Help! 1st timer questions.

[Smrgrlz]

Hi - This is my first time every on a protein diet. I have always been taught the low-fat way. So, this is entirely new for me and so far I have enjoyed it and it's fairly easy. However, I don't think I am seeing any results yet. One of my questions is that I don't really have that much to loose as I am already in my weight range (136lbs at 5'6"). But I want to turn my stomach fat in to muscle. I am almost on my 3rd week.

Is it harder to lose the fat if you are not needing to lose much? I am recovering from knee surgery and can't get much real exercise yet, but am building up on the weight lifting. It's possible I may be too high on the carbs. I started on Phase II since I am near the end but maybe I shouldn't. I am doing a protein shake in the morning but it it totals only about 13 carbs. One of my issues is that I only need about 20g protein per meal but I don't find that always satisfies me. So, i have been eating more protein. But now I am wondering if that was a good move. I haven't had any bread or crackers or any starch the entire time. All my carbs come from veggies. I think that I am near the total carbs of 55g.

Should I just stick it out and wait and see? I don't want to lose steam but it's frustrating when I feel exactly the same!

THanks for your help!:)

[maxlharris]

Quickly:
1- it's always harder to lose when you are closer to goal than when you are further. If you are very close to goal, you might have to customize down.

2- The weight lifting is the real exercise. How you do it properly with a bad knee, I would be interested to know. I can't see squatting or deadlifting on a bad knee.

3- It's possible that you might be too high on the carbs. You should try two weeks of <40g.

4- it's probably a good idea to start on phase 1, regardless. If you have weight that you want to lose, you should cut the carbs back to <40g.

5- 13g in a protein shake is probably not conducive to weight loss on a low carb diet plan.

5- it's acceptable (perhaps useful) to eat more protein than the recommendation. You might want to check your math.

Welcome in, and good luck.

[Ammy]

Welcome WI neighbor!!
I would comment, but it looks like Max gave you the same advice I would have, so I just stopped by to say hello and welcome!

[Tresses]

Welcome, Smrgrlz! :) Adding to max's advice, something struck me in your post:


I don't think I am seeing any results yet. One of my questions is that I don't really have that much to loose as I am already in my weight range (136lbs at 5'6"). But I want to turn my stomach fat in to muscle. I am almost on my 3rd week.

Contrary to every infomercial you've ever seen, you can't turn fat into muscle. Fat is fat; muscle is muscle. You can reduce belly fat, which low-carbing definitely will help you to do, but if you want a firm belly, you need to work those muscles.

Other thoughts: 5'6" at 136 sounds great. Have you checked your body fat percentage? That will tell you more than your weight will. Also, if you're middle-aged or older, that belly fat may not disappear entirely like you want, especially as a woman.

[Ammy]

or if you had a child (from what I hear)

[Tresses]

or if you had a child (from what I hear)

::sigh:: True dat.

[maxlharris]

Dara Torres.

[maxlharris]

Of course, not everyone can work out as a nearly full time job, nor spend $100K a year on training and nutrition. Or train for Olympic swimming from youth, etc, etc, etc.

[maxlharris]

Contrary to every infomercial you've ever seen, you can't turn fat into muscle. Fat is fat; muscle is muscle. You can reduce belly fat, which low-carbing definitely will help you to do, but if you want a firm belly, you need to work those muscles.
Most importantly, you cannot target belly fat for reduction, regardless of how many crunches or v-ups you may do. You need to work whole body, with some rotational movements to work your abs. Crunches are a bad use of the muscles.

[Tresses]

Dara Torres.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/Tresses/emoticons/075.gif


Of course, not everyone can work out as a nearly full time job, nor spend $100K a year on training and nutrition. Or train for Olympic swimming from youth, etc, etc, etc.

Yeah, and she started with all of that before she had children, too.

Just sayin'. :rolleyes:

[Smrgrlz]

WOW! Thanks so much for the responses!

So, yes, I know that I just really want to lose the fat on my stomach. I carry my weight in my stomach every other part of me is fine. I had heart surgery 3 years ago (for a genetic problem) and my cardiologists thinks I should just keep the numbers down and really weigh in at about 130lbs. So that is my goal.

So, it sounds like it would be O.K. to eat a bit more protein and cut back on the carbs...I will give it a try.

BTW - I had ACL surgery and am now able to do some small squats! So I am buildling up! Maybe that is why it's taking longer, I am moving slower these days...but hope to be back to running in the next two months!

[maxlharris]

So, there are two approaches to weight lifting (well, more than that, but let's be simple here) where you can train for function or you can train for form. Form training your abdominals would be to work them very hard, in order to grow them. Function training would be to figure out what you're hoping to do, and train things like that. Say, tennis. You would do tennis like movements, and maybe play some tennis. The problem with form is that it can lead to a lot of problems, and whats more, most of the ab training out there, is actively not good for you (situps and crunches, for instance).

But, since we don't believe in the spot reduction myth, doing a million crunches wasn't gonna work to reveal the abs anyway.

Better, is a metabolic approach, which would be functional. And train you in the 7 basic movements... squat, lift, lunge, push, pull, twist and walk. And really, most organic movements (forget throwing a major league curve ball, that's an unnatural movement, hence the high rate of rotator cuff blow outs) are one or a combination of those movements. So, A basic program of squats, deadlifts, lunges, presses, rows, twisting motions (like woodchoppers) will suffice for the muscle portion. You do want to balance the pushing with the pulling, and understand that there are different angles to this stuff, and the angle change makes a difference. But, pursuing this approach will work the largest muscles of your body (quads, hams, glutes, back, chest), which will in turn lead to greatest energy expenditure.

As to getting back towards running: generally, running is catabolic. It eats your muscle. This is not a good outcome. When you are back on your feet and back in the groove, you might want to look into incorporating some interval based running into your running regime. It's more metabolically taxing. And the key here is to tax the metabolism. That's why we're working the big muscles in the first place. To melt the fat off the abs, you're gonna have to get metabolic on it's a$$.

[bigdawg_SLC]

Welcome WI neighbor!!
I would comment, but it looks like Max gave you the same advice I would have, so I just stopped by to say hello and welcome!


Ditto. I am/was a big bellied man ... I've lost tons of belly fat just by working out (not spot) and watching what I eat. This PPLP really works!