I need your top 3 ways to lose 5 pounds a week for 3± weeks.
I am 6 foot, 185 pounds. I am fit, but fat. I want to take off some flubber so I can bike / run a little faster.
I am in the middle of a IM training program for Vineman, so I am getting enough exercise. I don’t understand why I have this spare tire around my waist.
Help
don’t eat after 7 pm of you can help it…or if you have to stick with a salad and egg whites like egg beaters…low calorie and digests fast so won’t keep you awaked at night…I try to not eat after 7pm if possible or if after a heavy workout eat as litely as possible…
I also eat 4-6 meals/snacks a day which consists of fruit, salad, complex carbs, and proteins.
From my own experience it is a matter of changing habits and behavior. For instance, I did the following and had some success losng weight (and it is REALLY hard for me to lose weight…):
Don’t eat after 6:00 PM. Period. Ever. If it gets later than that, just deal with it through will power until the next morning.
Eat an adequate and balanced breakfast, even a little larger if possible.
Drink only water if you can, or limit your beverage choices to water and coffee.
Try to plan a workout in the morning before work if possible, follow it with breakfast.
Eliminate junk. Candy, cookies, ice cream, alcohol- convince yourself it is poison. Really, it is is except occasionally.
6 foot, 185 fat?
uh huh
Wow - makes me feel like a mammoth. I’m 5’10 and up around 200, but I wouldn’t ever consider myself fat. I’ve got some leaning up to do, but its not fat or a spare tire really just a little higher BF% than I want.
One thing to determine is your BF% (Body Fat percentage) - when I was at 8% last year during marathon trianing I was still 190lbs.
Good luck though - the suggestions so far are definately good ones, I just think perhaps you should focus on a different goal besides just the pounds - maybe focus on BF% or something like that. If you try to starve yourself you’ll just end up storing more fat and that isn’t what you want.
Josh
Believe it or not, his BMI is 25.1 which is just past the normal range into overweight.
But of course those numbers dont mean a lot for muscular athletes.
"his BMI is 25.1 which is just past the normal range into overweight. "
Please translate… should I change my sign on to fatty?
5 lbs of fat…let’s do the math: I think 1 pound of fat has about 3500 calories, give or take 100. 5 * 3500 = 17,500 calories you need to burn in excess of your intake to lose your weekly goal.
Get another goal.
If you were burning 7000 calories in a day, that would be a VERY BIG day. It would take you 2.5 days of eating zero calories while exercising a LOT while you were awake, in order to do that. It ain’t gonna happen.
one or two pounds (at MOST) a week is much more sane, more healthy, and may be achievable.
Do just what Demerly said. If you want more verification with studies, I can send you to the E-caps Website. I lost 65 pounds last year 150 to 185. BUT, it is very hard to lose weight and train. I wanted to say “You can’t lose weight and train” but someone would have made an issue about it. You need cardio at a 60 -75% MHR, and do it running. Very few people lose much weight cycling or swimming. Fewer muscles involved, and on the bike you are sitting down. Swimming you are floating. Running you have to pick your whole body up in the air every step. Don’t do Atkins–fat burns in the pilot light of carbohydrates. You will bonk. Avoid simple sugars–if you eat “Bars” as meal replacements, read the labels. Understand labels. 1G of fat has 9cal. 1G of Carbs has 5 cal. 1G of Protein has 5 cals. Just for fun, multiply the grams of each on a label by those calorie figures I just gave you and you will pretty much come up with the total of calories stated on the label. A light will go on, and you will understand labels. Look at the part that says “Calories from fat”. Again, multiply the grams of fat by 9 and you will see the two are about the same! Eureka you are a labelmaniac. You are way ahead of 99% of the population in know what you are eating. Now look at the Grams of sugar under the Carbohydrate detail. The fewer the better. Sugar spikes your insulin. Also, by eating the way Demerly says–six meals a day you will NEVER be hungry (but just on the edge), and your insulin will not spike. Spikes in insulin interfere with the metabolism of fat.
Not eating after 6/7:00PM is hard, but not if you are a triathlete–always a workout to do–then why ruin it by eating? Alternatively, find some good XXX sites on the Internet and spend your time that way.
Don’t cut back on calories. Figure what your caloric needs are as though you were not working out, and only eat that much. Then all of the workout calories go against the 3500 calories you need to burn to lose a pound. Everything you eat counts, even if nobody else sees it. I WILL KNOW!!!
If you do this, women will want you, men will admire you, co-workers will shun you and think you are weird for being so disciplined. Discipline is a habit. You get through ONE evening.
“I need your top 3 ways to lose 5 pounds a week for 3± weeks”
If you have a tire that won’t go away, perhaps you’ve occluded liver or adrenal functions from a buildup of toxins. A detox diet or distilled water fast (48 hours max for the water fast, and very little exercise) could put things back into proper working order.
If you’re doing Half Vineman August 1, it’s way too late to be cutting weight. Full VM same story. Plan on losing ONE pound a week for 15 weeks, and you’ll look good on the starting line NEXT year.
Please translate… should I change my sign on to fatty?
I think Demerley has already taken that one…
Realize that these numbers are a bit arbitrary. If you were 2 lbs lighter you’d be in the “normal” range. It’s also well accepted that the overweight designation doesn’t apply to highly muscular/lean athletes. They might have higer BMIs (body mass indeces) than the “normal” range but they won’t have the health problems associated with obesity. So don’t worry to much - if you’re doing tri’s (esp long course) you’re damn fit.
The funny thing is I’m 6’0 165 (always been rail thin) and I still have a little bit of a gut. I think someone else posted something about alcohol and stress…
Thanks all.
I realize that i’m not really fat, and I will scale back my expectations on weight loss. But it is frustrating that all my workout buddies are 6’ 160 pounds. I have over 20 more pounds to carry up chalk hill then they do.
Resolutions:
Increase my water intake a million percent.
Increase the number of meals I eat during the day.
Decrease the junk; doughnuts and cookies.
Decrease the Coke and coffee.
Decrease the evenings intake of food.
I already don’t drink alcohol (except for sake with sushi), and eat very little fast food.
Decrease the Coke and coffee.
I don’t know, a lot of people consider caffeine useful in weight loss. Why do you want to cut it out?
But it is frustrating that all my workout buddies are 6’ 160 pounds
You know, I’d sacrifice race times to gain 10-20lbs of lean muscle and look ripped. I’d be a really pale jaylew. Grass is always greener.
easy…if you do nopt swim or do not bike…you need to eatr that much…RUN like the ginger bread man!
It actually is really simple - take in fewer calories than you expend.
So 1lb of fat contains 4100 calories. Divide by 7, you get 585. If you can keep track of calories in and estimate calories burned, try to average burning an excess of 585 calories/day.
That might be hard - I’ll leave it to the nutritionists to decide whether that kind of caloric deficit is feasible with 1/2 IM training.
Oh baby! something i actually know something about (considering i know nothing about those fancy zipp dee do da wheel’s and all your other aero stuff!) if you wanna lose weight, the max that is healthy to lose is 1.5 lbs a week. to correct earlier figures, 1g of fat has 9 Calories (1g carbo =4 Cal and 1g pro= 4 Cal), so to lose one pound, you need to burn 3500 Cal/week. essentially, 500-700 Cal burned (in excess) a week to lose 1-1.5 lbs a week. if you attempt to lose any more weight, one of two things could happen 1) your total nutrient requirement is not met and you get sick (aka, no riding for you! ) or 2) you starve, lose some weight really fast, realize how hard it is, quit, and go back to eating (hello mr. whale! ) so a reasonable goal is 1-1.5 lbs. Now as to how to accompolish this… 1) work out in the morning (keeps your metabolic flame burning hotter all day) 2)eat a larger breakfast (keeps that flame burning hotter, if you dont eat, the flame isn’t as hot, so you dont burn as many cal’s) 3)eat more often, but smaller meals (keep that flame going! gotta keep the fire stoked) 4) eat PROTEIN! (i’m not talking atkins here, but protein will help maintain muscle. also, protein has a higher thermic effect (aka, takes more energy to digest)) 5)make sure to eat enough fiber (this keeps your pipes clean . fiber also makes you feel more full, hence reducing your desire to eat). 6) last but not least, keep a daily journal of what you eat. this may sound stupid but REALLY helps. it’s basically a conscience that looks back at you day after day and reminds you of how good you’re doing. the log will make you feel REAL guilty for eating that cookie right before bed!
my .02 worth.
my qualifications: soon to have undergraduate degree in exercise phys/nutrition
<Don’t eat after 6:00 PM. Period>
Gentlemen. This is just a myth.
A calorie is a calorie no matter what time of day that you eat . Most people believe that if you eat all of your calories early in the day, that its less fattening, because that is when your most active. This is not true.
If you consume 1800 calories a day, it doesn’t matter if you eat them in 5 meals or 10 meals, it is still 1800 calories.
15 pounds in 3 weeks! I wouldn’t do it. Even if your able I could almost gaurantee you’ll be slower. That’s way to much calorie restriction during a high training period. Nothing more frustrating than starving yourself getting skinner and getting slower. It’s probably not what you want to hear but offseason maybe 5 pounds a month is the way to go. I am your hieght and in the off season got down to 160.(very difficult) but actually started performing my best when i got back up to between 165 and 170. Good Luck!
Decrease the junk; doughnuts and cookies.
Decrease the evenings intake of food.
Christ–you are eating doughnuts and complaining about your gut? Why don’t you just paste them on you stomach instead of eating them.
No, not decrease. Don’t eat.
As to what Catmandu said about how it doesn’t matter when you eat, I guess I disagree, respectfully, because I think they way it works is what doesn’t get used up by the time you go to bed, gets stored as fat. Maybe this is wrong, but you can read the studies in the Journal of Endurance at the E-Caps website, and the FAQ.
Hmmm, that is an excellent point. My thinking with this was that calories consumed prior to going to sleep may not digest as readily (possibly another myth) and also that cutting off your eating at 6:00 PM may be effexctive behavioral modification to avoid “recreational eating” which often occurs in the evening in front of the TV or whereever. This is when people start hitting the ice cream and the cookies. Not many people sit down with ice cream at 1:00 PM in the afternoon