weight question

[ODB]

I have cleaned up my diet about a month ago and have lost 15 pounds so far. I only droped a 2-3 percent body fat. Is this normal for the first few pounds? i.e water weight etc

I am worried that I will end up too light by the time I loose my body fat, in other words I am trying not to loose muslce and just drop body fat. I lift total body routines 3-4 times a week in addition to that will rowing help burn fat and not just loosing weight?


My goal is to diet until I can see my abs than begin a clean bulk and gain as much lean mass as I possibly can by gradually increasing cals. I thought I would end up at 155 by the time i get my body fat down, however I think I will weigh alot less than that by the time I get there.

Thats alot coverd so I hope whoever reads in understands what I am trying to sa. haha

[tbartman]

Some quick thoughts (from someone who just went from 261# to 185# ...

If you are dieting but not exercising, you can lose significant lean body mass (muscle) in the process. While you are calorie restricted (taking in less than you are burning) make sure you are doing some cardio or lifting to preserve the muscle you have.

How are you measuring body fat %? I have a scale that uses the electric current, and found it relatively unreliable. I went from 261# to 230#, and it said my body fat never left 32%. Then from 230# to 200# the body fat % seemed to drop accordingly with my weight (if I did the algebra) until it gave me a body fat % of 20%. Then I went from 200# to 185# and it still says 20%, but other measurements I've gotten (calipers, tape, etc). put my body fat now at about 13%. So, the scale seemed to have a narrow range within it worked, and couldn't guess at very high or very low body fat percentages.

Ripped abs will take a body fat % in the single digits.

I've been trying exactly what you are (shed 75# of fat, which I did, now add 20# of muscle, which I haven't). It ain't easy (if it were, we'd all look like the guys in the magazines), and I've decided instead to focus on being healthy. You can be very healthy and fit and not have skin-popping muscles.

[icomefrombirmingham]

Some quick thoughts (from someone who just went from 261# to 185# ...

If you are dieting but not exercising, you can lose significant lean body mass (muscle) in the process. While you are calorie restricted (taking in less than you are burning) make sure you are doing some cardio or lifting to preserve the muscle you have.

How are you measuring body fat %? I have a scale that uses the electric current, and found it relatively unreliable. I went from 261# to 230#, and it said my body fat never left 32%. Then from 230# to 200# the body fat % seemed to drop accordingly with my weight (if I did the algebra) until it gave me a body fat % of 20%. Then I went from 200# to 185# and it still says 20%, but other measurements I've gotten (calipers, tape, etc). put my body fat now at about 13%. So, the scale seemed to have a narrow range within it worked, and couldn't guess at very high or very low body fat percentages.

Ripped abs will take a body fat % in the single digits.

I've been trying exactly what you are (shed 75# of fat, which I did, now add 20# of muscle, which I haven't). It ain't easy (if it were, we'd all look like the guys in the magazines), and I've decided instead to focus on being healthy. You can be very healthy and fit and not have skin-popping muscles.

Hey bartman,
Excellent post! I was wondering why my Tanita scale was giving me no credit for body fat % while I was dropping from 285 to 250!
In fact at times it was giving me higher body fat readings than when I started!

How do you measure body fat % by other methods? I mean if I dig the calipers in or use my fingers....where do I dig 'em and what does the resulting 1' or 2" (or more) mean?

Brent

[DUThomas]

Hi bartman,

Does your Tanita scale have an athlete mode (versus a normal mode)? If so, were all of your body fat readings using the athlete mode?

My Tanita scale does have the two modes. Since the athlete mode gives a lower body fat reading, I prefer it, of course. I find the readings to be reasonably consistent over time (but given a few percentage point differences based on time of day, hydration, and food consumption).

Cheers!
David

[ODB]

How long does it take to start seeing results? haha

I am trying not to check my weight so often now because its just driving myself crazy, I was 163 yesterday morning and now 167. I did check my waist and it is the same. That kinda bummed me out haha.

I am doing a total body routine, 2 liftting sessions a week with some cardio. It is called 10x3 for fat loss from T-Nation.com if anyone wants to check it out.

Any one have any other ideas to target the fat along my wasit, other than rowing?

[tbartman]

DUThomas,

The scale I have is made by Taylor, but uses impedance the same way. I recently switched from the regular to athlete mode, and the BF% dropped a few percent, but still hung there above what it should read. Technically I shouldn't use the athlete setting since the manual says that's for people who do more than 1 hour of cardio every day!

income,

The other ways to measure body fat are submersion (which I haven't done), calipers (which someone else did on me), and the old measuring tape. There are multiple formulas for calipers (http://www.linear-software.com/online.html). For tape measure, I used this approximation: (http://usmilitary.about.com/od/theorder ... odyfat.htm). I also used a hand-held BIA. These last three came out the same, and 3% lower than my scale (on athlete mode).

ODB,

There is no way to target the fat around your waist. Doing a zillion situps won't help, because the calories are going to come from the fat distributed all around your body, and the abdominals aren't the biggest muscles. Just keep rowing (I read somewhere you use 86% of your muscles fibers in a stroke) - burn tons of calories, and eventually the gut will go (but it does seem to be the last, doesn't it?)

This doesn't mean you should neglect your core - but work both sides (back too) to prevent injury from imbalance.

On that note, I wonder what are the 14% of the muscles not used in rowing? All I can think of are the pecs, triceps, and the face - although if you see me doing a 2k you know I'm using my facial muscles plenty!

[icomefrombirmingham]

DUThomas,

The scale I have is made by Taylor, but uses impedance the same way. I recently switched from the regular to athlete mode, and the BF% dropped a few percent, but still hung there above what it should read. Technically I shouldn't use the athlete setting since the manual says that's for people who do more than 1 hour of cardio every day!

income,

The other ways to measure body fat are submersion (which I haven't done), calipers (which someone else did on me), and the old measuring tape. There are multiple formulas for calipers (http://www.linear-software.com/online.html). For tape measure, I used this approximation: (http://usmilitary.about.com/od/theorder ... odyfat.htm). I also used a hand-held BIA. These last three came out the same, and 3% lower than my scale (on athlete mode).

ODB,

There is no way to target the fat around your waist. Doing a zillion situps won't help, because the calories are going to come from the fat distributed all around your body, and the abdominals aren't the biggest muscles. Just keep rowing (I read somewhere you use 86% of your muscles fibers in a stroke) - burn tons of calories, and eventually the gut will go (but it does seem to be the last, doesn't it?)

This doesn't mean you should neglect your core - but work both sides (back too) to prevent injury from imbalance.

On that note, I wonder what are the 14% of the muscles not used in rowing? All I can think of are the pecs, triceps, and the face - although if you see me doing a 2k you know I'm using my facial muscles plenty!

I can think of one other muscle I don't personally use while rowing.....which I like to think accounts for most of that 14%!
Brent

[TabbRows]

Great erging guys!! Nice successes!


I'm now down to 76 kg, based on scale at club over last 3 days. So within 1-1.5 kgs of dropping into lightweight territory. Assuming of course the heat here doesn't reactivate my ice cream sensors .

So my question, (and maybe for Bartman and Brent soon too?) what happens if I change the log toggle from HWT to LWT and then rank a new piece, say 5K? Does the new piece go up against other LWTs and the prior ranking stay with the HWTs or does the old ranking disappear and all rankings go versus LWT? Or is HWT/ LWT set for the entire erging year?

Off Topic, but Bartman, looks like your erg may become an otw vehicle by default if you continue to get rain.

[icomefrombirmingham]

Great erging guys!! Nice successes!


I'm now down to 76 kg, based on scale at club over last 3 days. So within 1-1.5 kgs of dropping into lightweight territory. Assuming of course the heat here doesn't reactivate my ice cream sensors .

So my question, (and maybe for Bartman and Brent soon too?) what happens if I change the log toggle from HWT to LWT and then rank a new piece, say 5K? Does the new piece go up against other LWTs and the prior ranking stay with the HWTs or does the old ranking disappear and all rankings go versus LWT? Or is HWT/ LWT set for the entire erging year?

Off Topic, but Bartman, looks like your erg may become an otw vehicle by default if you continue to get rain.

Nice thought...but at 247.5 lbs this is not gonna happen any time soon for me!

[tbartman]

Great erging guys!! Nice successes!


I'm now down to 76 kg, based on scale at club over last 3 days. So within 1-1.5 kgs of dropping into lightweight territory. Assuming of course the heat here doesn't reactivate my ice cream sensors :) .

So my question, (and maybe for Bartman and Brent soon too?) what happens if I change the log toggle from HWT to LWT and then rank a new piece, say 5K? Does the new piece go up against other LWTs and the prior ranking stay with the HWTs or does the old ranking disappear and all rankings go versus LWT? Or is HWT/ LWT set for the entire erging year?

Off Topic, but Bartman, looks like your erg may become an otw vehicle by default if you continue to get rain.

I just switched from 30-39 to the 40-49 age bracket, but haven't ranked any pieces under the new age group. I think I read that you can only have one ranking per season per distance (or time), so I suspect that when I rank a 2k at 40 years old, the 39 year old ranking will disappear. I think the same would happen with you going from HWT to LWT.

Unfortunately the heavy rain stopped a few miles north of Cincinnati. The upper 3/4 of the state got soaked, and we look like Arizona (I know, I lived there too). Now if only I could use my erg to power the A/C in my house and water the lawn with my sweat, I'd have saved a few hundred $$ this last month.