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Lots of weight loss questions answered. This page answers questions on exercise and training. If you want to see dieting questions answered, try here! Feel free to submit any weight loss question to us.

Question:

Hello,

Here's a question for you, on behalf of my wife ,which I really really hope you can answer!

Last November she started dieting by reducing calories, but she reduced them dramatically, only eating 1 meal a day. She lost 2.5 stone, but has smashed into the plateau. Now, she has started running and has continued to not eat a lot, but has seen little (if any) weight loss over the last couple of weeks.

We've read on here that she'd be better walking rather than running, as this will burn fat rather than carbs. Great! But what about eating? If her body is used to 800-1000 calories and her metabolism is low, if she starts eating 1500-1800 calories and walks every day, coupled with weight training every other day will she put on weight? This is what she is afraid of. If she is not losing weight eating 1000 cals a day, how can she lose weight if she increases her calorie intake to a sensible level?

I've been all over your site (which, I have to say, is exceptional!), but I can't find a surefire answer to this, so I hope you can send me a quick email with an answer. Any and all info will be very gratefully received!

Thanks in anticipation,
Colin

Reply

It sounds like your wife has done well so far, maybe not the best way to go about it but well done!
I believe a diet of less than 1000 calories is too low for most people, especially over a long haul. It's ok for a short term but the problem is the body will burn up lean muscle and this lowers the metabolism, which leads to a plateau, plus it's very hard to gain all the nutrients on such a low intake.

As I don't have necessary information about your wife - age, weight, body type, food intake, activity level, etc, etc, it is impossible for me to determine if she would actually gain weight or not from the diet and training you suggested. However, if she did gain some weight back it will probably be lean muscle which will increase the metabolism and help push through the plateau. It may well help her in the long run to up her intake a little to what you suggested. As long as she keeps active then body fat may not be gained or at the most a minimal gain which should be lost through an increased metabolism.

At this point I believe she should be concentrating on losing body fat rather than just body weight, after all, she has already lost 2 and half stones so far. If she started to gradually up the calories and eat nutritious food, little and often, it could help replace lean mass over fat stores. The activity alone can help burn excess body fat without losing weight. - Remember calories do count for weight loss, when we lose weight it will to some degree include a proportion of fat loss However, weight loss is not the same as Fat Loss. It is possible, and probably best now, to lose further body fat without too much a change in body weight, in other words changing the body composition. An active lifestyle as well as eating a healthy balanced diet will help achieve this much more effectively than keep lowering calories.

One of the tricks some bodybuilders use when cutting up for a show is to zig zag calorie intake. This reduces the overall loss of lean muscle mass because the body builder ups his calorie intake just before the body establishes a starvation mode. Thus the body builder maintains a high metabolism which burns off extra stored fat without the need to breakdown the muscle for energy and protein supplies. It's a little bit more complicated than it sounds but it works very well, plus it can help boost the metabolism for people who have dropped calories too much too soon.

Tom's e-book "Burn the Fat" explains the zig zag process in more detail along with other tricks of the bodybuilding trade. It isn't cheap but it is a complete guide to burning fat and gaining an ideal shape for your body type. It is well worth the money!

Hope this helps your wife Colin

All the best

Wayne

Question:

Thank you Wayne so much for responding I just have a comment/question. I was doing high impact exercising which was light jogging or fast walking on the treadmill. I was doing the fat interval for 35 minutes and handled it just fine. I sweated lots and I wasn't out of breath or heavy breathing. When I consulted with a specialist, he said that my Target Heart Rate was too high it was around 168-200. He said I wasn't burning fat but sugar. Today I was on the treadmill for 60 minutes and burned the same amount of calories in an hour rather than a half hour. I sweated but not as much as the fat interval. Which should I continue for weight loss? Thank you!

Reply

yes I would agree with the specialist that your THR is high, you may well handle the pace well if you have gained fitness from past regular sessions. However if you want to burn fat you should be exercising at the lower end until you burn body fat and lose weight. I understand its frustrating when you are burning less calories but stick with it and all will work out in the end.

Let me just explain briefly about the composition of energy burned during your exercise.

If you did treadmill for half hour at the high pace and you used up 200 calories, you may well be burning around, 50% fat and 50% carbs (sugar) due to high oxygen requirement therefore:

of the 200 calories burned would be about 100 calories body fat and 100 calories carbs.

Now you said you did 60 minutes in 1 hour and burned same calories but now you may well be burning 80% fat and 20% carbs therefore:

of the 200 calories burned would be around 160 cals in fat and 40 cals carbs

So although the last session was longer you would definitely burn more fat!

I can understand that any exercise seems better when it burns higher amounts of calories as calories really do count for weight loss, however its the calories used from fat that makes the difference. Remember there are 3500 calories in 1 pound of fat so its much better to be burning higher levels of body fat during each exercise!

How often should I exercise and how can I tell if I'm doing too much?

How often we need to exercise depends on the individual and what they're trying to achieve - whether its losing weight, toning up, building muscle or fitness. For weight loss it would be enough exercise if you are experiencing steady, sensible progress, if this slows or stops you could look more on the diet side. Training 3 times per week should be enough and well within a healthy person's capability although if no exercise has been undertaken for a while it would be important to start lightly and consult physician or your GP beforehand. After a few months, if you have the time and feel up to it you may add another session at the gym each week to push for more weight loss progress! If you do add another session make sure to get a full 8 hours sleep each night to help you recover.

Some indications of doing too much exercise are a sudden appearance of some or all of the following signs:

A consistent loss of appetite - exercise should help regulate appetite not destroy it
Insomnia or disruptive sleep patterns - proper exercise should help us sleep more soundly
racing heart rate after sleep - we should feel relaxed after sleep not anxious
A regular and strong feeling of lethargy - a good indication only if combined with some of the above

If you experience any of the above symptoms remember it may not be a definite sign of overtraining there could be many other causes, these are only a guide so consult your physician as soon as possible if you are unsure.

A question borrowed from Tom Venuto's website. He is a leading expert on exercise - thanks Tom!

I'm pretty lean overall, but no matter what I do, I can't seem to get rid of this last little bit of fat on my lower abs. What are the best ab exercises to burn the fat off?

If I hear this question one more time, I'm gonna scream! Ok, let me clear this up once and for all: You can't "spot reduce" fat from one specific part of your body! You lose fat systemically. That means you can't control where it comes from. When fat is oxidized for energy, you will draw it from all areas of the body, and the first place you tend to put it on will be the last place it comes off.

Everyone has certain "stubborn" areas where the fat seems "hard to get rid of" but the fat WILL go, it will just be the last place to go.

The best way to burn fat off your abs is not to do more ab work, but to do more cardiovascular work: Bike, Stairmaster, treadmill, elliptical machine or rower - they're all great fat burners. Work at about 70-85% of your age-predicted maximal heart rate (220-your age) and maintain it for 30-45 minutes 5-6 days a week for optimal results.

Train your abs about twice a week, just as you would any other body part. Doing your abs every day will do almost nothing to remove the layer of fat covering the muscles. In fact, it’s possible to have a great set of abs that you can't even see because they are covered up with a layer of fat!

And don't forget, nutrition is half the battle when it comes to fat loss! If you're drinking beer and eating pizza on a regular basis, it doesn't matter what you do in the gym, you'll probably never get a great set of abs.

I'm exercising but why can't I lose the fat around my belly?

Fat cells are present all over our body. Genetics determine where fat cells are positioned and the quantity laid down in each area. Some people have more fat cells around the belly and some have more around the bum or thighs. If you have more fat cells around your thighs then you may draw more energy from there and less around the stomach. We cannot decide where our body takes the energy from. It means that the fat around the stomach may just take longer to remove so just keep exercising and you will eventually lose body fat from all over the body!

but if I exercise my stomach more will I burn more fat from that area?

Not completely, this can be an easy assumption to make. Some dieters do lots of sit ups with the belief that fat from around the stomach is used for providing energy for this exercise. Exercising an area where you wish fat to go doesn't mean you'll lose fat in that area. As explained above we have no real control over where the fat will be taken during weight loss, all we can do is exercise more often to draw the fat percentage down as a whole. Also a point to remember, sit ups are really classed as anaerobic exercise which means they burn a higher percentage of carbohydrates, weight loss is better when we perform whole body movements at a slow pace to help burn fat directly.

Will breathing a certain way while exercising help speed weight loss?

Breathing correctly will not really help to speed up weight loss as the number of calories burned will be the same however, it can change the proportion of calories burned so a larger proportion of fat is utilised during an exercise.

If I could only choose between diet or exercise which one would be best for weight loss?

I would say exercise is better because it helps to create physiological changes which aid weight loss, however, a combination of both diet and exercise would be much better and will give quicker weight loss results.

I work very long hours sat at my desk, can't I lose weight without exercise?

You can try. Weight loss is possible through diet alone but energy requirement for sitting all day will be fairly low therefore, any weight loss would require a lot more dietary restriction and determination. Restricting diet too much could lead to deficiencies and no weight loss program should leave you deficient in any nutrient apart from energy!

Can some exercises increase my metabolism?

Yes. Most exercises will add a little lean tissue and cause the metabolism to increase slightly, it will probably only do this for the first few workouts when your muscles are adapting to that level of stress. If you want to increase your metabolism effectively you could add weight training to your weight loss program. This can help add more lean tissue to your frame. Weight training has also been shown to elevate the metabolic rate for an hour or two after a session thus burning more calories at rest. Weight loss programs should include some anaerobic exercise for increased metabolism.

Check with your physician before starting any new exercise program!!

I don't want to have big and bulky muscles!

Building large amounts of muscle mass is extremely hard to achieve. It takes years of hard work and dedication. Most people can do some weight training a few times each week, build a little lean muscle and strength which will give you more shape and an increased metabolism. If fact we all build a little muscle in any weight loss programs.

I jogged three times a week for 3 months but only lost 5 pounds so I stopped as I didn't think it was worth this amount of weight loss?

If you were to have checked your body fat percentage before the weight loss program and again after 3 months you may have discovered a fat weight loss of more than 5 pounds. Sometimes the fat lost is simply replaced by lean weight but the weighing scales will not show this, remember weighing scales show weight lost or gained they cannot show how much of the weight loss was fat, water or muscle. Losing that amount of fat and adding lean tissue in its place is a great start as it will increase the metabolism and allow you to eat more, you will be smaller in size with inches lost off the waist. That's what weight loss is all about!

But I have been exercising and dieting for months and it doesn't look as if I've lost much fat?

We don't just have fat cells under the skin ( subcutaneous fat ) we also store "internal fat" in the body cavity ( to protect internal organs ) and to a lesser degree in our muscles. Also we are not all the same, some of us have more subcutaneous fat to lose and others have more internal fat to lose. If you have an abundance of internal fat you may be burning more of this before burning the bulk of fat from other areas. This way means you wont notice weight loss results as quickly. Don't let this dishearten you as the good news is once internal fat levels are lowered subcutaneous fat will melt off much quicker.

If 1 gram of fat = 9 calories and 1 pound of body fat = 3500 calories then why is it 9 x 454 (grams in one pound) = 4086?

One pound of BODY FAT is not actually all fat about 10% is water and water contains no calories. Another point to remember is the fat we consume in food is not completely absorbed about 5% is eliminated in the feces.

If you now take away 15% from 4086 you get 3473.1 calories, which is not 3500 but then we only work to rough estimates because its impossible to be completely accurate as everyone is different. For example, someone may have 10% water in a pound of fat and the next person may have 9%. The weight loss industry standard is correct and works well by taking into account all variables.

I've been told carbohydrates make us fat?

Some people believe that lots of carbohydrate foods are fattening but usually how we prepare the food or what we have with it increases the calorie content. For example, potatoes are low in fat but often fried or roasted in oil, a baked potato's calorie content may be trebled if we pile a good helping of butter or cheese in the middle. Pasta is another example, we usually prepare some type of sauce to make it palatable, these are often sauces high in fat and calories. Take a look at the examples below:

Baked potato (flesh only): 80cals in 100g

Add 25g cheddar cheese: 183cals in total

Pasta (boiled) approx. 180cals in 200g

Add 100g of cheese sauce: 370cals total

Do Carbs really make us fat?

Weight loss questions

Lots of weight loss questions answered. This page answers questions on exercise and training. If you want to see dieting questions answered, try here! Feel free to submit any weight loss question to us.