faaaaaat Options

[iamquiteproper]

i need to lose atleast 20 pounds by may.
is there any possible way to do that without starving?

i've been going to the gym about 4 times a week for a month and i've hardly seen any results.
:(

i need helppppppp

[Reidar]

Starving yourself will instigate muscle catabolism, which will increase your bodyfat percentage, since losing muscle mass will make less of you composed of tissue other than fat.

Eat at least five small meals a day to maintain your metabolism. If you're training at the gym, don't be mistaken into thinking that lifting weights will burn fat.

Are you already doing cardio?

[iamquiteproper]

i usually go on the elliptical for like 40 minutes
and sometimes i'll go on the tredmill.

[Reidar]

If you're still not losing weight, then your calorie expenditure - the amount you're working off - doesn't exceed the intake - the amount you're eating. If you're already getting in five meals a day, eat slightly less in each. If you're not, start doing that.

The elliptical is a much less impactful form of cardio. The treadmill is more efficient, although running outside is better still, where the machine isn't pulling back on your feet and doing part of the work for you.

[iamquiteproper]

what kind of cardio should i do?

[karmakiller]

I use the eliptical, because it's more fun than running, and I've lost weight. What are you eating? What you eat is very important.

[Insurmountable]

I would suggest running, the elliptical isn't really that good for you. Why not try some running, you shouldn't do more than 20minutes starting out or your body will freak out. After a week you need to increase it by 3%.

But I would suggest finding a park or a track, and running outside. Instead of at a gym for the reasoning Reidar gave you.

[Reidar]

You can keep using the treadmill, but your time would be better spent with something more productive than the elliptical. The only use I see in that is for elderly trainees and people recovering from injuries. The alternatives are whatever you feel like: running, swimming, sports, etc.

Make sure that you're doing cardio for a long enough period of time. Only after a certain point does your body switch from using glycogen to adipose tissue (fat) for fuel, since glycogen is a more efficient energy source. You can take the tediousness out of this with circuit training; i.e., 10 minutes on the treadmill, 10 minutes swimming, 10 minutes jump-roping, etc.

The biggest variable is how you eat, though.

[iamquiteproper]

what should i eat?

i've never dieted or anything before, so i have no clue.

[Reidar]

Every meal should have all essential macronutrients included: protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins. You don't need to micromanage and count every calorie you eat, but you should get used to eyeballing nutrition labels and ensuring that you're getting a complete meal. Without sufficient nutrients, your body will enter proteolysis, which catabolizes/burns muscle mass and stores bodyfat.

This is a sample diet, although you'll probably want to decrease the individual portion sizes, since you're not a 200 lb. male: http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/fatlossdiet.php

Don't let gymbeciles lull you into thinking this is some big, life-changing commitment. These are very trivial changes to make.

[iamquiteproper]

i don't want to be a body builder..
:|


how many calories should i have a day?
and how many carbs?
aaaaaand what kind of meats should i eat?

[Reidar]

Nutrition fundamentals still apply, regardless of whether you're Tarzan or you're Jane. The key difference between how a regular person would eat and how a bodybuilder would eat is the amount.

What you would take away from looking at that diet is the gist of meal frequency and nutrient fulfillment. For instance, when the author of that says, "Our bodies' temperature rises in response to the digestion of food", that applies to you. And so on. The factors of human physiology are the same.

The amount you should eat depends on your size. What's your height and weight?

[iamquiteproper]

5'4" and 150 pounds

[Reidar]

Rounded off, your maintenance is about 2,000 calories per day. That's how much you would eat to maintain your weight. Eat slightly less than that. You want to lose about 2-3 lbs. a week.

Personally, I never count calories, but there's the answer from the equation, if you want it. If I were you, I would just eat reasonably with the criteria I gave before. If results didn't come, I'd then incrementally decrease the amount until they did.

If you're weighing yourself, make sure you do it consistently. You'll get inaccurate readings if you choose to do it at different times a day. Only do that once a week.

[iamquiteproper]

should i like just eat fruits and vegetables and chicken?

[Reidar]

Not just those, but that's an example of an adequate meal, yeah.

Some might tell you to avoid fruits because of the fructose, which is wrong and entirely inconsequential. The only people who should worry about an insulin spike (when your insulin levels increase in response to sugar, which can help store fat) that trivial are bodybuilders in the last few weeks of competition.

[iamquiteproper]

will i get stretch marks if i lose weight that fast?

[Reidar]

Sorry to tell you this, but no. Losing weight doesn't stretch your skin. Gaining weight does. That's why they're awesome. Badges of honor.

[iamquiteproper]

oh.

thank you so much for your help

[Reidar]

Don't get me wrong. I only helped you because it contributes to my community service requirements set by my probation officer. I regret it, okay? I shouldn't have killed him with a spork and put his organs up for auction on eBay. Lesson learned, already.

[Castaway]

good diet, right amount of exercise..
try running/doing sit ups now and then for the stomace area. but don't do too much unless u want some hard abs lol.

that should pretty much do it..

i don't know what kind of diet you should go on.. ask your doctor or something. Just don't eat more calories than you burn off and you're fine.

[Reidar]

Sit-ups are garbage. They place emphasis on the psoas muscles and hip flexors; the abdominals don't actually contract during the movement, but act merely as stabilizers, rendering them an inadequate ab exercise. They also attenuate the vertebrae in the lower-back, since the psoas are tugging at the spine when they're contracted in such a position. As the back begins to arch, the vertebral column surrounding the psoas attachment grind together, which can lead to chronic back pain as a result of disk degeneration.

[dustbunny]

are prone holds any good?

[Reidar]

They belong on the failure pile, right next to communism. If you mean a static hold, you're not reaping the benefits of contractive pressure. Typical prone movements, through sliding the legs, recruit the hip flexors and psoas muscles. The most that the abdominal wall can do is stabilize the core isometrically. This is because of irradiation, which is tension distributing from a contracting muscle to its accompanying neighbors. You do not want the hip flexors or the psoas irradiated.

Reciprocal inhibition is the opposite: the nervous system, as a matter of efficiency, relaxes the muscles opposite to the ones contracting. Productive ab exercises that cause this are Janda sit-ups, full-contact twists, and crunches with good form, which means holding the contraction at the top. You should not be able to rep out dozens and dozens of crunches if you're using proper form.

[illriginal]

what kind of cardio should i do?

If you're athletic. I would recommend HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). If not, use the treadmill or run outside on turf/grass (better for your joints than runnin on pavement) for 30-45 minutes.