First reality shock

[corrector]

I'm getting results as follows:

Before: 250 lbs, 41% body-fat.

2 weeks ago: 250 lbs, 27% body-fat.

Yesterday: 244 lbs, 25% body-fat.

The aim is to be less than 225 lbs and less than 20% body-fat if I'm just looking at numbers. Do I think it's possible. Obviously, 41% to 25% body-fat means whatever I'm paying this trainer, and what exercises he is having me to seems like it's working.

He is saying the biggest challenge is at the beginning, I'm at the point I can expect to see dramatic results. All the right diet habits are in place. Metabolism is now spiking higher due to muscles and exercise. If I quit the trainer and this program now then I may be stupid.



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For my face, I just got a haircut and will consider replacing my glasses with contact lenses and make a determination to dress my best when my foot is out the door (although I feel more comfortable with slobby clothes on).

For now, I have not noticing anything dramatic with the ladies looking at me, or checking me out, or approaching me. These are the results I'm looking for too. I have noticed subtle stuff though. But then, what am I expecting, all I would be doing is day-game, and when do women approach guys on day-game anyway? They are all about their own business and don't expect to meet anyone. If I still don't approach and talk to anyone, or if I am an "inner wuss" inside or socially awkward then I don't know.

 

[AAAgent]

So i'm assuming you pay for a trainer because of:

1.) you're inexperienced at exercising
2.) You lack the drive to push yourself to achieve these results alone.

If it's not number 2, the members here can help you with achieving these results for free.

It sounds like the trainers your getting are either no good or you're not fully cooperating with them, or a bit of both.

IF you have a half decent trainer that understands your goals and is willing to push you towards them, and you yourself and willing to commit to doing what it takes to achieve those goals, i see no reason that it's taking this long to see drastic results. Especially being at 250lb's. I've gone from 185 lbs to 165lbs, and regained most of the muscle mass i lost prior to gaining weight in about 4 months.

 

[corrector]

So i'm assuming you pay for a trainer because of:

1.) you're inexperienced at exercising
2.) You lack the drive to push yourself to achieve these results alone.

If it's not number 2, the members here can help you with achieving these results for free.

It is not that simple.

The trainer is doing stuff with me that would make it practically impossible to do exercises on my own:

1) He is spotting me on heavy weights where my muscles will hit a wall and I'll lose the full range of motion on the exercise.

2) He is trying the most heaviest weights and continues pushing me harder. I am lifting heavier weights than when I first started.

So, no matter what you say, this trainer seems to know what he is doing and I have never, on my own, or with any other trainer before, beat weight lifting records like that.

It sounds like the trainers your getting are either no good or you're not fully cooperating with them, or a bit of both.

IF you have a half decent trainer that understands your goals and is willing to push you towards them, and you yourself and willing to commit to doing what it takes to achieve those goals, i see no reason that it's taking this long to see drastic results. Especially being at 250lb's. I've gone from 185 lbs to 165lbs, and regained most of the muscle mass i lost prior to gaining weight in about 4 months.

Did you read my last post above? It does show an improvement on body-fat index and shows that it is the bad fat that is going down and the muscle mass that is growing.

I could easily lose allot of muscle and water since muscle is 5 times as heavy as fat. So, if body-fat index numbers are going in the right direction it shows the right type of weight is going down and I won't have to worry about bulking up again.

In fact, muscles are supposed to help burn fat when you are resting.

I've put this program on hold for now...but if the numbers are in the right direction and in two weeks there is a 2% body-fat improvement and 6 lbs lost, then by any standard that is an excellent result.

Normally, if you go on any weight-loss program, they would peg healthy weight loss at 2 lbs per week. In the past two weeks there is 3 lbs of fat lost per week on average. With a lower body-fat percentage it shows that there is no muscle loss.

Maybe this trainer is right and that the beginning is difficult but now it should be down-hill to start getting dramatic results. You told me about 20 lbs. I've ALREADY lost 20 lbs of body-fat. Doing the math:

41% of 248 lbs = 102 lbs of fat
28% of 254.21 lbs = 71.2 lbs of fat.
25.3% of 244 lbs = 62.01

In the past two weeks, 9 lbs of fat lost. Since the beginning, it would seem like 40 lbs of fat was lost even though the weight just a few lbs less than what I started. What would have happened is there is a muscle build-up and fat loss occurring at the same time but it is balancing or even increasing the overall weight. Now the muscles are stronger and built, the metabolism and nutrient requirements means more food is being stored to build muscle rather than is being stored as fat, and fat is being metabolized even while resting. If I give up on this program now then I'll start losing the wrong type of weight as the muscles atrophy and aren't getting the proper nutrients and I'll get stuck around this 240 lbs weight.

So, I am really lost here as to whether to continue with this or not. All I do know is this does not seem to be really helping me with the ladies in any way that I can discern and is one of the reasons I'm getting cold feet about it.

The only way to be sure this is not some blip is to stick for another two weeks and do this program rigorously and then get measured again two weeks later. If it's by 20% body-fat then then I would really be able to see there is a momentum as the trainer is claiming.

The body-fat % measurements is really the thing holding this together to show there is progress. If anyone is tricking me then either the body-fat machine isn't working properly (I use the same one all the time), so it's unlikely the same machine would be spitting out different results over time which show I'm improving if I'm not.

 

[AAAgent]

I'm not saying you aren't improving, i'm saying you're not improving at the rate you should be improving.

Lifting weights is great but if your goal is losing weight you should be lifting light weights with more reps to burn more fat. Lighter weights don't require a spot either.

Why aren't you running long distances? Trying running a mile at a jog pace, then slowly increase the pace and the distance. If you're running 20 miles a week and lifting weight with emphasis on 10-15 reps x 3 sets, without eating more than you do now, i can totally see you making great improvements.

If you are happy with these results as its been a month, then that's great but if i was spending that kind of money, i'd push for more....a lot more. I'd push for atleast 1lb a week minimum.

Hit the gym regularly (3-4 for 1 hour), put in 10-15 reps x 3 sets of some chest, arms, back, and legs + run a good 15-20 miles a week and i guarantee you'll lose some weight. You also probably have a lot of water weight. Trying going for some sauna time like 2 times a week for a good 15-30 minutes. sweat some of that weight off.

 

[corrector]

I'm not saying you aren't improving, i'm saying you're not improving at the rate you should be improving.

Lifting weights is great but if your goal is losing weight you should be lifting light weights with more reps to burn more fat. Lighter weights don't require a spot either.

The weights have a high-rep, some as high as 20 - 25. I also get drop-sets after the heavy weight, sometimes two different drop-sets. So, I may start with a high weight for 10 reps, but the drop-sets would spike to 20-25 reps since the weights are lower.

Why aren't you running long distances? Trying running a mile at a jog pace, then slowly increase the pace and the distance. If you're running 20 miles a week and lifting weight with emphasis on 10-15 reps x 3 sets, without eating more than you do now, i can totally see you making great improvements.

Because I hate running. I love biking since you have a mix of up-hill and downhill terrain so it's more like interval training. I bike all over the place and already wrote that. I don't mind biking all over the city's trails or out of town since I it's like an escape with me.

If you are happy with these results as its been a month, then that's great but if i was spending that kind of money, i'd push for more....a lot more. I'd push for atleast 1lb a week minimum.

I think we are either speaking two different languages or you are not reading my post.

Didn't I not say I lost over 8lbs in two weeks and 90% of that was body-fat? What about the big body-fat losses? Body-fat index is lower than when I started. Those numbers ARE dramatic as it shows 40 lbs of fat loss since I started.

Hit the gym regularly (3-4 for 1 hour), put in 10-15 reps x 3 sets of some chest, arms, back, and legs + run a good 15-20 miles a week and i guarantee you'll lose some weight. You also probably have a lot of water weight. Trying going for some sauna time like 2 times a week for a good 15-30 minutes. sweat some of that weight off.

Don't eat salty foods so it's unlikely I have water weight. It's summer time where I am at and it is already like a sauna if you have no air conditioning.

I'm could bike this distance per week if not more depending on what trail I choose. But again, I want to lose the right type of weight.

What you can tell me is that I have enough muscles at 25% body-fat and should not focus on building more muscles or taking anything that would increase muscle weight further and I'd get that. But the trade-off is muscle is supposed to burn fat.

 

[AAAgent]

biking is not a substitution for running. I'd still run if you really want to lose more weight. Sure its not easy but hey, all great accomplishments require hard work and is rarely an enjoyable process to go through.

Once again, biking is not a substitution for running. Just try it, it might suck but hey, what do you have to lose, you've love biking and have been doing it for a while with little drastic improvements, try out running and supplement running with some biking. If you do opt for biking, i'd multiply the distance x 5 of what i said (estimated).

As to your weight loss, i missed that 244 lbs of weight loss and just saw the 250lb initial and 2 weeks in still at 250lbs. Good work and i'm glad the results kicked in, they take a while sometimes but you just have to believe and work hard.

 

[Bible_Belt]

muscle is supposed to burn fat.

If that were true, then the guys with the most muscle, like world-champion power lifters and NFL linemen would have a lean and toned physique too, simply because all that muscle burnt off their fat. But it's not that simple.

Bodybuilders have separate bulking and cutting routines. Adding muscle and losing fat are two separate goals that require separate routines and diets. You can do both, but typically not at the same time.

 

[corrector]

Once again, biking is not a substitution for running. Just try it, it might suck but hey, what do you have to lose, you've love biking and have been doing it for a while with little drastic improvements, try out running and supplement running with some biking. If you do opt for biking, i'd multiply the distance x 5 of what i said (estimated).

A distance of 100 miles per week by biking is doable with me. It is time-consuming to the point at least half of each day would have to be devoted to exercise. But it's fun. I'd have to stick to exercises that are simply fun to do. Jogging is not fun since you can't get the speed you can get in a bike.

It would be interesting if I decided to just take a bike-vacation in life and just biked like crazy until I lost the weight, like you said. When I bike I don't eat, I just drink water and I'm just happy taking in the sights of the trails and not eating (ensuring less calories coming in). Maybe that is it.

 

[DanZy]

Some of what AAAgent is saying is true, a fair bit is very off.

@corrector, yes you've lost a good lot of fat but you started out with a hell of a lot. When you're excessively fat, losing it is very very easy. Your metabolism is very fast due to your large weight and this means that creating a caloric deficit is easy and that losing weight takes very little effort. Any half decent diet will do that, hell you could just eat 2000 calories a day worth of twinkies and you'd lose fat very quickly.

Your rep ranges are appalling. You should be doing no more than 5-6 and going heavy. Theres no such thing as doing high reps for fat loss, that's a load of bull****. You don't need a trainer to spot you, you just need to push yourself. I've rarely had the opportunity of having a spotter and I still push the weights ever higher. On bench you just need to be a little more cautious and you'll be fine.

You have a lot more weight to lose, start something like Starting Strength or Stronglifts and keep the caloric deficit. You have so much fat currently that your body isnt going to try retain it very much and therefore your muscles will still receive the nutrients they require whilst you cut down. You CAN build muscle and lose fat at the same time, especially as you're new to lifting. So to summarise: Lose the trainer, the workouts he's giving you are ****. Start a strength building program like Starting Strength. Continue dieting down, you still have lots of fat to lose.

You don't need an cardio to lose fat, it doesn't really do very much anyway.
The program is working because you're new and overweight, it's almost impossible to make progress in that situation. The trainer isn't doing anything special.

If you want to really lose that fat check out Leangains is the best intermittent fasting resource on the planet and it works brilliantly

 

[dally]

My recommendation is to do Rippetoe's starting strength program. Do both workouts A and B, in one week. That's 2 weightlifting gym sessions.
In between those sessions, go biking, in 2 days. That's 4 days of good exercise.
Eat a clean diet, then have one cheat day.

 

[MetalFortress]

I'm getting results as follows:

Before: 250 lbs, 41% body-fat.

2 weeks ago: 250 lbs, 27% body-fat.

Yesterday: 244 lbs, 25% body-fat.

The aim is to be less than 225 lbs and less than 20% body-fat if I'm just looking at numbers. Do I think it's possible. Obviously, 41% to 25% body-fat means whatever I'm paying this trainer, and what exercises he is having me to seems like it's working.

He is saying the biggest challenge is at the beginning, I'm at the point I can expect to see dramatic results. All the right diet habits are in place. Metabolism is now spiking higher due to muscles and exercise. If I quit the trainer and this program now then I may be stupid.



********

For my face, I just got a haircut and will consider replacing my glasses with contact lenses and make a determination to dress my best when my foot is out the door (although I feel more comfortable with slobby clothes on).

For now, I have not noticing anything dramatic with the ladies looking at me, or checking me out, or approaching me. These are the results I'm looking for too. I have noticed subtle stuff though. But then, what am I expecting, all I would be doing is day-game, and when do women approach guys on day-game anyway? They are all about their own business and don't expect to meet anyone. If I still don't approach and talk to anyone, or if I am an "inner wuss" inside or socially awkward then I don't know.

Dunno about you, but IMHO, dropping 15 percent bodyfat while gaining an equivalent amount of muscle is pretty nice. If something's working, keep doing what works and stop asking a bunch of 18 year olds what you should be doing. Sounds to me like you have "paralysis of analysis", or if you don't already, then you'll get that eventually from this place.

If you really want to change something, start doing Eat Stop Eat (which pretty much goes with anything, diet or exercisewise) to lose fat faster, and bike on your off time outside of your workouts, but keep the workouts the same.