Thread: OK, I'm fat...

Don't even think about what the scale says. Go by how you look and how you feel. The hardest part in the beginning is taking that first step to get healthier, and proper weight loss is only 1-2 pounds per week. It's not a race...give it time and the results will happen.

I've lost 60 pounds myself so I know where you're coming from. It took me a year of working out five days a week and eating right.

Muscle weighs more than fat for a given volume. Look for inches lost, not pounds lost.

I concur – toss the scale out the window and get digital fat calipers (I recommend Fat Track II). No, really keep the scale but look at it at most once per week – preferably once every two weeks. Go by clothes size to get the positive motivation that things are changing. For men, every 4 lbs of fat loss will equate roughly to 1” of pant size reduction.

In 5 months I have lost over 54 lbs of fat and put on 17 lbs of lean tissue. In the first 6-8 weeks I had like only 3 lbs of scale weight loss but lost a pant size. Basically in those initial weeks I swapped the fat for new muscle and improved fluid hydration levels (more scale weight). What I am saying is that scale weight will depress you but it does not tell the true story. It’s also extremely easy to get wide variations in scale weight due to water level changes of 3-5 lbs at any point in the week – depending on what you eat etc. Also, as you get better muscle development – fluid levels and blood volume increases – more scale weight. Also, I have speculated that organ/visceral fat – the stuff that’s currently marbeling your muscle tissue and surrounding your internal organs and cramping your inner body cavity is the first to reduce. So, you may not even get a dramatic external clothes size for a while – even though 4 lbs of fat seems like very little to have to lose to get that first pant size reduction.

Learn to read your body. If you are like I was and starting at over 20% bf (I was 32% when I started) here is a rough idea of what to expect. Before you see any major external changes you will start to first notice more blue vascularity in upper body near the less fatty parts (shoulders, upper pec region etc.), especially immediately after workout and eating. This will be a positive sign that things are happening and the body is retooling itself and developing increased oxygen/nutrient flow and increasing capillary density. Then you will see the face suddenly get thinner in 2-3 weeks and “younger” looking. Rapid definition in shoulders and arm tie-in typically (but may be different depending on genetics) is the next thing after that. But you may also see an alarming thing as you get more fit. As you strengthen your back muscles you may find that your posture improves dramatically and your gut actually “appears” bigger as you stand erect and you don’t artificially pull the gut in. This was a shock to me – so just be mentally prepared if it happens to you.

After that first 6 weeks I like to use the old paper towel analogy to describe what then happens. At this point in time you are just starting to get initial serious burn into the subcutaneous fat (the stuff on the outside under the skin that we can all see). But the visual changes are not dramatic. Using the paper towel analogy, as the fat is burned it’s like removing an outer layer of a full paper towel roll. You don’t see much change in the roll’s diameter since so much volume is still present. But when you get into week 10 and beyond, and as that “roll” starts to get toward the mid point you can almost see weekly changes since each layer of fat loss proportionally produces a greater reduction in percentage of the original volume (think of unwinding that paper roll).

I ran some calculations on how fat visually looks to the eye if you were to carve out a lb of the stuff and hold it in your hands:

Lean Tissue Density
1.1 gm/cm3 * 1 KG/1000 gm * 2.2 lbs/KG = .00242000 lbs/cm3 *
16.3870651 cm3/in3=
Lean Tissue = .03965670 lbs/In3
Lean Tissue = 25.21642149 In3/Lb

Fat Density
.9 gm/cm3 * 1 KG/1000 gm * 2.2 lbs/KG = .00198000 lbs/cm3 *
16.3870651 cm3/in3=
Fat Density = .03244639 lbs/In3
Fat Density = 30.82 In3/Lb

Delta Density = (1.1 - .9)/1.1 * 100 = 18.8%.
Therefor, muscle is 18.8% denser than fat, or conversely fat occupies 5.6 In3/Lb more volume than does muscle.

Examples:
1 lb of fat occupies a 32 inch waist, with a 3” band with a thickness of approx 5/16”

(32*3*x=30.82, x=.32 inches thick (5/16” thick))

1 lb of fat occupies a cube 1 foot * 5 inches by ½” thick
or
1 lb of fat occupies a cube approx 3 1/8”x 3 1/8” x 3 1/8”



Good Luck

Shit, that's like reading a book. Good stuff there OD.

It's ok, I'm fat too!

I go through phases. Somedays I feel healthy, somedays I don't.

I work out plenty, with good gains and form .... bike ride all the time now ...

I lost about 20 lbs initially, then I've put 10 back on. I think the bike riding has made my legs really fill out on the inside.

Diet is my next target, as I'm positive that's where I need to work now ...

Psssssst.........trinsdad....You're surrounded by "average build" people here.....not too many hardcore bodybuilders w/ 5%BF.

You'll acheive your goals it in time.....don't beat yourself up.

F*ck the scale. I have been lifting really hard for the last 8 weeks(no cardio). No diet at all, when I get hungry I eat as much as I want. I went down from 38" jeans to 36" AND I haven't lost a pound! Don't worry about the scale, concentrate more on how you feel, train hard and the results will come. Good luck.

Don't be so hard on yourself it only makes you more depressed. I have had a few bad years and I only recently been hitting the gym hard. I was always to hard on myself and it made me feel worse. Now that I am back at the gym it just feels really good even though I don't look like a supremely buffed dude. It's important that you keep going!

You guys kick major ass..thanks!

Oceandude that was an awesome reply I copied it for my scrap book.

Originally posted by DaMayor
Psssssst.........trinsdad....You're surrounded by "average build" people here.....not too many hardcore bodybuilders w/ 5%BF.

You'll acheive your goals it in time.....don't beat yourself up.

DaMayor, unless I mistake vanity for obtuse style thou does not appear as the flower of courtesy to those contributing here. Especially when one considers that “the average body” in the USA (over 60% now) is obese and everyone in this thread is making attempts to positively contribute to the question at hand and are well in exceedance of “average”; both in regards to health and pursuit thereof (self evident in having the foresight & intelligence to post on IM and being well below averages in body fat levels). Are you asserting that unless a person is 5% body fat or at less than Olympia standards of muscular development they are not qualified to offer sound insight on fat loss? Please enlighten me to thy profound wisdom and rationale in this line of reasoning.

Originally posted by OceanDude
DaMayor, unless I mistake vanity for obtuse style thou does not appear as the flower of courtesy to those contributing here. Especially when one considers that “the average body” in the USA (over 60% now) is obese and everyone in this thread is making attempts to positively contribute to the question at hand and are well in exceedance of “average”; both in regards to health and pursuit thereof (self evident in having the foresight & intelligence to post on IM and being well below averages in body fat levels). Are you asserting that unless a person is 5% body fat or at less than Olympia standards of muscular development they are not qualified to offer sound insight on fat loss? Please enlighten me to thy profound wisdom and rationale in this line of reasoning.

No. I was simply letting this kind gentleman off of the hook. (If you had read further, you might have noticed the words of encouragement and the adjacent 'thumbs up' smilie at the bottom of the page.)
The truth of the matter is that there are very few people here @ IM who are in "competition shape"...everyone here is generally in the same boat. We are all working towards our goals, as is trinsdad.
Now, in the future I would kindly ask that you ask kindly before making assumptions about other's comments.

Originally posted by DaMayor
No. I was simply letting this kind gentleman off of the hook. (If you had read further, you might have noticed the words of encouragement and the adjacent 'thumbs up' smilie at the bottom of the page.)
The truth of the matter is that there are very few people here @ IM who are in "competition shape"...everyone here is generally in the same boat. We are all working towards our goals, as is trinsdad.
Now, in the future I would kindly ask that you ask kindly before making assumptions about other's comments.

Ah, OK - I misunderstood. Unfortunately I did not make my "benefit of the doubt" escape clause more neautral. It originally came across like you were some super big bad ass ripped elite body builder and the rest of us were egg suckers. Sorry... :o

Hell no! Look at my stats!