Looking For Training Partner

[old] H33 · Post by **[old] H33** » February 23rd, 2005, 11:28 pm

Hi, I am looking for a training buddy who is serious about losing weight, maintaining an exercise schedule and communicating via email several times a week. My first partner quit rowing after a week, the second bailed out with a fad starvation diet. The idea is to correspond often with updates of our diets, exercise routines and progress in meeting goals. Most importantly we will each offer encouragement when the other is weakening or procrastinating, e.g., if I feel a sudden temptation to eat 2 lbs. of chocolate I email my “buddy” instead, lol. I have lost weight fast but I am sure advancement will come a good deal slower now and having a buddy will help me meet targets. I use a WaterRower so my times will be slower (I can do 1,000 meters in 4:30 on a WR vs. 3:29 on a C2 rower). So far this is where I stand: Height – 5’ 6” Weight on Jan. 22 – 200 lbs. (yuck) Weight Today – 175 lbs. Rowing – Averaging 8,000 meters a day, six days a week, trying to increase that to 10,000 Goal Weight: Below 150 by July 1, ideally in the low 140’s Distance/Times Goal by July 1: 4:10 for 1,000 meters, 9:15 for 2,000 meters, 23:00 for 5,000 meters Original PB’s: 5:08.83 for 1000, 10:27.05 for 2,000 and 28:11.09 for 5,000 meters Current PB’s: 4:30.30 for 1000, 9:35.56 for 2,000 and 24:05.73 for 5,000 meters Goal Body Fat: 16% by year end, currently 30%, down from 33% in Jan. Anyone interested?

[old] starboardrigged1seat · Post by **[old] starboardrigged1seat** » February 23rd, 2005, 11:30 pm

Well, I'm a college lightweight rower. I'm almost down to ideal weight (150, ironically), but will have to maintain that for the next few months. I'm not sure how much help I'll be, and I can probably communicate twice a week or whatever.

[old] ninthman · Post by **[old] ninthman** » February 24th, 2005, 12:14 am

You lost 25 pounds in a month? I'm astonished. Color me impressed.

[old] H33 · Post by **[old] H33** » February 24th, 2005, 1:58 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(starboardrigged1seat @ Feb 23 2005, 10:30 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Well, I'm a college lightweight rower. I'm almost down to ideal weight (150, ironically), but will have to maintain that for the next few months. I'm not sure how much help I'll be, and I can probably communicate twice a week or whatever. </td></tr></table> Thanks, I was looking for someone who had weight/fitness goals, sounds like you are just in a maintenance phase, I still have a long way to go...

[old] akit110 · Post by **[old] akit110** » February 24th, 2005, 2:31 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(H33 @ Feb 24 2005, 01:58 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(starboardrigged1seat @ Feb 23 2005, 10:30 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>Well, I'm a college lightweight rower. I'm almost down to ideal weight (150, ironically), but will have to maintain that for the next few months. I'm not sure how much help I'll be, and I can probably communicate twice a week or whatever. </td></tr></table> Thanks, I was looking for someone who had weight/fitness goals, sounds like you are just in a maintenance phase, I still have a long way to go... </td></tr></table> I'm impressed with your training and commitment. That's an excellent strategy to look for a partner. Unfortunately, I would probably qualify as someone on a maintenance program too. Aside from the difference in performance monitoring - how are you liking your Waterrower? I love my C2 but I have used an WR and really like the concept (no pun intended).

[old] DIESEL · Post by **[old] DIESEL** » February 24th, 2005, 3:15 pm

H33 You've got to get your routine checked. You're droping way too much muscle in your attempt to drop weight - i.e. you lost too much too soon - do the math: of the 25lbs. you lost - you lost 12.5 lbs. of muscle mass. Not good. Stop worrying about what the scale says and go by your bodyfat percentage. Not to crap on your accomplishment - but at 30% you still have a ways to go - even if you dropped 25 lbs. If you're not lifting weights - start - If you're not eating at least 1g of protein per 1lb. of bodyweight - start - if you're not cutting your carb intake to about 1g-1.2g/1lb. of bodyweight start - those 3 little modifications will make a huge difference in your performance and your weight loss. What you want to do is burn fat - NOT BURN FAT AND MUSCLE - THERE IS A DIFFERENCE So on your current path - you may get to 150 - but you'll look like crap - i.e. flabby with no muscle mass whatsoever - and worst of all you'll have no power on the erg. Think of it like a 3 legged stool - Weights - Rowing - Nutrition - to reach optimal results you have to do all 3. If any of the 3 are missing - you will probably short change yourself. Keep it up, but tweak your routine as I have suggested to minimize any further losses in Muscle mass. Don't aim for a specific bodyweight - aim for a specific body fat percentage - in your case under 15%. The body weight will take care of itself. The results you have given us tend to back up what I am saying - you are sacrificing muscle mass and power in your attempt to lose a ton of weight too quickly. Good luck, D P.S. While dieting, you should get your B.f. checked every 2 weeks to monitor your progress - keep a log of your workouts and food intake so you can make the necessary adjustments. Don't diet like some fat housewife doing Atkins or South Beach. Diet like an athlete - because although you may not consider yourself one, to your body, when you erg a lot, that's exactly what you are.

[old] H33 · Post by **[old] H33** » February 24th, 2005, 10:15 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'>QUOTE(DIESEL @ Feb 24 2005, 02:15 PM)</div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'>H33 You've got to get your routine checked. You're droping way too much muscle in your attempt to drop weight - i.e. you lost too much too soon - do the math: of the 25lbs. you lost - you lost 12.5 lbs. of muscle mass. Not good. Stop worrying about what the scale says and go by your bodyfat percentage. Not to crap on your accomplishment - but at 30% you still have a ways to go - even if you dropped 25 lbs. If you're not lifting weights - start - If you're not eating at least 1g of protein per 1lb. of bodyweight - start - if you're not cutting your carb intake to about 1g-1.2g/1lb. of bodyweight start - those 3 little modifications will make a huge difference in your performance and your weight loss. What you want to do is burn fat - NOT BURN FAT AND MUSCLE - THERE IS A DIFFERENCE So on your current path - you may get to 150 - but you'll look like crap - i.e. flabby with no muscle mass whatsoever - and worst of all you'll have no power on the erg. Think of it like a 3 legged stool - Weights - Rowing - Nutrition - to reach optimal results you have to do all 3. If any of the 3 are missing - you will probably short change yourself. Keep it up, but tweak your routine as I have suggested to minimize any further losses in Muscle mass. Don't aim for a specific bodyweight - aim for a specific body fat percentage - in your case under 15%. The body weight will take care of itself. The results you have given us tend to back up what I am saying - you are sacrificing muscle mass and power in your attempt to lose a ton of weight too quickly. Good luck, D P.S. While dieting, you should get your B.f. checked every 2 weeks to monitor your progress - keep a log of your workouts and food intake so you can make the necessary adjustments. Don't diet like some fat housewife doing Atkins or South Beach. Diet like an athlete - because although you may not consider yourself one, to your body, when you erg a lot, that's exactly what you are. </td></tr></table> Lol, thanks for the response, whether I disagree or agree on all your points I do like the honesty and no holds back approach... Before I was eating around 4,500 calories per day, now I am down to around 2,250. I am not sure why I lost so much weight the first month but it is slowing down fast now and I expect only to lose 6-8 lbs. per month going forward. I work out intensively at 90-98% of maximum for an hour a day minimum. Weight is certainly important but I am not obsessed by it, one of my other goals is to shrink from a size 36 waist to a 32 or less. My body fat percentage was calculated by one of those home scales, I doubt it is very accurate, is there a better way to do it myself? I am aiming for 16% body fat, when I was at 17% at age 33 I could run 5 miles in 30 minutes and had good definition. Your point about paying more attention to body fat is well taken, if I can measure myself I’ll start to do that. I am not very concerned about muscle mass as my legs/arms/back all show significant improvement. I used to be able to do 1-2 pushups and now can do 50. Also, since I started my 5K time has dropped by about 15% and I feel much more power in my arms. The only areas with flab left are the chest and stomach. I don't have the space to lift weights (I don’t like free weights) so I'm doing pushups daily. As for diet...I am trying to keep on a Japanese/Mediterranean kind of diet with an emphasis on vegetables, fish, rice, pasta, beans, fruit and a glass of wine per day.

[old] H33 · Post by **[old] H33** » February 24th, 2005, 10:31 pm

Hi, Sorry to double post but does a machine like this do a reasonable job of measuring body fat?: Tanita Body Composition Analyzer/Scale BF-350A

[old] Steve_R · Post by **[old] Steve_R** » February 25th, 2005, 12:06 am

H33, I gotta agree with Diesel here. I will give you an idea of my actuals: Jan 8 - 177@19.4% = 142.7 + 34.3 lb fat Jan 30 - 167.2@18.7% = 135.9 + 31.3 lb fat Feb 24 - 164.5@16.1% = 138.0 + 26.5 lb fat Some history: I was on a traditional high carb endurance athlete diet ~60% carb. As you can see, between the first two measurements, I lost nearly 10 lbs. Pretty good? Not really, look at what I actually had done, lost 6.8lb of muscle and 3lb of fat! Not exactly what I was hoping for. Starting Jan 30, I started increasing my protein intake to 1g/1lb lean mass and look what I have done, lowered my body fat and increased muscle. Pretty good trade, I think. I have kept about 1.3g/1lb of total mass for my carb intake for the last month as well. Also, once I brought my fat intake up to just under .4g/1lb of total mass, I was able to really lower my body fat past 17%. My goal is around 164 @ 14%. Even during this time, my times were getting better but imagine what I would have been able to if I hadn't lost all that muscle mass up front. I don't do much resistance training, I let my sprints take care of that for me. BIA: Bioelectrical Impedence Analysis, which is used in many scales is ok to track body fat loss. I would do it every day in the afternoon, with an empty bladder, empty stomach, and before working out. Also make sure you drink lots of water during the day but not within 45 min of testing since it is very susceptible to dehydration. You will see fluctuations every day, sometimes as much as a percent but by tracking it every day, you can draw a good trend of how you are doing. You could also go get professionally tested using water submersion or DEXA to see how far off your scale is but most likely it isn't very much if you follow the guidelines above. I will certainly give any support or advice but I too am in a maintenance mode. Good Luck, Steve

[old] DIESEL · Post by **[old] DIESEL** » February 25th, 2005, 12:59 am

Hi H33, yeah, sometimes I can be blunt.. but I think it's the best way. I think it would be worse if you kept on how you were going and then you reach your goal weight only to find that your chest is still flabby and your splits on the erg drop because you've sacrificed so much mass to drop the weight. anyway, the only really accurate way to get your bf tested is this sophisticated machine they have at sports medicine labs. The only problem is that it's hella expensive...I would recommend going to a gym and ask one of the trainers to give you a bf analysis with the calipers. That should be more accurate than your scale. Somehow, I think your scale is wrong. 30% seems a bit high - but until you get that done you won't know for sure. Doing it yourself - well, that's easy - let the mirror be your guide - also if your lifting while dieting and you start losing too much muscle, you'll note that your strength will decrease and you'll feel "flat" - only logical, I guess. keep it up and good luck, anything I can do to help, don't hesitate to PM me. D

[old] DIESEL · Post by **[old] DIESEL** » February 25th, 2005, 1:10 am

Almost forgot I wouldn't eat pasta while dieting - it's too dangerous - stick to oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and rice (preferably brown rice) along with your veggies (eat lots of leaf spinach and broccoli ) and fruit supplement your protein intake with whey protein smoothies Here's a good postworkout recovery meal: I call it a jock smoothie... 2-3 scoops vanilla whey protein powder (45-60 g protein) ( use 3 scoops post-workout, however I'm a big dude, if you weigh less than 200lbs. just use 2 scoops) handful of frozen mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries) 4oz. water 80z. grape or apple juice 1/2 cup rolled oatmeal raw (run it through a food processor so it gets an almost powdery consistency) 2-3 oz. crushed ice Nutritional Totals Protein: 55-70g (depends on number of scoops Carbs: around 60 to 70 (30 high glycemic to stabilize blood sugar levels after workout and 10 of mid glycemic from the fruit and around 30 of low glycemic - the oats - to provide steady energy and insure that the protein is shuttled into the muscle. Fats: < 3 g

[old] starboardrigged1seat · Post by **[old] starboardrigged1seat** » February 25th, 2005, 2:38 pm

Hey, I'd like to add my two cents in. Diesel, I think the South Beach Diet is a great lifestyle change, and very compatable with an active life-style....just up your calories with carbs in your pre- and post- workout snacks! I would recommend staying away from any protein supplements and shakes, they're just packed with extra calories that you don't really need. However, delicious smoothies from bananas, berries, peanut butter, yogurt and skim milk can be made, and make excellent post workout snacks or lunches. You need to experiment and find out what works for you. Don't be surprised about a loss of muscle at first, but a sensible weight-lifting routine can help off-set that. I'd recommend the majority of your workouts to be long steady workouts (like you're doing), with a good balance of weights (or body weight exercises) and shorter piece to really raise your base metabolism. Keep up the good work!

[old] pamcnm · Post by **[old] pamcnm** » February 25th, 2005, 6:30 pm

Body fat scales are not particularly accurate at measuring body fat %, but they can be helpful at helping you monitor trends, especially if you weigh in at the same time (I have one and I prefer it to a regular scale). They are influenced by hydration status (I weigh more but measure at a lower body fat % at day's end). Body calipers are more accurate, but must be done by someone trained in taking measurements. The gold standard is hydrostatic weighing, but that isn't widely available. Ditto what others have advised about making sure you get enough nutrients for your workouts and adding strength training to your routine. Also, I don't believe that working at 90-95% of capacity for an hour daily is desirable. It will not improve your cardiovascular fitness, in the long run. Check your resting HR periodically to make sure it isn't rising, and also check to make sure your recovery time is not prolonged. Add some interval work and some steady state recovery rows to your routine. Your "program" results have motivated you to continue, and that's a good thing, but I would uge you to be a bit more prudent as you move forward so that you can continue to see improvements over time. Your program could be a set up for muscle loss and over-training. The good health and lifetime fitness can be more easily achived and maintained:)

[old] John Rupp · Post by **[old] John Rupp** » February 25th, 2005, 8:20 pm

Just to "weigh" in on the "concept", let me toss in a few pesos, if I do "say so" myself. In 1989 I was up to my highest weight ever, 170 pounds, though otherwise fit and running about 60 miles a week. I found a book in a used book store called "the rice diet report" by Judy Moscovitz and immediately went on the diet. This consisted of 1 cup of long grain white rice, divided into 3 equal portions (after cooked) which provided for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In with each meal of rice I mixed 1 large golden delicious apple, peeled cored, and chopped. I also drank 1 gallon of water per day, 1/3 of this the first thing in the morning, 1/3 by noon, and the other 1/3 finished by evening. I also weighed myself the first thing each morning and record my weight on a chart with 7 columns, 1 for each day of the week, and an 8th column for the average for the week. Each day that I equaled or bettered the average for the previous week was highlighted in green, and otherwise in orange. I aimed to get at least 4 "green" days each week, and think (would need to check) only once or twice got all 7 days in green. There were to be no snacks, no spices or condiments etc, though I did at times have snacks of "extra". But for the most part I stayed right on the diet. In 4 months I went from 170 to 133 pounds. I kept up my regular exercise program though this time including some half marathon races. Then after this I went off the diet and stayed at 140 pounds or less for 4 years. In 1974 I discovered a book called "diet and salad" by Norman Walker who lived to be 115 years of age. Prior to that I normally ate a lot of meat and occasionally ate at fast food places etc. I competed at short distance events running, i.e. the 400 in 52 seconds or so, but did not have the endurance for anything much longer. My marathon was around 3 1/2 hours. Then I went on the recommended freshly made vegetable juices for 3-4 months and all my distance times came down very rapidly week by week. Soon I was matching and then bettering my times from college. I consider fresh vegetable juices and raw salads to be the very best diet one can eat. As a result of that my marathon times came down by an hour and my blood pressure in the 90's/60's or so. At the university in 1980 and again 1984 my body fat was tested in the vicinity of 5%. I want to say that most of the body fat measurements give you a good idea but all of them are estimates and none of them are precisely accurate. One of the things we did was to test the same people the same day with different methods and all of them came out differently. One fellow, a very muscular hurdler, came out to a -2% body fat by the underwater weighing method!!! Of course it is not possible to be a negative percent fat. H33, it sounds like you're doing great. There are so many ways to lose weight and be fit etc. The important thing is to find a plan that you like and stick with it, which is what you are doing. Good for you.

[old] John Rupp · Post by **[old] John Rupp** » February 25th, 2005, 8:26 pm

I would say pasta is excellent for losing weight. Oatmeal, on the other hand, is 17% calories from fat. I would avoid eating oatmeal, and stay with pasta or long grain rice. Brown rice takes longer to cook and is harder to digest. There is not much difference in the nutritional value of white rice, brown rice, or pasta. None of these have much nutritional value. However, all are low in fat. The common denominator of most overweight, especially the part to be concerned about, is the fat. So the objective is to lose all the fat from the diet, and this helps you to lose it from the body as well. The rice (or equivalent) diet is less than 1% of the calories from fat. By the way it is important to go by the percent of calories, not weight. For example a food with 1% of fat by weight (example 1% milk) can be 18% calories from fat! That is much too high.