PHers - help me understand what's happening
Discussion
This is a bit of a cry for help for people to perhaps try and explain things in a (simple) manner I'll understand.
Background - I used to be very active, tending to play badminton, squash, football when younger and moving into martial arts at uni. Am now the wrong side of 30 and over the last 7 years or so I've really got out of shape, peaking at 17st (5ft 8). Since then I dropped to 15st just by improving lifestyle and eating more appropriately; nothing major. I lost 2st in the last year without much effort.
Now.... I'm getting married in just over a month, and despite leaving it a bit late I wanted to actively improve the shape I was in. I started seeing a personal trainer twice a week (for the last 5 weeks or so). These sessions have been a lot about developing core, with weights mixed in (squats, lunges etc.). On top of that I've been doing 2-3 cardio sessions a week (run, cross trainer or rowing). Lastly, I've moved to a balanced protein / carb (and low fat) diet, eating 6-8 smaller meals a day. This was on the trainer's recommendation after answering a shedload of questions about how I feel when I eat certain food types etc. It's mainly chicken, tuna, salmon or lean beef and I've started drinking protein shakes after sessions and managing carbs (but looking to achieve 40% / 40% / 10% ish).
Now the specific issues I have are:
i) I'm losing weight very slowly, perhaps 6lbs over 5 weeks which feels crap (and is slower than I was losing before without doing anything); I'm not losing fat %, and am losing muscle mass at around 300g/week (according to the trainer's measurements);
ii) as such, I'm being told I'm not getting enough calories and to increase to around 2500 a day (I find eating more very difficult, despite being overweight at the moment);
iii) I'm not losing anything from my (larger than average) waist, which I suppose supports point 1 however is the thing I was hoping to achieve the most, and seemed to be doing fine with before I started 'training'.
Whilst I am undoubtedly feeling fitter as well as being more relaxed, I'm getting slightly demotivated now and am beginning to question if I'm doing the right thing / to continue on the same basis for the next 5 or so weeks.
Do I need to give it longer before I see results, or should things have started happening by now? How do I best educate myself around the basics of what's going on, when I 'seem' to be burning more calories than I'm taking in, yet am not losing weight (specifically fat).
I don't really 'get' the stuff the trainer comes out with so find it difficult to buy in to what I'm being told.
Any words of advice welcome, and appreciate I may have missed some relevant info from the above so if I need to expand on any point I'm happy to do so. I know PH has a rather unique way of providing information, so the simpler the better for me please
Cheers
Background - I used to be very active, tending to play badminton, squash, football when younger and moving into martial arts at uni. Am now the wrong side of 30 and over the last 7 years or so I've really got out of shape, peaking at 17st (5ft 8). Since then I dropped to 15st just by improving lifestyle and eating more appropriately; nothing major. I lost 2st in the last year without much effort.
Now.... I'm getting married in just over a month, and despite leaving it a bit late I wanted to actively improve the shape I was in. I started seeing a personal trainer twice a week (for the last 5 weeks or so). These sessions have been a lot about developing core, with weights mixed in (squats, lunges etc.). On top of that I've been doing 2-3 cardio sessions a week (run, cross trainer or rowing). Lastly, I've moved to a balanced protein / carb (and low fat) diet, eating 6-8 smaller meals a day. This was on the trainer's recommendation after answering a shedload of questions about how I feel when I eat certain food types etc. It's mainly chicken, tuna, salmon or lean beef and I've started drinking protein shakes after sessions and managing carbs (but looking to achieve 40% / 40% / 10% ish).
Now the specific issues I have are:
i) I'm losing weight very slowly, perhaps 6lbs over 5 weeks which feels crap (and is slower than I was losing before without doing anything); I'm not losing fat %, and am losing muscle mass at around 300g/week (according to the trainer's measurements);
ii) as such, I'm being told I'm not getting enough calories and to increase to around 2500 a day (I find eating more very difficult, despite being overweight at the moment);
iii) I'm not losing anything from my (larger than average) waist, which I suppose supports point 1 however is the thing I was hoping to achieve the most, and seemed to be doing fine with before I started 'training'.
Whilst I am undoubtedly feeling fitter as well as being more relaxed, I'm getting slightly demotivated now and am beginning to question if I'm doing the right thing / to continue on the same basis for the next 5 or so weeks.
Do I need to give it longer before I see results, or should things have started happening by now? How do I best educate myself around the basics of what's going on, when I 'seem' to be burning more calories than I'm taking in, yet am not losing weight (specifically fat).
I don't really 'get' the stuff the trainer comes out with so find it difficult to buy in to what I'm being told.
Any words of advice welcome, and appreciate I may have missed some relevant info from the above so if I need to expand on any point I'm happy to do so. I know PH has a rather unique way of providing information, so the simpler the better for me please
Cheers
as its been said, no sugar.
also, no alcohol whastso ever, as they are empty calories that will put fat on or keep you fat.
v low cars as above, and if you are trying to get more calories down you, eat stuff that is high calorie but good for you or even get a couple more protein shakes down you.
also, no alcohol whastso ever, as they are empty calories that will put fat on or keep you fat.
v low cars as above, and if you are trying to get more calories down you, eat stuff that is high calorie but good for you or even get a couple more protein shakes down you.
Short term: Change the personal trainer. Diet like you used to when you achieved satisfactory weightloss. Mix medium/heavy weights with running.
Long term: Faff around with your macros a bit. You want fit and low bf? Running<weights, you want more muscle and aren't that much bothered about bf? Then weights<running. If you have the determination you can add muscle and lose bf quite easily.
Long term: Faff around with your macros a bit. You want fit and low bf? Running<weights, you want more muscle and aren't that much bothered about bf? Then weights<running. If you have the determination you can add muscle and lose bf quite easily.
goldblum said:
Short term: Change the personal trainer. Diet like you used to when you achieved satisfactory weightloss. Mix medium/heavy weights with running.
Long term: Faff around with your macros a bit. You want fit and low bf? Running<weights, you want more muscle and aren't that much bothered about bf? Then weights<running. If you have the determination you can add muscle and lose bf quite easily.
Ditch the 6 meals a day PT.Long term: Faff around with your macros a bit. You want fit and low bf? Running<weights, you want more muscle and aren't that much bothered about bf? Then weights<running. If you have the determination you can add muscle and lose bf quite easily.
Eat less. Lose weight. Simple.
I'm a big fan of Tony Horton, the guy who developed P90X.
He posted a blog a while back on this type of issue (if I can find it, I'll link it here). In essence, exercise and fitness trumps everything else and the reason you should work out is to get fit. Body shape, size and fat (or lack of it) are secondary, though no less worthy outcomes.
Comes down to mindset. Exercise for fitness and the rest will follow.
He posted a blog a while back on this type of issue (if I can find it, I'll link it here). In essence, exercise and fitness trumps everything else and the reason you should work out is to get fit. Body shape, size and fat (or lack of it) are secondary, though no less worthy outcomes.
Comes down to mindset. Exercise for fitness and the rest will follow.
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