110kg and 40% FAT!!!!!!

[Barbs]

Ok folks, I need some serious help here. I am 110kg (dunno pounds), 165cm and that makes me approximately 40% body fat! I have been going to gym for the last three months, focussing mainly on weights (hate cardio, plus it is boring). I am keeping things simple as I do not want to burn myself out. I am an absolute newbie so I do not know the correct jargon to tell you exactly what I am doing, but I will try:
lying on your back leg machine: 3 sets 10 reps(that is standard for all my excercises)
pull down back machine
pull towards chest back machine
calf raises
bench press machine
Triceps pull down
bicep curls
crunches
I can only make it to gym about twice a week.

To this I have started dieting, I average at about 1700 calories per day. It is slow going, first week I lost 0.8kg, second week 0.7kg third week I stayed static. Going to weigh in tomorrow and pray that I have lost something!
What is your take on what I am doing and can you see a way of improving what I am doing.

 

[Built]

Can you describe your diet a bit?

How many grams of protein, carb and fat do you consume on your 1700 calories (calories look fine by the way).

Cardio is overrated for fat loss. If you like going for walks and can do that every day, that's all you need, half hour most days is fine.

 

[Merkaba]

You came to the right place!


However...is there some kind of chart somewhere that says youre supposed to be a certain bodyfat percentage from being a certain height and weight?
Anyways...

Stick around. Lets hear what your typical meals are.

 

[Built]

Merc, Barbs means her BMI is "40". Lots of people think this is the same as percent bodyfat - and it's close, kinda. But not really the same.

Translating into feet and pounds, Barbs is 5'5" and currently weighs 242.5 lbs.

For reference, I was once 170 lbs and I'm 5'7" tall. My BMI at that time was 27.

When I was 170 lbs, I had about 100 lbs of lean mass. At 5'7" tall, I was approximately 40% bodyfat.

With the lean mass I currently carry (roughly 115 lbs), if I gained weight back up to 170 lbs, I'd be at about 32% bodyfat.

Regardless of my lean mass, my BMI at 170 lbs would be 27. That's why BMI falls apart for bodybuilders, particularly for men.

Without knowing how much lean mass Barbs carries, it's hard to speculate what her bodyfat would be, but if she's got 96 lbs of lean mass, she's at 60% bodyfat.

If she's got 145 lbs of lean mass (which would be pretty damned cool), she's at 40% bodyfat.

I'd bet money she's somewhere between the two extrema.

I'd also bet that if she sticks around here, she'll drop WAY below either figure within a year!

 

[danzik17]

Like Built said, break down your diet for us a bit more in terms of carbs/fat/protein.

If you happen to know, post up an estimation of what your previous diet was before starting this since that can provide some helpful info.

Do you have any outstanding muscle/bone/joint issues that precludes you from certain exercises that we should know of?

One last tip: always weigh in at the same time each day. A lot of people get discouraged by what they see on the scale, but it's not an accurate estimation of progress unless you are consistent with timing. I know that I can have fluctuations of up to 3-5lbs at different times every single day depending on waste, water, and glycogen.

 

[Barbs]

Hi Guys and Lady
Ok here it is:
Yesterday was bit muddled up diet wise, but it was:
60% Carbs - 183.3gms
24% Protien - 71.3gms
17% Fat - 23.4gms
1223 calories
My diet, when I'm not messing with it, is:
breakfast - 50gm Oats
midmorning - 25gm Whey
lunch - protien (100 - 150gm) and veg
midafternoon - 25gm Whey
Supper - one tin tuna and 125gm Cottage cheese
Yeh, boooooring! I have educated myself a bit with FitDay and a Nutrition site, so I give myself leeway to get creative.
My actual last weight was 110.6kg and when I weighed myself today I had lost 0.75 kgs. So I was happy. I do weigh myself on the same scale at the gym every week.
I had an asolute freak out today though, there is this instrument that measures your body fat, you put it on your biceps. Well, my last measurement was 37,5% and when I measured today it said 45%! How could I have lost weight and increased my body fat! I just hope the thing was malfunctioning.
With regards to injuries, I suffer from lower back pain. A chronic problem, i am a nurse, and the injury dates from twenty years ago! This is what actually motivated me to go back to gym as it was getting ridiculous. It has improved since going to gym. Standing calf raises aggrivate it, so I have opted to do seated calf raises instead.

 

[danzik17]

Ignore those gadgets that measure body fat. The only way that's even close to accurate done by yourself is to use calipers.

Now on to the actual diet stuff. I'll let Built sort out the details since she is far better at that, but you NEED to increase your calories. It seems like a paradox, but you're causing your metabolism to crash by eating at those levels. Over the next two weeks, you should increase your intake to first 1500 calories, then 1700 calories on the second week. Never make huge jumps in calorie levels unless they are planned for a specific reason as you need to give your body time to adjust.

Think of this from the standpoint of evolution; you are meant to survive, not necessarily to be lean. When you restrict calories like that, your body thinks that you are starving to death. The result is going to be that your metabolism crashes and your body wants to retain fat in order to survive. By increases your calories to a more reasonable level, your body will recognize that it doesn't need to retain the fat and will be more willing to drop it. That's the easy way of understanding it

 

[Built]

Hi Guys and Lady
Ok here it is:
Yesterday was bit muddled up diet wise, but it was:
60% Carbs - 183.3gms
24% Protien - 71.3gms
17% Fat - 23.4gms
1223 calories
My diet, when I'm not messing with it, is:
breakfast - 50gm Oats
midmorning - 25gm Whey
lunch - protien (100 - 150gm) and veg
midafternoon - 25gm Whey
Supper - one tin tuna and 125gm Cottage cheese
Yeh, boooooring! I have educated myself a bit with FitDay and a Nutrition site, so I give myself leeway to get creative.
My actual last weight was 110.6kg and when I weighed myself today I had lost 0.75 kgs. So I was happy. I do weigh myself on the same scale at the gym every week.
I had an asolute freak out today though, there is this instrument that measures your body fat, you put it on your biceps. Well, my last measurement was 37,5% and when I measured today it said 45%! How could I have lost weight and increased my body fat! I just hope the thing was malfunctioning.
With regards to injuries, I suffer from lower back pain. A chronic problem, i am a nurse, and the injury dates from twenty years ago! This is what actually motivated me to go back to gym as it was getting ridiculous. It has improved since going to gym. Standing calf raises aggrivate it, so I have opted to do seated calf raises instead.

Please disregard those BIA fat analyzers. If you're hydrated and bloated, it'll tell you you're lean. If you're dehydrated and looking tight, it'll tell you you're fat. From this point forward, assume what you're doing will work, and just use the scale to measure progress.

Now, your diet. I'd like you to increase your protein to at least 120g a day, increase your fats to at least 100g a day and drop your carbs way, WAY down. I'd suggest no starches at all - eat a few pieces of fruit and a LOT of green leafy veggies, butter your cooked veggies with real butter, dress your salads with olive oil dressings, and eat egg yolks, meat, avocado and raw nuts for your fats.

At your current bodyfat, and especially being female, you are surely quite insulin resistant and you can take advantage of this plus a low carb diet to lose bodyfat and preserve muscle.

Eat no grains at all. There is no need for you to eat them at all.

Try having the tuna and cottage cheese for breakfast. That's what I do, with half an avocado. I eat that and I'm full until well after noon.

Also, start getting in 10g fish oil daily.

 

[Merkaba]

Oh ok, thanks on the bmi, Built.

Ok so barbs I agree with Danzik, the gadgets and stuff are pretty much useless. Never put it on again. All they do is give you a reason to get antsy like you did.

As far as your back, was there a specific injury or did it just start hurting?

I'll let Built give the diet recommendations.

 

[Barbs]

Wow, thanks for your speedy responses!

The initial back injury presented with sciatica. After physio, I no longer experienced pain from the sciatic nerve. The pain now presents as a muscular pain, across the lower lumbar region.

Ok, I am ready to be rapped over the knukkles!
Carbs are......:
brown sugar - 44.8gms ( please don't take it away )
rice cakes - 21.6gms
oats - 33.1gms
Milk - 36.5gms

Must I really get rid of ALL of those?

 

[Built]

Wow, thanks for your speedy responses!

The initial back injury presented with sciatica. After physio, I no longer experienced pain from the sciatic nerve. The pain now presents as a muscular pain, across the lower lumbar region.

Ok, I am ready to be rapped over the knukkles!
Carbs are......:
brown sugar - 44.8gms ( please don't take it away )
rice cakes - 21.6gms
oats - 33.1gms
Milk - 36.5gms

Must I really get rid of ALL of those?

I want to preface what I'm about to say with this: what you are doing WILL work, at least for a while, okay? You WILL lose weight, at least for as long as you can stick with this plan.

Thing is, what you're doing will become more and more uncomfortable over time. And I don't know about you, but I've been fat and I didn't get that way by being comfortable with prolonged bouts of gnawing hunger.

So no, you don't HAVE to get rid of ANY of those, but you'll almost certainly find this process easier without sugars and sugary foods (juice included) or starches. Dieting on low calories is hard enough. Dieting on low protein and high carbohydrate is flat out misery, ESPECIALLY for women, and ESPECIALLY while significantly overfat. The most satiating foods are the proteins. The least are the carbohydrates. Fats are somewhere in the middle, but they're extremely satiating for the very overweight. Over time, as you lean out, protein will hold a more prominent role in this regard, at least for most people. (Yep, that's right, as you lean out, the rules change - kinda explains a lot about why most people fail, I think.)

You can try brown sugar-twin if you like. Not sure what you put the brown sugar on.

Rice cakes are something I eat when I'm bulking because they're such a fast hit of glucose. They make it easier to overeat, too.

You can see why they suck rocks for dieting though, right?

You aren't eating ANY protein in the morning, only oatmeal. I'd like you to switch out something like 3 or four eggs for this - scramble a few eggs in some butter and eat that for breakfast - it'll stick a lot longer than the oatmeal.

If you MUST have starch, I'd suggest white or sweet potatoes. White especially - they're more satiating than grains, by leaps and bounds.

I'd also suggest ditching the whey powder. Again, a very helpful addition when trying to gain weight, since whey is not at all satiating for most people and it doesn't fill you up - so if you're a skinny 18-year-old male trying to bulk up, drinking some of your calories makes a lot of sense, but for an overweight female looking to drop bodyfat, this is not going to make your task particularly comfortable.

How much milk do you drink? Do you love it, or is it just for the calcium - because you might want to consider swapping something like cottage cheese (more protein for your carb buck) for at least SOME of your milk.

 

[Nigeepoo]

On the subject of Insulin Resistance, you may find THIS of interest. Here are my OGTT results before/after taking 5,000iu/day of D3. I've never been prescribed medication for Impaired Glucose Tolerance.

Date(D.M.Y) 1st result  2nd result
20.01.2003  5.8mmol/L   8.7mmol/L
11.09.2008  5.9mmol/L   3.7mmol/L

The 1st result is fasting serum glucose. The 2nd result (serum glucose 2 hours after consuming 75g glucose) is interpreted thus:-
>11.1mmol/L = Diabetes Mellitus.
7.8 to 11.1mmol/L = Impaired Glucose Tolerance.
<7.8mmol/L = Normal.

Cheers, Nige.

 

[Barbs]

Hi
I have the sugar in coffee, one tsp per cup, with a minimum of six cups a day ( I do drink water aswell). If I have oats then one tsp in there aswell.

The milk I drink is for the coffee, at the moment it is fat free (I tolerate it, I would prefer to have 2%). I have given myself three cups (750mls) a day on fitday, that however might be an over calculation. In which case I could trade 250mls for some cottage cheese. At the moment I am having 125 gms cottage cheese a day, that is equivelent to half a tub. How would 250 mls equate into grams?

I have two rice cakes with my cottage cheese, it makes it crunchy.

I agree with you about the whey not being filling, it is like drinking a glass of flavoured water. If I could eat those calories, that would be great.

As far as hunger goes, I just feel it in the morning. Generally I don't get too hungry and that is most probably why I under eat and skip out certain things. I should focus on consuming all my calories. Believe it or not I am not a big eater and would not know how to consume a maintanance diet of 2660 calories!

I have bought eggs and avocado. To be honest with you I am really scared about these changes, eating more fat and comsuming eggs, which are supposed to be high in cholestral, goes against all the eating suggestions of decades. I do not doubt your wisdom and insite, it is just my socialisation that is screaming!

 

[Built]

Mine did too. But when I switched, my cholesterol dropped like a stone.

Fats are satiating. They also keep blood sugar nice and stable.

You're hungry in the AM because your breakfast is all carbs. Get away from AM carbs.

 

[Merkaba]

I agree with Built.

With that said, you can now stop viewing fat as an enemy, and cholesterol too. Do your 2% milk. Do whole milk for a while. As long as you track your intakes. If it wouldnt cost me 15 dollars a week I'd eat fresh guacamole everyday. Lots of good fat and fiber. Made some last night.
And try something different. If you truly only eat the rice cakes for crunch. Here's one that built taught me. Rinse the cottage cheese off a bit to remove the saltiness. Add some vanilla flavoring and/or cherry or strawberry fat-free jello to make a cheesecake-ish like desert thingy, high in protein. Add some sugar free sweetener if you like.

I think I've read a few studies that link high cholesterol in blood serum stemming from a high intake of carbohydrates.
And i think once you get your diet better you'll feel so much better. Sugaring six cups of coffee along with everything else takes its toll.

 

[Barbs]

I tasted some Splenda, a freind gave me some she had got from the USA. I liked it, unfortunately we do not have an equivelent over here, otherwise I would use that. Only Aspartane, and that is aweful stuff.

I am getting into tracking and as I get more confident, I will change things. I did tonight....I had beef jerky instead of tuna and cottage cheese.

So what is the situation with chocolate? I love the stuff

 

[Barbs]

The more I read, the more I begin to understand, the science of eating correctly.

 

[Built]

Nothing wrong with chocolate. If you have the calorie budget for it, go for it.

Can you order Splenda online?

 

[Merkaba]

I eat chocolate about everyday. But I'm needing about 3500 calories right now too.

 

[Barbs]

Oh Merkaba you are sooooooo lucky!!

I will have to make sure that over the festive season I have a defecit somewhere, because Xmas is just not the same without some chocolate.

Well my personal trainer (whom I can totally not afford) has got back to me with stats:
body fat (caliper measured) is at 47%
So my projected lean athletic figure is 65kg
I have given myself a goal of 80kgs, but my next baby step is to get down to 105kgs

So, what would be a really realistic final weight? Look I'd love to be ripped and shredded, but lets keep things simple so I do not go into a melt down

I have not tried to get Splenda online. I have a brother in Boulder, Colorado who I can tap into though.

 

[Built]

Oh Merkaba you are sooooooo lucky!!

I will have to make sure that over the festive season I have a deficit somewhere, because Xmas is just not the same without some chocolate.

Well my personal trainer (whom I can totally not afford) has got back to me with stats:
body fat (caliper measured) is at 47%
So my projected lean athletic figure is 65kg
I have given myself a goal of 80kgs, but my next baby step is to get down to 105kgs

So, what would be a really realistic final weight? Look I'd love to be ripped and shredded, but lets keep things simple so I do not go into a melt down

I have not tried to get Splenda online. I have a brother in Boulder, Colorado who I can tap into though.

Okay, you're 110 kg (242 lbs) with 47% bodyfat, putting you at 128 lbs (58 kg) of lean mass. If you neither gain nor lose lean mass, you'll be at 20% bodyfat (not shredded, but athletic lean for a woman) at 160 lbs (73kg). With these same assumptions, at 65kg you'd be at 10% bodyfat. I've never been 10% bodyfat my entire life. I'm 14% bodyfat in my avatar. Your personal trainer is on crack if he thinks you'll get down to ten percent bodyfat. Ask him how much lean mass he expects you to lose as you diet down to 65 kg.

 

[Merkaba]

Yea well I'm trying to gain weight Barbs but don't drive yourself crazy. I would go really clean and low for two days or so before the big day. You can make it two or three days strict cant you? But granted, you'll feel worse physically (not just emotionally) if you over consume the christmas victuals. I'd give a pound or two around christmas time or your favorite holiday. Enjoy yourself.

I also wonder about your trainer. But hey, they are a dime a double dozen nowadays. Goals are good but you don't want them to be unrealistic. I would say just try to keep losing. Its hard to lose more than a pound or two a week without feeling semi starved...in my opinion.

 

[itsmeinshape]

Good luck. you have good goals..

 

[samadamsboyee]

Yes, the gadgets are crap. Don't stress out so much on the eating part, it make backfire, do what you know is right and eat well and balanced.

 

[Built]

Um, Samadamboyee, diet is critical here. Balance is an outcome, not an input: if it doesn't work for you, it ain't balanced.

 

[Barbs]

Thanks again, you people are a great encouragement.

I am happy today, because I increased my leg press today by 20kgs, and I feel I can do a bit more, as my reps didn't kill me.

I have found a sweetener here that does not contain aspartame or saccharin. It is the small things in life that count!

 

[Logman]

I used teh Leg Press machine for a few months when I started and it did absolutely nothing. I can't get over how useless that machine is. Nothing can replace good old fashioned squats.

 

[Built]

I used teh Leg Press machine for a few months when I started and it did absolutely nothing. I can't get over how useless that machine is. Nothing can replace good old fashioned squats.

In general I agree completely.

However, Barbs is about 80-90 lbs (35-40kg) overweight and JUST getting started at this. For her, even an unweighted squat is weighted. When I first started, I was about 40 lbs overweight (20kg) and it took me three months to work up to squatting the bar.

While she brings up her leg strength and drops weight, leg press is likely a necessary band-aid.

That being said, Barbs, as soon as you are able, try doing unweighed squats instead of leg press, gradually adding weight by doing goblet squats until you can at least squat as much as an Olympic barbell (20kg).

 

[Merkaba]

I used teh Leg Press machine for a few months when I started and it did absolutely nothing. I can't get over how useless that machine is. Nothing can replace good old fashioned squats.

Yea it did, it burned calories and worked quite a few muscles.

I wonder why so many pro builders use the leg press machine....


In any event yea we have to walk here before we run here.


Barb be sure you research proper squatting form before you go at the squats.

 

[Barbs]

Damn....I have cut out the sugar. I've eaten the eggs and avocado and I am still friggin hungry!