Gain Strength, Lose fat.

Hi guys.

Yesterday I had a lot of tests performed on my body since I am joining the navy, everything was fine, but my bodyfat was 18% with a bodyweight of 73.5 KG and in my opinion that could be a little lower, I'd like to get it to like 15%..

I recently started doing gymnastic stuff in my bodyweight training, did a lot of combat sports before that and still gaining weight, not so much fat though it appears when I look in the mirror.

This is the workout I have been doing for the last 3 weeks: http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/vi ... .php?t=581

What is the best way to lose that 3% of fat, cutting down on my food? I feel hungry a lot of times and actually only eat when I feel hungry, eat 10-12 slices of bread with most peanutbutter, chocolatepaste(don't know how you call it). Sometimes cheese, ham or chickenfilet.

At the moment I do 3x100 m sprints once a week, should I start doing that 2 times a week, or should I start doing long distance running(running for over half an hour).. I always thought that would slow down my strength gaining process/muscle gaining process..

To give a better look on what I eat:

9:00, 3 slices of bread

12:00, 4 slices of bread

15:00, 3 slices of bread

18:00 dinner,

21:00, 2 slices of bread

I don't drink sugar holding drinks like Coke etc, only milk, juices and water.

I know this sounds a bit bodybuilding, but the thing I find most important is my strength gaining process! I am happy with the way I look at the moment, and thought my bodyfat would be lower..

Looking forward to some clearification.

Greets, Danny.

Hi danniboi,

That's an easy one ...don't eat less, eat different. Stop eating bread (and don't swap it for rice/pasta/potatoes), and replace it with healthy carbs that won't overload your insulin systems, and actually have some valuable nutrition in, i.e. LOTS of vegetables, salads, fruit, etc. There is plenty of advice on this forum and others ...look for information on Paleo-style nutrition. Yes this will reduce your calorie intake, and you should make up the difference with additional (healthy) fats.

Don't be afraid of fat. Fats don't make you fat, excess carbohydrate makes you fat, especially refined carbs like bread. This has been covered before in the nutrition section, and is easy to track down on the internet if you want to read aqround the subject. In reality, eating this way you should rarely be hungry, and still be able to lose that small amount of fat.

Long distance/duration 'cardio' isn't effective for losing fat, and will catabolise (digest/waste/reduce) muscle. To lose fat you should continue with strength training and intervals. You can maximise this by doing your intervals when you're hungry, and leave it an hour or so before eating again afterward - and no glycogen replacement drinks. Your body can replace glycogen from stored fat when no glucose is available.

Remember - you are literally what your body makes from what you eat. The higher quality the food you eat (veg, fish, meat, fats) and the less rubbish your body has to cope with, the healthier you will be, and the better your gains in performance, too.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

George.

P.s. I would also consider fruit juice to be a high-sugar drink. Eat the fruit, not just the juice.

Hi again,

danniboi said:

To give a better look on what I eat:

9:00, 3 slices of bread

12:00, 4 slices of bread

15:00, 3 slices of bread

18:00 dinner,

21:00, 2 slices of bread

I hope that's not literally what you eat most days ...but I'm worried enough to check ...are you eating enough fish/meat/eggs/etc to meet your protein needs properly!? Ideally fresh fish, good quality meat and free range organic eggs - ideally not pre-cooked/packaged.

Any questions please ask away.

Cheers,

George.

Hi George, thanks for the quick and nice reply!

I don't know if I am able to stay away from the bread, since I am living at my parents and don't see my mummy taking this much fruits etc from the store..

But I can check my eating a little, maybe a little less snacking at the snackbar, or whatever you call it.

And as response on your second post, this is not what i'm eating, more to give you an idea of how much I eat. I eat fish like once a week, since we don't really live close to any water/sea. But I eat like two pieces of fruit a day, most time one apple and one orange apple(lol? ). I only drink one glass of multivitamin juice a day, two glasses of milk and lots of water.. I will search the internet for that Paleo style nutrition..

And what about just cycling to school and back(20km in total) will do for me, is it bad for muscles, since I don't really get tired from it, but it's just half an hour of moving at a very low intensity.. Because most of the time I go to school on my motorbike.. :oops:

Greets, Danny.

Hi Danny,

You're welcome.

You might find it hard to change your parents' thinking on nutrition, and that can make a large change in diet a little tricky when you live at home. Fortunately you are young, and will get away with a lot - but do what you can.

If you can't avoid it completely, think of bread as being on a sliding scale - less is better, more is worse. If you have salad/meat/butter inside, it's going to fill you up more and have a better bread:health ratio. You'll have less slices as well. Could you snack on nuts/seeds and maybe make up a nice* salad to take to school?

* Yes, it is possible to have a nice salad, you just have to find some you like. Especially as fat is not a problem with dressings on Paleo.

Don't worry about the cycle to school, I meant more like running for an hour or so, a few times per week. In terms of cycling, you'd have to be cycling hard for an hour or so as well. The effort levels in relaxed cycling are usually around that of a brisk walk?

Strict Paleo can be a little expensive and awkward, but it's usually quite cheap and convenient to have a few kinds of frozen veg in the freezer. Some broccoli, green beans or asparagus with melted butter and some fish/meat make for an easy and quick meal. It's not as good as fresh, but much better than bread/etc. Maybe have an omelette for breakfast to cut out more bread as well?

Cheers,

George.

The Most Important Diet Factor

Danni,

I have been asking about this on the forum and ways to improve my diet. I've come to a conclusion the easiest and most important diet factor (in my eyes anyway) is to eliminate sugar. Obviously there will always be sugar and that's fine in fact it's good as long as it's from fruits, veggies and nuts. Not added sugar, I suggest cutting out all the added sugar you can. If you have any added sugar in your diet (after removing all you can) or it pops up (holiday treats and the likes) use either raw or brown sugar as they contain some vitamins and minerals whereas white and caster sugar are nothing but sugar.

I have been trying my best to eliminate all my sugars, it's quite hard but if you have enough time on your hands it makes it a lot easier. Apart from sugars, I would go with what George said with a Paleo style diet.

Now with your training, strength and fitness. I wouldn't include any running over 500 metres regularly. You should get plenty of aerobic work from your strength training if you circuit it.

Ed

P.S and George you thought I was naughty for eating 1-2 slices of bread a day :wink:

I gave up eating bread a few years ago. One of the best things I ever did to help get into shape.

Paul.

Hi all, thanks again for the replies.

I must say that I am really surprised that all you guys don't or almost don't eat bread at all.. I can't think of what to eat then to still my hunger, get enough carbs & proteins a day.. I thought gymnast's didn't really care about what they ate, since Jordan blabla answered to the question of 'What do you eat' with: "ehh i like soup, and chicken.."

So I better eat salads, fruit, meat, brocolli, spinach etc.. Well, I absolutely can't totally stop eating bread, since I simply cannot warm/prepare vegetables/meat etc. troughout the day.. I can however buy salads at school, but will this really be enough to stop my hunger? I usually eat salads and fruits in addition to my bread/dinner..

Greets, Danny..

Eating bread is fine in moderation i've done it on a cut in BBing and been ripped at 230lbs. obviously the type of bread is very important. Whole grain ect is fine if you dont go nuts on it.

Danni, You've gotten some good advice here. It's a good idea to cut back on carbs. You don't want to cut back on calories though, studies have shown that low-calorie (and especially low-fat) diets reduce serum testosterone, needed in muscle building and general good health. It's true gymnasts eat anything, but that's probably because they're usually very young and can handle anything. That's not going to work as you become an adult .

Also increase your interval training to 2-3 * a week. 6*200 in 30 - 35 sec is a nice workout for a non-runner. More will burn you out too much.

I often wonder why people defend bread so much? If people read around the things that bread does to you, asides from contributing to elevated blood-sugar/insulin levels ...they probably wouldn't eat it at all! And wholegrain is no better than white ...it's just worse for you in different ways. It is also not necessary in a balanced diet, despite what cereal companies want you to believe.

IMO - don't eat it. I you choose to, do it knowing full well that it is plain bad for you.

George.

JoeS,

Absolutely. Keep your calorie intake up with good fats. Right on the money with the age thing. If people were to eat the way most people do nowadays as they grew older they'd be ...wait ...part of the current obesity epidemic!

Cheers,

George.

@JoeS, thanks a lot for you reply! What does 6*200 in 30-35 seconds mean? That's running, not sprinting, right?

Or do you just mean 6x200m sprints?

@George, yeah you are sure anti-bread. :wink: I am only 17 now, and there's no way I can drop the bread eating so I think i'll eat other things you mentioned as much as I can and eat as little bread as possible! What I was wondering, all the people I know eat bread, and they are all healthy, so what's up? My dad who's 45 eats bread, and he is considered very healthy!

Besides, I am super healthy the doctors from the navy-test said. I only personally want to drop a little in my bodyfat, but only for my health, since I have a sixpack, definition and all the visual things of low bodyfat.

You get out of your body what you put into it. Get yourself as many vitamins and minerals as you can through dietary means first and supplement where it's needed.

I don't think it's that a gymnast can eat WHATEVER they want...more that they could probably eat almost as much as they want because their expenditures are going to be lightyears higher than an equivalent sedentary individual. This doesn't mean a gymnast can pump his body full of sugars and useless crap. Treat your body with care. Give it the nutrition it needs.

Hey Danny,

The thing to remember that looking healthy isn't the same as being healthy. Obesity is simply another symptom of an underlying problem, and as such is not necessarily displayed by all people. People who appear to be perfectly healthy still die of cardiovascular disease, cancer, etc. with alarming regularity.

You might be super healthy now, and the sooner you pay attention to your long-term health ...the longer it will stay that way. I hope you make the effort while you are still young and healthy ...since I can tell you from experience: It's really hard when you are old, overweight and out of shape. It's much easier to keep it than get it back!

George.

Yes, 6*200 meters. At that pace, it's very fast running but not necessarily sprinting unless you get below 28 sec or so. This type of workout will speed your metabolism and destroy any fat you have left .

Bread will not kill you but if you want to be a very good athlete it will be an obstacle if you're constantly fighting your weight and your T levels are too low. If you were a distance athlete like Lance Armstrong then I'd say a high-carb diet might be necessary for fuel, but gymnastics, like weightlifting is a strength/muscle dominant sport, so cut back on the carbs!

George said:

I often wonder why people defend bread so much? If people read around the things that bread does to you, asides from contributing to elevated blood-sugar/insulin levels ...they probably wouldn't eat it at all! And wholegrain is no better than white ...it's just worse for you in different ways. It is also not necessary in a balanced diet, despite what cereal companies want you to believe.

IMO - don't eat it. I you choose to, do it knowing full well that it is plain bad for you.

George.

George please can you post some studies/findings i'd like to read them. A lot of the best athletes I know eat bread so I cant see it having a massive effect but I fully agree there's better carb sources from a purely functional level and i'm always open to changing my opinion.

Danni it seems like your willing to at least try and give up the bread (geez! bread is starting become some sort of illicit substance on this site) which is great but it seems like your problem is substitution, since I'm in a similar situation I thought I'd give you a list of foods that are great for snacking on:

-nuts, yes simply nuts grab a hand full when feeling hungry and nibble away

-tuna, cans of tuna are one of my favourites, omega 3 and all that jazz plus there so easy to take places, preferably get just tuna in springwater or olive oil, flavoured ones are excepteble but not preffered

-fruits, simple one

-dried fruits, often more convenient than fresh fruit

-veggies, carrots are good so are cherry/grape tomatoes

-meatballs, homemade meatballs are great, easy to put in a lunchbox etc

-boiled eggs, a good preparation is when having them for breakfast cook a few extra and leave 'em in the fridge for later

That's about it. Those are the main foods I have to keep to paleo like diet.

Ed

P.S as a side note to my previous sugar post, artifical sweeterner is just as bad as bad as sugar if not worse.

Hi Alex,

Alex said:

George please can you post some studies/findings i'd like to read them. A lot of the best athletes I know eat bread so I cant see it having a massive effect but I fully agree there's better carb sources from a purely functional level and i'm always open to changing my opinion.

Have a deadline for Toyota over next couple of days, so won't be able to search for anything specific until after then. If you're genuinely interested, you should read Protein Power by Drs. Eades.

N.B. If anyone can help Alex out in the meantime, by all means jump in ...as I probably won't have time until the weekend.

Cheers,

George.

Thanks George I'll have a dig around. Hope the dead lining goes well.

Well George... I personally do not agree with you on the bread being horrible for you thing.... White bread is junk but whole wheat is good... just don't eat too much. You can find evidence that meat is horrible for you... (which I personally don't think it's the best.)

Hi Chiflado,

Firstly, "whole wheat" is merely slightly less processed than white flour, it's a long way from whole. Whole grains would pretty much pass through undigested. It just means that very little is taken away during processing, and that it's not bleached.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion. Mine is that people are not evolved to eat grains. Eat things you are not evolved to eat, and you're asking for trouble. Look at the health of the general population of the western world if you want evidence. I don't know anyone who gave up grains and didn't feel a whole lot better. Whichever way you look at it, any form of grain is a high-carb foodstuff, and therefore bad for you regardless of it's origin.

I agree, too much meat IS bad for you. A common misconception is that the opposite of a high-carb diet is a high-protein diet ...it is not. It is a high-fat diet, with adequate protein. With everything, the key factor is quality of food: You are what your body makes from the food you eat. Asides from grains, we are also not evolved to eat hormone-filled, antibiotic-ridden, grain-fed Omega6 feed-lot cattle.

I don't expect (or want) you or anyone to just take my word for it, they should read around the subject and form their own beliefs. As I have said before - People live with the consequences of their nutritional choices.

I'd love to just drop the whole issue and not have to keep going round the houses, as grains will always be touted as healthy while there's money to be made, and some illusion of 'healthfulness' remains with which to distort the facts.

In short, people should eat as much bread as they like. Just do it with their eyes open to the short- and long-term risks. It's amazing what the human body can cope with (and survive on) ...but you can't expect it to run optimally and/or survive for a long time that way.

Regards,

George.

Thanks for the reply George... I'm glad it didn't explode into a big argument. While I still disagree, we shall agree to disagree.

Hope no hard feelings.

Hi Chiflado,

Hard feelings? ...of course not!! If people agreed on everything, the world would be a dull place.

Best,

George.

Could you point me in the direction of some of the studies into the affects of grain that you've read when you have some free time? Thank you.