[quote]phatkins187 wrote:
McG78 wrote:
Unless your PBJ is natural no sugar added, I think the easiest way to start cutting is to replace the PBJ with either natural no sugar added or a can of tuna. Additionally, get rid of the pasta that crap is way too processed.
If you change those two things and keep hitting the gym hard you will start cutting.
As for incline walking, or any other type of cardio for that matter, it won’t really accelerate the process that much. It burns calories yes, but do you know how far you have to go to burn off 300 calories. Too damn far is the correct answer. Cardio improves cardiovascular health but does not reduce fat noticeably. HTH.
McG this post is ill informed all the way around. Processed/unprocessed foods won’t be detrimental or beneficial to someone trying to cut weight/fat. It comes down to whether they are eating in a caloric deficit. If the OP had a gluten allergy, I would recommend cutting out pasta, but pasta is a powerful carb and would be a great post-WO meal with some lean protein. To each their own.
Cardio improves cardiovascular health…if your heart rate is in the cardiovascular zone. I doubt a steady state activity (130 BPM) will improve cardiovascular health very much. All that does for the body is burn additional calories further increasing the deficit. I believe you’re alluding to the superiority of EPOC from intervals over SS cardio.
OP, your diet can have whatever you want in it as long as you are in a caloric deficit. Try changing the diet first, keeping the weight routine the same, see what happens. You will lose fat if you truly are in a deficit. When you stall, add the cardio. Stall again, cut the cals…it’s a stepwise process. I highly recommend carb cycling. Eat carbs when you workout, decrease your fats…it’s simple. Dr. Clay’s article from yesterday is probably one of the best nutritional articles that’s been posted.[/quote]
Not to turn this into a huge debate. But you completely ignore nutrient timing and quality of food. Fot instance, let’s say I need 3500 calories to maintain my weight. If I only eat candy to reach that 3500, I’m going to be one fat unhealthy bastard. As John B. would say, a calorie is not a calorie. (I know you are new so go search Nutrient Timing I and II on here) Processed foods in general contain more sugars which cause a higher spike in insulin and thus leading to weight gain not weight loss. If you have high insulin spikes but are operating in a caloric deficit guess what happens. Your body starts storing fat and burning muscle to get the proper nutrients you need. Thus, your body fat goes up but your weight goes down because you are losing muscle.
In short, you have to eat healthy balanced meals (to fuel your workouts and to produce the right hormones), have a caloric deficit, and avoid insulin spikes to cut calories.
As for the best way to obtain a caloric deficit, cardio is not it. One, the amount of cardio you have to do to burn a few hundred calories is ridiculously disporportional. Unless you have all day to spend in the gym, you aren’t going to lose much weight this way. Two, you only burn calories while you are working out (and the little after burn you get). On the other hand, muscle burns calories all day long. So if you want your workouts to lead to the caloric deficit, add ten to fifteen minutes a day to your weight routines. This will build more muscle leading to more burned calories throughout the day.