2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

[NYJets]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Get the myfitnesspal app, and a food scale if you can, and log your exercise, and food religiously and honestly. You'd probably do fine on around 1500-1700 net calories/day to start (closer to 1500 net the better). You'll lose muscle as well, but it's easiest to get lean if you cut first while maintaining some sort of workout regimen.

This. The app will give you an amount of calories to strive for per day based on your goals and your activity level.

And once you have a starting point you just have to try it out and see. Weigh yourself once a week, at the same time, and try and control all the variables you can. If you aren't losing weight, lower your calories a couple hundred a day each week until you start to. Everybody is different.

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

I need a find a way to be more active during the work day, too.

I've looked into standing desk that go on top of the desk you currently own and can move up an down. Haven't found anything that would work for me (6'2") and the desk I currently own as I would be looking at too far down of an angle. Even with 6" monitor stands. It's really sad because I work at home and could do any stupid looking stretches that I really wanted too.

[Clemsonpanther]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

I should do this but i dont want to...

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

I should really incorporate a yoga program. I stretch, but my body gets pretty stiff and beaten up. Big difference in recovery doing all this at 30 than when I played sports and worked out when I was younger. There are definitely mornings late in a strong workout week where I feel like mush slapped on a skeleton.

I have a yoga day where I do it for an hour, but I do this on random days, and want to get in a habit of doing it daily when I wake up. Quick and easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN0BeLyizKg

[Feared]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Happy to report, the weight is steadily creeping up and I'm not gaining very much body fat.

Doing a de-load week, but I still need the stimulus of lifting heavy or else I'll get weaker. So instead of taking the week off from lifting completely I'm just taking 3 days, and working up to a heavy working set of Bench, Squat, and Deadlift. Each on a separate day, then just getting out of the gym. No accessory lifts, feels good to get out of the Gym after 25 mins. (not that I don't enjoy lifting but taking a break should do my body good)

Going to start a new program next week.

[pimpinpidgeon8]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

This. The app will give you an amount of calories to strive for per day based on your goals and your activity level.

And once you have a starting point you just have to try it out and see. Weigh yourself once a week, at the same time, and try and control all the variables you can. If you aren't losing weight, lower your calories a couple hundred a day each week until you start to. Everybody is different.

So when doing it this way, is it better to focus on cardio or strength training or should I alternate days? Also, should I be obsessed with protein or let the app decide how many grams are ideal?

[pimpinpidgeon8]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Get the myfitnesspal app, and a food scale if you can, and log your exercise, and food religiously and honestly. You'd probably do fine on around 1500-1700 net calories/day to start (closer to 1500 net the better). You'll lose muscle as well, but it's easiest to get lean if you cut first while maintaining some sort of workout regimen.

Should I focus on cardio or strength training or is alternating days the best? Also, should I be overly worried about protein intake or just follow what the app suggests in regards to fat, carbs & protein?

[Feared]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

I'm far from a lifting guru, but I currently weigh 160 lbs and am 5'5. How exactly should I determine my calorie intake to lose weight? I'm actually rather scrawny other than my beer belly. I want to cut down my beer belly and tone up... Appreciate any advice and a possible starting point. Thanks in advance.

Generally to to give yourself a starting number for weight loss calories you can do Bodyweight X 12 if you are relatively sedentary. (or x14 if you are fairly active)

Assuming relatively sedentary I calculated your deficit number to be 1,920 calories.

If you want to maintain muscle mass to you should strive for 1 gram of Protein per lb. of lean body mass. (since you say you are not very lean right now I would do per lb. of body weight)

So I calculate the final numbers to look like.
Fat: 56 grams
Protein: 160 grams
Carbohydrates: 194 grams

Total 1,920 calories daily. Along with strength training.

I wouldn't do cardio at first as that seems like a low enough caloric intake alone combined with strength training you should see fat loss.. but if you go 4 weeks and don't see a change in Fat loss add in cardio maybe 3 times a week. Or drop cals slightly.

[pimpinpidgeon8]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Generally to to give yourself a starting number for weight loss calories you can do Bodyweight X 12 if you are relatively sedentary. (or x14 if you are fairly active)

Assuming relatively sedentary I calculated your deficit number to be 1,920 calories.

If you want to maintain muscle mass to you should strive for 1 gram of Protein per lb. of lean body mass. (since you say you are not very lean right now I would do per lb. of body weight)

So I calculate the final numbers to look like.
Fat: 56 grams
Protein: 160 grams
Carbohydrates: 194 grams

Total 1,920 calories daily. Along with strength training.

I wouldn't do cardio at first as that seems like a low enough caloric intake alone combined with strength training you should see fat loss.. but if you go 4 weeks and don't see a change in Fat loss add in cardio maybe 3 times a week. Or drop cals slightly.

Thanks. How did you figure out the fat and carb grams?

As far as lifting goes, would you recommend me doing a three day breakdown existing of back/bis, chest/tris & legs/shoulders or should I just do full body workouts every other day?

[Feared]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Thanks. How did you figure out the fat and carb grams?

As far as lifting goes, would you recommend me doing a three day breakdown existing of back/bis, chest/tris & legs/shoulders or should I just do full body workouts every other day?

Daily Fat intake as a general rule of thumb you want to be between x.4-.6 per Pound of Lean body mass. Try to keep your fats from healthy, Poly unsaturated sources. Nuts, nut butters, Avocados, Fish oils.

So 1 gram of Fat is 9 calories, and 1 gram of Carbs, and Protein is 4 calories.
(160 x 4 = 640 cals Protein ) (assumed 140 lbs Lean body mass x .4 = 56 grams of Fat which is 504 cals)

So you have your Fat and Protein ratios figured out just fill the rest with Carbohydrates. 504 + 640 = 1144. Goal calories are 1920 subtract 1144. Leaves you with 776 calories divide by 4. and you get your 194 grams of carbs.

Carbs, and Fat can fluctuate based on preference if you find you do better on lower carbs just adjust and raise fat intake... if you need more Carbs, lower fat intake. Fitness Calculator



As far as a lifting routine it depends, how advanced are you into weight training? and what your goals are. Since you mentioned you don't have a lot of mass currently I'm assuming you want to add muscle.

As a beginner I would start with primarily focusing on a more Full body approach, doing compound movements. Bench Press, Overhead Press, Squat, Deadlifts, Barbell Rows, Pull Ups. You have to build a foundation of strength and those are the exercises that have proven to stimulate the most muscle activation for growth.

Starting Strength is a pretty good program, but there are tons of free programs out there for beginners. Just make sure you do Mobility, and warm up work for injury prevention. Look up Shoulder, and Hip mobility routines before starting a Lifting program.

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Should I focus on cardio or strength training or is alternating days the best? Also, should I be overly worried about protein intake or just follow what the app suggests in regards to fat, carbs & protein?

I know there are all sorts of opinions, bro science, and actual science on the matter, but I started doing both. I often run 10+k and lift on the same day (I prefer it actually), sometimes I even run before I lift on those days. For me it's doing the activity when I have the time, and not over-thinking or over-applying the science. Sometimes I don't have time to alternate days so I jam it into one day.

So yeah, I'd say do both cardio and lifting (incorporate a sprinting workout in there once a week). Work at it when your life schedule allows it. I find if I try to schedule my workouts my life schedule messes up the plan.

Learn to push your body a bit. I'm not saying go crazy, but maybe overdo it compared to what you think is a solid workout right now. That's basically how I ascertained how much work I could put in and how much rest I would need. Use some common sense too—obviously I don't do the same lifting routine on consecutive days.

Change your diet beyond limiting calories. No sugar, lots of protein, cut out the alcohol, etc...

I didn't focus too much on macros, just a calorie range, but calories through a pretty regimented diet of eggs, fish, chicken, avocados, some fruits. Once I got the bf% way down I re-incorporated more balance and carbs, and have had a fine time building a good physique without too much consideration of the macronutrient science.

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Does anyone foam roll, get massages, or see a chiropractor for regular adjustments?

[Matt10]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

^You rock, man - that's awesome. Congrats on the consistency and reaching that point!

As for me, well I'm staying on point with the high carb/low carb switch each day, and it's super easy. My weakness has been sugar lately, in particular Peanut M&M's, but I have to accept the progress that exploits my weakness, and not get down on myself for it. Fear of failure turns into apathy for me, and then I just go crazy stupid.

All that said, I am very excited on starting the DDPYogaNow (DDP Yoga stream subscription version) program. Did my first workout tonight and loved it. I think this is more validation for me, and will allow me to keep on track as the workouts are intense, but not in the way of jogging/sprinting or lifting weights. I did all that when I was younger, but now it's about getting more limber and lean as I'll be 31 this year. Looking forward to this!

Almost a week of this, I've gone in with 2 workouts on DDPYoga now and just have to say these workouts are going by so quickly, for me.

I used to always get turned off of longer workouts (10+ minutes), but DDPYoga moves in such a way that the transitions are so seamless, before I knew it, a 25 minute workout was done!

I'm sore all over, but I can't wait for the next workout on Saturday. They've done a great job with the streaming version of DDPYOga.

[Kearnzo]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

For you guys that have been doing DDP for a while, how do you fit it into a busy routine?

I'm still training for the Vermont Spartan Beast this year, but I'd really like to incorporate DDP Yoga for flexibility and the other benefits. However, I need to fit it into an already intense without schedule.

Are the workouts designed to be done along with your normal routine, or by themselves?

I don't know if I should just do maybe 3 times a week, or try to manage the entire schedule.

[Matt10]

Re: 2016 FITNESS CHALLENGE

For you guys that have been doing DDP for a while, how do you fit it into a busy routine?

I'm still training for the Vermont Spartan Beast this year, but I'd really like to incorporate DDP Yoga for flexibility and the other benefits. However, I need to fit it into an already intense without schedule.

Are the workouts designed to be done along with your normal routine, or by themselves?

I don't know if I should just do maybe 3 times a week, or try to manage the entire schedule.

3x a week is what I'm going at currently on "intermediate" level.