I started running a month ago, im looking thiner, but i still weigh 230 lbs...whats up?

Answer 1

Congratulations on starting. Weight isn't the best measure of progress (see below). Here are some ideas from my 360 Blog of September 10.

Don't target losing more than about 2 lbs per week. If you try to lose faster, your body will go into "starvation mode" and get very stingy about burning calories while at the same time very efficient about storing any calories that you do provide. And it will make you feel awful.

There is no site specific way of losing fat... the old myth about working your abs to burn belly fat isn't true. To get rid of love handles, you need to lose overall fat. That happens with exercise and watching your diet. More on that below.

The most effective way to lose fat is aerobic exercise in the "moderate" fat-burning range, ideally first thing in the morning before you eat. When you wake your body is ready to burn fat and your levels of growth hormone are highest at that time. Later in the day it can take up to 30 minutes just to put your body into a fat-burning mode.

Another overlooked way to burn fat is by lifting weights. Skeletal muscle has very high caloric needs... almost twice that of adipose (fat) tissue. Put on a little muscle and you will burn calories all day even at rest. Be aware that skeletal muscle weighs more, so with this approach you may see your weight increasing while your body fat is melting away. Not realizing this often stresses folks who think they should be losing weight as a measure of fitness. Forget the scale, look in the mirror and you will be happy.

To lose a pound of fat, you need to eliminate about 3500 calories. You can do this by burning more with exercise or by modifying your diet to reduce intake. If you do a Google search on say, "swimming calories" you will quickly find a website with tables of calories burned for a given exercise. You can use such lists to estimate how many calories you are burning up with your routine.

For diet, keep a diary for a couple of weeks counting calories, grams of protein, and grams of fat intake. It is easy with online sources of nutritional information (type the name of the food and calories into the Google search engine) and packaging labels. That will let you quickly figure out where the fat is coming from in your diet.

Fat gives you 9 calories per gram. So take the number of grams of fat, multiply by 9, then calculate what percentage the fat calories are of your total daily calories. Restricting the calories from fat to about 20% of your total intake is ideal for a maintenance diet... that isn't overly restrictive. Of note, you need some fat in your diet. For instance, the body uses fat to produce hormones. Once you have a picture of how to modify your diet, you can drop the diary and just go back to it occasionally if you are wanting to tweek things further.

There is a subset of questions that goes further and asks about "How to get a six-pack?" The answer is the same. Six-packs are 20% abdominal exercise and 80% diet. There is one caveat... abdominal muscles will form in the position that you work them, so be certain to pull them tightly toward your spine while doing crunches, etc. Also, during most lifting, the "core is active" which means that you should be stabilizing with contracted abs then too. Fail to do this and the abs will form, but bulging outward and the result is not attractive.

If you are trying to build muscle as a way to lose fat, then you may need to increase total calories and specifically your protein intake. I target about 0.8 g of protein per pound of body weight each day when actively building. That is far more protein than most people need in their diets.


Aloha

Answer 2

What most likely is happning is you are losing fat but gaining muscle. It can also be dehydration causing the thinner look.

A pound is a pound is a pound is a pound. A pound of Muscle weights the same as a pound of Fat. The myth is that Muscle weights more than Fat. This is completely false. Any nutrionist or Health Instructor will tell you this.

Another question I must ask is if you do weight Training? Increasing your muscle mass can help burn fat. Since you are using more calories to burn fat via the muscles. By weight training you will be able to increas your weight loss. Since Muscles burn calories. So more Muscles more calories burned.

Answer 3

Muscle is more dense than fat. It's likely that you're converting a lot of fat directly into muscle very rapidly. You're not losing any weight, but since you've replaced fat with muscle, you will be slimmer. This is not necessarily a bad thing - if you end up with 230 pounds of muscle you will come out looking pretty nice.

Answer 4

You are looking thinner because your body is changing and you are swapping fat for muscle. That's good news. I always say the scale doesn't matter - it's all about how your clothes fit.

You will probably soon see a reduction in your weight as having more muscle is helpful in burning fat even when you aren't exercising.

Answer 5

Muscle mass weighs more than fat does, which can cause you to even gain a few pounds. Don't get discouraged.....as long as you see a difference, ignore the scale.....it is just a number. Good job and keep it up!

Answer 6

I'm no expert, but I do believe muscle is more dense and heavier than fat, so you are replacing fat with muscle, so you will thin down a bit but the weight will remain the same unless you reduce your caloric intake at the same time.

Answer 7

You are gaining muscles. Muscles weigh more than fat. Congrats! Soon the weight will go down too.

Answer 8

You initially start to build muscle even though there is fat lose. Keep going and eventually it'll just be the fat that goes.

Answer 9

Probably your diet and lack of weight training. Read below for information on how to get the body you've always wanted! This will help you so much and I've written it so it is easy to understand and follow!

Getting rid of fat in general, building lean muscle, and defining your physique is 60% diet, 30% exercise, and 10% mental thought. You must eat the right foods, exercise more often than you don't, burn more calories than you consume, think and speak positively about yourself, try making life as stress free as possible, and get rest so that your body can repair itself.

Portion control is the key to reaching your goal. You don't want to over-eat. A portion should be the size of your fist. Meals should consist of one portion of carbohydrates and protein, and a portion of fat (is: a handful).

Carbohydrates: Apples, Bananas, Blueberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Mangos, Pineapple, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Celery, Carrots, Broccoli, Asparagus, Green Beans, Sweet Potatoes, Corn, Steel Cut Oatmeal, Whole "Grain" Bread.

Protein: Egg Whites, Salmon, Tuna, Halibut, Chicken Breasts, Lean Ground Turkey, Turkey Breasts, Protein Powder, Protein Bars (Power Crunch Bar, Cliff Builder Bar) You don't want a high calorie, high fat, high sugar bar. The two I listed are good ones, and they taste great too!

Fat: Organic Peanut Butter, "Raw" Almonds or Walnuts, Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing. (Only consume a handful of nuts, with your breakfast, lunch, and dinner.) Fats help with digestion.

You want to have 4-5 small meals per day. 2-3 hours apart. You will never go hungry and your metabolism will not slow down. Stop eating 2-3 hours before bed. If possible get 8 hours of sleep, this plays a major role in losing belly fat.

Meal Planning: (Preparation is key.)

Meal 1: Protein, Carbohydrate, Fat (1 bottle of WATER)
Meal 2: Protein shake or bar (A glass of WATER)
Meal 3: Protein, Carbohydrate, Fat (1 bottle of WATER)
Meal 4: Protein shake or bar (A glass of WATER)
Meal 5: Protein, Carbohydrate, Fat (1 bottle of WATER)

Drink half of your weight (or more) in oz. of water per day.
(ex: 120lbs = drink 60oz. of water per day-or more.)

Exercise: (Arrange this plan to fit your schedule).

Mon- light weights upper body, 30-60 min cardio, and abs
Tue- cardio 60 minutes (power walk, run, elliptical, etc.)
Wed- light weights lower body, 20-30 min cardio, and abs
Thu- cardio 60 minutes (power walk, run, elliptical, etc.)
Fri- light weights upper body, 30-60 min cardio, and abs
Sat- cardio 60 minutes (power walk, run, elliptical, etc.)

It’s important to sign up to a gym, perhaps get a workout partner/personal trainer it offers motivation.

This is my plan that I have made after doing research. It has worked for me, and I've helped friends lose weight this way! If you stick with it, it eventually becomes a lifestyle. If you are going to eat junk food, do it in moderation. Eventually you won't even crave it.I like to keep my diet as natural and organic as possible. Multivitamins are also a good idea, just to help strengthen your immune system.

If you are looking for a health book that offers more information on food, fitness, meal planning, and motivation; I am a big fan of the "Body-for-LIFE" book as well as the "Eating-for-LIFE" cookbook both written by, Bill Phillips. It is what got me where I am today, living a healthy and satisfying life.

There is also a great website: http://www.fitday.com
FitDay is a free online diet and weight-loss journal. The FitDay journal allows you to track your diet and activities with no guess work. This lets you take control of your diet and fitness and achieve your fitness goals.

If you have any additional questions or just want someone to talk with, feel free to e-mail me! I love talking about this stuff as you can see!

Answer 10

What do you put in your mouth? what you eat affects your weight too. So watch what goes in, and your weight will change. You can have treats now and then, just not all the time