Losing Body Fat, Gaining Muscle...

[iljasTHAillest]

Here's a short little background check: I'm in 9th grade, I'm 5'5" and I think I'm overweight (I could lose like 20-30 pounds). I started becoming overweight around 7th grade.

 

I've recently gotten sick of being overweight, sick of hating to go to pool parties because of it, sick of it and all the consequences. Some people have no clue how stressful and frustrating this situation is.

 

I want to lose a lot of my fat and become more muscular by August 31st (just in time for basketball season). This is the deadline for me and if I don't reach this deadline, I'm selling things such as TV, computer, video games, movies, everything. This is how far I am willing to go and how dedicated I am.

 

I would love to hear suggestions to 1st off, lose weight then 2nd, gain muscle (abs, biceps, triceps, etc.). If anyone has a plan of what to eat, an excercice program or anything of the sort, PLEASE share it. I understand there are those workout machines or personal trainers and the like but I am tight financially and can't possibly pay for that.

 

I thank you in adavance.

[Taint]

do you want to bulk up... or tone down.... And bulking up at your age isnt too healthy

[iljasTHAillest]

do you want to bulk up... or tone down.... And bulking up at your age isnt too healthy

 

I want to lose 20-30 pounds by August 31st and put on some muscle on my arms and abs.

[caveat]

9th grade is a bit too soon to begin taking dramatic steps to overhaul your body type. You're still growing at a rapid rate and you're body is still trying to figure out where it wants to level off. In short, I would recommend against being to fixated on trying to turn your body into something that could grace the cover of Men's Health magazine.

 

However, there is no doubt that life for teenagers in today's world certainly makes it harder to lead a 'healthy' lifestyle. So much of the food that teenagers stuff themselves with is pure crap. Too much time is spent in front of a screen (whether it be a TV, video game or computer/internet browser) rather than exercising/playing outside. If you can get those 2 areas under control I think you'll see immediate results.

 

At your age your metabolism should be cranking and even a little exercise should result in huge caloric burn. Its just a matter of (1) getting your eating habits (both in terms of what you eat and when) under control, and (2) actively pushing your body to change.

 

You sound frustrated and ready to translate that frustration into commitment. If that is indeed the case you are halfway there. Commitment and discipline are the foundation to body shaping. You'll find that to be even more so the case as you get older.

 

So what can you do? Step one is to cut out as much of the crap in your diet as possible. Cut your sugar intake WAY back. Instead of drinking soda, drink water (and juice has almost as much sugar as soda so unless you are drinking diet sodas you are probably taking in more calories via what you drink then you realize)...lots of water really can help flush a lot of the garbage out of your system and to a small extent water can suppress your appeitite. Write down everything you eat in a day and keep that log going for at least a couple of weeks. Then look at it and try to get a rough idea of how many calories it adds up to. You may be surprised at just how much you are taking in and then you can start cutting some of those things out.

 

I have some very broad rules regarding diet that I live by that help me keep my weight under control: in the morning I eat complex carbs immediately after waking (usually a bowl of oatmeal) and then I eat between 3 or 5 more smallish meals throughout the rest of the day. BUT 12 hours after I wake up I try to avoid eating or drinking anything with calories. And 6 hours after I wake up (the 'mid-point') I cut back on the carbs significantly, typically eating only complex carbs like vegetables.

 

I eat tons of protein throughout the day (and keep powdered whey protein handy at all times) and stay away from sugars or foods that metabilize like sugar (a big culprit is 'enriched wheat'...people totally underestimate how many empty calories they intake each day in the form of enriched wheat.

 

I would concentrate less on adding a large amount of muscle via weight training at this point and instead focus on cardiovascular work, such as running, riding, swimming, etc. You want to get your heartrate up and keep it up for at least 20 minutes (shoot for much more than that) severaltimes per week if not more. Cardio (aerobic exercise) is your fat burning activity whereas lifting is anaerobic for the most part and is not focused on fat burning.

 

Bottom line, eat less, burn more. If you eat 500 calories less a day and burn 500 calories more its a difference of 1000 less calories per day...and that will qickly translate to less weight on your frame as your body will look to its fat reserves as the source of energy.

 

You should be able to find some good information on the web for guidance.

 

Good luck,

Caveat

[iljasTHAillest]

9th grade is a bit too soon to begin taking dramatic steps to overhaul your body type. You're still growing at a rapid rate and you're body is still trying to figure out where it wants to level off. In short, I would recommend against being to fixated on trying to turn your body into something that could grace the cover of Men's Health magazine.

 

That is not what I am aiming for at all (although it would be nice I just feel that I have put on a lot of weight over the past 2-3 years and I really want to get back into shape (mostly for basketball purposes).

 

However, there is no doubt that life for teenagers in today's world certainly makes it harder to lead a 'healthy' lifestyle. So much of the food that teenagers stuff themselves with is pure crap. Too much time is spent in front of a screen (whether it be a TV, video game or computer/internet browser) rather than exercising/playing outside. If you can get those 2 areas under control I think you'll see immediate results.

 

I attempt to play basketball every day at lunch and afterschool but some days, my homework pile is just too much. I eat that "pure crap" but I'm definently trying to stop eating it and cutting back.

 

You sound frustrated and ready to translate that frustration into commitment. If that is indeed the case you are halfway there. Commitment and discipline are the foundation to body shaping. You'll find that to be even more so the case as you get older.

 

That is what I am hoping for, I am VERY frustrated and I'm ready to prove all the doubters/haters/myself wrong.

 

Write down everything you eat in a day and keep that log going for at least a couple of weeks. Then look at it and try to get a rough idea of how many calories it adds up to. You may be surprised at just how much you are taking in and then you can start cutting some of those things out.

 

Keeping a track of how many calories I consume is an excellent idea, I surprisingly have not thought of that. What is a good calorie intake for my age and for what I am trying to accomplish?

 

I have some very broad rules regarding diet that I live by that help me keep my weight under control: in the morning I eat complex carbs immediately after waking (usually a bowl of oatmeal) and then I eat between 3 or 5 more smallish meals throughout the rest of the day. BUT 12 hours after I wake up I try to avoid eating or drinking anything with calories. And 6 hours after I wake up (the 'mid-point') I cut back on the carbs significantly, typically eating only complex carbs like vegetables.

 

Can you perhaps make a little "plan" (basically an example of what you do including timetable and what you eat) so I can understand better? I would greatly appreciate it.

 

I eat tons of protein throughout the day (and keep powdered whey protein handy at all times) and stay away from sugars or foods that metabilize like sugar (a big culprit is 'enriched wheat'...people totally underestimate how many empty calories they intake each day in the form of enriched wheat.

 

What are some examples of "enriched wheat"? Is the biggest difference between enriched and non-enriched wheat the amount of calories and sugars?

 

I would concentrate less on adding a large amount of muscle via weight training at this point and instead focus on cardiovascular work, such as running, riding, swimming, etc. You want to get your heartrate up and keep it up for at least 20 minutes (shoot for much more than that) severaltimes per week if not more. Cardio (aerobic exercise) is your fat burning activity whereas lifting is anaerobic for the most part and is not focused on fat burning.

 

Weight lifting is not so much on my mind, right now: I am taking it one step at a time. Basketball would be a cardiovascular activity, correct? It's basically running up and down the court, sometimes non-stop so I would assume it is. I'd love to wake up in the morning and go for a short jog but I'm afraid there are not enough hours in a day. As for weight lifting, I'm just going to go to the gym maybe once or twice a week to do light lifting for my arms.

 

I appreciate all the help you have given me.

[Markers]

okay, I'm not exactly sure how much muscle you have, but judging your height, you consume around 1600 KCalories a day in your daily chores (school etc.). Basketball etc. will be extra, so I'd say you consume around 1900 kcal a day (with 1 hour of basketball). Might be +/- 100kcal 'cause I don't know how hard you're playing, from what I've gathered, playing with friends is not so exhausting as playing basketball in team.

 

Make sure you eat food. Good food, lots of it. You can't overdo it if you cut off all sauces and similar. Eat lots of salad with absolutely no sauce. Salad is really good because it makes you feel like you've eaten a lot,

when you actually have eaten only few calories (if you use no sauce or the salad doesn't contain fish, cheese etc.). Eat low fat meat. Also, build your plate correctly, half of it should be covered in salad, 1/4 should be meat and 1/4 carbohydrates. Also, eat bread, the darker bread, the better. Drink milk on lunch and dinner, yes!

 

Try to avoid big meals, rather have many small meals. That way you don't feel starvation, which usually leads to overeating. It's okay to feel a bit hungry. Learn to live with it. Otherwise you won't lose weight. Make sure you don't eat too much when coming home from excercising. Don't eat while watching TV. Never buy anything that doesn't suit with your diet, never ever go near the shelfs where such things are stored. If you feel absolute lust for something sweet and tasty, get a light soda. No calories.

 

Also, don't kill yourself if you crash and get a pizza etc. Don't think: "okay, well, I won't eat tomorrow at all then" or anything stupid like that. Instead, try to do a bit more sports, like an extra jogging etc. You will crash, make no mistake. So don't get desperate and stop the diet there.

 

If you go to gym, please, please work out your WHOLE body, not just arms and chest like most idiots do. You look like a clown with pumped up arms and chest when you have nothing on your back, legs, stomach... besides, you'll get all weird complications from working out only few muscle groups. Don't try to lift too much or your back will hurt for rest of your life.

 

When you come home from gym, make sure you eat proteins. Drink milk, make sure it's zero % of fat -milk you get. It contains lots of proteins, there's fluid you need, calcium.. don't rely on it only though. Try to save the biggest meal of your day after gym/basketball. If you can't get food after excercise, it's okay to get protein drink. I've never used them, and I'm in pretty good shape, you don't really need them. They're good extra if you're working out really hard.

 

Timetable?

 

This is mine: (no excercise day)

 

7:00 am

Breakfast: Rye bread (eat this if you can just get it), milk, juice. I never can eat too much early in the morning.. but eat porridge if you can. (around 400 kcal)

 

12:00 am

Lunch: School lunch - plate divided as I explained before, rye bread again, milk. (some butter is okay on bread, you actually need some fat a day, don't overdo it!) (around 350 kcal, full plate, mind you!)

 

3:00 pm

A bit of something to keep me going. Dried fruits, juice, rye bread, salad. No proteins or very few. Glass of milk, perhaps. (around 300 kcal)

 

6:00 pm

Dinner: Plate divided again as I told you, pretty much similar than lunch, only that there's actually bit more proteins and less carbohydrates. (450 kcal)

 

8:00 pm

Proteins. Some cabohydrates, probably milk, bit of bread, an egg or meat. (300 kcal)

 

10:00 pm

Sleep. Remember to sleep a lot. It's important, you can't eat when you sleep. Your body recovers when you sleep.

 

(I consume around 1800 kcal when I'm not doing any excercising, when I do, I don't eat more calories, I eat more protein when going towards evening)

 

Hope that's some help

[Yilin]

I want to lose 20-30 pounds by August 31st and put on some muscle on my arms and abs.

 

I hate to tell you, but that isn't possible. Lose 30 pounds in just 3 months?

 

I've started to do muscle fitness and it took me three months to lose only 6 pounds.

 

Don't cut back on your calorie intake dramatically. In the end you'll be hungry, eat and gain even more weight. Just eat healthy and moderately, cut back on sweets and fast food and drink lots of water. Excercice regularly but not everyday. Your body needs rest too!

[Markers]

I want to lose 20-30 pounds by August 31st and put on some muscle on my arms and abs.

 

Don't cut back on your calorie intake dramatically. In the end you'll be hungry, eat and gain even more weight. Just eat healthy and moderately, cut back on sweets and fast food and drink lots of water. Excercice regularly but not everyday. Your body needs rest too!

 

Well, cutting fast food and soda drinks will reduce your calory intake dramatically. Don't reduce the amount of real food you eat or you will feel hungry.

 

Yeah, don't excercice every day! Otherwise you get really weird symptoms, you find it tough to even go to the basketball field/gym anymore, it happened to me. Especially with gym, remember not to excercice too often.

[caveat]

If you treat this 'project' as a hobby and educate yourself thoroughly on the topic you will be very surprised about how far you can take it, not to mention that you will have built a foundation of knowledge that will serve you well for the rest of your life.

 

As you can see from my post I'm 33 years old. I'm also probably in the best shape of my life (and that is saying something...I played laccrosse for a Division I school during my college years and if you know the sport you know there is a lot running/sprinting/cutting) at the moment. I typically run 2 to 3 times a week (mostly hill running), with runs averaging 6-8 miles during the week and 11-14 on the weekend. I've added swimming to the routine as well, going about 2 times a week. I lift about 3 times a week on average and either ride the stationary bike after I lift, run stairs, jump rope or hop on my road or mountain bike for an hour or so. (I'm not advocating this level for you right now...this program is part of my training for a couple of upcoming races including a 1/2 Ironman in late July).

 

I play laccrosse in a men's league twice a week and have managed to remain competitive. Skiing, kiteboarding, mountaineering are all big hobbies of mine which I dedicate a great deal of time to, depending on the season.

 

And somehow I manage to do all of this while keeping my work life (I'm an attorney) on track (I don't have a wife, kids, etc. which frees up a lot of time). And more importantly, I have a very active social life and party more than is healthy (life has to remain fun after all).

 

I mention all of the above because I want to reinforce how important it is to have discipline and commitment when it comes to getting into and keeping in shape. While it may seem that your busy schedule does not allow for the amount of time to dedicate to exercising it actually does...you just need to set the time aside and use it wisely. We are talking about an hour a day (somedays, like on the weekend, maybe a bit longer). Some people are morning people, some people prefer to get their exercise in the afternoon.

 

Regardless of what time of day you prefer to workout the key is to map out a schedule that is REALISTIC, does not burn you out, that has a high degree of variation (in terms of exercise) to keep your interest level high, and has your goals in mind. Its not as hard as you might think.

 

At your age, I wouldn't worry too much about getting yourself in triathlete type shape. Rather you should be focusing on how to get yourself healthy and on building an education on how to do it right.

 

It sounds like your two goals are (1) to train for basketball season so you enter the season strong, and (2) shed weight so that you look/feel better. You have given yourself 3 months to do this which I believe is a realistic timeframe if you seriously dedicate yourself to a program/schedule. Now, 30 pounds on a 110-130 pound frame is a lot of weight to try to lose, and most likely is helluva lot more than you need to lose.

 

Focus less on 'weight' and more on 'fat'. You want to get lean which means you want to lose fat and build lean muscle. When starting a new program you will often times find that during the first month or so you don't lose any 'weight', in fact you may gain some. Why? Because muscle 'weighs' more than fat...its denser, more solid tissue. Ultimately though, the more muscle you build the more fat you will burn. The more muscle you build and the stronger you build it the more it requires fuel...and your body uses fat to store fuel.

 

In short, don't focus so much on how much you weigh, but focus more on body fat percentage. You may not have access to tools that accurately measure body fat. If not and you can afford it, look for a scale made by Tanita that both weighs you and measures your body fat (you should be able to get one for $40). The body fat meter is not that accurate, but if you measure yourself on a regular basis you will be able to see which way you are trending (i.e. progressing) which is the most important information you want to see anyways. And be sure to measure yourself at the same time each day, preferably right after you wake up in the morning and after you have taken a leak/dump. Write the total pounds and body fat down for each day to keep a log.

 

In terms of cardio training (knowing that your goals are to shed weight and prepare for basketball season) I have a couple of recommendations. For starters, playing basketball at lunch and after school may seem like it should be adequate to get you where you want to be, but I'll be blunt: its not. While you should keep doing it (because its fun and keeps your technical skills sharp) you should fold in at least 3 more days of cardio work. And by the way, basketball is not as optimal of a cardio exercise as most people think. There is a lot of stopping and starting (which, like sprinting, is largely an anaerobic exercise) rather than a long continuous, fat-burning burn.

 

A couple of long (40+ minutes), medium intensity cardio sessions should be built into your week. Jog (find some hills if you can), ride your bike, swim, whatever. Just get your heart rate up (shoot for about 75% of your maximum heart rate) and keep it up. Thats a VERY simplified approach but at this point its probably enough for you to shoot for.

 

In addition to your long sessions, build one or two short, high-intensity days into your week as well. 20 minutes of sprints, stair/hill running, jump rope, etc. that focus on explosive speed. Do it diligently and you will be stunned at how it improves your mobility and speed on the court. Not to mention that it makes your body have to compensate/change to prepare for the next session which means your body's demand for energy climbs, which in turn means, you guessed it, your body's fat burning requirements (i.e. metabolism) increase.

 

In terms of diet, if you can do it try to break up your food intake into 5 or 6 small meals. And by meal, I don't mean a plate of food. A meal can consist of a handful of nuts and some vegetables. My suggestion would be to eat something like oatmeal, cereal and a piece of fruit immediately after you wake up and then to eat every couple of hours thereafter, with your last meal happening at around the 12 hour mark. Your carbohydrate intake should be heaviest in the first half of the day and then the remainder of the day should be protein heavy. I strongly recommend you go to the bookstore and get a book which educates you a bit more about what a carbohydrate is vs. protein vs. fat. Knowing the differences and how they effect your body is absolutely vital. You actually should be able to find everything you need to know on the internet.

 

Don't get anal about counting calories. You just need to get a rough idea of what your taking in so that you can make adjustments. And if you do it right you can cut your calories while actually eating more!

 

I believe the recommended caloric intake for someone your age is about 2500 calories per day, but that is a very broad recommendation and doesn't take a lot of things into consideration such as a person's metabolism. I actually tend to think that the recommended amounts tend to be high so I would suggest looking at around 2000 as your mark.

 

Enriched wheat? Its the white crap flour thats used in damn near every cereal, bread, cookie, etc. that you eat. It metabolizes like sugar, converts to fat very easily, and has little nutritional value. People eat tons of it and wash it down with soda/juice (by the way, don't think that drinking a lot of fruit juice is a good component of your new diet...its not)...no wonder why there is so much obesity this country.

 

I digress. Another name for enriched wheat is bleached flour. Wheat is 'enriched' by bleaching out almost all of the good stuff in whole weat and then 'enriching' it by adding a few back in. The end result is wheat flour that is far less nutritional and healthy than its original form....whole wheat. Moral of the story? Stay away from breads/cereals that don't use whole wheat. Obviously you aren't going to be able to get away from it entirely, but its good to know that its not doing you any favors and that its best to avoid it as much as possible.

 

Eggs, meats/poultry/fish, vegetables, raw nuts, fruits (eat in the morning), protein powder, whole wheat products, are all good. Stay away from/limit intake of sodas, candies, etc...these are just 'empty' calories that go straight to your waist line. Also stay away from fried foods, foods that are in cream sauces (sauces in general are a killer in terms of calories). Keep your portions moderately sized. There is no need to eat until you feel like you can't eat anymore. Eat until your no longer hungry and then stop. 2 hours later you may be hungry...a handful of nuts, a piece of jerky, etc. will take the edge off. Think about it: your body is smart. If your body is being fed consistently throughout the days it thinks that food is plentiful and that burning calories is no problem because there will be more on the way a couple of hours later. If it only gets a big meal a couple of times of day followed by long hours of zero food it thinks that food is not plentiful and thereforeeee stores some away in case it needs the energy later (and yes, by store, I mean convert to fat). In short, by breaking up your day into small meals you are actually promoting a higher metabolic rate.

 

Whew, I got a little caught up there for a moment. I think I just wrote a small novel. Time to go for a run....

 

Good luck.

 

Caveat

[Spirits Away]

My mother's friends bought some diet pill that brings people weight lose and gain muscle. It worked for them, so my mother has just started her month of diet pills. Whether she loses weight and inches or not, I would be able to see in my own eyes. Keep posting, i'll have news for you in a month. But the stories I hear about this product is that people lose inches much more than losing weight. I don't know much about how that works, but that's in many people testaments. They also stressed on more natural diet where you yourself will not feel hungry, and thereforeeee, not eat as much rather than restricting yourself from food. Again, i'm not really into diet, so i don't have a clue about how other diets are like.

[Yilin]

Caveat, thanks for your post. It is very interesting to read!