Blonde will make thin ....Here we go again !

[zerofive]

Have no idea of my weight as haven't weighed myself but I'm really in the swing of the gym. Yesterday I even went twice!

The paleo food that I'm ordering is great, the portions are perfect and I don't feel like I'm suffering the same way I do when I try to alter my diet by myself. Definitely money well spent so far.

One question for the fitness experts - how often should I use a sauna/steam room? There is one in my building and every few days after a workout I tend to go for a swim and then to the sauna/steam room.

Sit in a sauna as often as you feel like it bud, just don't sit in it for too long - although hopefully you don't need an expert to tell you that!

Did you hit the gym for two weightlifting sessions? I wouldn't recommend doing that too frequently as it can be counterproductive although there's nothing wrong with doing it every now and then if you're feeling particularly strong.

[zerofive]

Just checking in to say i'm underway with Stronglifts. I haven't gotten round to counting calories yet but been eating clean and eating lots, which is working well because i've been too full by the time i get home to just want to shove the nearest chocolate bar into my mouth like i used to. Hopefully i can keep this up!

Someone posted earlier in this thread to say "counting macros is for bodybuilders only," and I was too tired of saying the same thing over and over to post a rebuttle.

HOWEVER

You've managed to nail one of the few scenarios where I don't think it's necessary to count calories.

Because you're monitoring YOUR weight and how much weight you're LIFTING, you can adjust what you're eating based on those two figures.

I'm interested to see what those numbers are tbh, if you don't mind posting.

Are you choosing to do any accessory work, or just keeping it simple?

[RED-DOG]

Have no idea of my weight as haven't weighed myself but I'm really in the swing of the gym. Yesterday I even went twice!

The paleo food that I'm ordering is great, the portions are perfect and I don't feel like I'm suffering the same way I do when I try to alter my diet by myself. Definitely money well spent so far.

One question for the fitness experts - how often should I use a sauna/steam room? There is one in my building and every few days after a workout I tend to go for a swim and then to the sauna/steam room.

Sit in a sauna as often as you feel like it bud, just don't sit in it for too long - although hopefully you don't need an expert to tell you that!

Did you hit the gym for two weightlifting sessions? I wouldn't recommend doing that too frequently as it can be counterproductive although there's nothing wrong with doing it every now and then if you're feeling particularly strong.

How long is too long?

How frequently is too frequently?

How often is every now and then?

I don't want to be pedantic, but "Don't do it too much or too often" is the sort of advice I could give on almost any subject.

lol 


PS- I've added a lol and a smiley to prove beyond doubt that I'm not a troll.




 

[zerofive]

Have no idea of my weight as haven't weighed myself but I'm really in the swing of the gym. Yesterday I even went twice!

The paleo food that I'm ordering is great, the portions are perfect and I don't feel like I'm suffering the same way I do when I try to alter my diet by myself. Definitely money well spent so far.

One question for the fitness experts - how often should I use a sauna/steam room? There is one in my building and every few days after a workout I tend to go for a swim and then to the sauna/steam room.

Sit in a sauna as often as you feel like it bud, just don't sit in it for too long - although hopefully you don't need an expert to tell you that!

Did you hit the gym for two weightlifting sessions? I wouldn't recommend doing that too frequently as it can be counterproductive although there's nothing wrong with doing it every now and then if you're feeling particularly strong.

How long is too long?

How frequently is too frequently?

How often is every now and then?

I don't want to be pedantic, but "Don't do it too much or too often" is the sort of advice I could give on almost any subject.

lol 


PS- I've added a lol and a smiley to prove beyond doubt that I'm not a troll.

Haha, don't worry Tom.

The problem with each of these is that they are subjective, so wall of text incoming:

"Too long/much/frequently" depends on a few different factors. Quite naturally, when it comes to things that are "good for you," people want to prolong their exposure to it. This is only human, of course. If something makes you feel better, you want to keep doing it. Your intuition would tell you that, "I feel much better after taking 2 paracetamol, think how amazing I would feel if I took 50!"

When it comes to the sauna, the general rule of thumb is that you want to stay in long enough to get sweaty, but not so long that you start to uncomfortable. This will sound quite obvious, but I will refer you to the previous paragraph. What is the correct amount of time for me, will most likely be different for you, and the same for Cos. This will depend on heart health, blood pressure, tolerance to heat, level of hydration and just how you are feeling that day. Anywhere between 5-20 minutes is realistic. By all means leave the sauna, get a cold shower, wait until you've stopped sweating, and go and enjoy another 5-20 minute session. Listen to your body, I guess. Don't be under the illusion that by "enduring" the heat to the point of light-headedness, that you are somehow benefitting your health. The experience should be comfortable and enjoyable.

If I'm honest, too frequently to be weight-training twice a day is almost always for a normal human being. If you've spent a few years slowly increasing your work rate to the point where your central nervous system can cope, then you can weight-train twice daily for as long as your workrate doesn't drop. Even then, I don't think even top athletes could do 2 balls-to-the-wall weightlifting sessions. The body just needs more time than that to recover, even if you're in incredible shape. It is in recovery where we make progress, so by not allowing your body adequate recovery, you are not allowing yourself a fair chance to make progress.

Hopefully I covered everything

[GreekStein]

Have no idea of my weight as haven't weighed myself but I'm really in the swing of the gym. Yesterday I even went twice!

The paleo food that I'm ordering is great, the portions are perfect and I don't feel like I'm suffering the same way I do when I try to alter my diet by myself. Definitely money well spent so far.

One question for the fitness experts - how often should I use a sauna/steam room? There is one in my building and every few days after a workout I tend to go for a swim and then to the sauna/steam room.

Sit in a sauna as often as you feel like it bud, just don't sit in it for too long - although hopefully you don't need an expert to tell you that!

Did you hit the gym for two weightlifting sessions? I wouldn't recommend doing that too frequently as it can be counterproductive although there's nothing wrong with doing it every now and then if you're feeling particularly strong.

Nah did a fitness/cardio and stretching in the morning and a mate asked me if I wanted to go and do weights with him and I felt good so went.

Finnish friend was telling me about the world sauna championships. Nutters!

[EvilPie]

Bit of a disaster on Sunday......

It all started at about 1pm with a Corona and was followed by an insane amount of alcohol and the following food:

Chilli with chips and rice
Cheeseburger
Cheeseburger
Hotdog
Curry

Could be an interesting weigh in tonight. Other than the Sunday slip I've been really good so I don't actually think it's done too much harm. My belt is comfortably back on the third hole so I'm reasonably confident about an improvement following last weeks slight set back.

Weigh in is about 8pm and I'll report soon after......

[EvilPie]

7th April: Weight 15st 13lb. Waist 37" to 38.5"

14th April: Weight 15st 11 1/4lb. Waist 36.75" to 38.25"

21st April: Weight 15st 7 3/4lb. Waist 36.5" to 38"

28th April: Weight 15st 4 3/4lb. Waist 36.25" to 37.75"

5th May: Weight 15st 6lb. Waist 36" to 37.25"

12th May: Weight 15st 4lb. Waist 35.75" to 36.75"

19th May: Weight 15st 5 3/4lb. Waist 36" to 37.25"

26th May: Weight 15st 6lb. Waist 35.75" to 36.75"

Nice to be back on track although it's looking unlikely that I'll hit my target of 36" worst case by 5th June unless I do something drastic. I'm not too bothered about hitting that target now as I know if I carry on I'll get there soon enough anyway.

I'm pleasantly surprised at what I've achieved in the last 7 weeks and how easy it's been. All I've done is be generally sensible and flick in 25 minutes of cardio a day. I've not cut out curries, I've not cut out beer and I've not felt guilty whenever I've had a slip. There's no way this would've been anywhere near as easy if I was having to be super strict and wasn't allowed a couple of treats a week. I'm pretty sure if I'd been 100% strict I'd be further along by now but I'd probably be dead miserable and may have even quit. All it means having a few treats is that it's going to take a couple of weeks longer to get where I want to be.

One more week to go yet and I don't expect any slips for the next week so the final weigh in and measure should be okay. I might have a bit of a push but certainly nothing drastic, maybe just tweak the carbs down a bit in the evenings in a final effort to get there.

[arbboy]

Bit of a disaster on Sunday......

It all started at about 1pm with a Corona and was followed by an insane amount of alcohol and the following food:

Chilli with chips and rice
Cheeseburger
Cheeseburger
Hotdog
Curry

Could be an interesting weigh in tonight. Other than the Sunday slip I've been really good so I don't actually think it's done too much harm. My belt is comfortably back on the third hole so I'm reasonably confident about an improvement following last weeks slight set back.

Weigh in is about 8pm and I'll report soon after......

So honest. You report the stuff all the fatties never report and we do that three times a week! You are gutted doing it once a week!

[Marky147]

Bit of a disaster on Sunday......

It all started at about 1pm with a Corona and was followed by an insane amount of alcohol and the following food:

Chilli with chips and rice
Cheeseburger
Cheeseburger
Hotdog
Curry

Could be an interesting weigh in tonight. Other than the Sunday slip I've been really good so I don't actually think it's done too much harm. My belt is comfortably back on the third hole so I'm reasonably confident about an improvement following last weeks slight set back.

Weigh in is about 8pm and I'll report soon after......

That's a good day for me this year

[Kmac84]

Unable to weigh in today, circumstances beyond my control in all honesty I think I'd have done well to achieve a neutral fortnight.   I had 1 training session, very little walking as in agony with rhe back probs last week and 2 nights out. Had a session with a chiropractor on Friday and it done wonders, back felt great  but she advised to rest over weekend and get back into it this week  so will hit the pool tomorrow and hopefully  get weighed as well.  Back on the horse and ready to go. 

[Kmac84]

Unable to weigh in today, circumstances beyond my control in all honesty I think I'd have done well to achieve a neutral fortnight.   I had 1 training session, very little walking as in agony with rhe back probs last week and 2 nights out. Had a session with a chiropractor on Friday and it done wonders, back felt great  but she advised to rest over weekend and get back into it this week  so will hit the pool tomorrow and hopefully  get weighed as well.  Back on the horse and ready to go. 

1.2 kilo loss this week, actually happy this week.

[Ant040689]

Injured the sole of my foot a week ago and it still is iffy so stayed off the exercise.

Altering my routine when i get back. Had results for the short time i was trying to build muscle mass, then realised that i really actually would rather be really lean and have a build for stamina where i could last 90 mins as an outfield player on the football pitch, at the possible detriment to muscle mass. Obviously I will still look at muscle definition and function as well, but the size won't be the goal, more its effectiveness at striking a ball/agility etc.

Which means that frees me up to do a lot more cardio and i am going to really enjoy myself with what will probably be 2 hours a day's worth 5 days a week. All my weights exercises are now going to be high rep and high repetitions too.

I complained before about muscle soreness but it was remedied by just doing a better warm up and warm down. Like for example, i didn't know you should warm up to do a jog, and i would often get tight doing that. I now do a firm walk, then long strides, then some small dynamic stuff to get warmed up before jogs and it does the trick.
 
My weight fluctuates between 14st 10lbs and 15st with the low exercise i do currently, and I theorise that my athletic resting weight with lots of exercise especially for my new goal should be in the early 14stones it could be less.

I eat a lot of carbs and eat like a monster despite not exercising much and am still a good weight. Its nice to know I can eat as much as I want and still be at 15% ish body fat. I think I need to just add in the exercise to get under 10%. Especially as I hear consistent exercise stunts appetite somewhat, so I should find it all a piece of piss. I am just having to wait on my sole to heal (pun intended, i'm hilarious).

BTW anyone got a viewpoint on the effectiveness of calculations like these: http://clymer.altervista.org/bmi/

Used it to predict my body fat %

[EvilPie]

BTW anyone got a viewpoint on the effectiveness of calculations like these: http://clymer.altervista.org/bmi/

It's got me at 15.4% now and 20.2% when I started on my new regime which based on my knowledge of what I looked like at 10% is probably a bit low but not by much.

I've put my stats in from when I was about 30 as I actually had my body fat properly measured regularly back then. At 16st 4lb, 6' 4" with a 33" waist it puts me at 8.6%

As much as I wish that were true there's no way I was that low. 8.6% is bordering on competition bodybuilder. I was very low fat but never got below 10%

I think it's a very good guide and to be honest much closer than I suspected so certainly worth using without a doubt but I'd add a couple of % if you want to get your true figure.

Believe me it won't be a piece of piss to get to below a true 10%. It's crazy lean!! Put it this way, if you haven't got a fully defined 6 pack you aren't at less than 10%

As you get lower every % gets harder to achieve and it's madness how easily you can put it straight back on just with one bad day.

Very best of luck with it. I'll be following avidly as I'm planning on continuing trimming down myself over the next few months. We could have a possible challenge ahead of us...... Both similar heights and weights but with very different diets and exercise regimes. First to 10% according to the calculator) wins.....

Btw. I don't know what type of exercise stunts appetite? If you exercise you need energy and your body will let you know about it.

[EvilPie]

Bit of a disaster on Sunday......

It all started at about 1pm with a Corona and was followed by an insane amount of alcohol and the following food:

Chilli with chips and rice
Cheeseburger
Cheeseburger
Hotdog
Curry

Could be an interesting weigh in tonight. Other than the Sunday slip I've been really good so I don't actually think it's done too much harm. My belt is comfortably back on the third hole so I'm reasonably confident about an improvement following last weeks slight set back.

Weigh in is about 8pm and I'll report soon after......

So honest. You report the stuff all the fatties never report and we do that three times a week! You are gutted doing it once a week!

Not gutted mate. It was brilliant

The thing with a slip is you have to just put it behind you and move on. So many people have a bad day or two so think they've lost and give up. Just forget about it and go back to the regular healthy stuff and you're all good.

[Ant040689]

BTW anyone got a viewpoint on the effectiveness of calculations like these: http://clymer.altervista.org/bmi/

It's got me at 15.4% now and 20.2% when I started on my new regime which based on my knowledge of what I looked like at 10% is probably a bit low but not by much.

I've put my stats in from when I was about 30 as I actually had my body fat properly measured regularly back then. At 16st 4lb, 6' 4" with a 33" waist it puts me at 8.6%

As much as I wish that were true there's no way I was that low. 8.6% is bordering on competition bodybuilder. I was very low fat but never got below 10%

I think it's a very good guide and to be honest much closer than I suspected so certainly worth using without a doubt but I'd add a couple of % if you want to get your true figure.

Believe me it won't be a piece of piss to get to below a true 10%. It's crazy lean!! Put it this way, if you haven't got a fully defined 6 pack you aren't at less than 10%

As you get lower every % gets harder to achieve and it's madness how easily you can put it straight back on just with one bad day.

Very best of luck with it. I'll be following avidly as I'm planning on continuing trimming down myself over the next few months. We could have a possible challenge ahead of us...... Both similar heights and weights but with very different diets and exercise regimes. First to 10% according to the calculator) wins.....

Btw. I don't know what type of exercise stunts appetite? If you exercise you need energy and your body will let you know about it.

I tried another calculator and it had me at 17.4%, and that involved a neck size section as well, i can't remember the link, but if i find it again i will be sure to use that one and put it up here as that would seem more accurate, cheers for the great indicators.

I might not be eating as much as I want, and more as much as i need to try and get a bigger edge. For more intense exercise stunting appetite there are murmours online about it, and again I am going off info I am not sure on.

We're the same height, basically, but 33' when you were at your peak waist sounds crazy! ha. I was 44' I think at the start of this and I wondered what one of the lowest waists i could expect was. I am a 36' waist now and there is a lot of sort of podge remaining, not particularly fat, just a man needing a tone up. I can't wait to go at it hammer and tongs to see what I can do and look to being able to do more cardio as freeing me up as 20 mins worth a day always never felt like enough.

On the six pack front, with good dark lighting (lol, shadows are your friend) you can see the top two of the packs on each side with the bottom line covered with fat still. I have been lazy thinking it was excess skin form the huge weight loss that was covering it up, but I think it is just fat but I won't know for sure until I tone the hell out of myself.

For us competing I would like to for fun with no wager if you were suggesting one, because i would wilt like the precious flower that I am ha.

Good luck to you, I might be out of action for another week because my heel is a joke, but I am looking forward to being set free and also tracking your progress and obv the others on thread!