Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle
 

The gals in the 'Almost There' thread have been discussing this ebook and I'm quite taken with it. In fact, I'd like to start a discussion thread about it.

There are quite a few of us posters here who have gotten to be close to goal. Or close enough that this'll be ... um ... OK. You can tell by the number of lurkers in the Maintainers Forum that many many folks wonder what to do .... next??? There are threads about complacency.

I'm finding that this book is bringing together lots of odds and ends and nebulous notions (many of which I probably already knew) and coagulates them into a plan. The next step, so to speak. The answer to my question "What now?"

Since Ilene has already made some excellent references (derived from the book) to goal setting in another thread in Featherweights, all I'll say is that ... I did what I was told! If I remember I'll get a link here.

One line that particularly spoke to me went something like this .... the difference between knowing what to do and doing what you know.

Keep talking. I've gotta run and probably shouldn't have started this in a hurry. Anything special strike you?

Thanks susan,
I've been thinking about buying the book...thisd has put me one step closer!
rabbit

Here's Ilene's thread about goal setting.
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=85213

Setting short and long term goals is a good idea. I have set a few bodyweight dependent strength goals for 2006: 1) Strict military press with bodyweight. 2) Do an unassisted pull-up.

If I manage to hit my weightloss goal without sacrificing much strength, these should be realistic goals for this year.

What about focus and visualization?

:yes: The difference between knowing what to do and doing what you know - struck a chord with me :yes: I could read about doing it till I'm blue in the face, and read and read and know everything there is to know, however by doing that, I think that perhaps I am burying my head in the sand when it comes to actually doing it. Like I can talk the talk, I know what I should be doing, my 4 day split, some HIIT and some kickboxing and running in there for good measure. However in reality, I get to the gym on average twice a week and I run... er well just don't ask! :lol:

I'm only 20 pages in, I haven't quite read to the end of the goal setting chapter, however I will sneakily print off some more pages today to read later on tonight :D

I can do focus but I really do have problems with visualisation. I think you need to have a good imagination for that and its one thing I'm definitely lacking in.

Just about to start reading the book!

I check myself out when I walk past reflecting store windows and I sometimes surprised by that thin person. Not as often as I used to be so I guess that's coming.
I have always had one situation during which I see (in my minds eye) a slender sexy me. Perhaps if I have one good visualization, more will develope.

I just collapsed last night (even before the hockey game was over)so I didn't really think more on the focus thing but I woke up with a hymn running thru my brain. "Faith is the victory ...." Everybody sing ... just kidding. But that is certainly hmmmm-worthy.

The first chapter is very like the original BfL so I'm skimming through that - I haven't really found anything different yet. It has made me re-read the goals I set myself when I started this Challenge and think about them again, which has been helpful.

Maybe I need to diarise myself some weekly 'think about what you're doing' time because those goals are something I had lost sight of.

:tantrum: I have misplaced my printed copy!!!

I ran out of ink and paper! Payday is coming soon.

I'm sneaking it through the printer at work :sssh: 20 pages at a time! ;)

I have written some more goals down - I like the present-tense stuff, I didn't realise that you had to put down your goals in present tense, I thought it was just being thankful for what you are now! I now have new ones! I like the idea of writing them out twice a day! I might buy a spanking new notebook just for that... Or use one of the empty ones that I already have! :lol:

I'm in the chapter about carbs, on the computer screen, yuck! I'll print the whole thing off eventually and read it properly. I'm really enjoying his indepth study. I love nutrition!! He actually covers that little ditty about where do you think the stuff comes from that makes new cells!
I'm lingering in carbs on purpose and will read it again. To be honest ... I might be carb-phobic.

When I printed it Susan I used the smallest font and I would copy and paste it to Word and print it in Econo mode...

I really enjoyed writting mine in the present tense like I was already there, it kind of felt weird thought, but only at first...

I found my copy :dance: ...

I have trouble with "humility" I guess you'd call it.
One of my "I will's" is that by New Years I will be firm enough that I can just go shopping and buy without watching what hangs out over what. It just feels so fat-headed to say that out loud.
And a bit silly. I'm a 45 year old mother of three for Heavens' sake!

I guess I have some head work to do

It is always better to eat more and exercise more, than it is to eat less without exercise .......

I agree but the food must be clean and unprocessed and not Lean Cuisine sort of stuff...

I'm proud as punch that Venuto talks about that quite a lot. Real food, good food ... like you picked it yourself.

Is this book only available as an ebook? I've gotten several recommendations to read BFL. One recenty from Sherry on Sonoma. If the first chapters are the same I am wondering which book would be better for me.

I'm very much a beginner at strength training.. but familiar with clean eating. Anyone close to finishing this book have a recommendation?

I think it's really important to have a book with pictures and instructions for lifting, so BFL might be best right now. My books (way to many for my income bracket) have come and gone but I still use Body Sculpting Bible something something ....

Let's see what the others have to say.

Gosh, there's a lot of good books, with good illustrations out lately. (I buy books for a living, so I look at lot of them - all for work of course! :lol: ) We had a thread about what we like not too long ago.

I :love: The eat more move more thing! I calculated my calories according to him (Used the average for a maintenance figure) and I could be eating LOTS more! So i'm now setting my "losing weight" calories to 2000 and my maintenance (zig zag high day) to 2500!!!!! :faint: Just have to keep an eye on the scales at the same time!

Do you remember the title of that thread?

I'm re-reading the part about creating a calorie deficit by percentage. He recommends 15 to 20% of the maintenance level. Whats the maintenance level? On FitDay, my Basal is 1538 cals and my Lifestyle is 1000 cals - should I add them together then deduct 20%, do you think (making my daily cals 2030)? Or should I just take 20% off the Basal (making my daily cals 1239).

I'm also assuming that I don't add in the calories I burn through exercise before working out the deficit - have I got THAT right?

Sorry about this - maybe its me but the book isn't making it very clear - and I've reached a bit of a plateau so I need to get things moving again.

At the moment I average out to 1900 cals and, according to FitDay, I use around 900 for exercise.

Maintenance level is how many calories you'd need to eat to stay at the same weight, so Basal + exercise calories. I think Fitday is whacky with its "lifestyle" thing! I never figured it out. There's a bit in the book where you use your lean body mass and multiply it by something, then add about 350 then multiply by your "activity factor" which is how I got mine. I think you can do it without knowing your lean body mass.

I figured my maintenance level out at 2550, which is approximately 15.5 x my body weight. he gave a rough estimate of 15-16 x body weight as maintenance calories. I then took 20% off that to find what I should be eating to lose.

People advise that you shouldn't eat less than your basal no of calories. I think if you do you'll be starving!! I would say approx 2000 is cool for you, how about doing the zig-zag thing he suggested - 2000 for 3 days, then up to maintenance (2500) for a day, then back to 2000.

I'm already zigzagging - have been for ages :( 1900 is the average taken over the week.

What page is that calculation on? I haven't found that yet.

I'm going to give it another week and then 'tinker' with my calories - the question is do I increase or decrease them. I know he says to increase exercise rather than decrease calories but I think 3+ hours a day is enough!

Sarah? What do you perceive your problem to be? For instance mine is stubborn fat overlying a pretty good musculature.
I found I was quite mixed up during the parts of the book that read like "you should try this unless that, or if this and that ... you should try this" When I reread those parts, I read them already knowing some of the this's.

I under stood him to say that you should eat pretty close to your maintenance and your deficit should be mainly through exercise.

Would you agree that you've lost 66 lbs in 20 months? Am I reading that right?

I just have a minute to post and wanted to comment on the calories/day. I know for myself if I ate 2000+ cals/day, which I did at one time, I actually ate 1800 when I was following BFL a few years back, I found that I was maintaining at 1800, no matter how much I worked out, so at 2000+/day I know I would certainly gain weight. For me I would have to w/o intensely 2 times/day for 2+ hours to be able to eat that much.

In the last week I have been hovering around 1300 to 1500, I feel much better, haven't lost a pound though :rolleyes:, but someone did say that I looked like I had lost weight...

So having said all this, I would suggest to increase gradually over the next couple of weeks, make sure you are eating super clean too...

Just my .02 cents :D

I've gone down from 252 lbs (18st) to my current weight since last September - which I know is good going.

This ALL started because I had a comment on my blog from someone who said I'm doing it all wrong. I'd been moaning because I feel tired all the time and (basically) she told me that I do too much exercise and each too much. I've deleted the comment but now I'm questioning whether I'm doing the right thing, especially combined with reading the Tom Venuto e-book.

I'm 'okay' with being on a plateau - its always been a fairly normal feature of my weight loss efforts in the past - but I've never felt tired like this before. I tried eating some extra calories yesterday and I didn't get the tiredness but I suppose, like anyone would, it seems a little strange to be adding on extra calories when I'm on a plateau.

I suppose, like the e-book says, its a question of trial and error to find out what works for me.

I was sitting around a bonfire last weekend and came up with an interesting analogy for what you described.

Think of a fire burning, and if you notice when there's a lot of wood on the fire, everything burns really quickly, but then if you don't add anymore wood, the wood that is on the fire still burns, but it burns slower. in fact, most of the time stubborn wood that just doesn't seem to want to burn completely. In order for that little bit of wood left to burn, the fire has to stay really hot, so you have to add more wood. The wood you add burns, and it also makes the fire hotter, which then helps contribute to imminent burning of that stubborn wood.

you're body is basically working in the same fashion. it will burn fat at the current rate based on your metabolism, but, at some point, the fat burning slows (balances), and can even stop (plateau). so in order to get the fat burning hotter, you've got to add some energy (calories).

so yes, you're best route is to try increasing your daily cals a little, maybe even just as little as 250 a day, and then see where you're at 2 weeks from now and adjust again.

Michael Navin, CSCS

On the other hand, dumping on too much wood can just put out the fire completely.

Sarah Ann, I've read BFFM and lots of other books. I know all the calculations. I also know that for myself, at 51 years old, even with about 80-90 minutes of heavy lifting and cardio 5 times a week, I maintain on 1500-1600 calories and don't lose unless I stay around 1400 very clean calories, and do a lot of cardio in addition to my 5 day lifting split.

If you were eating 1200-1400 and plateauing, I would definitly suggest adding more calories. But I think that 1900 is probably your maintenence level at your current weight. If you are having a lot of fatigue, I'd suggest an exercise rest, then maybe a thyroid test and other bloodwork if a week's rest doesn't help.

But...we are all an experiment of one! Try adding. If that doesn't work, you'll know that you've gone in the wrong direction.

Mel

The problem with bonfires is that they don't store excess 'wood' when you add too much - nope, they'll burn it until it's gone. We all know that our bodies aren't bonfires and that they DO store excess calories as fat. If we eat more calories than we use, we get big butts. Bonfires don't. :D

My body is stupid and only understands calories in/calories out ... if I eat more calories, I gain weight. If I cut back on my calories, I lose weight. If I do less exercise, I gain weight. If I do more exercise, I lose weight. I'd love to be one of those who lose when they eat more, but much as I try to convince my body about the subtleties of stoking my metabolism with more calories -- nope, doesn't work for me. :shrug:

My maintenance and losing calories are right in line with Mel's (perhaps because we're the same age?) I definitely gain when I go over 1600/day, even with an average of 90+ minutes of exercise/day. Every metabolic calculator that I've seen puts my calories up to 50% higher than what's actually true for my body. They're good for a giggle but don't give me much useful information. If your maintenance calories are 1900, I think you're quite lucky!

I agree with all the posters who say don't be afraid to experiment. Forget theory, calculators, and what works for other people. So long as you're tracking what you're eating and how much exercise you're doing, you'll discover very quickly what your maintenance and weight loss calories are. :)

I got diagnosed with an underactive thyroid about two months ago and I'm on medication for it - that was before the tiredness started.

I think I'm going to go back to having 6 meals a day - I'd cut back to 5 or even sometimes 4. I'm trying to think back to what changes I introduced about the time I started feeling tired. Looking at my diary I can see that the tiredness and the plateau started about the same time so now I'll go back through my food diary and see if I can tie that in to the pattern somehow.

I'm not eating any less or any more calories nor am I eating less 'clean' calories - I'm just eating them in a different arrangement - but I'm doing the same amount of exercise, possibly more.

DH is a bit concerned about my tiredness and wants me to go to the doctor - apart from that his suggestion is to get out my menus for the past couple of months and simply re-create the exact same meals at the same times as I was having them on weeks when I felt great (and lost a pound or two) and see if that makes a difference. If it doesn't then I'll have to think of reducing my calories which I prefer not to do because I think I'll get even tireder.

First I want to say about the comment on your blog "be careful what you read" and "consider the source" ....
Then I want to say that you've gotten some good info here in this thread from some awesome sources.
And then I want to say ... some medications can be weight dependent. It makes sense if you think about pouring ink into a glass of water. One drop goes a long way in a little glass but doesn't make much of a difference in a big glass. If you have lost weight since you've had your prescription altered last, you do need to check with your Doc.

Sarah, I know you're doing BFL. Where are you in the 12-weeks? Could you try not doing any exercise beyond your dog walks for a week? Your body could just need a break - and in a week you shouldn't lose much ground weightwise (that you're lifting). I traveled enough in the last 6-8 months that I had exercise breaks about every 6 weeks. I always came back feeling more enthused about exercise, and being able to pick back up where I'd left off.

The man says reassess every week, so yesterday was the day.

It took me a couple of days to get geared into the calorie range and then of course I'm human and didn't stick real well.
Average in- 1980 (two days were far too high)
30protein/42carbs/26fats

Average out- 2069
Biked four days, lifted 4 days, worked 2 days

The changes I marked in the record sheet provided in the book we so miniscule and so apt to human error ... I doubt there really was any change.

So all in all .... I need to work on my food especially the percentages and I'd rather hover around 1800 cals. And he does recommend more cardio if you seem to have stubborn fat. I was shooting for form and recommended reps etc this week so I know I could have lifted heavier. I'll try that too.

Today is the first day of week 10 for me - its my rest day but I STILL feel exhausted and went back to bed for a couple of hours this morning. DH has persuaded me that I need to visit the doctor about this.
Good idea about the dog walking! Why didn't I think of that :?: I'd do my normal 2 hour walk and then pick up where I left off with the lifting at the beginning of week 11.

agreed, and that's where it gets a little sticky. when you're at the point of adding more calories, you gotta do it really slow and with only a couple hundred calories more a day and then re-evaluate after a couple of weeks.

:wave: A word about the neuro-liguistic programming bit!

IT WORKS! :dancer:

I have my 5 or six affirmations. Eg: I am happy and thankful now that I weight 10 stone (140lbs), I am happy and thankful now that I am 18% body fat etc... I've been writing them down twice a day for about a week now, and yesterday I had a mini-breakthrough!

We were out on a road-trip :eek: and I knew we were being treated to fish and chips for lunch :faint: So I decided to have the fish and chips :T and then I waited until I felt hungry, and waited, and waited... And I didn't eat again till 8.30pm!! I still didn't really feel hungy, but there's that bit in the book about eating every 3 hours, and it sounds quite scary if you don't! :lol: The best thing was that we ate out at half 8, BUT we shared a big vegetarian platter thing with quorn sausages, garlic bread, fries, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, mayo etc etc! :rofl: I had about 2 quorn sausages (yummy and high in protein, low in calories!), 1 piece of garlic bread and one onion ring. I didn't eat and eat till I was stuffed, I didn't even feel compelled to finish off the things that were left when we were both full. I'm very proud of myself, even though we ate greasy things, I listened to my body and I didn't eat anything that made me so full I felt sick, it didn't trigger a binge, and best of all - my calories for yesterday were under my calculated "Maintenance" calories! :D

I like this book! Must carry on reading!

Could someone please tell me where the link to the e-book is... thanks