aryan

The solution is simple. The reason you're fat is because you eat when you're not hungry. This is comfort eating, and can be a result of stress, boredom, loneliness, depression, or something else entirely. Step 1 is to switch your coping method. You are currently using food to cope; instead, try focusing on taking some action towards fixing the problem, even if you think you can't fix it. If there's no action to take, tell yourself that since this problem is unsolvable (at least for the time being) it's not worth your worry and you're not going to waste any effort even concerning yourself with it, including via coping. Monday-Saturday I want you to only eat when you feel actual, physiological hunger. Real hunger is a slight burning sensation in your lower stomach, which is often accompanied by some growling noises. Next time you're rushing to the kitchen for a bag of potato chips, ask yourself, "Am I hungry?" Listen to your stomach. If the "hunger" was just in your head, it means you're about to comfort eat. So put down the chips and ask yourself what is causing you to feel the need to eat; what is it that you're trying to avoid dealing with? Are you just bored? If so, occupy yourself some other way. Eat slowly, and gradually wait until the pleasure you get from the food starts to diminish. Food tastes better when you're hungry, and once you're not hungry anymore, it won't taste quite as good. When that happens, ask yourself, "Am I still hungry?" If not, you've eaten enough. Put the food away. Sunday I want you to eat, eat, eat! The reason for this is simply to make sure your body doesn't go into the dreaded "starvation mode" and start hoarding calories. Every 7 days, show your body that you have plenty to eat, and your body will lose those extra pounds. Hope this could be of some help. You do have something to look forward to: once you are thin and ready to start adding muscle, you will be ready to indulge your comfort eating each day to the fullest! Best of luck to you in your weight loss goals. Oh, and I want to add something: You mention not being able to find the motivation to go to the gym. Cardio is extremely important to your health, but unless you do a LOT of it, it won't help you much to lose weight. Even the fastest runner only burns about 15 calories per minute.

I almost had to betray my lovely animals and vote for no email. But then I noticed it was actually just limiting email to one hour a day (um, I typically spend about 10 minutes a day on my email even without any challenge) and voted no meat. Of course, if he just eats cheese products every meal it will do more harm than good, but regardless...

Wow, 70 pushups in one set? How long did it take you to get to that point?

If I ate nothing but bananas I would get so bored and end up binging.

I go until my body says no, then I keep going until my body forces me to stop because it's worn out. Is that not "kicking my own ass" hard enough?

Oh my God, can I please have your face, eyebrows, and hair? What? Oh, sorry, my envy got the best of me for a minute there...

My understanding is you don't "gain" muscle during a workout, but that your muscles grow during rest. Does anyone know about this? I've heard that too, in which case, it would make sense that one needs to rest after a workout. Although your explanation is far more sound, scientifically. Thanks.

I have heard that cardio directly after a work out can burn off the muscle you just gained, so I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it. I don't know if it's true or not but I avoid doing cardio directly after a work out just to make sure.

Damn, those are good even for a man. Well done.

Most people greatly overestimate the number of calories burned by cardio. Even the fastest runner will only burn about 15 calories per minute. Cardio is great and in fact necessary for your health, but the best way to lose weight is through diet.

I'm still doing cardio on off days, but I still feel that tingling in my upper arms that makes me want so badly to do some kind of exercise for them. Does anyone else get that? With all the conflicting information out there, it's hard to know what's really best. In any case, I'll be starting a pretty intense work out regimen on Wednesday (giving the iwantsixpackabs.com program a try - even though I don't really care so much about abs, it looks like a good program in general) so I thought based on the article's advice I might rest my arms until then, though I did do some push ups yesterday.

Alright, thank you for clearing that up for me, RawDancer. Thank you for the DVD recommendation Tasha!

Thank you for sharing that article. Though I don't want to risk taking an entire week off, I will be relaxing my muscles for the next few days, with the exception of cardio.

Rawdancer, does mono food mean that you only eat one food at a time? For example, would a dressing-free salad be mono if it combined various vegetables/nuts? I'd like to try a mono diet but there are a lot of very healthy foods that I can't eat by themselves (like raw spinach leaves for example, which I mix into a smoothie each morning)... would the benefits of eating whole foods outweigh the cons of missing out on the nutritional content of foods I simply can't eat alone (simply because I can't stand the taste)?

Thank you, that really means a lot to me!

Not I, but I'll have to look into it. Sounds like it's really working for you.

Bodybuilding is definitely genetic.

"I don't need cardio." We've all heard it, and what it really means is that "I don't need cardio to look good." Maybe that's true, but a more important question is if you need cardio to be healthy... and the answer is yes! No matter who you are, you NEED cardio! Let me tell you why. Ah, cardio. That naggy, pesky little form of exercise... it's hard work and it makes you get all sweaty. And it takes so long to get so little! But we all need cardio, even the thinest among us. Autopsies have revealed that thin, in shape people who relied on diet alone to keep thin actually had rolls of fat hidden under their skin! Ew, right? While this didn't affect their appearance, you can bet it affected their health, well-being, and likelihood of getting certain illnesses. Still think you "don't need" cardio? So what can you do if you hate cardio? The first step is to realize that getting cardio isn't that hard - and can actually be fun! Also realize that it will be a lot easier after you get in the habit of doing it regularly, and that you can get your dose of cardio in less than 15 minutes. And, there are plenty of options available to you, so you're sure to find some form of cardio you like. - Running or even fast walking - Dancing - Swimming - Jumping (on the ground or on a trampoline) - Biking - Jump-roping - Sports played for fun Many of these exercises can be done while watching television, putting a whole new spin on the "couch potato" stereotype. Some bulkers may feel that cardio will hinder their progress by burning calories that they need to build muscle, especially those with fast metabolisms who are already struggling to consume enough food. However, most people over estimate how many calories are burned with cardio. Even the fastest runner will only burn about 15 calories per minute, and you don't need to do a lot of cardio to keep healthy. Those calories can be gained back in a snap just by eating a small bowl of almonds after your workout. So, get out there and do some cardio! And remember, have fun! The best form of cardio is one you enjoy doing, because if you don't enjoy cardio, it will be difficult for you to keep doing it.

But more importantly, how did you lose 50 lbs!?

After taking yesterday off, I found that today I wasn't able to do as well as usual. Now I'm left wondering if alternating days is really such a good idea...

Nice, you are definitely making progress!

I don't know but personally I don't find most bodybuilders attractive. I respect that they put so much work into it but I prefer a leaner physique.

I recently read that better results can be gotten by alternating the days on which one works out, rather than just by working out as much as possible. This is the first day in a while that I've decided to go the whole day without exercising, and I'm surprised at how hard it is. I thought it would be easy NOT to exercise! I keep getting that little tingling feelings in my upper arms and it's making me really, really want to at least to some push ups or pull ups or lifting or crunches or SOMETHING to satisfy my craving. I keep thinking, "Ah, come on now, just a little (insert exercise here) can't hurt." For some time I've been working out every day, often twice per day, and the funny thing is that I thought I was forcing myself to work out when I really didn't want to but now that I'm not working out I'm having to force myself to be sedentary. (I did take a walk this morning but it was pretty slow so I'm not really sure it can count as "exercise." I love walking and don't feel the same without spending some time outside. But part of me just wants to go and run, run, run until I'm out of breath.) Has anyone else ever experienced this on off days?

Thank you for your input guys! My current plan (which just changed, so it's pretty new) is eat when I'm hungry for two days, then bulk and eat a lot (in comparison) for one. I just today decided to cut back from exercising daily to exercising every other day because of something I read (I think it was on here) about your body needing time to replenish after a work out. For me I would really love to get to a low enough body fat that my abs are visible. But there's so much conflicting information out there that it gets a bit tiresome trying every different technique.

No kidding!!