Ok. I've heard a lot of things you can do to lose fat and build muscle. Some say cardio is key. Some say you dont need cardio. Just do weight training and the muscle will burn the fat. Others say do both. Well I have no idea what to do. I'm not really considered "fat" by most people with clothes on, but no one would want to see me without clothes. I have fat around my stomach, thighs, and legs. But my arms are really skinny. I have no muscle. I want to lose the fat, but I also want to build muscle. I guess I can stand having no muscle while I lose the fat. Or if you do cardio and weight training can you still build some muscle while losing fat? I know the main thing is diet. I also have some questions there. While losing fat, how much calorie intake should you have? I know lots of proteins and water is good. I'm just confused at all of this and I wish I could find someone to tell me a good plan. If anyone has any suggestions or comments, it would be greatly appreciated!

Figure out your BMR by reading Marcus's sticky. If you want to cut you would reduce it by 500 to 1000 calories. I recommend doing a little cardio (2 to 4 times per week) with your weight training. They are all important.

http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=1222

Well I'm still pretty new to all this, but this is how I understand it (and what I'm basing my fat loss on):

Cardio: This should be performed at moderate+ intensity for between 30 to 45 minutes, around 3 to 5 times a week. It burns calories, which in turn forms part of your fat loss, and also is great aerobic activity to keep you healthy. Some say (and I'm trying) that doing cardio first-thing in the morning, or a while after eating (fasted) is best, as you;ll burn more fat that way.

Weights: These also provide some calorie burn and general fitness improvement - however, the main function is to maintain your muscle level whilst burning fat. When you're on a fat loss program, you will inevitably lose some muscle as well as fat. By lifting regularly, you'll ensure that you keep your muscles working, thus minimising the muscle loss, and (hopefully) maximising the fat loss. Also, and this is important, a greater muscle mass will increase your metabolism, thus burning even more calories at rest.

You're unlikely to build big muscles AND lose lots of fat at the same time, so it's playing one against the other. By the simple calorie equation, you need to burn more than your take in. I'm following the approach that says a small deficit by diet (around 500 calories), with additional exercise to create a larger deficit (up to 1000) is the best way, so that you keep feeding your body (avoiding 'starvation mode') and yet you burn off the energy.

I would recommend (as were recommended to me, and I bought both):

"Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" (BFFM), by Tom Venuto.
"Lose Fat, Not Faith", by Jeremy Likness.

I hope that helps somewhat. The most important thing to remember is that all of these things are guidelines, but the best approach is what works for you. You need to start somewhere (anywhere really), and the monitor and adjust over time - If something doesn't work, change it. If it works great, keep doing it for a while, and then adjust it slightly when your body gets used to it.

I hope that helps. There's a lot of us with the same goals, and most of us start in the same place, so there's plenty of support :claplow:

EDIT: And of course, as Blue posted above, there are two 'stickies' at the top of this forum which provide tons of information.

Michael.

Well I'm still pretty new to all this, but this is how I understand it (and what I'm basing my fat loss on):

Cardio: This should be performed at moderate+ intensity for between 30 to 45 minutes, around 3 to 5 times a week. It burns calories, which in turn forms part of your fat loss, and also is great aerobic activity to keep you healthy. Some say (and I'm trying) that doing cardio first-thing in the morning, or a while after eating (fasted) is best, as you;ll burn more fat that way.

Weights: These also provide some calorie burn and general fitness improvement - however, the main function is to maintain your muscle level whilst burning fat. When you're on a fat loss program, you will inevitably lose some muscle as well as fat. By lifting regularly, you'll ensure that you keep your muscles working, thus minimising the muscle loss, and (hopefully) maximising the fat loss. Also, and this is important, a greater muscle mass will increase your metabolism, thus burning even more calories at rest.

You're unlikely to build big muscles AND lose lots of fat at the same time, so it's playing one against the other. By the simple calorie equation, you need to burn more than your take in. I'm following the approach that says a small deficit by diet (around 500 calories), with additional exercise to create a larger deficit (up to 1000) is the best way, so that you keep feeding your body (avoiding 'starvation mode') and yet you burn off the energy.

I would recommend (as were recommended to me, and I bought both):

"Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" (BFFM), by Tom Venuto.
"Lose Fat, Not Faith", by Jeremy Likness.

I hope that helps somewhat. The most important thing to remember is that all of these things are guidelines, but the best approach is what works for you. You need to start somewhere (anywhere really), and the monitor and adjust over time - If something doesn't work, change it. If it works great, keep doing it for a while, and then adjust it slightly when your body gets used to it.

I hope that helps. There's a lot of us with the same goals, and most of us start in the same place, so there's plenty of support :claplow:

EDIT: And of course, as Blue posted above, there are two 'stickies' at the top of this forum which provide tons of information.

Michael.

Could of said it better myself lol Very well said dude.

Thanks for the help, it means a lot! This is a great forum. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.

good job canada at the elaboration!

good luck clemson.... i too was as confused as you are/were when i first started... getting into it and reading and chatting with these folks around here has helped me understand more and more about healthy body transformation.

you'll do fine. it just takes desire to change and everything will fall into place after that if your passion is still there.

Could of said it better myself lol Very well said dude.
Well if you could have said it better, then go ahead. We're waiting... ;)

Well if you could have said it better, then go ahead. We're waiting... ;)
:lol: :lol:

Ok. I've heard a lot of things you can do to lose fat and build muscle. Some say cardio is key. Some say you dont need cardio. Just do weight training and the muscle will burn the fat. Others say do both. Well I have no idea what to do. I'm not really considered "fat" by most people with clothes on, but no one would want to see me without clothes. I have fat around my stomach, thighs, and legs. But my arms are really skinny. I have no muscle. I want to lose the fat, but I also want to build muscle. I guess I can stand having no muscle while I lose the fat. Or if you do cardio and weight training can you still build some muscle while losing fat? I know the main thing is diet. I also have some questions there. While losing fat, how much calorie intake should you have? I know lots of proteins and water is good. I'm just confused at all of this and I wish I could find someone to tell me a good plan. If anyone has any suggestions or comments, it would be greatly appreciated!


Here are the things that I have found to be important:
You need to stimulate your metabolism in order to loose fat. There are a number of ways to accomplish this. Done properly they will work well together.

The weight training is first and formost, more mussle burns more calories.

Cardio in the a.m. raises your metabolism throught the day, it also stimulated important enzimes that aid in fat loss. But only a small amount of cardio.

Proper nutrition. Eating enopugh calories to build the mussle that you need. Seems to go against common since. But you have to create the mussle first. When I go into my local suppliment store. They don't want to hear about weight loss, it is secondary to them. They know if they get mussle on the fat will come off. They preach this all the time. And as I see most here say ya can't eat junk. It has to be good calories.

The proper supplimentation to get you through the workouts and recovery, and to build the mussle.

These are the things that I have picked up from here and other places and what I have been putting into place over the last few weeks.

I haven't lost any weight yet and I'm not worried about it this time around. I am looking for the mussle structure.

Hope this helps and if anyone sees anything that is severly out of place then please feel free to let me know.

:tu: