Muscles, protein and fat

The Litwaks wrote:
> I joined a health club last week because bike riding is not getting
> my weight down.

You didnt mention what you eat on a daily basis. Scrutinize that if you
are exercising and not losing weight. Also dont use just the scale as a
measurement. Get a tape measure, jot down your body measurements, and
remeasure in a month. You could also get your bodyfat tested which
tells you the honest picture over the evil scale.


joanne
 >> Stay informed about: Muscles, protein and fat 

They told you something right. Fat burning needs, before anything else, open
mind.

"The Litwaks" <litwakfamily RemoveThis @verizon.net> wrote in message
news:44F682BE.7060507@verizon.net...
> I joined a health club last week because bike riding is not getting my
> weight down. I'm trying to mix cardio exercise and strength training. I
> have a specific fitness goal to lose a lot of pounds by a specific date,
> which will be hard to do.
>
> I've been told three thins by trainers at the health club that I find
> hard to believe.
> 1. If I don't eat enough carbohydrates, I will burn muscle during
> exercise.
>
> While it is true that I need carbs for Glycogen, if I have excess fat, my
> body should burn fat before it burns anything else, no?
>
> 2. If I do too much cardio work, I will burn muscle rather than fat.
>
> Again, if I have excess fat, my body is going to burn fat first, as
> long as I have enough protein in my diet to form new muscle, right?
>
> 3. IF I do the same strength training regimen weekly, I will have a
> problem because I will get muscle memory and it won't do any good any
> more. I have to hire a trainer to guide every workout.
>
> At one time, I went into doing triathlons and got into great shape for
> my purposes with little weight lifting and besides that, weight lifting is
> weight lifting. It will still take energy and develop muscle no matter
> how many times I do the same workout, no?
>
 >> Stay informed about: Muscles, protein and fat 

The Litwaks wrote:
> I joined a health club last week because bike riding is not getting
> my weight down. I'm trying to mix cardio exercise and strength
> training. I have a specific fitness goal to lose a lot of pounds by a
> specific date, which will be hard to do.

That's not a fitness goal--it's a vanity
goal. Inevitably, a lofty scale-weight
goal drags you into a situation where
you're forced to do a lot of cardio and
crash diet. That results in more lost
muscle than you would experience with a more
conservative approach. It also sets you
up for failure, depression and rebound
fat gain. I hope that whatever you're
preparing for is worth the risk.

> I've been told three thins by trainers at the health club that I find
> hard to believe.
> 1. If I don't eat enough carbohydrates, I will burn muscle during
> exercise.

Low carb dieting flies in the face of that.
The established medical industry doctrine
pushes carbohydrate-rich diets when around
here it's pretty much common knowledge that
low carb is best for sparing muscle while
losing fat at the highest possible rate.

> While it is true that I need carbs for Glycogen,

There's no such thing as an essential carbohydrate.
Glycogen can be made from protein.

> if I have excess fat,
> my body should burn fat before it burns anything else, no?

The body uses all three macronutrients to produce
energy expressed as physical and mental work.
Exercise and diet can effect the average percentage
of each that is used. In general, having excess
fat tends to increase the fat portion of the equation.
Low carb (or high fat) dieting tends to increase the
fat portion as well. Again, that flies in the face
of the commonly taught high carb/low fat diet.

> 2. If I do too much cardio work, I will burn muscle rather than fat.

I agree with that. I see cardio for weight loss (as
opposed to cardio for cardiovascular conditioning)
as an optional component that's something of a
necessary evil for those who can't reach their goals
without it. I believe in weight/resistance training
to build/spare muscle and dieting to become lean.
If ones goals are such that weight training and diet
isn't enough, then cardio becomes necessary.

> Again, if I have excess fat, my body is going to burn fat first, as
> long as I have enough protein in my diet to form new muscle, right?

Again, your body is always using some of each (carbs,
protein, fat). The percentages of each can be expressed
as a ratio. What I'm trying to convey is that exercise
and diet choices influence that ratio. I believe that
weight training and low carb dieting shift the ratio
more toward fat burning and muscle sparing than cardio
and a low fat (high carb) diet.

> 3. IF I do the same strength training regimen weekly, I will have a
> problem because I will get muscle memory and it won't do any good any
> more.

There may be some truth to that. However, I also see
cases of that as being fairly extreme in that it's
pretty easy to prevent.

> I have to hire a trainer to guide every workout.

Or learn enough so that you can produce your own
routines.

> At one time, I went into doing triathlons and got into great shape
> for my purposes with little weight lifting and besides that, weight
> lifting is weight lifting. It will still take energy and develop muscle
> no matter how many times I do the same workout, no?

When the workout no longer stimulates a physiological
response, progress will halt. Your job is to keep it
fresh, challenging and progressive enough to prevent
that.
--
 >> Stay informed about: Muscles, protein and fat 

On Thu, 31 Aug 2006, The Litwaks wrote:

> 1. If I don't eat enough carbohydrates, I will burn muscle during exercise.

I don't think that's true. You might well be burning muscle, but it won't
be during exercise - muscle breakdown is far too slow to be a useful
short-term energy source.

> 2. If I do too much cardio work, I will burn muscle rather than fat.

It's not quite as simple as burning fat then muscle; your body wants to
preserve some of both, and so will burn muscle to spare fat. I think a
ratio of 3:1 fat to protein lost (in terms of mass - so 6:1 or more in
terms of energy contribution) is average for normal diets; i believe that
eating a higher proportion of protein (and doing strength exercise,
although i'm not sure about that) shift the ratio towards burning more
fat.

I can't cite research to back this up offhand, though, so don't quote me
on that.

> 3. IF I do the same strength training regimen weekly, I will have a
> problem because I will get muscle memory and it won't do any good any
> more. I have to hire a trainer to guide every workout.

Complete fiction. I don't have a personal trainer, have a pretty
consistent workout, and have been getting stronger.

One thing i think you can be fairly sure of from what your trainer's told
you is that they're an idiot. Dumping them would be a very easy way to
lose a hundred-odd pounds of useless weight!

tom

--
Gens una summus.
 >> Stay informed about: Muscles, protein and fat 

In article <w1BJg.14775$sl2.28447@weber.videotron.net>, "savonfort"
<savonfort.TakeThisOut@yahoo.ca> wrote:

> They told you something right. Fat burning needs, before anything else, open
> mind.

What??
 >> Stay informed about: Muscles, protein and fat 

"Will Brink" <willbrink DeleteThis @comcast.net> schreef:

>> They told you something right. Fat burning needs, before anything else,
>> open
>> mind.

> What??

Its true, Will.

If you are stubborn, narrow minded, dogmatic, with tunnel vision, you can
forget about burning fat.

Its because of the... you know... "mind-muscle connection."

----
Pete
 >> Stay informed about: Muscles, protein and fat 

jimmy wrote:
> The Litwaks wrote:
> > I joined a health club last week because bike riding is not getting
> > my weight down. I'm trying to mix cardio exercise and strength
> > training. I have a specific fitness goal to lose a lot of pounds by a
> > specific date, which will be hard to do.
> >
> > I've been told three thins

Three thins? Was that a pun, TL?

> > by trainers at the health club that I find hard to belie<snip>

Trainers are fallible? NO!

> There are many ways to lose weight.
>
> Aerobics is one way.
> Anaerobic activity (lifting weights) is another way.

Ah, tut tut, jimmy, you forgot the third A, the MFW standard, I do
believe:

Amputate.

Seriously, and to the OP, is there a Wal-Mart in your area? For $10.88
or so, The Abs Diet offers sound advice that could serve you well. Or
check it out online at http://theabsdiet.com/.

Hth.

--
Curt
 >> Stay informed about: Muscles, protein and fat 

Bill Eitner wrote:
>
>
> The Litwaks wrote:
>
>> I joined a health club last week because bike riding is not getting
>> my weight down. I'm trying to mix cardio exercise and strength
>> training. I have a specific fitness goal to lose a lot of pounds by a
>> specific date, which will be hard to do.
>
>
> That's not a fitness goal--it's a vanity
> goal.

In my academic field, the big conference, where teaching job interviews
mostly take place, happens in mid-November. Since I expect again to be
getting interviews, and it's a well-documented fact, even if it should
not be true, that appearance makes a huge difference in who is hired, I
need to weigh less. You may call that a vanity goal if you wish. I was
exercising before I set this goal but not getting anywhere. Now I've
put my money where my mouth is by joining a gym in order to try another
approach to both reach my fitness goal and to reach this specific
threshold along the way. I have right now about ten weeks to lose 18
pounds. Once the conference is over, I still have more weight I want to
lose, but it's by this aggressive goal that I can get myself to lift
weights seven days a week because of all the forms of exercise I can
think of, I enjoy weight lifting the least. So my weight lifting
questions evidence serious effort and a commitment to do something I
don't want to do in order to reach a goal.

Also, since my blood sugar is a bit too high, I'm hoping that stepped
up exercise will enable me to control that I won' have to take
medication to do it. That also existed as a goal before I set this
particular date-weight goal.

As for the scale thing, well, it's true that I can gain muscle weight
and the scale won't tell me everything. However, I read an article
yesterday at the web site of the American College of Sports Medicine
that said, according to at least one study, the net gain in muscle
weight is fairly insignificant compared to the net loss in fat weight
for a two-month program or an obese person. That means that the scale,
though not perfectly accurate in terms of fat loss, will be mostly
accurate. Of course, what will matter more is what I see in the mirror
and how my clothes feel. That's another part of my motivation.

The setting of a specific date0-weight goal simply serves as
motivation to work harder at this. I personally need goals to work
towards to be able to use self-discipline. The generic goal of "lose
weight" is insufficient for me personally to do what I need to do.


Inevitably, a lofty scale-weight
> goal drags you into a situation where
> you're forced to do a lot of cardio and
> crash diet. That results in more lost
> muscle than you would experience with a more
> conservative approach. It also sets you
> up for failure, depression and rebound
> fat gain. I hope that whatever you're
> preparing for is worth the risk.
>
>> I've been told three thins by trainers at the health club that I
>> find hard to believe.
>> 1. If I don't eat enough carbohydrates, I will burn muscle during
>> exercise.
>
>
> Low carb dieting flies in the face of that.
> The established medical industry doctrine
> pushes carbohydrate-rich diets when around
> here it's pretty much common knowledge that
> low carb is best for sparing muscle while
> losing fat at the highest possible rate.
>
>> While it is true that I need carbs for Glycogen,
>
>
> There's no such thing as an essential carbohydrate.
> Glycogen can be made from protein.
>
>> if I have excess fat, my body should burn fat before it burns anything
>> else, no?
>
>
> The body uses all three macronutrients to produce
> energy expressed as physical and mental work.
> Exercise and diet can effect the average percentage
> of each that is used. In general, having excess
> fat tends to increase the fat portion of the equation.
> Low carb (or high fat) dieting tends to increase the
> fat portion as well. Again, that flies in the face
> of the commonly taught high carb/low fat diet.
>
>> 2. If I do too much cardio work, I will burn muscle rather than fat.
>
>
> I agree with that. I see cardio for weight loss (as
> opposed to cardio for cardiovascular conditioning)
> as an optional component that's something of a
> necessary evil for those who can't reach their goals
> without it. I believe in weight/resistance training
> to build/spare muscle and dieting to become lean.
> If ones goals are such that weight training and diet
> isn't enough, then cardio becomes necessary.
>
>> Again, if I have excess fat, my body is going to burn fat first, as
>> long as I have enough protein in my diet to form new muscle, right?
>
>
> Again, your body is always using some of each (carbs,
> protein, fat). The percentages of each can be expressed
> as a ratio. What I'm trying to convey is that exercise
> and diet choices influence that ratio. I believe that
> weight training and low carb dieting shift the ratio
> more toward fat burning and muscle sparing than cardio
> and a low fat (high carb) diet.
>
>> 3. IF I do the same strength training regimen weekly, I will have a
>> problem because I will get muscle memory and it won't do any good any
>> more.
>
>
> There may be some truth to that. However, I also see
> cases of that as being fairly extreme in that it's
> pretty easy to prevent.
>
>> I have to hire a trainer to guide every workout.
>
>
> Or learn enough so that you can produce your own
> routines.
>
>> At one time, I went into doing triathlons and got into great shape
>> for my purposes with little weight lifting and besides that, weight
>> lifting is weight lifting. It will still take energy and develop
>> muscle no matter how many times I do the same workout, no?
>
>
> When the workout no longer stimulates a physiological
> response, progress will halt. Your job is to keep it
> fresh, challenging and progressive enough to prevent
> that.
> --
 >> Stay informed about: Muscles, protein and fat