You have to start somewhere.

[thefuture37]

Cutting calories will help you lose some weight but not all of the weight you want because by cutting calories ONLY your body will actually start to store more fat to use for energy because of the lack of food you are eating. Obviously this will depend on how much weight you need to lose and your body fat percentage. If you are slightly overweight (5-10lbs) sure cutting out dessert and not drinking a bunch of sodas will probably do most of the work.

That is a short term response. Healthy weight loss takes a LONG TIME. If you are trying to lose 50 lbs its going to take around a year(at least). After cutting calories for a while, your body "realizes" its doesn't need to be in panic mode and readjusts.

I probably wouldn't be able to find many trainers or health advocates who would agree with what you said.

Thats because they are trying to sell you something! Come on you realize that with golf instruction(horse in the race?).

As mentioned previously if you simply cut calories and have a lot of weight to lose and/or body fat you won't end up at the weight you want. This is the main problem with fad diets, they make you believe that you can simply "eat right" and shed tons and tons of pounds which won't happen.

I can't think of one "fad" diet that I would consider as "eating right".

Here are some good articles to read:

The above articles are only 2 of probably millions that you can read but show my point

Diet and exercise are topics where there has been considerable scientific research. I would suggest reading a peer reviewed paper rather than something written by a fitness trainer.

My only point was that if you eat right(fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, and no refined sugar) you can pretty much eat as much as you want and still eat reasonable amounts of calories and lose weight.

 

[wedgeplay]

Adipex

Next time you go see your Doctor ask him about Adipex.

This is a prescription drug that is an appetite suppressent.My wife takes this and along with a walking program has lost a lot of weight.

Ask your doctor you may/may not be a candidate for this drug.


Just an idea.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Well...

Tom Bartlett has had me out for a couple of workouts now, as I am am preparing for the Norman Football Reunion Day (with games), on Saturday at noon.

On day 1, I was sloppy and super-winded.

The second day (yesterday) only one drop, and at least a hint of a second gear.

2.5 lbs of weight loss, so far.

 

[Tom Bartlett]

Well?

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

I've been losing 2lbs a week for the past 4 weeks and have lost a net 6lbs with a slight gain in muscle mass.

I'm going along quite well

 

[curtisj76]

Make sure you are doing HIT training instead of steady cardio. Will burn fat MUCH faster. Also keep a food log. Sounds like a pain in the arse but not after you get used to it. Also lifting weights will burn fat quicker. More muscle = more calories burned to run your new body. Also your testosterone/GH will be higher from the weights which both promote fat loss. Just make sure you warn the wife

PS Plenty of water and plenty of SLEEP

PSS Don't drink any kind of pop, I don't care if it's diet or not. Only drink water, milk, green tea, or coffee. Seems like there's more in more news about green tea coming out every day. Drink it!

 

[curtisj76]

OK, 1 last comment. Don't rely on the scale. Weight yourself no more than once a week if that. Best way to measure your progress is to have your wife take a picture of you in your undies from different angles. You can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. The scale won't show that, but a picture will. I've seen too many people give up on a "diet" because they get frustrated at the "scale results".

BTW, good luck!

 

[welshdentist]

I'm in the middle of the same. I'm just under 18 stone now having started at 19st 2 lbs

I'm also doing it for charity!!!!

Justgiving - Help a fat dentist lose weight today!

 

[jenhaoyen]

just started a few companies.....goal is 40k a month next year...80k the following..and 100k the next...4 hours work a week and just travel around the world. Can't wait for my mini retirement.

 

[kmmcnabb]

Diet is critical

Brian,

Good luck on the weight. It can be a tough battle.

The latest studies from Yale on the major diet plans lean toward low carb high protein as the way to go. It easily beat all of the other plans hands down. No side effects either (in the 2 year study).

My experience with it was nothing short of amazing. I was on steroids for an arthritic hip and could not run so my doctor put me on Adkins (12 g of carbs a day for a week) then 40 grams of carb per day until you lose the weight. I started at 235 lbs at 6 feet in height. I lost 14 lbs in the first month and lost 5 to 10 pounds per month thereafter. This was diet alone....no running at all. I was astounded that diet alone could do it. By the way, my daily calorie intake in the beginning was 5000 calories and that reduced to about 3000 per day after about a month. Almost all the calories were protein. So if you like steak, chicken, and cheese then try it. It will work. You won't like the first week but after that it is much, much better. I craved cheerios the first week like nothing else.

I now eat 4 to 6 eggs in the morning, run three or four times per week, and my weight is good. My cholesterol and blood pressure also decreased (even at 10 eggs per day).

I am now at 185 lbs for the last 5 years and keep it there by watching my carb intake (which does include beer). My daily carb intake is about 200 grams per day and if I go high one day, I reduce the next to make it up. It works great and you don't have to memorize a bunch of stuff on your plan. If it is meat then you can eat it.

Worked for me and everyone I know that has tried it and stuck with it for a few weeks.

Good luck. You can do it.

By the way, I did lose about 20 yards on my drive initially but that is back up now.

 

[kmmcnabb]

My paper

The Yale study is peer reviewed and covers a pretty large sample size.

I will send the authors once I am back in the office. There is much debate about low carb diets with many physicians arguing about the detriments versus the benefits. My physician (Harvard grad with a PhD) had no trouble with me doing it. The drawbacks are mostly myth with the exception of getting a bit weaker and tired (mostly from the conversion of your glucose and fat into energy). Once you adjust, you feel great. I knew more about it since my daughter is a type 1 diabetic since the age of 8 and she has been on a low carb diet since that time (she is now 20 and has no ill effects at all).

Good luck.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Make sure you are doing HIT training instead of steady cardio. Will burn fat MUCH faster. Also keep a food log. Sounds like a pain in the arse but not after you get used to it. Also lifting weights will burn fat quicker. More muscle = more calories burned to run your new body. Also your testosterone/GH will be higher from the weights which both promote fat loss. Just make sure you warn the wife

PS Plenty of water and plenty of SLEEP

PSS Don't drink any kind of pop, I don't care if it's diet or not. Only drink water, milk, green tea, or coffee. Seems like there's more in more news about green tea coming out every day. Drink it!

Whether you do HIT or just regular cardio it doesn't really matter, it has to do with how high your heart rate is and for how long which will equate to the numbers of calories burned. HIT works well for people who can't "consistently" push their limits. So if you go for a high heart rate for shorter periods it might work better for you because you may not have the cardiovascular capacity to go long perdiods at a high heart rate. My g/f is like that, she tires out too fast if she tries to sustain say a 75-80% heart rate for a long period. So she uses HIT instead.

I haven't read the literature in a while but i don't remember lifting weights burning more calories per minute than a good intense cardio program. It will help you burn fat yes and even help develop more muscle mass which is good for losing weight in general. A lot of people make the mistake of simply doing cardio with little to no weight training and your body will actually lose fat slower because it will store fat.

Just remember that to lose 1lb of fat is roughly a cutout of 3500 calories; whether that be just diet, cardio, weight lifting or (best option) a mix of all 3. Also, don't be afraid to eat a PROPER amount of fat, if you starve your body from fat it will store more versus if you eat just a little your body won't store it as much and you can burn if off quicker.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

The problem i have with low carb diets is that you are really straining your body because you are depleting your body of it's main energy source. Sure, you can end up using your fat stores for energy but it is a much more inefficient way to create energy.

I prefer to tell people to eat the PROPER amount of carbs for their daily intake rather than none at all. For someone who eats an excessive amount of carbs for their weight, sure a drastic cut in them might seem "low carb" to them and you might even have to shock them with even a lower % than what is required for their daily intake. But ultimately, you will still need carbs in your diet but as you said you just have to manage them if you find you are the type of person who eats too many of them if you dont

 

[curtisj76]

Whether you do HIT or just regular cardio it doesn't really matter, it has to do with how high your heart rate is and for how long which will equate to the numbers of calories burned. HIT works well for people who can't "consistently" push their limits.

Sorry but that's absolutely incorrect Jim.

 

[curtisj76]

I haven't read the literature in a while but i don't remember lifting weights burning more calories per minute than a good intense cardio program. It will help you burn fat yes and even help develop more muscle mass which is good for losing weight in general.

What I'm saying is that lifting = more muscle = more calories burned. That's why it's so important to incorporate weights to your program.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Sorry but that's absolutely incorrect Jim.

A calorie burned is a calorie burned...there's no magic formula that makes a HIT calorie worth more than a normal cardio calorie.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

What I'm saying is that lifting = more muscle = more calories burned. That's why it's so important to incorporate weights to your program.

I understand it's important to lift while training, but i don't understand your "lifting = more muscle = more calories burned." Can you explain more?

 

[lia41985]

I would say that going Atkins and doing HIIT off the bat with someone like Brian is not a prudent approach. It sounds like Brian and friends are smartly going about it--make some basic, healthy life style changes; progress with that and move on to something more advanced. Best of luck!

 

[welshdentist]

I understand it's important to lift while training, but i don't understand your "lifting = more muscle = more calories burned." Can you explain more?

Someone can correct me but I think more muscle mass raises your metabolic rate, and the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn when you do cardio work....

 

[kmmcnabb]

Jim K

I would disagree that going low carb will stress your system. Certainly, your body will have to adjust to convert fat into glucose as your intake goes down but it is designed to do so by nature. Certainly, in our culture it doesn't happen since food is abundant. In cultures and areas were food is much less abundant, folks bodies do it routinely with little ill effect. Some of my physician friends say that your kidneys suffer but I not found this to be the case since I have been on 40 grams of carbs a day for over 6 years now and my cholesterol, blood pressure, with both kidney and liver function tests are all perfectlly normal. I guess I am fortunate to work in a pretty large hospital where I can get checked routinely. My physician was as curious as me about the long term ramifications of the diet change.

As I said before, my daughter is a type 1 diabetic and we put her on lower carbs than the recommended allowance of 300 grams per day (she stayed at about 40 grams per day) and she had no ill effects. Only recently, has she strayed upward of 100 grams (college life I think) and she actually feels a bit worse. When we put her on low carbs way back when, her endocrinologists had never even heard of a controling your diet to control insulin intake. He was against it but we switched doctors and proceeded. Now most pediatric endocrinologists recommend lower carb diets especially if they are brittle diabetics. This is a big change from even 5 years ago.

So I guess I would say that my experience has not been adverse. Certainly, you will get weaker at first but once your body adjusts, you will feel much, much better.

I do agree that reducing carb intake alone will help. The amount of carbohydrate recommended in a normal person is 200 grams per day. Most adults in the US consume much more than that each day. One trip to McDonalds these days can ruin that easily.

Anyway, my two cents based on lots of experience with both my daughter and myself. Of course, my wife is a hard sell, as is my son. Neither can take the cravings you will induce with the initial reduction.

I totally agree that sensible exercise and a good diet will work in the long haul but humans need some positive results to continue (in most cases) and lower carb intake will work more rapidly than most.


I wish Brian well but I would recommend looking at your options with your healthcare provider. Be aware that some clinicians are not well informed on the options and effects and usually get their information from the media. I taught Medical School for several years and I know that few physicians stay as current as they should especially once they begin to practice and see patients. I have older physicians here who will argue with me all day on the subject even in the face of recent studies to the contrary. Thus is life.

Good luck.

Kevin