For those of us too .. ahem .. cheap to cough up the dough for a meal plan and an exercise plan, are there any free options? I'd like to get back into shape again, the winter months were brutal to the waistline.
TL;DR: fat loss is about diet. Yes, diet. Strength training builds/retains muscle, so do it. HIIT cardio helps some, steady state cardio a bit as well. But really, it's mostly diet.
If you want to understand more about this, you could look into starvation literature. On a reduced-calorie-only approach, about 25% of your weight loss comes not from fat but muscle. Which is among the key reasons diet-only approaches fail. Among exercises, it's strength training which builds muscle, not cardio, which is why a running-only exercise approach won't get you ripped either.
This is also a major reason why I find the emphasis on "weight" loss in both mainstream and medical literature immensely frustrating. What really matters is the relationship between two tissue types, subcutaneous fat and skeletal muscle. They're gained and lost through very different mechanisms, and play very different roles in body function. Confounding both as "weight" is an immense disservice.
That's based on a classic 5x5 lifting program. It's simple. It's effective. After the first few weeks, it's pretty brutal. But for a novice trainee there's hardly anything more effective.
A lot of people will have a lot of advice, but the simple truth is that the only thing that works is diet and exercise.
Being in shape is a lifestyle issue. It's not something that happens overnight or that you can do in one go, it requires a fundamental change in how you approach living. I'm not trying to discourage you, but to steer you away from the "you can fix it quick with no effort" snake oil that abounds.
My advice:
1. Become your own expert. Learn how your body works, how nutrition works, how exercise works, how ... I've found that reddit's fitness community [1] has some great places to start. There's a ridiculous amount of good information out there. (Protip: most of the good info can cite studies, less than half of the bad even bothers)
2. Make it fun. Learn new recipes, try activities you've always wanted to do, do anything but force yourself to change. After a while the causation between "not fun" exercises or diet changes and their benefits will sink into your brain and make things easier, but to start if it sucks you'll probably quit.
3. Don't agonize over the scale. Your body weight fluctuates throughout the day and various activities. It's not uncommon to see a single day +/- 6lb change just in the water your body is holding. Aim for feeling better (or looking better, if that's your goal) not a number on a scale. Weigh yourself when you start, then come back after three months.
4. Be persistent. You're talking about a lifestyle change here. These don't happen overnight. You'll probably spend a long time being disappointed at apparent non-progress then wake up one day wondering when things changed. Do your homework and learn what you need to do, then start doing it and trust that the results will come. In a world where we can use our phones to identify and buy the song that's playing right now, results in this come agonizingly slow.
> Weigh yourself when you start, then come back after three months.
Dissenting voice here:
As somewhat of a numbers junkie, weighing myself every day is absolutely crucial. I know the numbers fluctuate (if you weigh yourself every day, you can't help but learn that), but they can give you a much-needed reality check. More importantly, I got myself addicted to taking data, and the most precise scale I had available was at the gym ... so I went to the gym.
You'll definitely be able to see yourself trending downwards.
That's fine, but I would argue that even for this purpose the number is kind of useless. It's only vaguely a proxy for appearance or ability, so why not measure what you're trying to do more directly?
Interested in appearance? Go for waist/thigh/wherever measurements (as 'aaronblohowiak' suggested).
Interested in fitness? Measure that. If you're running you can record how far you went or how fast you did it. If you're lifting weights the options for measurement are pretty obvious.
An oft-used quote from the engineering world is "what gets measured gets improved." A corollary to that should be "measurement encourages improvement when the improvements are obvious." It's hard to look at a number on a scale and say "what can I do to make this better." It's easy to look at a daily calorie count or your post-run/post-lift numbers and know what needs to be done.
All of that said, "more effective" is relative to what you actually do. If a daily weigh-in is what works for you, that's awesome keep it up.
I think it's bad general advice because results come slowly and when they do your appearance may not reflect the number changes in the way you'd expect. Most people are terrible at estimating weight, much less how a weight change will be reflected in appearance.
I started out pretty fat; I think my weight was changing faster. Probably as the cube of my waistline. :p Also, my girlfriend at the time (a nurse) informed me that a lot of weight loss in the beginning is visceral fat, and won't necessarily manifest as shrinking dimensions, but will make you healthier.
Take a cue from to OP's site and do a 12-week challenge. During the 12 weeks eat the best eating plan you can manage for at least 5 days/week and don't go crazy on weekends. Keep workouts intense, short, and keep challenging yourself. After the 12 weeks reassess -- maybe you'll be willing to spend some money.
At 1-2 two pounds of fat/week for 12 weeks (very doable) your body will look a lot different -- even if you don't exactly get the results shown here.
Alternatively check out marksdailyapple.com as well. The food is the same basically. The philosophy differs a little. I'm going to go primal within today & a week ;o Pretty excited about it :D
I don't think anyone has had a more pragmatic solution than Jack LaLanne: "If man made it, don't eat it." You can't out-exercise a shitty diet of processed, convenient "food."
Seconded. I went from 200+ to 178 about 10 years ago using that book. It really helps you understand how to think of your body as a system, and weight loss as an optimization problem.
If you're a geek get an app like Livestrong's which makes it really easy to count calories. There's several online calculators which will give you a good guess on a caloric intake for weight loss though a visit to a nutritionist would get you a more personalized number.
If you don't like counting calories the low carb solutions are a little more "livable" you can go out with friends and get a salad pretty much anywhere. But bread is tasty.
Running is not a good way to get low body fat such as in the picture. To get that ripped, lean look you actually want to avoid aerobic exercise and stressing the glycogen system.
Intermittent fasting (only eat once or twice a day) and relatively intense, infrequent strength training (some olympic lifts twice a week) is the way to go. See leangains.com
Long distance running is not especially good for health or the heart. Marathon running and long distance cycling are actually quite bad for the heart. There's a ton of stuff out there now about disturbing rates of sclerosis in marathon runners.
Running 5Ks (not crazy distances) is surely a lot better than doing nothing, but I don't think there's any evidence it's better for you than other pursuits. Olympic lifters have excellent blood profiles and body composition, for example. Probably true of squash players.
Running is popular because it requires zero athletic ability and no equipment.
Geeks need to be mindful that any diet that is essentially starving the body of calories to shed fat (which is what dieting is) is also starving the brain.
I spent most of January trying to get an already flat(ish) stomach to the next level in terms of abs/reduced body fat.
I found my low-carb, high-protein diet took the edge off my brain which made programming or doing any thought-intensive task sluggish. I wasn't passing out or unsafe to drive, but I just didn't like the feeling that my brain wasn't firing on all cylinders.
I couldn't justify the productivity hit so concluded by Feb.
I certainly do not mean to dispute your experience, but others' mileage may vary. When you are burning fat, you produce ketones and brain can actually burn ketones, so you are not "starving" your brain. However, the psychological effect of low blood sugar might of course be hindering your productivity and mental capability.
Diet is the most important: cut out anything with flour and sugar in it.
Exercise: skip endurance exercises - they waste muscle. Do some weight exercises 3 times a week, or chins/dips/pushups if you prefer bodyweight exercises.
Keep workouts short: 30-45 minutes. Always warm up before workouts, no need to stretch. Once or twice a week do this: run fast (sprint) 100 yards 5 times, rest for a few minutes between runs.
I've lost 20 pounds in two months and gained some muscle following this plan.
Comments
For those of us too .. ahem .. cheap to cough up the dough for a meal plan and an exercise plan, are there any free options? I'd like to get back into shape again, the winter months were brutal to the waistline.
A good starting point: Liam Rosen's "Beginners' Health & Fitness Guide": http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html
If you want to understand what's what in fat loss, Alwyn Cosgrove's "Hierarchy of Fat Loss": http://alwyncosgrove.com/2010/01/hierarchy-of-fat-loss/
TL;DR: fat loss is about diet. Yes, diet. Strength training builds/retains muscle, so do it. HIIT cardio helps some, steady state cardio a bit as well. But really, it's mostly diet.
If you want to understand more about this, you could look into starvation literature. On a reduced-calorie-only approach, about 25% of your weight loss comes not from fat but muscle. Which is among the key reasons diet-only approaches fail. Among exercises, it's strength training which builds muscle, not cardio, which is why a running-only exercise approach won't get you ripped either.
This is also a major reason why I find the emphasis on "weight" loss in both mainstream and medical literature immensely frustrating. What really matters is the relationship between two tissue types, subcutaneous fat and skeletal muscle. They're gained and lost through very different mechanisms, and play very different roles in body function. Confounding both as "weight" is an immense disservice.
For a plan putting this together, there's The New Rules of Lifting, or for the gals, The New Rules of Lifting for Women. Exercise plan, diet, lifting, cardio, a ton of info on what goes into fitness. http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Maximum-Muscle/dp/15... and http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Women-Goddess/dp/158...
If you want a simpler, and IMO more effective beginner's program, Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength: http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-2nd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp...
That's based on a classic 5x5 lifting program. It's simple. It's effective. After the first few weeks, it's pretty brutal. But for a novice trainee there's hardly anything more effective.
A lot of people will have a lot of advice, but the simple truth is that the only thing that works is diet and exercise.
Being in shape is a lifestyle issue. It's not something that happens overnight or that you can do in one go, it requires a fundamental change in how you approach living. I'm not trying to discourage you, but to steer you away from the "you can fix it quick with no effort" snake oil that abounds.
My advice:
1. Become your own expert. Learn how your body works, how nutrition works, how exercise works, how ... I've found that reddit's fitness community [1] has some great places to start. There's a ridiculous amount of good information out there. (Protip: most of the good info can cite studies, less than half of the bad even bothers)
2. Make it fun. Learn new recipes, try activities you've always wanted to do, do anything but force yourself to change. After a while the causation between "not fun" exercises or diet changes and their benefits will sink into your brain and make things easier, but to start if it sucks you'll probably quit.
3. Don't agonize over the scale. Your body weight fluctuates throughout the day and various activities. It's not uncommon to see a single day +/- 6lb change just in the water your body is holding. Aim for feeling better (or looking better, if that's your goal) not a number on a scale. Weigh yourself when you start, then come back after three months.
4. Be persistent. You're talking about a lifestyle change here. These don't happen overnight. You'll probably spend a long time being disappointed at apparent non-progress then wake up one day wondering when things changed. Do your homework and learn what you need to do, then start doing it and trust that the results will come. In a world where we can use our phones to identify and buy the song that's playing right now, results in this come agonizingly slow.
[1] http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/Fitness
> Weigh yourself when you start, then come back after three months.
Dissenting voice here:
As somewhat of a numbers junkie, weighing myself every day is absolutely crucial. I know the numbers fluctuate (if you weigh yourself every day, you can't help but learn that), but they can give you a much-needed reality check. More importantly, I got myself addicted to taking data, and the most precise scale I had available was at the gym ... so I went to the gym.
You'll definitely be able to see yourself trending downwards.
That's fine, but I would argue that even for this purpose the number is kind of useless. It's only vaguely a proxy for appearance or ability, so why not measure what you're trying to do more directly?
Interested in appearance? Go for waist/thigh/wherever measurements (as 'aaronblohowiak' suggested).
Interested in fitness? Measure that. If you're running you can record how far you went or how fast you did it. If you're lifting weights the options for measurement are pretty obvious.
An oft-used quote from the engineering world is "what gets measured gets improved." A corollary to that should be "measurement encourages improvement when the improvements are obvious." It's hard to look at a number on a scale and say "what can I do to make this better." It's easy to look at a daily calorie count or your post-run/post-lift numbers and know what needs to be done.
All of that said, "more effective" is relative to what you actually do. If a daily weigh-in is what works for you, that's awesome keep it up.
I think it's bad general advice because results come slowly and when they do your appearance may not reflect the number changes in the way you'd expect. Most people are terrible at estimating weight, much less how a weight change will be reflected in appearance.
Isn't the circumference of the waistline a better measure?
I started out pretty fat; I think my weight was changing faster. Probably as the cube of my waistline. :p Also, my girlfriend at the time (a nurse) informed me that a lot of weight loss in the beginning is visceral fat, and won't necessarily manifest as shrinking dimensions, but will make you healthier.
Go to nerdfitness.com and poke around at the free options (http://nerdfitness.com/blog/top-posts/).
Take a cue from to OP's site and do a 12-week challenge. During the 12 weeks eat the best eating plan you can manage for at least 5 days/week and don't go crazy on weekends. Keep workouts intense, short, and keep challenging yourself. After the 12 weeks reassess -- maybe you'll be willing to spend some money.
At 1-2 two pounds of fat/week for 12 weeks (very doable) your body will look a lot different -- even if you don't exactly get the results shown here.
Alternatively check out marksdailyapple.com as well. The food is the same basically. The philosophy differs a little. I'm going to go primal within today & a week ;o Pretty excited about it :D
I don't think anyone has had a more pragmatic solution than Jack LaLanne: "If man made it, don't eat it." You can't out-exercise a shitty diet of processed, convenient "food."
"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
I strongly recommend The Hacker's Diet (by the founder of Autodesk, John Walker).
http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html
I found that when I got up to 208 lbs six or seven years ago, I now weigh 159. (I'm 6'3".)
Seconded. I went from 200+ to 178 about 10 years ago using that book. It really helps you understand how to think of your body as a system, and weight loss as an optimization problem.
Run & Count Calories (or Low Carb).
Couch to 5k if you've never ran before http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
If you're a geek get an app like Livestrong's which makes it really easy to count calories. There's several online calculators which will give you a good guess on a caloric intake for weight loss though a visit to a nutritionist would get you a more personalized number.
If you don't like counting calories the low carb solutions are a little more "livable" you can go out with friends and get a salad pretty much anywhere. But bread is tasty.
Running is not a good way to get low body fat such as in the picture. To get that ripped, lean look you actually want to avoid aerobic exercise and stressing the glycogen system.
Intermittent fasting (only eat once or twice a day) and relatively intense, infrequent strength training (some olympic lifts twice a week) is the way to go. See leangains.com
perhaps, but running is better heart health. I don't know anyone who died of punny biceps, but 50% of Americans still die of heart attacks.
Long distance running is not especially good for health or the heart. Marathon running and long distance cycling are actually quite bad for the heart. There's a ton of stuff out there now about disturbing rates of sclerosis in marathon runners.
http://www.arthurdevany.com/articles/20091028
Running 5Ks (not crazy distances) is surely a lot better than doing nothing, but I don't think there's any evidence it's better for you than other pursuits. Olympic lifters have excellent blood profiles and body composition, for example. Probably true of squash players.
Running is popular because it requires zero athletic ability and no equipment.
Geeks need to be mindful that any diet that is essentially starving the body of calories to shed fat (which is what dieting is) is also starving the brain.
I spent most of January trying to get an already flat(ish) stomach to the next level in terms of abs/reduced body fat.
I found my low-carb, high-protein diet took the edge off my brain which made programming or doing any thought-intensive task sluggish. I wasn't passing out or unsafe to drive, but I just didn't like the feeling that my brain wasn't firing on all cylinders.
I couldn't justify the productivity hit so concluded by Feb.
I certainly do not mean to dispute your experience, but others' mileage may vary. When you are burning fat, you produce ketones and brain can actually burn ketones, so you are not "starving" your brain. However, the psychological effect of low blood sugar might of course be hindering your productivity and mental capability.
Yup, it was probably the blood sugar.
People can downvote me as much as they want, I just didn't feel mentally 100% and decided it was best to stop.
YMMV
Diet is the most important: cut out anything with flour and sugar in it.
Exercise: skip endurance exercises - they waste muscle. Do some weight exercises 3 times a week, or chins/dips/pushups if you prefer bodyweight exercises.
Keep workouts short: 30-45 minutes. Always warm up before workouts, no need to stretch. Once or twice a week do this: run fast (sprint) 100 yards 5 times, rest for a few minutes between runs.
I've lost 20 pounds in two months and gained some muscle following this plan.