susannyny's Forum Posts
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Feb 24, 2011
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@wanted31, if a personal trainer told you that you can spot reduce belly fat, you may want to find a new personal trainer. My general opinion on crunches (supported by a host of research) can be found here – http://catapultfitness.blogspot.com/2010/12/jus… Susan |
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Feb 25, 2011
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@wanted31, ultimately what you need to focus on is reducing your overall body fat percentage. Usually, the area where we store the most fat will be the last area to lose it, but you simply cannot spot reduce. Generally speaking, @Steven_Atkins is correct in that your routine should likely consist of both strength training and cardio. The specific type of programs would be dependent on your current fitness level and starting point. Can you share more details including your current workout routine, how long you’ve been exercising, your age, current weight? Susan |
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Feb 25, 2011
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Thanks you @wedzir. I’ve had issues with fat intake in the past as well. For me the solution is to incorporate some avocado in to my meals, using olive oil as a finishing product rather than just cooking with it and adding seeds in to my salad. Little changes that add up! Susan Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Olive Oil Substitute? |
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Mar 1, 2011
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The answer to this question is, it depends on how you’re defining exercise, and how long you’ve been doing it/how much muscle you’ve already developed. When it comes to strength training, in order to realize the greatest gains you need to ensure that you are increasing the intensity of your workouts week over week. In order to increase intensity, it’s important to allow for proper recovery. Therefore, it is not recommended that you strength train the same muscle groups more than 2x/week. However, that’s not to say that you need to stay inactive when not strength training. At your age, it’s fine to incorporate other activities into your “off” days from strength training. Swimming, basketball, yoga … all good options. Susan |
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Mar 3, 2011
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The last 10 lbs are going to be a challenge, especially due to the fact that you’re already fairly lean. You bring up a good point in regards to salads. Lettuce and raw vegetables are obviously fine. It’s everything else that you potentially put in to a salad with Salad dressing typically being the big no-no. With that said, based on your age/height/weight, if you’re looking to lose those last 10 lbs you’re going to have to lose the processed foods from your diet (the pre-packaged meals such as the Parmesan chicken tenders, pizza, breadsticks, fast food). You want to keep your sodium intake to ~ 1500 mg/day to ensure you’re not retaining fluids and increase your overall water intake. Your exercise log is limited to walking and running and based on the mileage, I’m assuming that this is not interval training. You would likely benefit greatly by incorporating strength training in to your routine (3x/week) to help build lean muscle mass. The more lean muscle mass you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate and the more calories you’ll burn at rest (when we burn most of of daily calories). If you have your doctors approval, interval training would likely be a big boost as well over the steady state cardio you’re currently doing (a couple of blog postings on that topic can be found at http://blog.dailyburn.com/more-research-support… and http://blog.dailyburn.com/understanding-epoc/). At your current training level I feel your daily calorie intake is too high. Susan |
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Mar 3, 2011
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@MarjorieVasquez, can you share the link to the site that recommends 60 minutes/day of moderate physical activity for preventing weight gain (60 – 90 min/day to maintain weight loss)? I would love to read their explanation. It’s simply inaccurate as a stand alone statement. The fact is, you can do zero exercise and maintain weight through diet alone. Susan |
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Mar 4, 2011
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There are (and always will be) varying opinions in regards to steady state cardio versus HIIT. I tend to side with the research that states that while steady-state exercise tends to burn more calories during the actual exercise than interval training, interval training generates a higher EPOC leading to a much larger number of total calories burned. With that said, I do feel that running intervals 4x/week is a bit excessive, especially if you’re modifying your HIIT sessions to account for your body to adapting to the workout. @shizonamy, if you’ve been doing to workout stated for an extended period of time, you need to increase intensity to maintain the same intensity of effort level. This may mean increasing speed and/or resistance. Ultimately, if you’re HIIT workouts are at 85% of your maximum intensity, 2 – 3 times week should be sufficient. The other comment I’ll make in regards to your posting is that if you’re looking to reduce around your mid-section you’re going to have to focus on diet. If you’re diet isn’t helping you to achieve your overall goals, no amount of HIIT will help. Susan |
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Mar 8, 2011
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@epr79, much thanks … I appreciate the kind words! @shizonamy, while it’s open for debate, you can try to run your HIIT intervals in a fasted state (first thing in the morning). Again, this is highly debatable, but there is a segment of research that supports greater fat oxidation when cardio is done after a 12 hour fast. However, based on the limited amount of info we have on your current fitness level, if the issue is excess fat around your mid-section, you need to focus on your diet. If you’re looking for ‘tips’ in regards to that, start using the Nutrition log here on daily burn. After 2 weeks of logging information, it should be fairly simple to pinpoint modifications you can make in your diet. Some very general tips would include: - Remove all processed foods, including white flour products, from your diet Susan |
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Mar 8, 2011
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@enielsen, keep in mind that Skim milk is relatively high in sugar (lactose). As such it should be consumed in moderation although it is an excellent source of post workout nutrition, especially if your goal is fat loss. There’s a very interesting article in regards to that on the Precision Nutrition site – http://www.precisionnutrition.com/milk-for-fat-… Susan |
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Mar 8, 2011
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I’ll just re-post what I’ve already posted on this thread in regards to Olive Oil … … Other than protein, fat is the only other essential macronutrient, meaning that it cannot be produced by the body and must be consumed via diet. You need to add fat to your diet — the key is what types of fat you choose. You want to limit your intake of saturated fats (butter, animal fats, full fat dairy products) and focus on fats that are rich in Omega-3. Good choices are seafood (salmon, black cod, mackerel, lake trout are excellent choices), avocado, flax oil (note: you should not heat flax oil), olive oil, seeds and mixed nuts. While you certainly need to watch your overall (healthy) fat intake since even these healthy fats are calorie dense, there’s absolutely no reason not to use some olive oil for for cooking. With that said, you do not need to use a “couple” of Tablespoons to cook a chicken breast. A little oil goes a long way. Again, you need healthy fats in your diet! Just work in the olive oil you use for cooking into your food journal so that you stay on target with your macronutrients. Personally, I add Flax Oil in to my post-workout shakes. An EXCELLENT book to read on this subject is “Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill” by Udo Erasmus. Susan Topic: Diet and Nutrition / Olive Oil Substitute? |
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Mar 9, 2011
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@shizonamy, I want to clarify that I wasn’t recommending fasted exercise … but rather, specifically fasted cardio as a potential option to help incinerate some of your fat. In regards to the rest of your questions, you’re asking for alot of specific detail, but without knowing ALOT more about your current situation, any further advice would be nothing more than speculation. The only thing we really know about you is that (1) you’re running HIIT intervals 4x/week. Some questions for you: - what is your age, height, weight? As for pre and post workout nutrition, the importance of it in your overall regime is going to be partially based on your base-point details. You can read some further info on Nutrient timing here – http://blog.dailyburn.com/nutrient-timing/ If you’re goal is fat loss, then yes, calories do matter. Then again, the definition of “high” calorie intake is totally subjective w/o seeing what you’re currently consuming (which means you weighing and measuring your food intake). Talking supplements at this point is totally premature w/o knowing more about you. While I do feel there are times whereas certain supplements are useful, it’s typically when someone is close to their goal point. Susan |
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Mar 9, 2011
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@kateg623, first off, congratulations on your upcoming marriage! Realize that sugar addiction is a real addiction just like alcohol and cigarettes. I started to do a little reading on the subject back in 2008, to better understand the subject (http://catapultfitness.blogspot.com/2008/07/sug…). After reading her book, Sugar Shock, I became a big fan of Connie Bennett’s. You may want to look in to her – http://www.sugarshockblog.com. Susan |
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Mar 10, 2011
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@shizonamy, thanks for sharing more details. It’s definitely insightful and there are some modifications that you can make to help achieve your goals. It sounds as if you’ve been exercising for a while, so you’re not likely to put on lean muscle quickly while losing fat at the same time (beginners have the good fortune to be able to combine muscle gain and fat loss). As a rule of thumb, for men, if you are above 15% body fat, you’re best off focusing on losing the weight before attempting mass gains. The reason being is that when building mass, you’re likely to gain some fat. Based on your age, height and weight, I feel you should be cutting calories to ~ 2,000 – 2,200/day (the lower end on “off” exercise days). At 2,500 calories/day, assuming you’re burning ~ 2000 calories week via exercise, you’re at a maintenance level. In order to monitor this, you’ll find the nutrition log to be a huge benefit. Once you reach your target weight (this is going to be dependent on your frame size, but at 5’11" you can likely cut 10 lbs.) you would want to consume your re-adjusted maintenance calories for a couple of weeks before entering a mass phase. You then cycle between cutting and mass building until you reach your ultimate goals. Before changing anything else in your regime, cut calories back to ~ 2000/day and see if you start noticing a difference. Hope this helps. Susan |
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Mar 10, 2011
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It’s optimal to train a muscle group once every 5th day or twice a week if you’re looking to build mass. In some instances, 3 times a week — although I don’t find that optimal if your lifting heavy (and personally … go heavy or go home! To realize gains you want to increase your lifts on a weekly basis). Susan |
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Mar 10, 2011
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@harveyrobot, based on your age, height, weight and current calorie burn thru exercise, you’re spot on with 1850 calories/day. It’s not unusual to realize a significant drop in weight when you first start. Some of that weight loss is water weight so don’t be discouraged if you see a slight uptick on the scale in the next week or two. Your body is going to assimilate and you’ll likely notice some level of fluctuation. Long term you want to focus on building lean muscle mass. The more lean muscle mass you have , the higher your resting metabolic rate (RMR) and the more calories you’ll burn at rest. We burn most of our daily calories when we are at rest, so you can definitely see why this is important. Hope this helps. Susan |
