In Bill Phillips's book "Body-for-Life" (and "Eating-for-Life"), he says the programmed cheat day is not just to satisfy your love of unhealthy food.



He states (and I agree) that the body will grow accustomed to what it is doing. For example, if you do the same bench press workout every Monday, you'll make gains in bench press, but eventually you'll level off. This is why you should switch up lifts every month or so.



The same goes for food. If you eat the same foods day in and day out, eventually you'll plateau. Joe, it sounds like you experienced this very thing. A cheat meal or day every week or two "shocks" your system - keeps your body guessing. Phillips argues this actually accelerates fat loss.



I'm pretty much in the camp that if you burn more calories than you consume, you'll lose weight, period; but, I think there is truth and merit to the idea of "shocking" your body. Just don't shock it too often. . .



-Brian

So last year in March, I was poolside in Mazatlan, Mexico. It was a great vacation with my wife's family, but I despised the moment every day that I took off my shirt at the pool/beach.



I made a promise to myself that next year I'd look forward to hanging out at the pool rather than dread it. Well, in March we're headed down to Cancun, so the challenge is before me.



Since last March, I've made some good progress, losing @20 pounds or so, but the last several months (since July) have seen no progress. Inconsistent exercise and a lack of dedication to healthy eating have kept me in the same place for months now.



I'd love to lose about 20 more pounds by March and show off the fruits of my labor, but I'm going to need some motivation, cause it won't be easy. Who's with me? I'd love to motivate others along the way as well - I'm sure spring break time is bathing suit season for many of us, and the time to buckle down and start is now, not after we put on 10 pounds over the holidays.



Feel free to add me as a contact/motivator/motivatee. Together we can and will achieve the body and good health we've always dreamed about. I try to update my page 4 to 5 times a week, if not every day.



-Brian

This definitely helps this place become more of a community - good post.

Thanks for the great responses!



I do "officially" schedule cheats - one meal or one day a week is what my goal is.



I realize this is all a mind game. When people ask me about eating healthy, I usually say this, "You have to hate the way you look/feel more than you love the food that makes you that way". Until you REALLY feel this way, you won't change. Many people think they feel this way, but in reality they don't, otherwise they wouldn't be overweight and out of shape.



I just haven't wanted it bad enough, otherwise I would have made the change.



Renuka: No, I haven't reached my target. Ultimately, I'd like to lose about 20 more pounds or so - down to about 175-180 (I'm at 194 this morning). . .



KM, I like your approach in thinking of food as a relationship. Very insightful.



Well, here's to a New Year's resolution in November (and only one cheat a week) . . .



-Brian

I picked up an EAS Myoplex Deluxe bar at Wal-Mart over the weekend. This one is a full-fledged meal replacement, with about 330 cals, 30-some grams of protein and 30-some grams of carbs.



I'm looking forward to trying it out. EAS makes good stuff in my opinion.

So I'm pretty good during the week - really good, actually. I very consistently eat 6 meals a day, taking in about 40% of my cals from protein, 40% from carbs, and 20% from fat - at about 2000 calories a day.



Well, this goes along just fine from Monday morning until Friday afternoon. All the sudden my mind starts playing tricks on me - I think, "I've been so good, I deserve a great big meal topped with an ice cream sunday". Well, lately I've been treating myself to just that.



Then Saturday rolls around and I say, "I'll be good", but it just goes downhill - and usually ends up with me eating a Big Mac and fries on Sunday evening. Monday, I'm back to being good again, and the cycle continues.



From January of this year until July, I dropped close to 40 pounds, and from July until now, I've fought this battle of perfect week-day eating and terrible weekend eating, and I've made no progress at all. I haven't lost ground, but I haven't gained any, either.



What do you do on Friday afternoon (or whenever) you crave a bacon cheeseburger washed down with a brownie fudge sunday??



-Brian

10 pounds in 6 weeks is great! That's a very good rate of weight loss, as well - good job.



It's really easy to want to lose it fast, but the more consistent you are the more likely to develop a healthy lifestyle you are. I'm sure you could do some sort of fad diet and drop weight faster, but in the end you would be doing more harm than good, but I'm sure you already know this.



Here's to a healthy lifestyle!



Man, the people I work with see me eating small meals every 3 hours and they just look at me funny. . . One of my coworkers asked me the other day, "So, how long is your "diet" supposed to last?" I just looked at her and said, "forever". She gave me the strangest look back, and had no response. A truly healthy lifestyle blows some people's minds (which is pretty sad), but once we achieve it, it is such a blessing.



-Brian

I think you'll find that one really bad cheat puts on a lot of weight quick, but if you go back to your diet and exercise routine, the weight will come off just as fast. Most of what you gain is water weight.



Think of it this way - changing your body is not something that happens overnight. That statement is true, and it works both ways - changing for the better or for the worse.



Just like you aren't going to lose 5 pounds of fat in one day, you won't gain that much in one day, either. To put on weight or to lose it, you've got to be consistent. It's just much easier to be consistently bad, but that's why we're all here, isn't it?



Glad to hear you're healed and back at it. I'm sure you'll gain the ground back quickly.



-Brian

I think different people are motivated (or keep consistent) by different means. I'm sort of an analytical thinker, and I love collecting data. I weigh myself every day and track it. I also count every calorie that I put in my mouth and where it comes from and track it, as well as every detail of my workout, down to how long I rest between sets. I've kept all this up pretty well since January of this year. I have excel spreadsheets that make my head spin. . .



I love looking at trends in the data, but this sort of mentality is definitely not for everybody.



My philosophy is to find what works for you and stick with it - everybody is different.



By the way, I love the "diet score" scale that takes into account how much you ate and how you felt about what you ate. It's very informative to see it.



-Brian

Hey Michia,



I'm no expert, but I feel like I know a few things here and there.



Let's keep each other motivated - what do you say?

I ordered a set from www.bodybuilding.com. Here's the link to the product.

I use a Tanita scale. It measures weight in 0.2 increments, and is very accurate - or at least it gives the same measurement if you weigh multiple times. I'm not sure of the exact model - its one of the lower-end tanita scales. It definitely was not very expensive.



It also measures body-fat within in 0.5% increments. The measurement varies greatly with your level of hydration (more hydrated = less body-fat % on the scale), and I'm not sure how accurate it is, but the weight measurement is right on.



I'd recommend using calipers for body-fat measurement.

Well I see nothing wrong with that at all.



Thanks!







Thanks, man!

I agree that most people take the wrong approach to weight loss. A healthy lifestyle should be just that - a lifestyle, and it should be a plan that can be followed successfully for the rest of your life.

Amen to that. I'm headed to Cancun with my wife and her family in March. Hopefully I won't even want to pack a shirt!



A family history of diabetes and high blood pressure are far more motivating than a bunch of sand and water, though.



Plus, my Dad said I'd never have a 6-pack. "It's not genetically possible". Yea, right . . . Last time I checked I was human, which makes it genetically possible.

Yeah, I can second the chafing thing - for me its the inner thighs (depending on what crappy pair of gym shorts I'm wearing during my runs). The "body-glide" stuff is simply awesome. I wear one of those "wife-beater" shirts (I hate that term) under a t-shirt when I run and I don't have a problem with chafing nipples. My runs are usually between 3-5 miles, though - its hard to chaff much in that short of a distance.



As far as stretching, here's how I understand it. Stretching your muscles "cold" is not nearly as good as stretching them "warm". I've always heard you should warm up a bit (walking, light jog, etc) and then stretch. I've also always heard and can attest to from personal experience, that its more important to stretch after working out. This will aide in the recovery process, as well as improve flexibility.



You should seriously spend between 5 and 10 minutes stretching after working out, both cardio workouts and weight training.

Thank you all for the words of encouragement!



Eric, you must have some cool hair, man!!



-Brian

About bodyfat % and calculating how much weight to lose to reach a certain bodyfat %:



What you would want to do is get an accurate measurement of your bodyfat as it is right now. Now, really the only way to get a 100% accurate measurement is to weigh yourself underwater and figure it that way. There are scales that measure bodyfat %, but they are not that accurate IMO. Calipers is a good method, but the person taking the measurements needs to know what they're doing (for example, how to measure the skin folds, etc). I think many people are given false readings and estimates of bodyfat %.



Anyway, once you get an accurate measurement, here is what you'd do.



Say you're 200 lbs at 20% bodyfat (to make the numbers easy). 200 x 20%(0.2) = 40 lbs. That means you've got 40 lbs of fat on you and 160 lbs of muscle.



Now, assuming you lose only fat and not any muscle (which is very hard to do when you're cutting down to 10% bodyfat), you want to know at what weight is 160 lbs 90% of the total weight. So, take 160 / 90% (0.9) and you get 177.77, or ~178. At 178 lbs, if you had 160 lbs of muscle and 18 lbs of fat, your bodyfat % would be 10.11%.



You would know that you need to lose ~22 to 23 pounds, assuming that every pound you lose is fat, and none of it is muscle.



Now, realistically, some of the weight you will lose will be muscle, especially once your bodyfat % gets down below 12 or 13%, so our fictional 200 lb person should probably try and get down to about 170-175, making every effort to conserve what muscle mass he has.



It's important to lose the weight slowly at the rate of 1-2 lbs per week. Any weight loss that is faster than this will almost definately result in muscle loss. The exception would be a very overweight person, who could expect to lose 3+ pounds per week until they got to a "normal" weight range.

Thanks!

Wow, awesome progress, and thanks so much for sharing your knowledge/experience with the rest of us.



There are so many stupid myths and misunderstandings out there concerning fitness/dieting/bodybuilding/etc, it's nice to see somebody trying to shed some light on all of them.



I've been "cutting" since Jan. I use that term very loosely, as I tend to cheat a lot, especially around the weekends, but I'm making progress, and eventually I'll get down to my goal bodyfat % (10-12%).



Once I get there, I'm looking forward to learning about bulking and attempting a clean bulk. I'm an endo myself, so I really have to watch what I put in my mouth or it can come back to bite me.



Crystal, to answer your question - yes, the more muscle you have on your body, the higher your metabolism. So, building more muscle will increase your metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories at rest, which will help melt away more fat. A common misconception, though, is "spot-reducing". This would be the idea that doing situps and building your ab muscles will burn the fat on top of your abs. This is impossible - raising your metabolism will help lower your overall bodyfat %, not burn fat in specific areas.



Keep it up, Nick! You're a great inspiration to us!

So I started this transformation journey in January of this year, and the last photo I took was back in September. I'm about half-way to where I want to be. I'm a 27 year old guy, by the way. I have a background of playing athletics (college football), so weight training was always something I did, though not healthy eating.



Anyway, here's the photo, and the progress so far.







I started around 225 lbs, and in this photo I think I was around 190-195 lbs or so. I'd like to get down to 170-180.



I've done several different workout programs along the way. I'm currently doing MaxOT, but I've done Body-for-Life as well. I like both of them for different reasons. Typically, I shoot for 3-4 weight training workouts a week and 3-4 cardio workouts a week. A lot of times I'll do weight training and cardio in the same workout, so I usually try and hit the gym 4-6 days a week.



My diet plan has been pretty consistent. I eat 6 meals a day, with a balance of lean proteins and complex carbs at each meal (ideally). I try and hit around 2000 cals a day, with 40% of those coming from protein, 40% from carbs, and 20% from fats. I try and only let myself cheat once a week (ideally one meal a week) My problem is cheating on and around weekends. It seems most weekends I just sort of let go, but I plan on fixing that. This is a lifestyle, so I don't want to burn myself out, but on the other hand, I want to be strict about what I eat and live a very healthy lifestlye.

Since January of this year, I've dropped about 35 pounds. I've been at it slowly and steadily, and I've kept it up at just under a pound a week loss. I've made some pretty decent strength gains in that time, too.



I just found this community the other day, and I'm excited to take part in it.

If you really only eat 1200 cals a day, you might need to increase your caloric intake. I know it sounds backwards, but that's a very low intake to have, and you could be sending your body into "starvation mode", especially with a high level of aerobic activity. You should definitely look into this topic more, as 1200 cals may be enough for you, but I wouldn't be surprised if you just need more food to kick-start your metabolism.



-Brian

I'm also in the "don't eat them unless you have to" camp. Meal replacement bars usually have some good protein, but almost all of them have useless calories beyond the protein.



That said, if you're on the road or something and you need a meal from a convenience store, they can be just about your best bet. For a very active mobile person, sometimes they are a godsend. Also, not all bars are made the same. Look for bars that are low in sugar and "sugar alcohols".



One of the best I've found are Vyo-Pro bars by AST Sport Science. They don't taste awesome, but they aren't bad, and they are pretty cheap as far as bars go.



Here's the nutitional data on them:



Serving Size: 1 Bar

Servings Per Container: 12



Amount Per Serving:



Calories: 200

Calories from Fat: 60

Total Fat: 7g

Saturated Fat: 1g

Cholesterol: 10mg

Sodium: 240mg

Potassium: 250mg

Total Carbohydrates: 24g

Dietary Fiber: 2g

Sugars: 0g

Protein: 20g

Vitamin A: 0%

Vitamin C: 0%

Vitamin B6: 50%

Vitamin B12: 20%

Calcium: 20%

Iron: 0%

Thiamin: 70%

Riboflavin: 70%

Pantothenic Acid: 50%

Phosphorus: 25%

Magnesium: 2%



Ingredients:

Protein blend (total milk protein, calcium caseinate, whey protein concentrate, ion exchange whey protein isolate, hydrolyzed whey protein concentrate, egg albumin, l-glutamine) maltitol, dutch processed cocoa, peanut butter, canola oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, aspartame, and natural flavor.

I agree with Nathan and Ron on this one. Think of your abs like any other muscle group (cause that's what they are). You wouldn't work your chest every day - or at least you shouldn't. What you want to do is work your abs hard, and then give them time to recover. It's the recovery process that builds muscle, not the working out process. Working out tears the muscle down. If you work your abs hard, you should give them at least a few days to recover. Personally, I work every muscle group once a week, but 2-3 times a week is about the most you should ever really work a muscle group. If you work a muscle group before its had time to recover, you'll suffer from "overtraining" and actually make yourself weaker in the long run.



As far as "getting a 6-pack" - that is all about what you eat. You can build massively huge abs, but if you never burn the fat on top of them, you'll never see them. Building muscle doesn't burn the fat right on top of the muscle. You need to lower your body fat percentage to see your abs. Also worth noting, it is impossible to burn just the fat on top of your abs - this myth is called "spot reducing". You will burn fat over all your body. Once your bodyfat % reaches ~10% or so, you'll see those abs.



Try and eat more often (6 meals a day), and shoot for a balance of lean proteins, complex carbs, and healthy fats.



Good luck!



-Brian