Help Requested: Concering Weight

[jackson07]

Hey guys and gals,
I am asking that anyone willing help me out here. I have searched the forum and a few other places, yet I am going to ask you all for the last bit of advice.

I currently weigh about 235 lbs and am 5'11" tall. I need to lose weight. I need to be down to about 195 lbs to ship to MCRDSD 20070122. I know I need to get my ass in gear. I have been trying, and I have no excuses.

I currently lift weights every other day. This is what I do..
bench press, curls, military press, wide/narrow pulldowns, leg press, wrist curls, calf raises, pullups (negative and the like), and situps.

I attempt to run every day as well. I have also cut pop, candy, fast food, and other junk foods from my diet completly.

What else can I do? I really need to lose about 3 lbs a week in a healthy manner.

If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it.

Thank you all very much for you time.

[Accord]

You're not going to lose weight unless you get yourself on a strict diet.

I was in your EXACT same position, I was 235 pounds and lost more than 80 pounds in 5 months. You can do all the exercise and PT in the world, but if your diet isn't perfect then your progress will be slow, at best.

Cutting out junk food does not mean your diet is good. I can guarantee you 99% of the things that you believe are healthy that you're currenly eating, really aren't. You also need to be eating 5 small meals per day, basically every 3 hours from the time you wake up until the time you hit the rack, you need to be eating to keep your metabolism going.

Tell me what your current diet is like and I will tell you what you need to change.

Before you do anything else, go read all the information in my thread, you should definitely learn a lot and i'll be glad to answer any questions you may have:

Good luck!

[Accord]

Sorry, for some reason the link didn't show up when I posted it above. Here is the link: http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29787

[STA0311]

QUIT lifting weights...believe it or not that is a MASS building practice and that is why bodybuilders are so big! NOW...put a Thermal suit on, like wrestlers wear and go F-ing run.

[Accord]

QUIT lifting weights...believe it or not that is a MASS building practice and that is why bodybuilders are so big! NOW...put a Thermal suit on, like wrestlers wear and go F-ing run.
STA0311, I must respectfully disagree. Your advice is definitely good for someone who is already pretty fit and needs to quickly shed a couple pounds to make a weight deadline, but for someone who is significantly obese and needs to burn fat, this won't work. When you're on a weight loss diet with low calories, you will not bulk up no matter how much or how heavy you lift weights, weight lifting is essential to any fat loss program because the more muscle you have, the more fat you'll burn. Muscle is essentially a fat burning engine. When you're on a weight loss program taking in so few calories you're going to lose muscle no matter how heavy you lift, which is why it is so important to lift weights to simply maintain what little muscle you already have, because if you're significantly obese and don't lift weights, when you DO lose all that weight you'll come out looking like an empty potato sack.

You'll get stronger by lifting weights and you will somewhat maintain what little lean body mass you already have, but on a weight loss program you will not gain weight! The goal here is fat loss, not weight loss. You can lose 10 pounds in 1 week, but if 9 of those pounds were lean body mass, then it was a total waste and you really just hurt yourself.

It takes a lot of hard work to put on muscle mass, lifting heavy 3x per week on a bodybuilding diet taking in 4,000 calories a day with asinine amounts of protein and you'll be lucky to gain 1 pound of muscle a week. Therefore on a weight loss diet, it is absolutely impossible to put on muscle mass, and not lifting weights will simply slow your weight loss progress - I know it sounds odd, but it's true.

[proachbass91]

You dont have to completly stop lifting weights, however make sure your doing high reps/lots of sets with light weight and short rest periods to keep your heart rate up. Start running 3-5 times per week, varying your routine, do long distance runs some days, interval running on others, and sprints on others. Also like previously stated, make sure your diet is good.

[SgtHopperUSMC]

Water Lots of it. It will help a lot. :beer:

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

Weight loss is a basic formula.

Calories out>Calories in= weight loss. Everything else is just window dressing. So, you need to eat right, so that you aren't taking in too many calories while keeping your metabolism going. So, Accord is correct. Eat many small meals throughout the day. Lifting will add lean body mass, which will keep your metabolism up. However, doing a full body routine every other day will lead to over training, which has its own issues. You need more rest in order to actually get the rewards of lifting.

Of course, the magic pill is cardio. Lifting may keep you burning calories longer. Eating right is important. But, putting miles on your running shoes is vital. Every step you take will get you that much closer to making your weight. Add miles to your runs, run faster, run more often, run hills, run sprints, JUST RUN!

[Poskew]

My recipe to losing my 80 lbs was to drink a crap load of water.. near or more than a gallon a day.. carry around a gallon jug with ya . I only ate 5-10 carbs TOPS a day. Usually the only carbs came from the lettuce and salad dressing. I ate alot of meat and cheese also. STAY AWAY FROM BEER. I bet i dropped around 20 pounds of da** beer fat. If you do drink .. drink liquor and not rum. I did alot of cardio and stayed away from the weights as much as possible except for curls cause I needed to get my pull ups up.. you can also do other pull up excersises to help with that if you need it. Besides the normal routine of PT w/out weights just drink alot of water and stay strict on those 10 carbs or less a day. The first week sucks but after that you get better.

[jackson07]

Thanks guys, you have really helped a lot.

Basicly here is what I am going to do.

I am going to follow Accords diet. It looks very good, and I hope for results.

I am also going to change my weight lifting program, and basicly do the same lifts, but only low weight/HIGH reps.

I am drinking water, but I like the idea of always having some with you. So I am going to attempt to keep as much water in me as possible.

LOW Carbs--- will do.

Thanks a lot everyone. I will keep you up dated on my progress.

:thumbup:

[Accord]

Thanks guys, you have really helped a lot.

Basicly here is what I am going to do.

I am going to follow Accords diet. It looks very good, and I hope for results.

I am also going to change my weight lifting program, and basicly do the same lifts, but only low weight/HIGH reps.

I am drinking water, but I like the idea of always having some with you. So I am going to attempt to keep as much water in me as possible.

LOW Carbs--- will do.

Thanks a lot everyone. I will keep you up dated on my progress.

:thumbup:
You need to be lifting heavy. Low weight and high reps is great for keeping your heart rate up, but it totally defeats the purpose of weight lifting on a fat loss program. The whole point of lifting weights on a fat loss program is to 1) maintain as much lean body mass as possible, and 2) to keep your metabolism going in overdrive for 48 hours. Low weight and high reps will do none of those. Lifting low weight and high reps will do nothing for you other than give you a nice cardio workout - You need to tear down those muscle fibers so your body repairs itself, that is when your metabolism is in overdrive and you're burning fat. By lifting HEAVY weights and low reps around 8 to 10, you will tear down those muscle fibers forcing your body to repair itself causing your metabolism to be going at lightspeed and you will be burning calories every single second of the day. By lifting heavy weights you will be burning calories all the time, even when you're sleeping at night because your metabolism will be racing.

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

Low weight/High reps is a BAD idea. You need to build muscle. Anyone that tells you to do that just doesn't know what they're talking about.

You need to do a three day split routine, where you allow your muscles to rest between sets. I am pretty sure that's what Accord did, and I know its what you need to do.

[jackson07]

Thanks John. I will be following your advice.

[jackson07]

Also John, is there a time that I shouldn't eat after?

[STA0311]

Well thank you POOLEES who have never had to thrash fat bodies in the CORPS because they are over their weight and look like S**T in uniform. We ran a kid throug 3 PFT's a day for 2 months...and you know what...fat body became a PT stud! I guess it just depends on how bad you want it JACKSON.

[jackson07]

Sergeant I want it!

[cplbrooks]

QUIT lifting weights...believe it or not that is a MASS building practice and that is why bodybuilders are so big! NOW...put a Thermal suit on, like wrestlers wear and go F-ing run.

I have to agree with this.

[jm4magic]

dawg i was 240 and now im 195, stop lifting completly and do cardio like crazy. Run! Run! Run! jump rope! jog! eat food portions that are the size of your fist or your hand. Pt! go to pool functions, and remember its all mental, tell your self **** hit the fan and your going in 3 months. Motivate your self and youll be good to go.

[Rockabilly]

When I was a wrestler I had to lose 25-30 pounds before season which was a pain in the caboose because my bodyfat isnt that high but all I did was PT(lifting light weights, some say its not good for you but I did, and swimming and riding BMX) But no you dont need a sauna suit to lose the weight because water weight will always come back so its not worth it just to do it again. Just bust balls eat around 2500 calories a day with a 40/40/20 ratio of protein, carbs(which are essential for energy) and fat. If you can eat negative calorie foods which is food that burns more calories to digest that the total number in the food(celery, strawberries, alot of vegetables).

Just a side note: you can only lose 1.5-2 pounds a week of fat and after that it the number will be split in half between lean body mass and fat so say you lose 6 pounds a week 3 will be muscle and 3 will be fat

Good luck

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

To lose that much weight, you MUST lift, or do other resistance exercise to keep and/or gain muscle mass and strength. Cardio alone will NEVER get you where you need to be, period.

[Accord]

Also John, is there a time that I shouldn't eat after?
No, that's another myth. The whole "don't eat after 7pm" or something along those lines you always hear about is another common myth that is totally wrong. You need to be eating every 3 hours up until you go to sleep, you need to think of your body like a fireplace, when that fire is burning you are constantly burning calories, but you need to keep the fire burning by eating often every 3 hours. Your last meal of the day is very important because that meal will keep your metabolism going all throughout the night. The only thing you shouldn't be eating at night are carbs, so just plan your lighter meals for later in the day and at night.

[hawks]

Heres what you need to buy the next time you go to the grocery store. Lots of turkey, wheat bread, spinach, yogurt, whole wheat cereal (special k, smart start, etc) skim milk, bananas and a bunch of chicken and tuna. combine eating the right portions (bowl of cereal for breakfast, yogurt for a snack, turkey sandwhich for lunch, a banana or two for another snack, chicken on wheat for supper and tuna before you go to bed. along wiht running, do slower rate of running at longer distances (then youll be in the fat burning zone) , like for instance run 3 9 minute miles instead of 1 7 minute mile. Run 5 8 minute miles instead of 3 6 minute miles and the fat should come right off. Also, you need to lift, youll convert some of that fat to muscle, thats not a bad thing. Id rather be 200 with a lot of muscle than 170 without any. Good luck, dont give up. And if all else fails, calories in < calories out

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

MYTH ALERT: Fat does not turn into muscle, and muscle does not turn into fat. Building muscle will lead to less fat and losing muscle often leads to more fat, but the two things are totally different. That is like saying you'll turn your arm into another head... it just doesn't work that way.

[jackson07]

Corporal and Matt, thank you guys.

[STA0311]

To lose that much weight, you MUST lift, or do other resistance exercise to keep and/or gain muscle mass and strength. Cardio alone will NEVER get you where you need to be, period.

Hence the pull ups portion of the PFT...as well as the crunches. Curling a lot of weight on barbells is how I worked on that...but benching and all that crap wont do anything for you.

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

STA, that is not true. Pull ups will not add the lean body mass needed to help in losing this much weight. If he needed to drop 10 pounds you could make that argument. But in this case, he needs to add muscle to keep his metabolism high. In addition, if he doesn't life his body will literally eat his muscle as he drops his caloric intake to lose the weight. No trainer or person trained in modern fitness or weight loss would tell a person that needed to lose weight to avoid lifting. It is just weight loss suicide to not strength train while trying to lose weight.

[OldMarineMom]

My son is PTing a PFC right now to drop 20 lbs, and this guy is barely 3 months out of boot camp! He's got 15 lbs off of him now, but he said that he'd actually like to see the him lose 30 lbs. :yes: :banana: :no: