timing weightloss

[Tomas Johansson]

I would like to loose 2-3 extra kilos. (Im at 76-77kg rigth now, 181cm tall) If I do it in one month of time, when in the trainingcycle (steady state) would it be best to do it. I was thinking maybe in the end when the training doesn't feel so hard it would be easier to handle lower calorie intake. Am I wrong?

[Fryk]

Adapting to a diet that will give you the desired weight-loss in that particular range should not be that hard, but I can't see why the weight loss has to be done in a month.

Since you are close to your desired weight, there is no real reason to jeopardize with dramatic cuts in the diet, that might hinder your training progress. For me personally just eating more frequently and adding more fruit and vegetables has given some good results.

[Joshua Naterman]

every 50 calories or so that you cut out of your diet is a pound of weight you will drop. If you want to lose 6 lbs, drop 300 calories. That's not much. If you're eating 6 meals a day that's only 5o calories per meal! That's a few bites of food. It's better to have a slight cut on all your meals than a big cut in one. You never want to try and lose more than 10 lbs at a time, and really 6 is the most. Big calorie deficits screw with your body a lot, but 300 won't be bad. There you go!

Of course, if you haven't figured out how much you need to eat based on your activity levels and all that, then you need to do that first, and if you aren't eating clean, you need to do that too. Use google to find the info if you haven't handled that stuff, it'll come right up. Search for "calorie calculator" and eat a balanced diet. 1g protein per lb of lean mass. Search for calculate lean mass to figure that out. take that number, multiply it by 4, and subtract that from your daily calorie intake. What's left should be split fairly evenly between monounsaturated fats(macadamias and olive oil, and beef/chicken fats) and carbs. Carbs should be some grains(pasta, bread, oatmeal, etc), lots of fruits/veggies. Make sure you have plenty of fats and carbs with each meal, not just protein.

[Tomas Johansson]

Thanks for your replies. Looks like what I have to do is clean up my diet. Has started to do so and see some results already.

[Ortprod]

every 50 calories or so that you cut out of your diet is a pound of weight you will drop. If you want to lose 6 lbs, drop 300 calories. That's not much. If you're eating 6 meals a day that's only 5o calories per meal! That's a few bites of food. It's better to have a slight cut on all your meals than a big cut in one. You never want to try and lose more than 10 lbs at a time, and really 6 is the most. Big calorie deficits screw with your body a lot, but 300 won't be bad. There you go!

Of course, if you haven't figured out how much you need to eat based on your activity levels and all that, then you need to do that first, and if you aren't eating clean, you need to do that too. Use google to find the info if you haven't handled that stuff, it'll come right up. Search for "calorie calculator" and eat a balanced diet. 1g protein per lb of lean mass. Search for calculate lean mass to figure that out. take that number, multiply it by 4, and subtract that from your daily calorie intake. What's left should be split fairly evenly between monounsaturated fats(macadamias and olive oil, and beef/chicken fats) and carbs. Carbs should be some grains(pasta, bread, oatmeal, etc), lots of fruits/veggies. Make sure you have plenty of fats and carbs with each meal, not just protein.

I dont agree with the grains, IMO. A while back, Ido told me to do cruciferous veg at every meal, and I concur with this. If you induce an insulin response it is only going to make it harder to drop weight, and grains are well known to cause much inflammation (at this point) also making it hard to drop weight. Please, correct me if I am wrong.

[Joshua Naterman]

Nah, I definitely agree, but there are two mitigating factors. One, everyone has varying responses to grains. I have no problem dropping weight with them, but some people might. Then again, my ancestry is filled with grain eaters. Having said that, the main reason I include grains is that they are cheap, accessible, and lots of people like them. As long as they are whole grains they won't elicit much more of an insulin response than a sweet potato.

I do think that the evils of grains are vastly overstated. I do not think they are a myth, but in my personal experience with people I have trained, I can say that I haven't seen whole grains get in the way of weight loss. Refined grains are a different matter altogether in my book.

In the end, while I have never done a grain-free diet and probably never will, I have no trouble believing that a grain-free diet could be a bit better for weight loss, and if someone is having trouble when their diet is already clean, then by all means drop the grains.

[Ortprod]

Grains are not cheaper when you do the math on the nutrition density. They are like eating styrofoam. It would be more beneficial to eat the sweet potatoe.

Read more of Cordain and Sear's and Robb Wolf's works if you are still on the fence about it.

My humble 2 cents,

-John

[Joshua Naterman]

I will. And I have to say, I have switched over to eating more sweet potatoes and less pasta, with no bad effects on performance, so I certainly can't knock it!