Fat loss advice

[SpeedRacer 1]

Well, now that I'm 43 it's creeping up on me, especially all the homebrew & other beer drinking. I need to drop about 10 lbs of fat, but I don't want to lose muscle mass.

so I'm cutting out beer & all other alcohol, cutting back on starchy food, watching portion-size generally, and getting back into the gym after work for mostly nautilus-type training (to prevent loss of muscle mass) & will start doing some aerobic-type exercise in the morning & a little more in the evening combined with the gym training.

My question is:
1)are there any supplements out there that will help, and
2) I plan on going on a 12 mile hike in the mountains on Saturday, is there anything that can "release" more fat energy? It can get pretty tiring towards the last leg of a long hike in the mountains.

Speed Racer
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[Andrewwhyte 1]

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1)are there any supplements out there that will help,

Meth.

[NWFlyer 2]

My personal opinion - the stuff you described is exactly the right thing to do without worrying about supplements to "release" fat. What are you looking for at the end of your hike - some sort of supplement? Or some particular type of food to eat?

You may want to get a body fat test so you have a baseline, then as you lose weight you can get measured again to make sure you're losing primarily fat.

One thing that you didn't mention is how much water/non-caloric beverages you're drinking. That can help a lot with weight loss, especially if you're not already drinking a good amount. Helps with feeling full, but it also just helps things "move" better (non-scientific opinion, but seems to really help). It can also be a good "oral fixation" substitute for your beer - replace beer bottle with water bottle.

If you're not a breakfast person, try to become one - especially if you're adding a morning workout. Oatmeal, eggs, whole grain cereal, yogurt, fruit ... something in the morning to get your metabolism going and your energy up, otherwise, you're actually doing your body a disservice if you wait till lunch to eat.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[NWFlyer 2]

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1)are there any supplements out there that will help,

Meth.

I was thinking heroin, myself.

[aresye 0]

Zone Diet + CrossFit (http://www.crossfit.com). Site is free, and they have a Workout of the Day (WOD) posted every day. Most of them are pretty tough, but you can scale them down to fit your current fitness level.

Best advice though, is to join a CF gym near your area.

Skydiving: You either learn from other's mistakes, or they'll learn from yours.

[downwardspiral 0]

It depends. Do you want to lose it permanently or do you just want to be able to fit into that dress again? If it's permanent then you need to make a lifestyle change. Start cutting back on "bad" things in your daily diet. Make sure you get enough sleep every night. Stay active. Weigh yourself everyday at the same time. Keep in mind slow weight loss is better than fast weight loss.

4 years ago I was 250 pounds and started doing all these things. Currently I weigh around 205 and am slowly coming down. I'm probably losing 1 pound per month. My target weight is 195.

Good luck!

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[alanab 0]

CLA

[idrankwhat 0]

Eat less and move more. What you're planning looks pretty good but don't try to cut out meals. Eat smaller meals but do it about 5 times per day. It helps boost your metabolism when your body realizes that food is regularly available. Also, eating before you go to bed is a big no no. Or you could keep your current diet, quit your job and work out with Michael Phelps every day. His current caloric intake is between 8000 and 12,000 per day. Now that's livin!

[downwardspiral 0]

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If you're not a breakfast person, try to become one - especially if you're adding a morning workout. Oatmeal, eggs, whole grain cereal, yogurt, fruit ... something in the morning to get your metabolism going and your energy up, otherwise, you're actually doing your body a disservice if you wait till lunch to eat.

I agree. I've also found that adding something with sugar to your breakfast helps with minimizing the desire for sugar in the afternoon while also not having the typical effect sugar normally has on the body.

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[Orchid 0]

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My question is:
1)are there any supplements out there that will help,

Stay active of course.....drink green tea, instead of beer...a glass of red wine @ dinner. OMEGA 3 replaces the bad fat....reduces cholesterol.

"Love is doing small things with great love."

Lacrosse: Legally beating men with sticks since 1492

[NobodysHero01 0]

I think both questions have the same answer.

Maybe, but are you trying to lost weight to be healthy or for a specific event? I feel like anything that actually helps you lose weight or burn fat (and their are things that do work) probably isn't good for your overall health (i.e. meth).

Sounds like you have the right plan already figured out. Cardio in the morning. Weights in the afternoon. Cut out the "empty" calories like beer.

-- Mike
"Embrace this moment. Remember. We are eternal. All this pain is an illusion"

[ladydyver 0]

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Quote

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1)are there any supplements out there that will help,

Meth.

I was thinking heroin, myself.

sadly it is making a big come back right now.

DPH # 2
"I am not sure what you are suppose to do with that, but I don't think it is suppose to flop around like that." ~Skootz~
I have a strong regard for the rules.......doc!

[ladydyver 0]

I have lost 20 lbs over the last year.....southbeach diet and exercise - limit soda pop. eat breakfast!

DPH # 2
"I am not sure what you are suppose to do with that, but I don't think it is suppose to flop around like that." ~Skootz~
I have a strong regard for the rules.......doc!

[ryoder 1,384]

I was 6 pounds lighter when I got done doing this ride yesterday:

http://www.dim.com/~ryoder/lyons-raymond-ward-nederland.png

9 hours of riding time, and elevations ranging from 5300' to 9400'.
So just do it 2 days in a row, and that should take care of the 10 lbs.

(Yes, I know there was a lot of water loss. When I saw what I had lost, I started chugging iced tea to make up it up. But I'm still down 3 lbs today.)

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[downwardspiral 0]

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Maybe, but are you trying to lost weight to be healthy or for a specific event? I feel like anything that actually helps you lose weight or burn fat (and their are things that do work) probably isn't good for your overall health (i.e. meth).

.

Supplements are not the way to go when looking at the long term. If the desire was to cut weight for a competition and there was a need for an extra boost then supplements would be beneficial.

As far as health concerns? When I was in the Marines I would take metobolic enhancers (containing ephedrin) everyday. Ended up getting addicted and didn't come off of it until the US outlawed ephedrin at which point I was not a nice person for a while.

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[Lindsey 0]

You're the molecular biologist or some crazy-smart mad scientist or something like that. I think you have ulterior motives here. This is a set-up...lol.

linz

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[SpeedRacer 1]

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I think both questions have the same answer.

Maybe, but are you trying to lost weight to be healthy or for a specific event? I feel like anything that actually helps you lose weight or burn fat (and their are things that do work) probably isn't good for your overall health (i.e. meth).

Aw, what's wrong with a little meth & maybe a speedball or two to get through the day?

Speed Racer
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[jaitken 0]

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Well, now that I'm 43 [...] I need to drop about 10 lbs of fat, but I don't want to lose muscle mass.

If you do what you say you're gonna do then you don't need supplements. If you're hell bent on spending money then get some ephedrine and do an ECA stack. Unlike 99% of the crap you see in the muscle mags it will actually work. But there's really no need. If you clean up your diet and add a little exercise you should be able to drop that 10lbs of fat in 6-8 weeks, maybe less -- spend the $$$ on jump tickets instead.

If you need something more structured, I highly recommend either of the following:

Tom Venuto's "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" program: http://www.burnthefat.com/
Will Brink's "Fat Loss Revealed" program: http://www.fatlossrevealed.com/

An added benefit of FLR is you get a year's worth of access to their forums which include, among lots of other useful stuff, an extensive database of reviews of just about every supplement out there. Check them out, both Tom and Will are highly regarded in the fitness/bodybuilding worlds; neither one will steer you wrong. Here's an article written by Will that you may find useful:

http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/nutritionbasics/a/brinknutrition.htm

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
--Mario Andretti

[SpeedRacer 1]

Good post! And it brings up a point: when I said I wanna lose 10 lbs of fat it was just a guess. I'm not concerned with total body weight lost. I don't even own a scale. I just want to lose this layer of fat (I'm going by waistline measurement, not weight.)

(And I don't want to lose muscle, because less muscle mass = less calories burned while resting.)

Speed Racer
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[Broke 0]

CoQ10 You will feel your energy leven increase in about a week. That and some Omega 3 fatty acids and that is a good start.

Eat more fish... mmm sushi anyone?

Also wrap your mind around this. Losing weight and gaining muslce are two diametrecially opposed goals. To lose fat you need to eat less, and to gain muscle you need to eat more.

Check out this web site and listen to their podcasts. www.boosworld.com

A lot of other suppliments out there are so so. Chromium is said to be good for helping with fat burn, but I havn't noticed any appreciable differance when I was taking it.

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[jaitken 0]

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I'm not concerned with total body weight lost. I don't even own a scale. I just want to lose this layer of fat (I'm going by waistline measurement, not weight.)

A central component of Tom's BFFM program is bodyfat measurements. Using a simple, cheap caliper, you can get surprisingly accurate measurements, and as long as that number trends down you're doing something right, assuming you're measuring consistently, of course!

(And I don't want to lose muscle, because less muscle mass = less calories burned while resting.)

Exactly. Overall weight alone isn't a good metric. You need to know your Lean Body Mass (LBM), which is why tracking bodyfat percentage is key. This is why the starvation diets aren't good long-term; you end up losing lots of lean mass too, which is bad.

Good luck, and as Tom says: Train Hard and Expect Success!

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
--Mario Andretti

[SpeedRacer 1]

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Also wrap your mind around this. Losing weight and gaining muslce are two diametrecially opposed goals.

if you want to gain a LOT of muscle, then yes.

But I'm not trying to become a bodybuilder here. I just want to maintain/slightly gain muscle mass & lose the fat.

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[downwardspiral 0]

I honestly wouldn't worry about losing muscle mass if I were you. As long as you're not starving yourself that shouldn't be an issue.

www.FourWheelerHB.com

[jaitken 0]

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Also wrap your mind around this. Losing weight and gaining muslce are two diametrecially opposed goals. To lose fat you need to eat less, and to gain muscle you need to eat more.

Sort of... it's not that simple. True, for maximum muscle gain you have to eat a lot, and to lose fat you have to have a calorie deficit. But it's definitely possible to lose fat while building, or at least maintaining, LBM. And the OP's stated goal was fat loss.

Your comment on fish is spot-on, though... one of the keys to a good (long-term) diet is to replace most of the "bad" fats in your diet with "good" fats, not to simply cut out fat, contrary to much popular opinion! Salmon, tuna, etc are GREAT sources of good fats... as are flax oil, olive oil, etc. With a little research and experimentation it's not too hard to incorporate these into most meals... use olive oil for cooking and salad dressings, eat fish a couple times a week, etc. There's no need to go on the "boiled chicken and brown rice every meal" diet.

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
--Mario Andretti

[Hausse 0]

The only way that you can lose fat and not lose muscles at the same time is if you use a steroid (for example Testosterone Enanthate 250mg e7d) but seeing that you don't have any competition goals, that would definitely be an overkill. Calculate your current daily calorie need and just cut that by about 500. Do a good low carb diet and if necessary do an ECA stack, but seeing that you are 43, you might not want to have your heart go through that whole thing.

Most importantly: NO EXEPTIONS. You really need to be 100% disciplined about the eating to get good results. Otherwise it will take way longer and be an even bigger pain in the but.