It is a fat burning exercise. And your right, women have a VERY hard time gaining muscle. Honestly, the number of gals soooooo perasan that they are somehow going to be special and have the ability to gain huge muscle sooooo fast is ridiculous. A woman JUST starting to weight lift (the first 6 months of serious weight lifting is when a person has the greatest ability to gain the most muscle in the shortest amount of time), IF she weight lift SERIOUSLY (definitely more than 2.5kg dumbbells... ) will be considered talented and naturally gifted to gain even 0.5kg a month. It is f***ing hard work.

However, if she doesnt want to weight lift, it is completely possible to lose weight with a great diet in place. Figure out how many calories she burns a day - figure out how much her macros should be (no diet should have 0g of fat,carb or protein) then plan a sensible diet around it. Educate her about the importance of maintaining her current muscle mass by consuming the necessary protein and a little weight training (no need weights oso-just use own body weight).

If not, the scale will say she meet goal but the mirror will show her saggy undefined body failed to meet her goal. And what more important-what the mirror says or what the stupid scale says?

Yes there is scientific proof. Read up and educate yourself before spreading dangerous advice please.

Muscle is broken down if your caloric deficit is too large for too long because your body cannot maintain it. Muscles are greedy - they need calories and nutrients to be maintained. Even with 'enough' protein, it can still be diminished as your body is unable to meet its demands.

Not to mention, fat mass is crap for supplying your body with necessary glucose and amino acids if broken down ESPECIALLY if you are conducting high intensity workouts like weight training or serious cardio. So if your body is not getting it from your diet then where do you think it is going to suck it out off? Your muscles.

That said, if you are a very unique human being that is able to thrive and stay big and muscular on a diet of 1000 calories a day and what is insufficient nutrients for the rest of us - then congratulations!

Just don't go around telling others that such a thing will work for them

Eh Excuse me ah. I will have you know I am aware of why proteins are constantly insisted on being essential (thus me mentioning amino acids) so please refrain from speaking to me like I have not been intelligent enough to have acquired such information.

Your body has LIMITED amounts of Amino acids, and CONSTANT need for. While it can go through brief fasted periods and thrive, after days and days it has to get it somewhere - SEE: Muslim Weight Lifters after fasting month: they always experience a loss in muscle mass due to decreased food intake even with continued training.

If your body has LIMITED amino acids and it NEEDS MORE then the only source it has to leech it from are your muscles! The severity of it depends on several factors such as size of deficit, bodyfat, newbie lifter, etc but the fact remains if you starve the body (Which you will unless you are a 3 foot midget who ISNT weight training) it will take what it can from sources available to them.

And yes I know you mentioned limited but thats still a matter of opinion - you mean 2 days? Have at it. You probably mean 2-3 months though to cut (unless you cut only 1 kg)

By all means, eat 1000 calories and train to maintain your muscle. I conceded that ypou can do whatever the heck you want.

But again I repeat DONT go spouting your nonsense just because it works for your unique body to everyone. It wont work for them.

There was a 2009 study done at Rockefeller University and there are numerous reports from people who have lifted longer than you or I have lifted (or even lived)

http://www.pacifichealthlabs.com/blog/can-...-crash-dieting/

Diets that have smaller daily caloric deficits (300-500 calories) shed fat while preserving lean body mass.

http://www.pacifichealthlabs.com/blog/coul...not-to-do-that/

But in subjects who severely reduced their daily caloric intake, fat represented 48% of the total weight loss and muscle 42%.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.nobullbodybu...lose_muscle.pdf

One of the major factors mentioned in the research was the severity of the calorie
deficit:
“Very aggressive calorie deficits and very low calorie diets tend to erode lean body
mass to a great degree than more conservative deficits.”

http://www.simplyshredded.com/layne-norton...tting-diet.html

The severity of your calorie deficit will, to a large extent, determine how much muscle you retain/lose.
Short periods of high severity dieting (more than 1000 kcals per day below maintenance level) are not too muscle wasting, but prolonging them for more than a few days will certainly cause one to lose a good deal of muscle.

P/S: GOOGLE GOOGLE GOOGLE

Who is the one posting without proof? Now you post proof of research showing you eat below BMR and lose less than 5-10% LBM Back yourself up if you insist on spreading the word.

This post has been edited by shadowz: Nov 9 2012, 10:01 AM

Indeed. Nvm. Let all the cardio crazies work their bodies to the oh so desirable skinny-fat physique. It will just ensure we all look better

~2200 calorie intake sounds right. You will lose weight with your swimming and weight training (assuming the dumbbells are heavy enough). I suggest incorporating body weight exercises like pushups, dips, pullups, lunges, etc. If you really can't get to a gym and your dumbbells don't challenge you anymore, you can stuff a bag full of books to add 5-10 kg weights to carry around for resistance training.

Your diet... Figure out how many calories your eating because farting around is a waste of time. Protein intake looks pathetic and personally it looks like there is some empty calories like cookies, milo, nescafe, etc. Replacing those calories with milk, eggs, nuts will be more beneficial nutrient wise and bumping up protein intake. If you're serious about maintaining and building some muscle mass you should aim for roughly 150 grams a day.

G'luck.

You answered your own question.

Exercise wise - Combination of weight training and cardio has been proven to ensure 90+% of weight loss is actual fat. Many people actually lose NO lean body mass and some genetically fortunate newbie weight trainers can put on muscle.

Hours of cardio is unnecessary and counter productive because it is catabolic when you overtrain (which many people unwittingly do thinking they are maximizing fat loss) and research has shown roughly half of weight loss from pure cardio is lean body mass loss. This results in lower BMR thus forcing them to further restrict calorie intake making it harder to have energy to exercise, rinse repeat. You see the problem.

A good diet (or even a shitty diet to be honest) with a decent calorie deficit will ensure you lose weight, coupled with weight training & cardio - you should look good too. Food is your fuel though so the quality of what gives your fuel (it provides you with energy) makes a difference in how you feel.

This post has been edited by shadowz: Nov 27 2012, 06:40 PM

Ummm I calculated your BMR and the result is if you are a girl 1600 is right there. If your a guy you are actually eating 234 BELOW your BMR (For a guy of your age, weight & height is it 1834).

Either way, if you really are eating that little and going about everyday life and exercising daily - you are probably stalling any weight loss because your body is trying to hold on to every bit of fat reserve it can. It is our body's defence mechanism when it thinks we might be going through a period of food shortage. Not to say you will never lose weight again, it just is very difficult when you are not working with your body.

I don't know your Macros so I cannot comment, all I can say is you can do 1 of 2 things:
1) Lower your calories to ridiculously low amount under 1000 calories a day and lose weight but it will be bad for your health and energy plus you will lose more lbm.
OR
2) Up your calories to 1800-2000 a day, try to optimize your macros for energy and muscle maintenance, and maybe cutting back your running to 2-3times a week.

I highly highly highly highly recommend incorporating weight training. You may not see a drop on the scale but as weeks pass by your body re-composition will prove to increase the attractiveness of your physique, up your metabolism and (I cannot promise how quickly) you will lose the belly fat as you lose body fat all over.

No offense but unless you are 10 years old without the ability to find things out yourself (hey look! A computer with internet access!) - it is your own fault for simply listening to other people telling you what to do.

Macros is an abbreviation of Macro Nutrients. There are 3. In no particular order:
1)Protein
2)Fat
3)Carbohydrates

Now...EDUCATE YOURSELF:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.p...21703981&page=1

That will explain calories and macros. Figure out what works for you.

I was thinking that too I look at his diet and it is just too... ARGH Aihs.

Indeed, calories in<calories out will result in weight loss but how efficiently you lose the weight is another matter.

The statement of eating a piece of fruit to replenish your glucose level is quite frankly laughable and shows us that you do not understand what you said.

Keeping it short: Your diet sucks and your math sucks too.

You say your only drinking water and tea so all your calories come from food.

You skip breakfast and only SOMETIMES eat supper. That means you most often only eat 2 meals a day which amount to MAYBE 1000 calories.

How on earth can you say you maintain 1500 calories a day (which if you did is still too little assuming you are a man)?

There is not enough information for me to offer specific solid advice that hasn't already been given:
Figure out your calories needs
Create a REASONABLE deficit
Apparently you need to learn to COUNT calories properly
Weight train and SOME cardio (depends on your goals)
Rest enough

Your body should cooperate so long as you dont have a medical condition or previous eating disorders, etc.

Oh and your excuse about UK diet being better is bull. Their diet can be as shitty or as good as the individual chooses. You sit there and tell me deep fried fish & chips is healthier than tandoori chicken and naan... then I cannot say anything.

Yeah but want to find good fish and chips that is comparable to UK is practically impossible. Either way I have cut down on my consumption of deep fried foods because I find if I eat too much my stomach gives me issues and too many studies showing scary links to medical problems I used to eat deep fried chicken everyday...

I find fish & co okay only. Damn spoiled I was considering trying a place at Bukit Bintang my friend told me about tho so will see if it is better.

You misread. I said cut down. Not eliminated. I have deep fried chicken(I love McD's fried chicken~) probably twice a month. I just can't eat the stuff everyday cuz I feel quite sick after a few days and I realized it's the excess oil... We love our deep fried karipaps, keropok lekor, chicken, etc.

Oh yea - alot of westeners eat rubbish. I laughed when my partner brought me to a 'great chinese' place. It was so far off... I mean I know Malaysian Chinese food also not 100% authentic but seriously closer than the Americans idea.

*Now I feel like getting keropok lekor and karipap Time to see if the auntie got some more downstairs..

This post has been edited by shadowz: Nov 28 2012, 01:41 PM

That is where self-discipline comes into play.

In any case if that is how you have been eating in the UK and then Malaysia for months (if not years) then I am going to guess that you have f*cked up your metabolism and probably have low LBM.

The amounts you are quoting here are barely 1000 calories (UK and Malaysia). Stop insisting you are maintaining 1500 calories in Malaysia when you claim to hardly go out to supper-the fact is most days you MAYBE reach 1000 calories.

I can only go by what information you have given me but if it is correct then you have trained your body to be VERY efficient at using a low amount of calories.

You can correct it by eating a high protein diet and adding exercise over time but at the moment if you continue not exercising it is obvious that you aren't going to be able to lose weight unless you ate little to nothing.

As for "thought sugar content in an orange is enough for a day usage". You don't need sugar for a days usage. You need energy, energy from food we call calories, the most quick acting macro to give energy is carbohydrates, carbs are what your body can most efficiently derive glucose from. The only good thing about you eating the fruit is the nutrients you got from it. You eat plenty of rice from the looks of it thus claiming the fruit is your source of glucose for the day shows your ignorance.

You have ALREADY starved your body for gosh knows how long thus the issue you face now. Hunger doesn't mean you are not getting enough to fuel your body just as fullness does not mean you have provided your body with enough.

Honestly, you probably aren't going to shift the weight anytime soon unless you get off your backside and exercise. That, and eat properly.

Read up, learn, understand what is going on inside your body instead of pissing about guessing what may or may not work.

P/S:If you read up and studied how your body works, you will realize many are beginning to realize that a low-carb diet (any variation) that encourages glycogen depletion which signals to your body the need to use its energy reserves (especially if you maintain a reasonable calorie intake) we oh so lovingly hold on to as fat. There is a reason why many bodybuilders maintain a very low carb diet when they are cutting body fat.

Good luck.

This post has been edited by shadowz: Nov 28 2012, 08:46 PM

? Well there is no such thing as spot reduction. So as you lose fat, it will come from everywhere. You may get the shape you want but you may end up looking more gaunt on your upper body. Its individual and depends alot on your genetic disposition on where you are meant to store fat (Like hispanics and black women carry ALOT of fat in their booty whereas other European women have the fat spread more proportionately). I have a friend who is very slim but she has quite abit of fat on her cheeks so she looks very child like. Other people may be over weight but it doesn't show much on their face, etc. Hard to predict.

Anyways, first step is I advise you to get your body fat % so you know how much fat you have to lose - then you can work more effectively towards your goal. You may want to lose 8 kg but if you can only lose 4kg of fat then the other 4 will be sacrificed from muscle mass which is bad for you in the long run. You can google 'women bosy fat % and find articles and images showing the different levels of body fat % and get an idea of what you want to aim for. Like I personally want to achieve 17% but in the long run I expect I will maintain best at 19-20%. Others have different preferences.

Then you should figure out your BMR and TDEE (Google please - the are many calculators and many articles explaining the importance) so you know your calorie needs. From there you can decide on a reasonable deficit to shed the fat. Diet is top priority, exercise is highly recommended but for all intents and purposes not necessary for weight loss. It is necessary for health and a nice body shape though.

Your statement about muscles makes no sense.

Your muscle cannot gain weight.

IF you were to weight train HARD then you have the chance to gain muscle that adds to your weight but ONLY if you eat at a caloric SURPLUS. Very very very few individuals in the world actually gain muscle at a deficit and that is ONLY because they are newbie weight lifters and they are VERY overweight to begin with. Seeing as you are have less than 10kg to lose and plan to eat less calories, it is only probable that you maintain your muscle mass (this is important).

Contrary to what the majority thinks, it is ALOT of F***ing work to gain even a kg of muscle-it takes good nutrition, hard training and lots of rest. Some people struggle for several months to a year to gain as few as 3-4 kg of muscle.

I suggest you don't worry about it.

It is a much quicker and easier process to lose fat than to gain muscle.

Ummm no. The only way you gain weight, specifically FAT (this is important- not all weight gain is fat. There is natural fluctuations, bone density increase/decrease, fat gain/loss & muscle gain/loss) is by eating tooooooo many calories.

Thats it. You do not magically gain fat from eating an extra plate or rice. You don't gain it specifically from fried foods. You don't gain fat from a slice of cake. It is the sum of calories you consume.

The importance of not eating junk is that real whole foods offer nutrition that processed junk/fast food does not. So health wise, eating good food and eliminating junk/fast food is important. In terms of weight loss-it ultimately comes down to calories.

So in theory if you decided one day to stop exercising, then all you need to do to maintain your weight is eat ONLY how many calories you need as a sedentary person.

This is why finding out your BMR and TDEE is important. From there you can make meal plans to fit into your daily caloric budget.

Don't let anyone tell you walking or jogging is not good enough to lose weight. It is a cheap, easy, sustainable and healthy form of exercise. It burns calories to help you reach a reasonable deficit and improves your heart health. I also love how you can do it anywhere and how you wont burn out doing it - there is no point doing intense exercise but quit after a week. Do something you enjoy and do it always. Keep it up.

I suggest you add weight training. It will help you sculpt your body so it looks strong and healthy rather than flat and skinny as well as offers many health benefits. If you prefer looking very slim with no toned muscles though, I guess you don't need to worry about it. Attractive physique is very personal preference.

You warming up on the treadmill like that is fine. For weight loss... *shrugs* You are burning less than 50 calories is your only on the treadmill for 7 minutes and at such slow speeds. Are you confusing your warm up with HIIT? Because you are NOT going to dramatically lose weight by walking 7 minutes.

Dude.... what rubbish are you doing as a bench press?

ONLY ONE THING LOSES WEIGHT: Burning MORE CALORIES than you CONSUME. Diet is your number one priority when you want to cut fat.

The reason weight training is essential is that you build your strength, you sculpt your physique, you have the potential to build muscle (which burns 10-20 times more calories than the same amount of fat) and it expends energy (meaning you burn calories doing it) too. So STOP bench pressing 10kg and get srious about training.

LIFT HEAVY. LIFT HEAVY OR GO HOME.

Seriously. If you want to prance about like a delicate lily and lift light weights that make me cringe, stay home.

Yes sit ups are pointless to lose tummy fat. The only way to lose fat is lose it. You rbody will decrease your fat from everywhere. Spot reduction is a myth. What situps, planks, and other core exercises do is strengthen and build core muscles.

Muscles you wont see unless the fat is gone. The fat is only gone if you lose fat from everywhere.

Read the link I gave you about estimating (unless you go take specific expensive tests to accurately measure how many calories you burn a day, everything is estimates - expect to tweak numbers on your own for best results) your calories a day AND figure your macros out.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.p...21703981&page=1

Seriosuly dude. Cover the basics and don't buy into the bro-science spread based on nothing. Find out the science behind what works in our bodies.

Oh good! Phew! I was so confused why you thought 7 minutes on the treadmill can be weight loss tool

In that case, yes you can use the 1 hour treadmill walk as a calorie burning exercise that will effectively help in weight loss. Since your speeds are rather low, you can opt to do it everyday but NEVER BEFORE weight training. Personally, if you can do it on days you are not weight training it will probably be better. But if you must have faster results, do it everyday, no problem with muscle loss but again - do it only AFTER weight training. Just remember not to burn out... It is easy to get tired and fatigued and ditch your exercise efforts altogether... Avoid this.

Good man! I think you will agree after just 2-4 weeks of lifting heavy that it works great to shape your body I highly suggest reading the stickie in this forum written by darklight outlining a simple (and effective!) beginners routine you can easily use for 6 months before tweaking or changing up. However, any routine to make to follow that has squats, deadlift & benchpress is good to start with.

Your welcome. I hope you enjoy the reading

---

Added on December 8, 2012, 10:42 pmAh my bad - the stickie in the Bodybuilding Forum

This post has been edited by shadowz: Dec 8 2012, 10:42 PM

For a month and no progress? At that rate you should have at least seen 1-2 kg by now.

You mentioned that you have increased your fruits and vegetables as well as avoid sugary drinks and thats great! However, you can still be eating good foods and be eating too many calories. Thats the clincher when it comes to weight loss - your calorie intake. I suggest you start by figuring out your BMR and TDEE and then searching google for nutritional values of foods you eat everyday. If you eat something that has nutritional information on the packaging, check it to see what a serving is (you will be surprised by the weird serving amounts one packet gives sometimes) and how many calories it is. You are very likely subconsciously eating more as you have increased your exercise. If you have a smart phone - there are lots of apps you can use to help track your intake.

Eat at a caloric deficit of about 15-25% of your TDEE and you will see weight loss. At some point, you will want to look at your macro intake but for now, start learning the basics of calories and keeping track of them.

Weight training is HIGHLY recommended. Not necessarily because it accelerates your weight loss, but it will help you LOOK like you are accelerating it as maintaining you muscle mass will ensure any weight you are losing is 90+% fat rather than muscle and that will look much more attractive.

In the long run, it is excellent because by maintaining (or even increasing) you muscle mass, you ensure that your metabolism stays elevated and you wont have to suffer by continuously restricting your food and caloric intake. This is why you sometimes see 2 people of the same size, but one can eat much more than the other and maintain their weight - it is very likely because they have more muscle thus burning more calories.

In SHORT - count your calories, it is almost definitely the problem. Seriously look into adding weight training to your regime - if you stick to it, you wont regret the results!

There are loooooooots. My personal favourite home 'exercise' requires a partner though. And you have to have alot of stamina as the exercise can take several hours before both are satisfied with the results.

Heh.

In any case, if you don't have a partner, you could always do less time consuming exercises like jump rope, jumping jacks, walking/jogging around your housing area, dancing to fast paced music, bodyweight exercises like pushups, dips, pullups, planks, etc. Many many many options. The trick will be pushing yourself to do it intensely enough and staying motivated.

So I highly recommend finding an 'exercise' partner to 'workout' with at home. You will stay motivated to give your best and do it at a relatively intense pace most of the time. :-D

Good luck!

*This recommendation does not apply if you are underaged.

? Holding on to fat means your body IS NOT burning fat lah. You are signalling to your body that you are in a state of no food because you have restricted your calories to almost nothing (essentially you are killing yourself very very very very very slowly - see 'anorexia') - so it kicks into survival mode and tells your body to use as little energy as possible and to hold onto energy deposits (Fat) for as long as possible.

You WILL eventually lose WEIGHT but it is painful, you damage your internal functions in indescribable ways, it is mentally and emotional damaging as well which will affect your social life. Not to mention, you will later not be able to eat normal amount of calories because you have compromised your system.

Undoing the damage is even more ridiculously stressful.

Who the heck told you to eat like this to lose weight? Aih.

Eeeeeeeat food. Food you can CHEW and enjoy. Have a reasonable daily caloric deficit of 10-25%. Never eat less than your Basal Metabolic Rate. Drink water, tea, black coffee. Exercise 3-4 times a week (Not necessary).

Your fat will soon get pissed off at your healthy diet, pack their bags in the middle of the night and leave. Very slowly, they take ages to pack their damn bags. But eventually, they will be gone.

FYI - you are not meeting your protein needs with just a portion of whey protein. That's a ridiculous notion.

Pffft. You can stop exercising and maintain your weight. The trick is finding out how many calories it is you should be consuming as a sedentary person. Many many many people lose and maintain weight without exercise. For all round health and longevity though, exercise should be incorporated in your life. Just sayin'.

Anyway there is no mystery lah. You consume more calories than you need, so you gain fat. Simple.

The amount of calories you need vary according to your age, gender, time of month, weight, height, muscle mass, genetics, etc. For the most part, calculators give a decent estimate but some self experimenting is necessary to determine your necessary daily calories & weight loss 'sweet spot'.

You obviously found that sweet spot with the exercise you were doing.

When you stopped exercising, you continue to eat 'normally' but without the extra activities to burn excess calories and create a caloric deficit... your body had excess it needed to store. So it got stored as fat.

Choose:
1) Severely restrict your calorie intake (that will have to be restricted every year you get older) and be a couch potato.
2) Exercise regularly, build muscle, keep your metabolism in good shape, and get to enjoy food.

Mind you, there are lots of minute details that can make weight loss easier/harder. But weight loss ultimately revolves around a very basic fact which is: Eat LESS calories than you BURN.