losing the fat and gaining the muscle

[SaSaRai]

So I made a post a while back about gaining muscle but didn't exactly establish whether or not it was possible to gain muscle mass if you are overweight. I'm 6'2 200 lbs, and have extra weight that shouldn't be there. Can I still gain muscle by working out with the excess fat/weight i have now?

 

 

Also, I would love to lose 20 lbs. Diets are always discouraging and it is hard to exercise "EVERY" day. When I exercise 2 or 3 days in a row I can see a difference on the scale but when I skip a day it goes back to where I started. I just sortof need an exercise plan. I've managed the food and candy thing pretty well and stay away from the sweet stuff. I used to weight 231 lbs and I've lost about 30, and I lost it pretty fast (in about a month) but now I've been stuck at 200 for about 3 months because I just can't stick with something. How often/much should I work out etc?

 

Also, does drinking soda have an effect on weight loss and muscle gain? When I drink soda it is all Diet.

 

Thx

[Clementine orange]

As far as losing fat is concerned you have to think long term. It sounds as if you hit a plateau. Don't be discouraged. Stick with the cardio and weights, and watch the diet.

Diet pop is OK, straight water is better though. Diet pop is better than regular or juice for sure especially if you have a bit of a sweet tooth.

 

Watch the fried foods and white bread/rice/potatoes/cake etc too though.

 

I wouldn't bother weighting yourself every day either - it totally fluctuates. Weigh yourself (at the same time of the day like first thing perhaps) about twice a month only. A better way of figuring your progress is the "pinch test" or just seeing if your pants fit looser.

 

Good luck nd congrats on your progress!

[Reluctant Rebuilder]

You can gain muscle mass and loose weight at the same time. For the weight loss, it’s all about calories in vrs. calories out. You may be eating healthy, but are you doing enough aerobic exercise to burn what you’ve got. You want to burn more than you take in during the day but *not* by starving yourself. Eat smaller portions and more meals, like six meals a day (but each meal would be half of what you normally would eat). For gaining muscle mass, it’s simple. Protein rebuilds the muscles your work, and carbs give you the energy to work the muscles. You'll gain muscle mass from lifting weights or some other kind of anaerobic activity. I lost a lot of weight when I joined a kick boxing class a few years ago. At my heaviest I was 206, and I’m down to a lean 170 now. I would only go twice a week for the first few months, and now a few years later I train five times a week, and lift twice a week. Martial arts classes are great ways to exercise (yoga too). You have a bunch of people who will be encouraging you and you’ll feel bad if you miss a class because you feel like you’re letting them and yourself down. A good resource for exercise tips and diet is at men's health. Some decent recipes there. link removed

 

Good work on losing that weight!

[SaSaRai]

is it healthy and ok to go to the gym and do a full workout every day?

[Reluctant Rebuilder]

Sure, as long as you work different groups of muscles and give each group time to heal. So do legs one day, arms another, chest and back on the third day. Abs you can hit every day. I do anyways. Give each group time to heal by at least a day or two. You might find that you feel more pain the second day after a workout. I don’t know why that is, but it’s pretty common. And you don't need to spend a lot of time in the gym, I don’t go for more than an hour at a time. Make sure you start with weight that you can comfortable do and work your way up over time. This is a marathon, not a sprint!

 

If you can afford it, a personal trainer isn’t a bad idea, or you can do the research yourself. Try and find someone there who can give you tips on how to do the exercises properly. Doing it wrong is a waste of time, and you will see more gains from doing lighter weight with proper technique than heavy weight and cheating or doing it wrong. Plus it just looks goofy. Most guys at the gym don’t mind helping out the odd tip, or the gym staff should be able to help. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t do as much weight as the other people there. This is all about you and your progress, not how you rate against them.

 

Oh yeah, and you should be able to do a cardio routine every day if you want to loose some more weight. If you don’t want to join some kind of class, the elliptical machines are a good place to start. Again start slow. Just what you’re comfortable with for now, you can increase slowly as the weeks go by. If you over work yourself you risk injury and burnout and that will make it harder for you to reach your goals.