thanks...all these years I've been working like a dog...and I could've been losing weight by eatin more! I'll try not to feel so guilty.
SP_COACH_DEAN 5/20/06 2:34 P
Hi, M
I know the idea of eating more to lose weight doesn't make much sense, but it is frequently true. You can think of your body as a system that is designed to maintain energy balance. When you create a big deficit by dropping your calorie intake and increasing your calorie expenditure with additional exercise, you body will try to restore balance by slowing down your metabolism, so that you use fewer calories than you used to doing the same things. One way it does this is by switching into "fat preservation" mode, where you start using more muscle tissue and less fat to meet your immediate energy needs. Since muscle is heavier and uses up many more calories tha fat, your body sees it as more expendable than your fat reserves and tries to cannabalize it to reduce the number of calories you need when there isn't enough food coming in. This is a basic survival mechanism which evolved to protect us from starvation during times of diminished food supply--that's why it's usually called "starvation mode."
To avoid this problem, you need to keep the difference between the amount you take in and the amount you need to maintain your current weight relatively small--not more than about 500 calories per day. To speed up your weight loss, you can also increase your calorie expenditure through exercise by about the same amount, so that your total deficit is about 1000 cals, or enough to lose 2 lbs per week. But if your calorie intake goes too low, and/or the overall size of your deficit gets too large, your body will shift into starvation mode. Fat loss will slow down, percentage of muscle loss will increase (more, if you're not doing strength training), and in general, weight loss will be harder and slower. Your body does everything it can to get stingy about spending calories, and your appetite will increase; many people also start obsessing about food and eating, or get depressed and inactive--all nature's way of getting you to restore energy balance.
If you've increased your cardio and are eating below your recommended range, this could be the problem with your stalled weight loss. You may want to use the Change Diet Goals process to put in the actual amount of calories you are burning with exercise now, and see if your calorie range changes. Then try to keep your calories within the range for a couple of weeks and see what happens with your weight.
Hope this helps.
Coach Dean
MAKOTODFW 5/20/06 1:54 P
Thanks for the insight Dean.
I've only recently (last 2 months) upped my cardio to 60 minutes per session 4 or 5 times a week. weight training on 3 of those days. I've been doing weight I can hit 15 reps. 3 sets. Just able to get 15 on the last set. Here's where I get into trouble...that weight gets to be easily done and I'll bump it up 5lbs. I can be going fine for several weeks then I'll feel the shoulder twinge and I have to lay off upper body for a while.
Funny you should menttion the "not enough calories" bit at the end. I Usually don't eat more than 2000cal. I noticed the food plan I was given when I started SP last week has over 3000cal. If I'm not losing eating less It doesn't seem to make scense that I'll lose weight eating more.
SP_COACH_DEAN 5/20/06 11:44 A
Hi, M
Congrats on sticking to your program for a year! That's great.
It sounds like this might be a good time to establish some more specific priorities and re-design your plan to focus in on your primary goals. If your main goal is losing weight and maintaining basic fitness, you may be overdoing the weight training. You really only need to work the muscles twice a week to build strength and maintain decent muscle mass while you're losing weight. I don't know what kind of routine you're using right now, but a basic program that involves using enough weight to get you to the point of muscle fatigue within 10-15 repetitions each set is usually the best bet.
Heavier weights, more sets, and more frequent workouts are good if you're trying to add muscle mass or train for some specific sport or activity, but keep in mind that adding muscle and losing weight can't usually be done at the same time and with the same approach. You need to be eating more calories than you need for weight maintenance to add new muscle mass, and that obviously won't work well for losing weight. And sometimes, having extra muscle weight to carry around isn't the best bet for aging joints and bones, especially if you have any issues (like the ACL injury, arthritis, etc) along those lines.
If you're spending 60 minutes or more on strength training each session, and doing cardio on the same days, my guess would be you might be pushing too hard, and maybe also confusing your body about what exactly you want it to be doing--losing weight, adding muscle, etc.
Here's one option you might consider. Instead of doing traditional gym-style strenth training with machines and/or free weights, spend a few weeks or more doing some bodyweight and "functional fitness" type exercises that duplicate real-life movement patterns instead of muscle isolation type exercises. Maybe get into a class at the gym that combines strength, flexibility, balance and cardio into one routine a couple days per week, and do your more intense cardio on the other days. Some of the martial arts-based classes do this pretty well, as do things like body sculpting, circuit training, etc.
And, of course, make sure you've got the nutrition end dialed in pretty well. If you're not losing weight despite a lot of exercise, you may be going too high (or too low) on calories.
Hope this helps.
Coach Dean
GOLFPRO 5/20/06 11:17 A
You definitely don't want to hurt yourself by training "too hard". I don't have any great suggestions, but I have asked one of our Resident Experts to stop by when he has a chance. He's a certified trainer and used to be a "big guy", so I think he'll have some great suggestions.
matt
MAKOTODFW 5/20/06 2:16 A
I've been going to the gym for 1yr now. Usually do 45 to 60min of Cardio (Eliptical) and another hour+ Strenght Training. The trouble is that when I get to a certain level I wind-up injuring something. (Shoulder from Brench presses, Achilles Tondonitis from fast walking in sand, last year blew an ACL while demonstrating a reaction trainer {I was a distributor} at a convention)
I'm a BIG guy and I realize I've put a "Mack Truck body on a Lamborgini frame" so the suspension is bound to give eventually. But c'mon...I'm getting a little gun shy. Even with what I've been doing I haven't lost the weight.
