OS Weight Loss 2011

[mattsb84]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

I am back at the gym and trying to eat reasonably healthy. We'll see what I weigh in at in a week. I need a head start before I step on the scale. Anyway..

I've been going and playing basketball and running. I wanted to start doing a little weight training. Does this make sense to build muscle while trying to lose fat? Should I start weight training after I lose some more weight? Ahh!? Help!

Also..For building muscle, 3 sets of 8 at a decent to high weight should be what I aim for, correct?

Building muscle requires you to eat more then you burn so you wont be building muscle while on a deficit. You CAN however gain strength while on a deficit and tighten things up. If you're goal is fat loss though, it's going to require that you eat under maintenance. There's no way around that, so you need to decide what you want to do. You can't do both though.

I would still recommend a good lifting routine. It will help you retain what muscle you have. Once you get your bf% down you and you're friends will notice the difference.

I will say, if you've never lifted or set foot in a gym, just know that building muscle is not easy and it is not fast. We're talking years, not months for decent mass gain (naturally of course). You might see some newbie gains in the first year, but it gets progressively harder after that (while bulking).

[Jonesy]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

Building muscle requires you to eat more then you burn so you wont be building muscle while on a deficit. You CAN however gain strength while on a deficit and tighten things up. If you're goal is fat loss though, it's going to require that you eat under maintenance. There's no way around that, so you need to decide what you want to do. You can't do both though.

I would still recommend a good lifting routine. It will help you retain what muscle you have. Once you get your bf% down you and you're friends will notice the difference.

I will say, if you've never lifted or set foot in a gym, just know that building muscle is not easy and it is not fast. We're talking years, not months for decent mass gain (naturally of course). You might see some newbie gains in the first year, but it gets progressively harder after that (while bulking).

What about newb gains though? With newb gains you can do both (gain muscle on a deficit), see it all the time. Sure not as much as if you were eating a surplus etc but the first 6 months of lifting is awesome if you are new to it.

For men I'd suggest lifting weights before cardio to be honest. Unless you are doing something like HIIT weight training will give you a bigger boost to your metabolism than something like walking or jogging will and you have other benefits like muscle retention / building, improved bone strength and density plus you'll just look better by the time you are finished losing weight. Of course the best of both world is to do both lifting and cardio but if I only had time for one I'd lift weights. Everyone is different though so that's just my 0.02....

[mattsb84]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

What about newb gains though? With newb gains you can do both (gain muscle on a deficit), see it all the time. Sure not as much as if you were eating a surplus etc but the first 6 months of lifting is awesome if you are new to it.

I think my answer lies somewhere between I don't know and it depends.

There's a bunch of factors at play with these types of questions. For someone who might be skinny fat, for instance, I might agree with your assessment. I would define someone as skinny/fat who fits within their height/weight norms, but has never been active (gym/sports/hiking/etc) so they carry more fat then they should, and less mass. For someone like that, yes, i can see the argument or the possibility for that to happen. For someone who is overweight by a good deal, no, i don't think the same rules apply and it would be a straight fat/muscle loss (which is normal). I'm sure there are some genetically gifted folks that these rules don't apply to though (lucky them).

But again, there's a ton of factors there that play into it. Diet, age, weight, cals in/out, what kind of exercise, etc. I don't think its a simple yes or no answer.

[Jonesy]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

But again, there's a ton of factors there that play into it. Diet, age, weight, cals in/out, what kind of exercise, etc. I don't think its a simple yes or no answer.

Yeah I definitely agree with that. I just think for a lot of people starting out (especially obese people) their muscle levels are already relatively low so they really don't have anything to lose and if they have been very sedentary the lifting will actually increase muscle mass as long as their cals aren't at starvation levels. If you have a decent combo of muscle mass and fat yes you are guaranteed to lose some of both when you cut calories for prolonged periods but when newbs with little muscle mass first start I don't think it's the case generally.

At the end of the day like you said though no 2 people are the same and what works for one won't necessarily work for others so people need to experiment to see what works best for them.

[UNC_Pete]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

Don't assume I have low muscle levels because I am obese. I played sports throughout high school and stayed relatively active in college. I have more lower body strength than upper body, probably due to playing basketball all the time and being the weight I was/am..

I used lift but not hardcore, I just never knew enough about it to understand what I should be doing..

I'm still confused. I guess I will just do it, it can't hurt, right? I'll just do 3 sets of 8 reps for each excersize and see how it goes. At the very least I will retain the muscle I have.

I picked up some gatorade post workout drinks and some protein bars, eat them directly after the workout?

I plan on being fasted before the workout per leangains.com.

[Jonesy]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

Don't assume I have low muscle levels because I am obese.

Lol I wasn't really referring to you sorry Pete. I was thinking more of like people on biggest loser where they are massively overweight, probably never lifted a weight in their life then they go on this massive almost starvation level diet but lift weights and some of them end up with some muscle tone by the end of it.

I'd suggest giving it a go as like you said at worst you are going help maintain your muscle mass and the more muscle you have the more you can eat without getting fat which is a huge bonus.

[UNC_Pete]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

I know, I was joking. I'm going to go for it, not a ton but maybe 10-20 minutes of strength training after a 30 min aerobic workout.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

Anyone have any good weight lifting routines they can share? I haven't lifted hard in years so I wanted to ease into it again. Below I pasted a link to one I thought it was good one. My goals are fat loss number but to keep my muscles toned, not wanting to musle mass at this point since I'm at 270 and wanting to reach 200 pounds within 6 months.

This is the routine I found: http://www.muscleandstrength.com/wor...n-routine.html

[Jonesy]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

That looks like a VERY solid program Mike. If you could do that for 6 months + keep up your healthier eating etc you'll look like a completely different person imo.

My only concern would be do you think you'll be able to go right from nothing to a 5 day split and not burn out?

[RockinDaMike]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

Yeah I worried about burning out also, I would start out doing lighter weights at first or should I cut down on the reps at the beginning to get into shape. Maybe both?

[Jonesy]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

Yeah or you could start out with say a 3 or 4 day a week program and go up later once you have gotten into the consistent habit of going.

There is nothing wrong with jumping straight into that program and going hard 5 days per week and you'll definitely get results. It may even seem like it's 'easy' to do for a week or two weeks or even a month but it's being consistent over years that gets the true results. GL whatever you decide!

[55]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

August 8th weigh-in:



239.0 lbs. - 90 days and 30 pounds away from my goal...

August 15th weigh-in:



Down 10.8 pounds since last week!

228.2 lbs. - 83 days and 19.2 pounds away from my goal...

[l3ulvl]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

Holy **** man nice week.

I'm down about 5 lbs since I started trying.

[Whitesox]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

I got complimented on my weight loss for the first time yesterday. That provided an incredible amount of motivation and reassurance.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: OS Weight Loss 2011

I got complimented on my weight loss for the first time yesterday. That provided an incredible amount of motivation and reassurance.

Its always nice when other people notice, but the ultimate judge is the mirror and your eyes.