posted: had a lightning-fast metabolism in my early and mid twenties, sort of stopped working out last year, and now, at age 29, BAM!, I've suddenly got a gut and fat cheeks. I want to lose the gut. I want to lose the cheeks. So thanks to everyone for the great advice. Okay, off to refill my water bottle...
Co-sign. Start out with more moderate weight. You'll find that your body will quickly adapt and you'll get back to prior form. Losing ten lbs and putting on 10-15 lbs of muscle is quite a task. Just remember that these things don't happen overnight. Don't get discouraged just because your first day in the gym didn't go quite as well as you thought it would. Also, just so you know, it is very hard to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Your efforts would be better focused on doing one, then the other. ie: lose ten lbs of fat, then concentrate on adding the muscle. This is mainly because your body needs a surpluss of calories to create new muscle, but to lose fat you want to take in less calories.
some diet shakes are full of sugar. try having porridge and toast for breakfast instead. no beer, cut down sugar intake (e.g no sugar in tea, sodas). the fatty content of the pho could be the soup?
Okay, so I have a 1-day progress report. And a question. Today, for the first day in my life, I actually watched what I ate. I counted calories. Counted fat. And I felt embarrassingly weak, tired, and drained of energy. Since about 4 this afternoon, I've felt dizzy and light-headed. I've been eating lots of small snacks all day and I've been drinking lots of water. But I wonder if I've been too draconian about cutting out fat. So...I guess my question is this: is it possible to cut out TOO much fat, especiailly if it's right on the heels of a diet that's normally high in fat (like mine) Here's my run-down today: 7 am - Cliff Bar (6 grams fat, 10 protein, 180 calories) Jogged 3 miles and did crunches 10 am - Plain bagel, no cream cheese (2 grans of fat, 7 grams protein, 200 calories low-fat cup of yogurt - (4 g fat, 5 g protein, 145 calories) 12:30 pm - bannana (1 g fat, 0 g protein, 105 calories) 1:30 pm - 6 inch turkey sandwhich from Subway - no mannaoise or cheese (5 g fat, 18 g protein, 280 calories) 2:45 pm - 2 hard-boilied eggs, no yokes (0 g fat, 8 g protein, 30 calories) 3:00 - Started to feel completely devoid of energy 5:00 - Another cup of yogurt, bowl of cereal, and banna (0 g fat, 4 g protein, maybe 400 or so calories) Still felt devoid of energy and light-headed 6:45 -- finally broke down and went back to Subway and got a another footlong turky sandwhich. No mannaoise. This time I had cheese, fearing that I had cut out too much fat from the diet. (17 g fat, 43 g protein, 660 calories) Just finished 2/3rds of the sandwhich and feel better. So. Sorry for the long, long, detailed post. But I'm wondering, I guess, if my light-headedness and what-not was due to: 1) Cutting out too much fat from my diet 2) It's the right amount of fat, but I need to cut down more gradually, instead of going from Taco Bell yesterday to Olsen Twin today. 3) Cutting out too much protein from my diet 4) Incorrect spacing of the meals (I tried to follow the 5-6 small meals a day routing, although I recognize that I should have had the foot-long at lunch, not dinner) 5) Nothing's wrong -- I'm just being a wuss: some low-energy and diziness is normal at the beginning of any diet Any comments?
Calm down, and hold the course. Most of this was probably in your head. Remember, Hakeem fasted every day during Ramadan, and he was fine.
You'd think so, but it doesn't work that way. I'm sure you've heard a ton of fitness advertisments say "Turn your fat into muscle!". Too bad that is impossible to do (you could however, burn the fat and replace it with muscle - just not turn fat directly into muscle! Another myth perpetuated by companies to sell products, kind of like saying an ab-master will cause you to lose fat directly from your abdominal region.
