• HEALTH & RECOVERY
    Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules Thread Directory 1 Thread Directory 2
    Mindfulness Links Addiction & Mind
    Sober Living Partner Program (SLiPP)
  • H&R Moderators: VerbalTruist

I'm a trained Fitness Instructor, any questions on exercise or simple nutrition? :)

For some reason, I cannot lose the extra weight. I am slim but would like all of my muscles to be toned.

I am very dedicated in my workouts. I am at the gym 6-7 days a week. Currently my workouts consist of about 70 minutes cardio on a bike and 30 minutes weight training. I do this daily, and on the weekends I will spend another 30 minutes on a treadmill or an elliptical trainer.

I am a vegan, so my diet is not too trashy. From time to time I will have a small portion of hash browns for my breakfast, but that's just to pacify a craving. Generally I eat fruit for breakfast, a salad and fruit for lunch, and veggies/minimal carbs for dinner. For protein I throw in a few nuts/seeds. I am not lacking on any of my vitamins or nutrients and my alcohol consumption is pretty minimal.

I am currently training for races and a triathalon, so the weight isn't really a huge issue for me. However, I'm just wondering, why can't I transform the fat into muscle or just get rid of it entirely??
 
Some people just don't have the genetics to look very muscular or have the 6 pack abs. You have to have tight skin to have fairly visible abs. If you've ever been fat...you can kiss it goodbye, it is very rare that you'll ever have them.

As everyone says.....abs are ALL about diet. You have to eat enough, but not too much. It's a very thin line.
--------

kiwikr, do you lift weights? Running isn't going to make you gain muscle, you need to workout also.

I'd suggest you start doing situps/crunches, and pushups.

If you go to the gym, you can lift weights, most girls go with light weights and high reps. just find a weight you're comfortable with and do 2-3 sets of 10 per lift.
 
no, i have never been fat. i dont even care if people can see my abs, I just want a flat tummy and i cannot get it. how do know how much is to much/to little to eat?
 
Do you have that little "pouch" thing when looking at you from the side? I have that thing too, I have no idea how to get rid of it.


I can't remember the exact number of calories to eat a day. I think to maintain your weight it is 12X your body weight.

Or something like that. I'm sure when P-mo see's this thread he'll help you more.
 
I have a question. When it comes to weightlifting, how many reps should one build up to before adding more weight? If I do twenty bicep curls would it be better to wait until Im strong enough to do 40-50, or move to a higher weight and see if I can do 10 at the higher weight?
 
if you're lifting for strength, most people wait until they can get up to 10 reps. Then they up the weight and start back at 6.

If you're doing endurance, I'd say once you hit 20 reps, up the weight and keep working back up to 20. and keep doing it like that.

Do you get that? I'll try to go into more detail if you want me to.
 
yes

But, you CAN gain size with endurance lifting too if you're a small girl or if you're just starting out.

I usually do sets of 10/8/6
 
Ok one of the most difficult things to do is to adequetly monitor your maintanace calories. Once your in a set rythmm though it becomes a bit easier. Thus it becomes vital to stick to a strict diet at least for a while so that you can determine how many calories you need to lose/gain/maintain weight.

Given the nature of the problem, etc- maybe start by running a clean diet of 2000 calories a day. Splitting meals up and ensuring that your body never turns on the dreaded "starvation mode" also is a must.

Weigh yourself frequently (like once every week or two) and after 4 weeks of strict dieting weigh yourself and note what your weight is in comparison to when you started.

Lifting for size is what we call Hyper-trophy work and is what is done by body-builders. Strength training is usually done by powerlifters, etc- who are going for the biggest lift possible. And you'll get 1,000,001 different versions of technique for either. But basically keeping weight high and reps low tends to be good for muscle growth.

For women not wanting to increase muscle size dramatically just increase endurance I would recomend a 8-15 rep range. 3 or 4 sets per exercise, heaviest weights you can manage for the above. Look for things in the gym such as ab machines where you can add lots of weight and roman chairs (where you can do all kinds of stuff such as holding plates/reverse movements/etc).

But remember at the end of the day that its your genetic code that determines what size you are. So if your body WANTS you to have a belly then good luck shifting it.....
 
Also ensure your getting good fats from things such as olive oil and fish oil.

Maybe even trying something like ALCAR might be of benifit to you. Its been shown to alter Isnulin fat deposit ratios in certain areas (or something like that- its late, cant think straight). But this is only after having a good look at diet and training regieme, as the benifits it will give would be negligable otherwise.
 
I'm really getting frustrated with my inability to gain weight. I'm about 145-150 right now and my max bench is probably about 250 right now. I haven't maxed so I'm not sure. I can hit 205 10x and 225 5x. I just switched my workout a lot for the first time and I really think that its working. I've always done heavy lifting but now I'm doing more reps than I normally would and am just going to see what happens. I've been doing it for about 2 weeks now and I like the way it feels. It's a nice change of pace too.

Anyway, my question was going to be, if I decide to take a supplement I'm either looking at creatine, protein, or meal replacements. I'll be honest, my eating habits don't help me gain weight. I never eat a solid breakfest, but I have a decent lunch and a large dinner and I try to eat a sandwich or something in between lunch and dinner. I'm assuming I'm eating about 2000 calories a day, maybe a little more or little less. I realize I'm basically answering my own question too. I should probably take meal replacements to make up for my lack of time to eat huh? I don't wanna pay the outrageous price for that shit though, so thats why I was thinking of taking protein since it's cheaper and has only ~100 less calories. I'm talking about products I looked at today btw, and price wise the protein was a way better deal IMO. The creatine thing is only an option because of the results I've seen others get with it, but like I said, I know I don't eat the way I should so I don't know if it'd be good for me.

I've never taken supplements before but I've never really cared about my weight that much till now for some reason. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
I wouldnt recomend "meal replacements" I would focus on trying to eat more daily. To get bigger you need to eat more than your burning and if your only eating 2000cals then thats unlikely to happen. Try and eat more frequently and keep your protien intake high (aim for about 200gs a day). You want to be eating some protien about every 4 hours or so.



Using Whey protien and some sugar post workout will help repair the muscles that have been damaged during workout.

To get big you have to have dedication not only at the gym but also at the dinner table. As a first step try and have breakfast (maybe a protien shake and a few weetbix or something) and add a protien rich meal (an omlette, steak or couple of tins of tuna) before bed. Make sure your having a protien shake with sugar PWO. You'll be amazed at the difference this can make. Altering your workout routine will also help rejuvante growth. Check out some of the diet threads in SD as most of these are geared towards mass gain.
 
The reason I asked about meal replacements is because I'm a college student who works about 30 hours a week also. I seriously don't have TIME to eat. I'm also not very hungry in the morning. I usually just have a bagel or something. I'll grab some whey protein soon though and begin drinking those in the morning and after my workout.

Yeah I love the way I'm feeling and looking after using my new workout. I know I'm breaking the rule for trying to get bigger by doing less reps, but I'm liking what I'm seeing so far and it's more fun. I've always lifted at low reps so just changing for a while is keeping it interesting.

Anyway, I'm going to go make some sort of breakfast right now. I rarely get to do this, but when my alarm clock went off this morning I knew I wasn't going to my summer class at 8am on a friday lol. I'm about to smoke a bowl, eat, and show up at my 10am class hehe. Thanks for the advice p-mo.

By the way Shaddow, if you read this thread, I was kind of looking for a response from you. :)
 
Switching up your routine should be an absolutely essential part of any weight-training regimin. Many people work out by doing the exact same routines on the same days, lifting the same weights, with the same amount of time off in between, and never really notice much of a difference. The thing is, when you lift the exact same way for a long period of time, your body "gets used to it." What you need to do is "shock" your muscles to restart or increase their growth.

For example, if you're working your shoulders, and you've been doing military presses for as long as you can remember, switch it up next time and do some cable presses, or some Arnold presses with dumbbells. If you're running out of ideas for exercises or don't know what other methods you can go about shocking your muscles, take a look at the list of muscle groups on the right side of this page and on the right side under "Exercises" click the appropriate muscle group for a list of different exercises, and links to an animation and description of the routine.

I like to do the same routine for about 6-8 weeks and then switch to something different. Some people switch more often, but this is what seems to work fine for me.

------

As far as diet and your eating habits, I've said it several times, and I'll just continue to echo myself here.. If you wanna gain weight, if you wanna gain muscle, if you wanna get big - you've gotta eat big and you've gotta lift big. There's no other way about it. It takes discipline and dedication, but when you're ready to do it, you will find a way to make it all work. Food is your body's fuel, and protein is the building block for muscle. Without it, it won't grow. It's kind of like trying to start a fire without wood..

What you're going to absolutely have to do if you're serious about this is start getting your ass out of bed 20 minutes earlier (I know, I'm not a morning person AT ALL, believe me ;) ) and preparing yourself something to eat. A bagel and a protein shake is good. Eggs, ham, turkey... Some form of protein is essential in the morning. Even if you're not hungry, just force it down. When you're sleeping, your body is in a catabolic state and it's being starved of nutrients. Your main goal should be to a) give it fuel for energy (some form of carbohydrate), and b) give it fuel for muscle building (some form of protein).

If you’re trying to gain weight, meal replacements should NOT be a substitute for a meal.. My thoughts on meal replacements are that they are good for ADDING meals to your diet. For example, if you’ve already had breakfast, and lunch, and you know you’re gonna eat dinner as soon as you get home, an MRP will be a good addition between meals to increase your calorie and protein intake and to keep your body going. As p-mo already stated, you're ideally going to want to feed yourself some form of protein every 4 hours or so. Beef jerkey (be careful with the sodium), tuna, an occasional protein shake.. I understand that being at work and school all day is extremely time consuming - and stressful, but that's only more reason for you to feed your body more often. When I was in school I used to take a cooler filled with food and leave it in a locker to snack on during the day. It was far from convenient to run to the locker between classes, but any way that helps you meet your goals and simplifies things for you helps.

And speaking of goals, you need to set goals for yourself. Aim to eat breakfast every day. You said you eat a big lunch and dinner.. Aim to squeeze one more meal in there somewhere. The more often you eat, the less your body will “starve,” and the better it will react to the training you are doing.

Nutrition should be the basic first step to any training program. If you're not eating right, you're not gonna get the gains you desire. PERIOD. Work on that and you will surely begin to see results. It's not gonna happen over night, but it's the beginning to the road ahead.

If you're going to begin taking supplements, I'd say supplementing your diet is the key for you. Protein is the way to go. MRP’s are ok, but like you said, they’re expensive. I’d go with a 100% whey protein, like Optimum Nutrition, and be certain to down a shake first thing in the morning, and post workout with sugar.

And just to reiterate, EATING MORE IS ESSENTIAL FOR GAINING WEIGHT.

:)
 
that is true. I guarentee most people who can't gain weight, don't eat enough.
 
Well, I'm pretty sure I said I know I don't eat enough already. Like I said, I just am a very busy person and eating is just something that I do when I have time right now.

I like the way I look now, I'd just like to throw on another 5-8lbs or so. With the amount I'm benching and leg pressing I really think I should be there. I'm going to start making more of an effort to eat though and I'll grab some protein powder....
 
^^ Understood. However, I'm just gonna say it again. No matter how often you lift, no matter how much weight you put up, no matter how hard you workout when you're in the gym - the only way you're gonna gain weight is through eating more. Lifting harder, heavier, more often will not cause you to gain weight. A lot of people seem to think that and it's a complete misconception. It takes the food that you're putting into your body, in conjunction with a proper workout regimin, to create solid gains. It all starts with proper diet and nutrition, and without it, all the work you do in the gym won't do you any good towards reaching your goal.

Sorry to be repetitive, but that's the bottom line. Work on eating more, get that protein, keep up the good work in the gym, and you'll be well on your way. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top